Quote:
Originally posted by Johnny Rotten
You don't need line of sight for a remote or garage door opener to work. It's a *radio* frequency, so it's unidirectional.
|
That's true for garage doors - but I have NEVER seen a tv remote that wasn't infrared controlled. You could be right and it's just something that we don't have in Australia for some reason, but that just seems odd.
If it is infra-red, then it works like this - an oscillating IR light signal is picked up by the tv's IR sensor. You can see the light flashes if you look at the remote using the Ir night vision feature on modern video cameras and see the flashes when you press a button.
Experiments (assuming the remote is infrared):
1. Find the sensor on the TV and cover it up (with electrical tape or something). Test to see if it's covered by trying to use the remote.
2. If the arm trick still works, then it ain't the remote sensor - weird...
3. If the arm trick only works with the sensor uncovered. Use the video camera's night vision function to try and locate a strong ambient signal of ir light. (this can include visible light sources too). The arm movements might be enough to oscillate that light source in such a way as to communicate the 'on' signal.
4. Finally, try the arm trick in pitch dark. Remove all ambient light sources, including any LEDs. Still work? - creepy...
5. Try it out with the tv in different environments.
6. Don't look in your friend's eyes with the night vision camera. It's disturbing...
7. You can either continue treating it as a great mystery or you can take this list and play junior scientist. Whatever you choose - have fun!
