Pressing red turns the power off? Err… not most of the time…
Published on 23 June 2009 in Television, Digital TV, interactive television, television
One of the comments that I occasionally hear about the red button is how people turn the TV off! Because, of course, most remotes have a red button to put them in standby.
Or do they?
After reading one such comment recently I decided it was time to look� And I started with the six remotes on my desk, before then scowling the office and home for other remotes to see what the result was.
| Remote | Colour of standby button |
|---|---|
| Standard Sky remote | Black |
| One For All 4 device remote | Grey (but with red power symbol) |
| Sony 14″ CRT TV remote | Grey with a turquoise circle around the button |
| Metronic Freesat set top box remote | Red |
| Pace Freeview set top box remote | Red |
| Humax Foxsat HDR remote | Black with green power symbol |
| Sky+ remote | Black |
| Sagem Freeview remote | Red |
| Humax PVR-9200T remote | Grey |
| Philips OnDigital remote | Red |
| Becko TV remote | Red |
| NTL remote control | Grey |
| Different NTL remote control | Turquoise |
| V+ remote control | Grey |
| Telewest remote control | Grey |
| Sony Freeview set top box remote | Green |
| Nokia OnDigital set top box remote | Red |
| Panasonic Freesat TV | Red |
| Hauppauge remote control for PC | Green |
So that’s a twenty and what a mixed bag. Only seven out of 20 had a red coloured power/standby button – that’s just 35%.
The amount of green that’s around is quite surprising, but it seems that in the main remotes either have grey or black power buttons, generally to match the colour of the remote control itself.
Of course my sample is only of a puny number of remotes compared to those out there, so I’d be interested in hearing what you find on your remotes!
2 Comments
Go on then…
Sony Hi-fi (7-8 years old) – Green
Sony HDTV (
I thought all mine were red too (I normally just use some universal remotes) but actually looking at them shows something different….
First the remote controls that get used…
OneForAll Digital 12 (x2) – Red
OneForAll Digital 5 – Red
And for the original manufactures remotes:
Red
Philips Streamium
Goodmans Freeview DVD Recorder
Asda DVD Player
Philips IDTV
Orange
Pioneer ITV Digibox (actually two standby buttons, both orange)
Pioneer AV Amp
Red border or printed symbol
Sharp TV (Symbol Above)
Humax PVR (Red Surround)*
Matsui 14″ TV (Red surround)
Kiss Networked DVD Player (Red symbol on)
Green Surround
Sony DAB Tuner
Grey/Silver/Black
Philips DAB Ghetto Blaster
Joytech Control Centre 2 – Grey
Cambridge Audio DAB Tuner – Black
– Interestingly the above three have no colour at all on the remote
Including surrounds and symbols that is
17 Remote Controls
11 – Red – 64%
3 – Grey – 18%
2 – Orange – 12% – Pioneer Trait
1 – Green – 6% – Sony Trait
As for the Humax, some eejit decide to put a red (record) button directly above the red button – I ended up recording programmes more than once when trying to access BBCi – horrid remote mind, forced me to get the universal. – The cursor keys also have a red surround.
My OneForAlls also have three red buttons – Red, Power, Record….