The ghost in the machine

I had the television on for “warmth” and was listening to (not watching) a few minutes of the Murdaugh murder trial when the voices got louder. Were they shouting about something? I looked up and saw the volume rising of its accord. And then dropping down to zero.

Trying to control the volume with either of two remotes — TV, Roku — was hopeless. I’d coax the sound upward only to see it drop down again even as I was pressing Volume Up. Or I’d watch the volume rise further after getting it back to a reasonable level.

I removed the batteries from both remotes. The volume continued to rise and fall.

I looked around the Internets and discovered that rising and falling volume is a common problem with televisions these days. A Sanyo problem? A Roku problem? Hard to say. I tried unplugging the television and waiting thirty seconds before plugging in. No luck. I tried a mysterious Roku remote trick: hit Home five times, hit the Up arrow once, hit Rewind and Fast Forward twice apiece. That’s supposed to reboot the Roku. No luck. One YouTube video advised that it may be necessary to repeat these steps several times. I did. No luck.

I finally figured out that the problem was a Sanyo problem: because when I hit Menu on the TV remote (now with fresh batteries), menu options would flash on and off and on and off the screen. When the options finally displayed long enough for me to select Sound, I chose Automatic, and lo: the volume was once again under my thumb. Although the word automatic better describes what the volume was doing without me.

[Post title from Gilbert Ryle.]