I came across a story this morning on the abc website. Apparently Prince Philip has trouble operating his television.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/11/2710642.htm
Whilst on the face of it a funny annecdote, It highlights a serious issue.

Modern televisions are too hard to operate. Todays TVs are jam packed with exciting technologies and acronyms, but are mired by terrible user interfaces. The article highlights the remote, which it states has \"merely grown\", and is packed full of never used buttons.

I would go further and highlight other problems inherent in TV design:

• Settings that don\'t explain what they do, such as \'advanced film mode\'
• Useless technologies that don\'t enhance but infact degrade the picture, such as \'600 Hz technology\'
• Lack of the right buttons on remote controls, such as discrete buttons to select each input

Luckily there are solutions out there, and this is something that Carlton Audio Visual has been doing for years. Control systems allow you to take hold of your television and operate it the way you want it to operate. Remote controls can be customised to the users liking and any superflous buttons can be removed. Macros can be programmed so a single button can setup the telvision to watch a DVD or setup a recording.

Obviously this will depend on the television as to how much control we can get out of it, but with a good quality set we can take control of it via serial and make it operate the way you like. Carlton Audio Visual has been douing this for many years now and are well versed at taming the savage television beast.

Now although we are geographically challenged out here in the farther reaches of the commonwealth, but we\'d be more than happy to help, Prince Philip. We would start with a consultative approach, determine exactly how you would like the television to operate and from there we can try to make a television that works the way you want it to. I\'ll admit, its not going to be cheap, but I reckon you and the missus can afford it.

So if your frustration gets the better of you, then please feel free to make contact with us and we can help make your TV watching a pleasant experience. We\'re even happy to help out any non-royals too.