STORY
TV Remote Control Overengineering
TV Remote Control Overengineering
- A humorous story about overengineering a solution for remote control interference at a bar.
The Interference Problem
- A bar owner installed two identical televisions over the bar, but because they used the same remote control, they would both respond to inputs simultaneously.
- To solve this, the owner figured out that he could place a polarizing filter in front of the sensors on the TVs (one horizontally polarized, one vertically polarized).
- He then began working out an elaborate rotating tube mechanism to place in front of the remote's transmitter to match the polarizations.
The Simpler Solution
- While designing this complex rotation tube, he suddenly realized a much simpler solution.
- He could just hold the remote flat for one TV, and turn it on its side (90 degrees) for the other TV.
- It stands as a perfect reminder that sometimes we overengineer things when a simple physical shift will do.
These facts are as Randal recalls them, but much time has passed for most of this. If you find a factual error, please email realmerlyn@gmail.com.