Q I have a remote for my cable box and a remote for my Viewsonic LCD TV. The TV doesn't have a remote code supported by my cable box remote. I turn on the TV and change the volume with the TV remote and view the program guide and change channels with my cable remote.
From time to time the TV remote does not work. I recently encountered this and thinking it was the batteries, changed to fresh ones. It worked immediately but then a week later stopped working again, and I know the batteries were still good. I pushed all the buttons on the remote, and eventually it worked again.
Do I have a defective remote? What can I do about getting a universal remote?
A This is a relatively common problem that most people figure out eventually.
If you look at your TV remote, you will see buttons marked for TV, VCR, Cable, DVD and more. That's because almost every TV remote functions as a universal remote that can control other makes and models of components.
Remotes come programmed for the manufacturer's product. So, if you have a Panasonic TV and buy a Panasonic Blu-ray player, you will not have to program the TV remote to control it. If you buy a different brand of player, you must program the TV remote if you want to use it with the new component.
You usually must reprogram it when you change batteries, because cutting off the power clears the codes. This is one reason I often recommend that consumers match their TVs and Blu-ray players by brand.
In your case, you inadvertently pressed one of the buttons, such as DVD. This turns your TV remote into a DVD remote, and when you tried to use it to control your TV it didn't work.
