Odd tv oddity

[Captain Jack]

I have a relatively old 19" Samsung TV (SyncMaster?) in our bedroom and it has a peculiar 'feature'. Whenever I use my Samsung S7 phone, the blue power light comes on, though the TV itself remains on.

What's odd is that the TV doesn't have any of the "smart" features or networking connection of any kind. Certainly no Bluetooth. Likewise, my S7 phone is relatively old and only WiFi and mobile connections are switched on. I've no idea what it's doing or how it's interacting...

Thoughts?

 

[hvdh]

Bad EMC of the TV circuitry I think.
Similar to these noises heard sometimes in audio equipment.
Or my Dell laptop screen going black intermittently, when my phone lies next to it!

 

[Captain Jack]

Well, the TV isn't even on to start with! EMC does sound plausible though.

 

[Lazarus]

Just enclose it in a steel box. That'll give it all the immunity it needs.

 

[sonnetpete]

Reminds me vaguely of the early remote control tv's, which utilised ultrasonics. After installation, we used to bewilder the clients by jangling our van keys to change channels...

 

[PaulR]

My grandmother had one of those early ultrasonic R/C TVs. My mother could turn the TV off simply by clearing her throat!

 

[2cvbloke]

Thoughts are the phone has an infrared emitter and receiver combo, the two little holes to the left of the earpiece, to detect when you place the phone next to your ear and shut off the screen (so you're not accidentally face-dialling mid-call), it's possible the television is picking this IR signal up and "responding" to it, though it doesn't know what to do with the signal aside from flash the LED...

I did think maybe it was an IR Blaster issue, but it seems they dropped that feature with the S7...

 

[Captain Jack]

Yep, defo doesn't have IR (my S6 does). Interesting about the proximity sensor - is that IR?

 

[2cvbloke]

Interesting about the proximity sensor - is that IR?

Yep, if you look at the sensor with a camera, you can see the IR LED blinking away akin to a remote control's IR LED...