TV problem

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
I bought a 13" Panasonic TV/VCR combo at the thrift store. I checked out the picture before I bought it by playing a tape. It looked great. I figured for 25 beans it would come in handy as a monitor, plus as a portable tv for the van so the kids could watch on our frequent road trips.

But that's just not enough, is it? No, I had to run a new cable line to my workstation so I could get TV programming there. The problem is that it didn't come with a remote, so I can't tell it to do that magic search where it finds all of your stations. I get a dozen or so fuzzy channels, most of which show up in a diffenent place than they usually do. I know the cable line is fine, because I tested it through another device. I bought a universal remote, but after I programmed it, the only thing it would do was change channels and adjust the volume. The power button wouldn't even work, nevermind the menu.

Anyway, does anybody have any suggestions? I contacted Panasonic, but haven't heard back. The model is discontinued, as is the remote. I could buy one for about 50 bucks used online, but that seems a little silly.

Thanks.
 
You can usually access the menu through a combination of button presses on the TV itself. Try pushing both Channel buttons at the same time (or volume buttons if channel doesn't work).
 
That sounded like a good idea. In fact, I ran downstairs just knowing it would work. But it didn't. Thanks anyway Horse.
 
Most universal remotes will allow you to go into the menu functions of TV's. You can find one for about 10 bucks.
 
I've tried 2 different universals. I did both the auto seek programming, and programmed them manually. All they do is change the cheannles and adjust the volume.

I guess I can go buy another one.
 
My guess is that the last person who owned your TV couldn't get it to comply either....That's how it ended up in a thrift store!
 
After 4 different remotes I finally found one that would work. This one was a little different in that it had separate codes for TV/VCR combos. None of the other ones had that. 8 bucks. Works great. I never did hear back from Panasonic though, which is a little disappointing.
 
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