Erm, any idea how to change TV channels when the remote control won't work?

Lady at my (rented) TV company advised me to remove batteries from handset, press each button individually then replace batteries and try again. Weirdly, it worked for me! Good luck!

Sometimes it is easier to watch TV on your computer than fuss with 2 remotes and all the rest of the paraphernalia. I just don't understand why the controls need to be so complex.

doing this from american pov.
but shouldnt be that dif
first unplug power to all devices related to tv(i have box that plugs everything so i only have to flip a switch and all items shut off)
wait 60 seconds.plug everything back in.
this is called rebooting the system.
at the top of the remote are thee buttons that say tv/dvd/cable/aux???
if so point remote at tv or channel box and hold down button says tv should blink a few times.
try it

may not work
but whenever we have power outages or lightening my tv rearranges its inputs and i have to reboot and sometimes reset the buttons/
personally as the wife of a computer code writer i hate tech/but am pretty good at keeping everything up and running

I am reminded of the Tony Hancock method. His TV broke down, and when the engineer asked whether anyone had been kicking the set, he replied:-

"Kick.it? Of course we kick it! One kick for BBC, nine kicks for ITV."

Those were the days.

Have you tried unplugging tv and waiting for 30 secs. Sometimes it seems to gee it back into action.

Well you can't do a channel reboot without the remote to turn the tv on and off and do all the doings needed lbcardigans

Jeepers! I haven't watched episode 1 yet.

Must keep up!

How very charming, Shortlegs

LBC (I do hope you will excuse the abbreviation) we have in the past had to re-install the channels, but on this occasion the remote was absolutely dead, however we are now back in the land of the TV connected.

But looking at tonights offerings, I do wonder if it was worth it!

Will watch episode 2 of the Handmaids Tale.

Pardon me for maybe pointing out the bleedin' obvious but could it be that you need to re-install the channels? There should be a button on the remote called 'menu' and then you scroll down and press the green button to get it going.
This is something that we never had to think about before going digital. When I lived in the West Country (one of the first regions to go digital) we had to do this quite often - so much so that I can now do so without having to trawl through the ruddy manual - which is a bonus.
Sometimes the remote doesn't work until you do this and it gets you thinking about it being faulty/batteries run down, etc when all it needs is this procedure. Good luck.

we had the perfect channel years ago - our daughter!
this was in the days of only four channels [yes, four!!] and they were in colour.
so every time we wanted the channel changed, we asked our daughter - about 3 at the time - if she could go and press the button on the tv. we had to tell her if it was the first, second, third or fourth from the top of course. but it worked [without batteries or other kind of bribery] for years until we got another tv which did have a remote control.
and then we had sky ........................

I think you are all sooo patient. If it wasn't for the tot, i would recommend taking to the bottle.

Oh for the days when we had on off button on the tele and you had to get up and switch it on or off.
You can get a new remote some remotes do most televisions now.
Are you sure it's not the television gone kerplunk?
.

My hubby says read the instruction book! WHAT!! That's a last resort! Lol you could google the model number for your TV I suppose. Lol.

We have a little almost invisible flip down panel at the bottom of the tv set with buttons inside. We used that when remote atopped working. But its easy to buy a new remote frpm Currys or comet for example.

Not much help at present but always handy to have a spare for an emergency

Possibly read the fffing manual?

What is RTFM, please?

The same happened to me a while ago. After the usual battery change and switching off and on again at the wall, I did as Valerie did and pressed the 'TV' and 'PVR' buttons and it worked, although not sure which one did it! Mine is a Humax box. Suspect the cat had walked on the remote, as I was out of the room when it happened.

Amazing, that happened to us last night! Changed the batteries, this is a new Freeview machine mind, nothing. Pressed all buttons, not a sausage. Turned the machine off for a few minutes, hey presto, it worked, don't ask, I've no idea, but at least we could watch the telly again.

I had exactly this problem last night, changed batteries, still didnt work, so decided it must be something on the remote that was stopping the channels changing
I pressed a few buttons, and eventually one that said TV on the top, worked,
I must have pressed it by accident the last time i used the remote, and altered the remote somehow, so try all the buttons, before thinking batteries need changing

Thank you Tanith, I've just downloaded the app you mentioned so as to be prepared for future emergencies!

My smartphone acts as a remote. It's great!
When dgd wasn't listening and I said 'Right the tv is going off' she took the remote to prevent me turning it off! I discreetly used my phone. She was agog and proclaimed 'wow grandma you turned it off with your mind'!!! Priceless ???

RTFM

I believe that there is some way to programme your smart phone to act as a remote. Don't ask me though. I'm taking techie DS1's word for it. The control button on my Samsung TV is round the back and when you press it, a visual panel appears on screen and you can then toggle the button up,down and sideways to find the channel you want.

That happened to me. I couldn't find any way to do it but ordered a new remote on line and got it in a couple of days. It wasn't that expensive.