AV system Effed up AGAIN!
 

OK, this is a touchy subject. Every time we leave the house in someone else’s hands, we leave with the TV working perfectly, and return with it screwed up so badly it takes me half a day to reset everything and it really pisses me off. I don’t know how we can watch the TV for months with no problem and someone else can be here a week and total screw it up. In addition to written explanation of how to use the the AV system I made a video of how to use it and included the URL in the instructions.
My instructions read:

"I posted a video on youtube that shows how to use our entertainment system and it can be seen at ______. It shows how to use the “help” function on the remote if you have a problem. If you have a problem that cannot be solved through use of the “help” menu, I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to use the entertainment system. Hit the “off” button and walk away. DO NOT change any settings or touch the TV or the AV receiver. While our house sitting contract specifically states that we do not guarantee use of the entertainment system, the system will be working perfectly when we turn the house over to you and you are free to use it. "

So when we got back, it was so Effed up it took over an hour to figure out what they'd done and to figure out how to straighten it out. Cables had been moved around and Netflix had been moved to the "hidden aps" folder on the Apple TV. WTF anyone would do that is totally beyond my comprehension.
We have to leave for another 10 days next week. I'm considering putting some kind of penalty clause in the contract if the AV system is fuched when I get back.
Your thoughts??

Buy a cheap TV for people to use when you are gone.

I have had that happen a few times also. I blame the AV mfg for making the systems this way.
If they made AV equip more user friendly...more would buy them.

Don't use a house sitter?

Do you have animals that need care?

Sounds like you have a system only you can operate? Can your wife work it okay with no issues, if not I would suggest getting something else setup. Many years ago we had Cox cable and they charged much extra for HD channels so I figured why not run the TV signal into a PC, use a video card with 1080P jacks to the TV set and run both at the same time, which worked great. Until the power went off for some reason or other then in that case no TV unless I was home to fire up the PC and start the video app that processed the TV signal. We lived with this for a while but I really got tired of the wife complaining soooooo I switched to another provider who did not charge for HD and things were better.

Yes, that's why we hire house/dog sitters. The problem is, we can't seem to get the house sitters to understand how to use the AV system. Mrs WD gets into a problem now and then, but pointing the *&$% controller at the system and hitting "help" fixes it every time. I made that clear in the youtube video of how to use our system. They STILL screw it up.

Good lord, nothing is easy any more, when I grew up, there were about 4 channels that came in clear enough to watch, and I was the remote control, changing the channels, or adjusting the rabbit ears manually.

Technology has not made life any better, or easier.

I just don't think that's possible when you consider the range of devices, cable options, etc... that must be inteconnected.
People are idiots. I figure you've got two types. 1 Idiot who just can't figure it out and doesn't use it. 2 Idiot who thinks they are AV expert and can "fix" it. THose are the ones that you really have to watch out for. Unfortunately, a lot of people who aren't very bright think they are.

The Help function sounds like you're using the Harmony remote.

If not, the Harmony remote has solved the problem in my house.
Want to watch TV? Press button that says watch TV.
Want to watch AppleTV? Press button that says watch AppleTV.
Want to Play XBox? You get the idea

True...but what if the average person that doesn't want to spend a couple days reading/searching the internet just to set-up/calibrate the AV system they just bought?
Numerous times, I have had people say..They just left it as is..after buying.

Yep. We have a Harmony. It is a LITTLE confusing, because when you want to watch cable you press "watch PVR." If you want to watch anything on the Apple TV you press "View my Pictures." No, it doesn't make any sense, but if you are told explicitly in writing and on a youtube video, " if you want to watch cable you press "wacth PVR." If you want to watch anything on the Apple TV you press "View my Pictures," it shouldn't be that effing hard. But they still screw it up.

Could you make new stickers for the confusing buttons?

LOL! Yes! I'll put Post-its on the TV screen. Ill put a little bottle of white out next to the TV in case they type something in wrong, so they can erase it and start again.

[s]
Send them billing request and charge them for your time.
File a 1041 onto their unpaid income/loss when this letter is ignored.
Report it on all three credit bureaus.
Destroy their credit standing for the next decade.
They will never be able to go to school or rent a car or buy a property again.
Destroy their credit. That'll teach 'em.
[/s]

No kidding. When one has to make a YouTube video (!) to explain how to watch TV, it's time to simplify.

Meh, I had a Harmony remote for a while. I used the "app" on my PC, and also used the website. Neither offered the flexibility that I wanted. It was just too basic. Yes, want to watch Apple TV, hit that button and that worked. Want to switch from AppleTV to XBox or DVD, hit those buttons, and crap goes haywire, unless you turn everything off first. Granted, the way certain devices communicate will determine how smoothly the programs work or don't. Does a specific device have a off/on toggle or is there a specific signal for on and a separate signal for off. I wasn't impressed. I would have almost preferred to have a regular programmable remote. In the end, that's pretty much what I did was program the thing to function more like a programmable remote. I got it because I wanted to make things simpler for the wife and only have one remote laying around. But she didn't like the thing, and so either relied on my to use it or just used the separate remotes.

And it's not that I'm not tech savvy. I'm very tech savvy, whether it's about AV gear, computers, or computer networks. Computer networking is what I do for a living at a pretty high level.
Yeah, they aren't that simple and you can get into trouble. I could swear there was a way to edit the names on the buttons via the programming, but it's been so long that I can't offer any advice on that.

I wonder if you would have less trouble by leaving the original remotes laying around. THat way people could just use the buttons that they are probably used to using on their own gear.

I would think that you should have a way of running the TV with the sound from the TV and basically just switching the "source" from input to input to input. THat would probably be much less confusing to people.

Seriously though:
Why has obtaining entertainment become a difficult thing these days?
(Especially when the customer has already paid.)

What happened to taking a book off the shelf, sitting down on a couch, and reading it?

Reading the above, I'd consider the possibility that they were purposely effing with you. Do these folks know you well enough to potentially prank you?

Have Smart TV, Cable TV, Apple TV, MacMini Running Kodi.
If you turn on or off the Cable, it operates the powerstrip to turn everything on or off.

To access the programming on the smart TV you use the smart TV remote.
To switch sources you use the one source button the the smart TV remote to cycle thru them.
Cable TV uses the cable TV remote
Apple TV uses the Apple TV remote
The Mac Mini uses an Apple Mac Mini remote (different from Apple TV remote)
The volume/mute on any of the remotes operates the volume on the receiver for surround.

If you turn off or reboot the mac mini it automatically runs Kodi media app on restart.

My 90 year old Mom that can't operate a smart phone can use it just fine.

Had one of those programmable touch screen remotes for a while. It took a while to program all the necessary buttons and features from all the remotes the first time but thankfully you could save the setup once done. Once setup it was the easiest to use by far. Mainly because you can position and label all the buttons. Got to be a hassle because it killed the recharable batteries often even with the charge stand. Then the setup had to be re-loaded.

Well, the mystery is solved.
Our house sitter came by to pick up her check this weekend. I asked what the heck happened to the AV system.
"Oh, my boyfriend came over and hooked up his X-Box."
She did ask if it was OK for her boyfriend to visit. She did not ask if it was OK for him to rearrange my AV system to suit himself.

So that explains why the cables were plugged in wrong and the settings were all screwed up. It didn't occur to me that anyone would be so rude (maybe irresponsible or selfish are better words) as to go mucking around the cabling of someone else's AV system. As far as I'm concerned it's the same as coming into someone else's house and rearranging their furniture. So now I'm going to add, "Don't TOUCH any of the cables, don't TOUCH the TV, don't TOUCH the AV box" to the video, and maybe a warning that if they screw up the system they aren't going to get paid.