My 86-year old mom lives in an adult family home and shares a room with one person. She loves watching movies so I just got her a new Insignia (Best Buy brand, made by LG) 26" LCD TV with a built-in DVD player. She only watches movies and the house cable isn't even hooked up to her TV. We want to get her a remote that has the following main functions: Power, Vol +/-, Mute. She gets help from the caregiver staff when loading a DVD and with wearing her headphones. I found this "Tek Pal" remote and it is just about perfect - [Link: shop1.laservers.com]

She won't use the Channel up/down buttons but everything else looks good. She primarily needs big buttons and minimal "clutter" with the new remote. Does anyone know if this remote will work with her new TV? She doesn't really even need a Play button for the DVDs (most are backup copies from her VHS collection) and the caregiver staff can use the original Insignia remote to navigate around a DVD menu if needed.

On the face of it I think it should, but to confirm you'd be better off contacting them direct or asking a question via their support page.

I sent them a question but there has been no reply. I dug a bit deeper into their FAQ page and found this response:

18. Q. I have recently purchased a Big Button remote to go with an INSIGNIA TV. I cannot locate the code to use even when I go through the POWER SEARCH mode. Can you provide the correct code for me to enable the remote?
A. At the present time there is not a code for the INSIGNIA brand TVs and TV/VCR/DVD combo units. Since thousands of new electronic devices are added every year, we do the best we can to keep up with all the new models and try to add the codes in our upcoming versions of the remotes.
[Link: bigbuttonremotes.com]

I may have to rule out Hy-Tek's Tek Pal big button remote b/c it is seemingly not compatible with Insignia (LG) TVs but I found the Flipper - http://www.flipperremote.com/? . The Amazon.com reviews are good and it looks like the Flipper can learn codes.

Seems like a reasonable alternative. Now are you going to upload the manual to RC or am I?

Flipper Support just confirmed that it is a learning remote. I'm going to order it today - you can get the instruction manual at this Flipper Support page - [Link: flipperremote.com]

We just got the Flipper remote today. The instructions are fairly intuitive and I taught it the Vol +/- & On/Off commands from Mom's Insignia TV. It also learned Play, Stop & On/Off for her Dynex DVD player. The Flipper's Mute button is now On/Off for the Dynex and the green Power button controls the Insignia's power. I had to re-label all of the buttons on the Flipper's upper face so that she could understand.

The IR seems to be great and I like that it has 2 transmitters. In a perfect world it would be nice to be able to reassign buttons but for my mom's situation this hsould work nicely. She doesn't use cable (or sat) and the Insignia LCD tv is strictly a monitor for the Dynex DVD player. If a person did use a set top box (STB) Flipper has a way to control both the TV & STB with their "Dual" programming feature.

One more thing: The Flipper can be locked once the (re)programming is complete! This is great for us (as caregivers) b/c Mom loves to fiddle with things. I've already taped the slide-down door in place......

I received an e-mail response from BigButtonRemotes.com (Hy-Tek Mfg.) today and the answer to my question (Can I use the Tek Pal remote to control Volume/Mute/Power on my Insignia NS-LDVD26Q-10A television?) is:

"Yes you can. Just scan until you match the TV to the correct code."

This contradicts their own FAQ page. Doesn't matter anyway as the Insignia NS-LDVD26Q-10A LCD/DVD combo has been returned (defective) and we exchanged it for an Insignia LCD monitor (22") and Dynex DVD player.

Btw, code 045 controls mom's 22" Insignia LCD tv (under 1 month old). We're not using this code as I made the Flipper learn codes in "STB" (Set Top Box) mode in order to control the basic functions of her tv & dvd player.

A 2002 forum note just helped me in my search for a remote that learns and is simple to use, big buttons etc. Thanks for the help.

David