Televisions have evolved tremendously in recent years. Previously they only allowed us to watch TV channels, now we can watch streaming content, download apps, surf the web and even control other smart home devices with our voice. All of this would not be possible without the tremendous evolution of networks and infrastructures that give life to the IoT devices that surround us. Again, we can still learn a lot from the televisions of past years.

We can do pretty much anything on a Smart TV today, but there are still functions that are used in traditional tube TVs that, although really useful, cannot be performed today for various reasons. The function that we will talk about in this article, Possibility of countdown on TV to change channel automatically when it reaches zero, it’s a feature that some models had years ago and that we no longer have.

A function where you don’t have to worry about ad time

This function called ‘R.SURF’ on some Samsung TVs or ‘Commercial SKIP scheduler’ On certain RCA models, it allowed to set up a countdown to a specific channel to automatically return after the time has elapsed. While it’s really nothing complicated to implement, it’s a function that can be very useful to us today, especially because most chains now warn us against announcement time. This feature can help us get rid of ads, return to the network after the break time has passed, without missing anything of the program we are watching.

Normally, if the feature is built into the TV, included via a dedicated button for the remote control. We increased the countdown time by pressing the button repeatedly. This time can be set to up to five minutes, as we saw in one of the guides for the Samsung CL29K40PQ, CL29K40MQ and CL29M40MQ. It’s a pity, because today the ad space can take up to 7 minutes.

This feature has not gone unnoticed since it was first designed for these TVs, but It is an example of how manufacturers still have room to learn about these outdated models.. It’s true that we have more distractions today than before for not paying attention to ads, but today it can be more than welcome.