The remote takes more physical abuse than every other component put together — dropped, sat on, spilled on, fed to a toddler. It is also the first thing to blame and, satisfyingly often, genuinely at fault. Before anyone books a callout, it is worth ruling out.
The thirty-second checks
- Fresh batteries, correct way round. Weak batteries produce exactly the "only works up close, at an angle" behaviour people describe.
- Point a phone camera at the remote's LED and press a button — most phone cameras see infrared, so you will spot a light the naked eye cannot. No light, dead remote.
- Check the decoder's front-panel buttons still respond. If they do, the decoder is fine and the remote is not.
Pairing and the two-remote problem
Explora remotes pair to their decoder over RF rather than plain infrared, which is why they work through a cabinet door — and why they lose pairing after a battery change or a factory reset. Re-pairing is a documented sequence, not a repair, and we will walk you through it on the phone at no charge rather than sell you a callout for it.
Volume that will not work
Volume lives on your TV, not the decoder, so the decoder remote has to be taught your TV's brand code before that button does anything. Every set-up we do includes this, and it is a five-minute fix if a previous installer skipped it.
Brands we fit and service
The remote control market splits into hardware built for South African conditions and lookalikes that fail at the first hard season. These are the manufacturers we trust on our installations:
- DStv (MultiChoice) A7/B5 remotes
- universal replacements
See our brand guides for how these manufacturers compare.
When the remote control goes wrong
These are the failures we're called to most often — each with its symptoms, causes and our fix on the dedicated problems page:
- Remote control not responding — The decoder ignores the remote entirely, or responds only from very close range or at an angle.
- Remote will not control TV volume — The remote changes channels perfectly but does nothing to the volume, forcing you to use two remotes.
- Explora remote lost its pairing — An Explora remote that worked yesterday now does nothing, typically right after a battery change, a power outage or a de…
Need this fixed or installed?
Our Decoder Installation & Setup service covers remote control work — from R350, quoted upfront and backed by our 12-month workmanship warranty.