I always channel surf during commercials cause commercials suck. Most remotes have a previous channel button, but what I'm proposing would take the concept one step further. When the commercial break commences you would simply hold down the channel recall button for two seconds to set the channel to be recalled, then surf at will while perodically tapping the recall button to see if the commercials are done yet. Or perhaps TV remotes should have channel presets simmiliar to most car steros. Just hold down one of the 5 or perhaps 10 buttons to store the desired channel to be recalled later.
-- ecolonsmak, Apr 29 2002

One step better http://www.google.c...=voice+activated+tv
For the ultimate couch potato [dag, Apr 30 2002]

Thats a really good Idea. you have my vote.
-- Isaac, Apr 29 2002


Nice idea.  The "return" button on our Toshiba goes back to whatever you were watching as long as you don't dwell longer than 10-15 seconds on any other one channel.  If only they had made that longer, like 3 minutes.
-- bristolz, Apr 29 2002


"Last" button works on my TV - switches between 2 channels on press.
-- thumbwax, Apr 29 2002


I don't usually watch anything for more than 10-15 seconds, anyway. Pressing the "return" button (as described by [bristolz]) on my remote would be like shouting "Go home!" to a nomadic tribesperson.
-- jester, Apr 29 2002


Dish (EchoStar) Satellite TV Systems (and presumably, DirectTV) has incorporated this idea into their current presentation. You can repeatedly flip between two channels by merely pushing the "Recall" button (As you might when wanting to watch the outcome of two simultaneously aired, but different, sporting events, or when needing to compare the original seminal episode of David Janssen's "Fugitive" series when Harrison Ford's version is playing on a different movie channel.) Also, if you just want to surf around the channel guide to see what else is on or going to be on , they provide a picture in picture with sound in the upper quadrant of the screen so you don't miss any of the action (or boredom, as the case may be) of the last station you were watching. For people who don't own PDA's or have intimate knowledge of Bluetooth, these sort of plebian technological breakthroughs are still pretty exciting for a nominal monthly cost...At least, I think so.
-- jurist, Apr 30 2002


Spoiled lot. It saves a button press or two. Is this really a problem? In one room of my house there exists a TV with no remote! Oh, my goodness what am I to do?

Seriously, I'm sure a voice activated TV is close at hand if not already in R&D somewhere. [link]

When my maid cleans, she puts the remote on top of the TV of all places.
-- dag, Apr 30 2002


//When my maid cleans...//

And you call people with remote controls for their TVs spoiled!
-- hippo, Apr 30 2002


Drat! For a second I thought this was a Chicken Recall Button. I want to watch my chickens again.
-- pottedstu, Apr 30 2002


I seem to recall that the remote I had with my very first cable converter has a feature like this... The Recall button would go to the the last channel you typed in (rather than using the +/- buttons to surf). Close to what is being discussed here.
-- MrWrong, Apr 30 2002


dag: // I'm sure a voice activated TV is close at hand

You'd have to make sure your maid didn't put the voice recognition unit on your TV, as well, or confusion would ensue:

"The lotto numbers for tonight at twenty-five..." <BZZT> "Welcome to Channel 25 Action News at Eleven!"
-- jester, May 01 2002


Baked. The Sky Pace model of decoder has a recall button on it.
-- [ sctld ], May 01 2002


In case it wasn't clear, ecolonsmac wasn't talking about a recall or return button that simply flipped back to the previous channel (then back to the other channel if you press it again). Those are thoroughly baked. What he wanted was one that could be set to any given channel so that you could surf through many channels, then hit this button to return to the channel you had been watching. Or, as he said, a programmable memory bank of channels would work.
-- magnificat, May 01 2002


Sky Digital has a 'favourites' option which contains the ability to ookmark channels and then go back to them in two button presses.
-- [ sctld ], May 01 2002


I just watch six programs at once with my dish system.
-- 1kester, May 01 2002



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