Remotes

[RescueMom59]

My father has dementia and can't work a remote control any longer.  Does anyone know of a remote control that works with Roku where I can set the tv to turn on just to Fox News?  I have Hulu Live TV.

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

The regular Roku remote is as simple as they come. There's no way to have a Roku turn on and open a specific channel without requiring any user input. 

All Roku players, other than the Roku Stick, can be used with a universal IR (infrared) remote, and there are programmable remotes that can have macros to auto-run things. However, the most common were the Logitech Harmony line, and Logitech has discontinued them. 

[MilesT]

Some of the more advanced Oneforall remotes support Roku and can learn keypress sequences. 7935 for example. But these may not be simple enough.

NB IR replacement remotes won't work with Streaming stick models.

Maybe just record a few hours of Fox News onto a USB stick once a week and put that into TV instead on autorun mode? They probably won't know the difference :-).

(Seriously, I know from personal experience dementia is a crushing illness, but sometimes dark humour is needed.  Sad that their go-to comfort space is Fox News.  Maybe find some favourite music on video instead to ring the changes?)

Worth reading anti-monopolist blogger Matt Stoller post on Logitech Harmony.