TV, how are you managing it?

[PrizedPickledPopcorn]

I am being driven potty by the broadband and tv situation. It’s so complicated for her, she can’t find her programmes, she wants to be able to watch everything but the tv doesn’t work the way they used to- signing into apps etc.
Has anyone resolved it?

We just go round in circles swapping supplier, getting a different router, a different tv box, all the time.

Would just freeview/freesat help - some TVs seem set up for streaming rather than terrestrial TV these days, with a home page which is consequently bewildering if you don’t understand apps; but Freeview/sat is just a nice TV guide when you press the ‘guide’ button

I just gave mine Freeview, nothing else. She didn’t really need anything else and couldn’t work anything more complicated, so stuck with that.

My mother (85) can cope with Freeview channels with a guide. But it was a long, long path to getting her to understand her remote control. We taped up most buttons with only ON/OFF, UP/DOWN and VOLUME showing.

Signing into apps like BBC iPlayer is beyond her - neither she nor her friends understand the concept of TV on demand or rewind/pause live TV.

Mine has no internet so freeview only. They know the on/off and volume up/down button, and the numbers of favourite channels are written down, and that’s enough for them.

My parents got rid of sky they couldn't work out the channels, get your parent a TV license and just let them have freeview, if they are struggling.

Tbh chopping and changing lots doesn’t help. Forget the apps and router, bog standard tv with an aerial and a remote so press ‘1’ gets BBC1, ‘2’ BBC2 which she’ll have used for years.

Written instructions,possibly with some illustrations?

I’ve found that Freely makes it easier to watch TV in the normal way but also access apps like iPlayer without it getting complicated but I don’t know if all TVs can get Freely yet.

Not my parent but when my grandad died my nan didn’t know how to work the TV. We did try and teach her but honestly she was in her 90s so it didn’t go well. We got her a DVD player and just got her a bunch of box sets (really cheap) of all her shows. She was very happy with it and even happier when she realised she could watch as much CSI as she wanted now without grandad moaning.

I agree, there is no way she will cope with apps and streaming services. She needs Freeview which is so much simpler and more like TV as she remembers it.

Yep, Freeview.

Also, Samsung does a TV that you can control remotely, if that might help anyone.

Thank you! I’ll look properly at your suggestions when she gives me a moment! She’s a bit intense!

This is a problem I am having too.

DP have an expensive SKY subscription mainly so DF can watch golf when it is on. It is complicated to operate and they often accidentally press the wrong button and can't get back to where they needed to go.

I have heard SKY glass is simpler to use as everything is on one feed. Can anyone confirm if that's their experience?

I would put the tv on and then she would try to use the remote as a phone or vice versa so she would change the tv channel, not be able to make the call she wanted and would then use the emergency fall alarm to call me so I could go and reset the tv and dial the telephone number she wanted. And yet I was shocked when I was told she had dementia!

Could you set up the required apps on Firestick. She could use the voice request option on there.

Just use broadcast channels on freeview and get a simple remote. You can get universal remotes that just have on/off and up/down for both the volume and the channel or ones with number buttons for the channel if that’s more familiar.

Saturday Daily Mirror
Has a magazine inside which is like TV Times, it shows TV info for various channels

Eg

BBC1
Time
Programmes

It is essentially what is on the TV guide on the TV, but in paper form

£3.30 per week

This is what my elderly relative uses (despite having Sky TV & a million channels)

Highly recommend getting one of the simple large button remote controls from Amazon (or other!) and just sticking with Freeview