Easy to use TV for elderly person?

[Sunnyside4]

Can anyone recommend a tv or brand of tv that's easy to use for my elderly Mum. Really looking for something she can just switch on and press number of channel she wants (coming across anything other than channels 1-5 will result in a phone call to me as she's too scared to change it from 10 back to 5!!). She won't cope with having to scroll along the bottom until she finds normal tv.

There are simple remotes that work with any TV and have a very limited number of buttons. Can't remember where I found one for my dad - might have been RNIB, or Age UK.

We bought an easy remote for MIL when she needed a new TV but she, sadly, didn't get the hang of it.

There are simple radios but not TVs as far I know. ☹️

When I was setting up my mum's new TV (Toshiba) I noticed that you can delete the channels you don't use. I was thinking of doing that and just leaving her a few options but then I couldn't remember which channel the never ending repeats of Murder She Wrote and Traffic Cops were on . . . .

Something else that might be useful is that some TVs come with Alexa built in so you could set that up and print off a sheet of example commands (if necessary).

Disclaimer - I haven't tried either of the above. Just noted that the TV has those options if we need them in the future.

Age UK in some areas have digital visitors - usually for the Internet but they might help with TVs too.

Also worth going to a Curry's if you have one locally. You might be lucky with the assistant you speak to.

I went looking a few years ago and it was obvious there is a gap in the market for simple TVs for the elderly.
Mum is severely sight impaired and doesn’t understand or do gadgets/internet/iplayer etc. All the TVs were so complicated with so many functions and the remotes were tiny and full of buttons. There is no way she could have turned the tv on and selected what she wanted. Her fingers are not so nimble and she could easily have pressed a wrong button and she would not be able to get back to where she wanted to be.
She really needs a new tv now as hers is old and the sound is getting distorted at the volume she uses. I need to have another look in the next few weeks.
If you find one before me, please recommend it here.

Such a great question. I need some help with this too. My Mum’s old TV is too small - she has severely deteriorating eyesight. But that also means she can’t manage fiddly remotes, and they all seem to be a hassle to set up.

There is definitely a gap in the market for a simple and accessible TV. I will be following with interest!

Someone needs to set these up, but once done they are very easy to use.

https://www.visionaid.co.uk/tv-accessibility/easy-tv5-universal-remote-control

https://www.visionaid.co.uk/easy-tv10-universal-remote-control

Not just for elderly!

I switched to a smart tv and I also just want to press a number for a channel. Instead of having to find live channel then searching. Plus it asking me to update all the time!

Too complicated.

Agree a gap in the market for "dumb" TVs.

The there is a British company that makes simple TVs

I was listening to BBC sounds

The programme is called Sliced Toast and the episode was about TVs and they interviewed the man who owns the company's in the UK so you'll get the name from there

We have a Panasonic TV and can just press the number buttons on the remote for the desired channel

It's nice and easy

Actually it was called

Sliced bread

Dough

TV sets

On BBC sounds

Cello electronics it's called

I took a photo of my aunt's remote so I could describe to her which buttons to use. Another way of doing it would be to tape over all the other buttons. So just the ones you need are accessible.

We’ve done coloured stickers on the remote… but she manages to subvert every system by buying extra tech- sound bar etc- and adding a new remote.

She can ask Alexa for call the midwife! That works quite well when she remembers.

Basically she needs the TV to work the same way it did 15 years ago when she learned how to record things.

TVs are way too complicated. And sometimes you come downstairs one morning to find out that the entire interface of some aspect or another has been changed, and the options are now all down one side instead of across the top. What are you meant to do if you've got visual or cognitive impairments and have learnt to operate it a certain way? You never used to come downstairs one morning and find out that all the knobs on your TV had switched places.

My mum (80) has just got a new tv and she wants to throw it out the window. She hates the fact she had to press so many buttons to just watch live tv.

It's not just the remotes that are complicated, it's the menu.

She's trying to watch Last Tango in Halifax but when she uses the microphone on the remote it offers it on YouTube and drama channel but not on the BBC where she is watching it. Even if she opens the iplayer app first.

So she has to remember to say play last tango in Halifax on the bbc and then it plays series five episode two even though she's not up to there.

What a good question OP. My mum is struggling with her TV too. She's so frightened she will do something wrong, she won't try to access iplayer or Channel 4 on demand (she loves foreign drama). My dad inadvertently signed up for Amazon prime and another subscription which were a nightmare to cancel and she's scared she will do that again. Our television is annoying (LG) as instead of going onto live TV when initially turned on, it goes straight to a menu, you have to press ^<> to get to the LIVE TV and then press and wait for it to connect. It actually takes a few minutes to get to a live channel, then wait to connect to the guide. It's slow and clunky. We've unplugged the sound bar too as that was just another level of annoying, watch TV but no sound until you pressed another load of buttons.
There is a definite gap in the market for simple TVs. Or actually just well designed TVs that work as they should.

I would love a simple tv and I'm not elderly! I've delegated turning ours on to primary-aged-child.

I am basically doomed by the time I'm elderly, aren't I?!

When MIL was admitted to a psychiatric facility for older patients, the TV set she had in her room was very straightforward. Unfortunately having a TV wasn't good for her, but the operations were as simple as you'd like: on/off, channel up/down, volume. Buggered if I remember what model it was, as it was only in her room for a short time before it was removed for her safety, but I remember thinking it would be good for FIL, who doesn't always remember the correct sequence for operating his main TV.
We bought him a straightforward universal remote that has similar functions, and tested it with his telly, but he put it in a drawer and it only comes out if he's lost one of the remotes while we're there. Might be worth trying for someone who mainly watches live TV.

I have an LG tv and it is a pain. I want to press 2 buttons max to be able to watch live tv. Not quite sure why the default is a menu.

Yesterday I pressed the wrong tiny button and ended up with ketchup tv. I pressed guide and got ketchup TV guide! I couldn't work out at all how to get back.

Similar if I press the stupid button for that stupid Rakuten tv channels. I've worked out that amazon prime trunks rakuten tv and then i can get back to the normal guide.

"Amazon prime button trumps rakuten tv"

There is a huge gap in the market. I needed to replace my mums tv and I did loads of research but even so, it appears impossible to find one that doesn't give a multitude of options on the home screen. We've never managed to get anywhere near iplayer as she struggles enough with just working out how to access the tv guide. We ended up with an LG but it's still really difficult, even though we've ignored the LG remote as that seems to come with an impossible to control Magic Mouse

Would any of these work?

I don't know how simple they are but are non smart

pointerclicker.com/best-dumb-tv/

And there's this Ferguson tv (not heard of these in ages!)

fergusontv.com/product/24-hd-ready-led-digital-tv-with-built-in-freeview-t2-hd-satellite-tuner/

This morning i pressed the wrong button again and ended up in kids section.

It took me ten minutes and a ridiculous amount of button presses to get back to live tv. It's like they don't want us to watch live tv.

All the obvious things didn't work- guide/ live tv/ off and on again. 😡

Has anyone found a TV suitable? I may have to consider buying second hand.