TCL 40s325
 

This latest roadside find is a Roku set. It has a strange problem. It forgets it's remote. It has only a single power button on the set. But I can always "find it" on my universal remote. Now, that sounds like a battery problem with the universal remote but new batteries didn't fix it.
So, I am wondering if it requires the OEM remote to communicate as it might be a bidirectional remote that hops around with different codes (like spread spectrum).
It will do 4K. It has HDMI, composite, and USB but no network or VGA. It has a reset button on the input panel like maybe they don't have their software perfected. Built in March, 21 in Vietnam.

Nice find. Have to wonder how a TV that isn't even 2 years old wound up on the side of the road.

I'm not following you. What exactly do you mean when you say your television "forgets" its own remote? This should not happen. The remote which came with your TV was built and programmed to operate the set, with the remote functions likely permanently burned into an IC. There is no way, that I am aware of, anyway, the programming IC could "lose" its information if this is the case.

I cannot see how, for the life of me, a factory remote would or could "forget" its own programming, for reasons I just mentioned. These remotes are, again, factory-programmed in such a way that it is impossible for the controller to lose its programming, even if the batteries go dead. Programming for special functions of the television may be lost if the batteries fail, but the basic functions (power on/off, volume +/-, channel up/down, mute) will still work, even if there are no batteries in the remote or if the batteries get weak or go dead.

The remote pairs to the TV via Bluetooth.

Maybe that's why it was chucked to the road!

Go to the TCL website and get you a remote. Problem solved as the universal ones dont work well with these Roku sets.

What is so special about original TCL remotes, and why do universal remotes not work very well with TCL Roku televisions? Unless there is something incredibly special about TCL Roku remotes and TVs (special IR control signals, for example), I am at a loss to explain why universal remotes do not work, well or at all, with TCL Roku sets. Universal remotes, after all, are supposed to be designed to work with almost any IR-controlled TV. Again, the only thing I can think of which would prevent any standard universal remote from working with a TCL Roku TV is if these televisions use very special IR control signals, which only an OEM TCL Roku remote can produce.