For the question, just skip to the bottom.
Uhg, I hate eBay. I order stuff from Amazon weekly or from other sites if Amazon doesn't have it, but every now and then I tell myself, "eBay will have it and have a good deal." So a few weeks ago, I decided to order an xBox 360. I could have went and bought one new, but i'm not a gamer and just wanted something to play a few games I do own from when old room mates and I shared a system. So I order a used one on eBay, seller had 100% feedback rating, all seemed good. It took her a WEEK to even ship it. I ordered the one I did because it was from Louisville, I expected to have it in a couple days, 3 - 4 days max. Nope, took over 5 days just to ship. No big deal, I got it. The controller she provided was broken... no big deal, ordered one on Amazon, arrived next day. Gotta love Amazon.
Ah, crud. I don't have the cables I need to hook it up to my TV. So I had it connected my large monitor I use on my media PC via HDMI. Sadly though, no audio when connected via HDMI to a monitor as the monitor doesn't have speakers... But at least now I can play in silence.
Oh great, it appears the system has a parental lock on it! I can't play Call of Duty, can't play GTA... I have to keep sending messages back and forth to the seller until I get the proper unlock code. Meanwhile, I ordered the cable I need to connect to my TV.
Cable arrives. It's for the OLD xbox, not the 360. Order a new one.
Yay, the right cable arrives. I can finally play the xBox with sound and on an actual TV. I dust my old TV off and get it all setup. But wait, I can't change the input source as I don't have a remote to this TV. I lost it years ago. I get a universal remote...
The universal remote, no matter what I do, won't bind to the damn TV. I tried the autoprogram and looked up the codes for this TV online. It will not work. No matter how what I do or how much I cuss at it.
UHG. So I order a replacement FACTORY remote on eBay... seller with 100% feedback... took them 4 days to ship the damn thing, but they finally put it in a box and mailed it. This is the exact remote that came with my TV. Guess what arrived today? The remote. Guess what doesn't work? The remote....
So much friggin' hassle just so I can kick back and play a couple hours of games each week. All I want to do is change my TV channel to 'input' and I can't do it without a remote. The remotes I have don't work. I don't even watch TV, it's rotten stuff, though I have a nice media PC for Netfix and whatnot.
At this point I'm either buying a new TV so I have a friggin' TV/remote combo that works (Which I don't want to do) or am just selling the xBox, the few games I do have...
So, my question is: Is there some black magic that I do not know about for getting a replacement factory remote to work with a TV that it did not ship with? (But is the same remote for that TV model?) Very frustrating ordeal here for something that should be generally just plug-n-play.
EDIT: May help to list the TV and remote. It's just an old junker: Emerson EWF2004 TV and this is the remote I purchased: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321484124725?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Uhg, I hate eBay. I order stuff from Amazon weekly or from other sites if Amazon doesn't have it, but every now and then I tell myself, "eBay will have it and have a good deal." So a few weeks ago, I decided to order an xBox 360. I could have went and bought one new, but i'm not a gamer and just wanted something to play a few games I do own from when old room mates and I shared a system. So I order a used one on eBay, seller had 100% feedback rating, all seemed good. It took her a WEEK to even ship it. I ordered the one I did because it was from Louisville, I expected to have it in a couple days, 3 - 4 days max. Nope, took over 5 days just to ship. No big deal, I got it. The controller she provided was broken... no big deal, ordered one on Amazon, arrived next day. Gotta love Amazon.
Ah, crud. I don't have the cables I need to hook it up to my TV. So I had it connected my large monitor I use on my media PC via HDMI. Sadly though, no audio when connected via HDMI to a monitor as the monitor doesn't have speakers... But at least now I can play in silence.
Oh great, it appears the system has a parental lock on it! I can't play Call of Duty, can't play GTA... I have to keep sending messages back and forth to the seller until I get the proper unlock code. Meanwhile, I ordered the cable I need to connect to my TV.
Cable arrives. It's for the OLD xbox, not the 360. Order a new one.
Yay, the right cable arrives. I can finally play the xBox with sound and on an actual TV. I dust my old TV off and get it all setup. But wait, I can't change the input source as I don't have a remote to this TV. I lost it years ago. I get a universal remote...
The universal remote, no matter what I do, won't bind to the damn TV. I tried the autoprogram and looked up the codes for this TV online. It will not work. No matter how what I do or how much I cuss at it.
UHG. So I order a replacement FACTORY remote on eBay... seller with 100% feedback... took them 4 days to ship the damn thing, but they finally put it in a box and mailed it. This is the exact remote that came with my TV. Guess what arrived today? The remote. Guess what doesn't work? The remote....
So much friggin' hassle just so I can kick back and play a couple hours of games each week. All I want to do is change my TV channel to 'input' and I can't do it without a remote. The remotes I have don't work. I don't even watch TV, it's rotten stuff, though I have a nice media PC for Netfix and whatnot.
At this point I'm either buying a new TV so I have a friggin' TV/remote combo that works (Which I don't want to do) or am just selling the xBox, the few games I do have...
So, my question is: Is there some black magic that I do not know about for getting a replacement factory remote to work with a TV that it did not ship with? (But is the same remote for that TV model?) Very frustrating ordeal here for something that should be generally just plug-n-play.
EDIT: May help to list the TV and remote. It's just an old junker: Emerson EWF2004 TV and this is the remote I purchased: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321484124725?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649