LG’s $1,800 TV for seniors comes with an upcharge and AI button

Op-ed: A dumb TV would be better.

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[Voix des Airs]

I haven't read all the posts here yet so this may be redundant but...

I got a new LG OLED over the summer. My previous TV was also an LG OLED and I can say without reservation that LG's new remote and interface is terrible. It's incredibly annoying and unintuitive. One of the worst consumer UIs I've yet to come across. Really, really bad

 

[Voix des Airs]

You can buy 'service remotes' for LGs for about $10 that have just about every button imaginable. They can be used to invoke service mode to change settings you can't normally reach, but most people don't need that. All those buttons are sure nice, though, like instant input switchers.

The UI will remain unchanged, but you may be able to skip past some of it by using the dedicated buttons.

Cool. Thanks. I'll check that out.

 

[Voix des Airs]

I tell you what... That lg remote still looks like crap and the jubilee one looks like one catered to the older crowd. I'm 43 and can tell this. Apparently they had little input from actual old people.

The problem with LG's interface in general, and doubly so with the new interface, is that it is entirely nested-menu-, and now app-, based. All operated via an on-screen pointer. And that pointer is controlled by, generally quite finicky, accelerometers in the remote. (If you ever played Okami on the Wii then you know what a total pain in the ass this can be.)

Changing inputs is via either an app, or trying to navigate a massively cluttered home-screen where there are several rows of "apps" that scrolls way, way, way off the right hand side of the screen (supposedly you can rearrange/delete things from the home screen but that doesn't really work right and it will usually forget any changes you make almost immediately). And both the input change app and home-screen are generally slow to load and then once loaded require navigating around with the remote accelerometers and then for some reason take more than one "click" to select the input you want. It also all seems to be trying to integrate with LG's home automation system (called something, I forget) that neither I, nor anyone I know, have ever seen, let alone have.

To use this you generally, but not always, have to first get the remote's and tv's attention by quite vigorously shaking the remote.

And to the poster above who mentioned keeping the old remote - that doesn't really solve the problems because the whole UI system has changed.

Anyway... I'm not in the demographic for the "senior" UI and remote but I have grandparents and it's not so much a question of understanding the new system (it's really, really inconsistent and unobvious - regardless of age or skill with technology you basically have to just memorize it) it's that it's hard to even physically navigate the interface because of the precision hand/arm motion needed to do so. If you've got shaky hands or other motion issues it's gonna be really hard to use. And even if that isn't a problem for you, it can still be annoying since you basically can't operate the TV if you aren't literally right in front of it. Although the remote is RF and will operate from basically anywhere, if you aren't holding it like a laser pointer pointed at the TV it's hard to direct to on-screen pointer to the right place on the screen.

LG's used this Magic Remote pointer thing for a long time, they've just made it worse this year.

Also - I've never tried because I don't use any of the built-in streaming services (I don't connect the TV to the network at all) so I don't know how play/pause/FF/RW/etc. work with those since there aren't any buttons for that.

 

[Voix des Airs]

At least with LG, you can buy aftermarket 'service' remotes that cost about $10, and have tons of buttons the official remotes don't have. They'll allow you access to the service mode, which lets you change settings you're not normally allowed to reach, but they're better as actual remotes, too.

edit: well, they were $10. I have no idea what they cost in the era of tariffs.

second edit: I looked, and it's now $6.60. It's actually gone down.

Just FYI for anyone who cares. The cheap service remotes (often labeled "replacement") are (look to be ) all the same, regardless of brand, cheap, unknown 3rd party devices. The genuine LG service remote is around $70. The cheap ones are probably fine(?), I don't know. I don't have either and can't say, but if you care, just maybe be aware that that's what they are.

 

[Voix des Airs]

I have a cheapie and it seems fine, although I don't use it very much. The regular remote works for what I do with it, mostly.

Thanks. I appreciate the info.

I got the newest LG remote with a new OLED TV I got a couple of months ago and it's awful. I can't imagine what they were thinking. From the lack of things like mute and input select buttons to the fact that all the controls (what few there are) are the same texture as, and are flush with, the surface to basically everything. It's awful. If we didn't need to use it for some things we never would.

 

[Voix des Airs]

If they work only half as long, you buy another one for $10 instead of buying one for $70 that lasts twice as long

Yeah. But I'm not a fan of e-waste. Repeatedly buying, throwing out then rebuying isn't a thing I do if I don't have to.