I am a 68 year old of possibly lower than average intelligence and I have just spent far too many frustrating minutes trying yet again to explain to an even older relative how to sort out the loss of picture on their tv set.   I have an 86 year old very active and intelligent uncle and an 85 year old mother in law. They each have ordinary shop-bought TVs. But the remote controls in this age of dual analogue and digital services are quite beyond their comprehension. And it's no easier trying to sort out their problems from a long distance away.   How on earth did we allow the industry to get us into this mess?  Re-tuning a digital/analogue tv is an absolute nightmare.   Did nobody at the Beeb or elsewhere ever start thinking this out from the consumer end?  My ma-in-law is missing her favourite Chelsea flower show OB, possibly because she pressed a wrong button....and they are TINY, aren't they? and you can't see them in a dull interior light can you?
She is reading out what it says on the screen....DVB-T, and DVB 3 and the rest. How do I tell her where to go from here?   The uncle lost his BBC 1 and BBC 2 service from a fairly recent digital LCD TV only to find after an expensive visit from an engineer that it required a download of an upgrade.   Then, having been persuaded to buy two set top boxes for his bedroom and kitchen sets can't work out how to switch the set on with one handset, select AV1 and then use the other remote to choose a channel.  This is a guy who was a managing director and speaks five fluent languages.    How about a box with a screen and a knob you turn?   Honestly, you engineering types, you slay me!    And shall we start on about Digital Radio ??? DAB ???? and DAB2????

How right you are David.
The trouble is that the anoraks who design and sell TV equipment nowadays are trying to make them too versatile. Why on earth they can't just design a new receiver which just receives TV and nothing else....which allows you to change channels and the volume  AND NOTHING ELSE seems beyond me.Take mobile phones (PLEASE>Take them away!) ....all most of us want is a device for making and receiving telephone calls....we don't want to take tiny fuzzy pictures or watch Hollywood movies in a postage stamp size screen or turn lights on and off in a villa in the Algarve.....we just want a phone......and as you say,when it comes to DAB where have our erstwhile employers allowed us to be led. HELP!

Well done HMG,thank God there are a few sane people around!

The proliferation of technology didn't have to make things more difficult did it? No, but it has, and not just for older people either! Sometimes modern technology drives me mad. Why can't the damn things just WORK!

Mike Carter..

Please explain what a "TV Set" is?