For those familiar with electronics and electricity can you explain what happened last night? (NRQ) Non-religious question.

Was the remote squeezed between the couch seat cushions? If not, do you have a cat?

Ah, I do have a cat but she was sleeping beside me and went ballistic when the TV went off (it was not fun, I was used as a launch pad by four sharply clad paws) and the remote was set on the arm of the sofa. I was able to go and pick it up and turn the TV off again.

Is it safe to assume that the TV has a remote control?

Almost all remote control devices use infrared signaling to the TV. Infrared uses radio waves, just like an AM or FM station, but at a much different level in the radio spectrum. But because it is a radio wave, it is subject to interference from other emitters of radio waves (antennas, sunspots, phones, helicopters, you name it). Theoretically each level of the spectrum is supposed to be protected from other parts of the spectrum, so that you don’t get interference and crossover, but you can’t regulate sunspots.

My guess is that there was something that emitted an infrared signal and just the wrong frequency, and your TV picked that up and processed it. What was the thing that created the signal? I doubt we’ll ever know.

@elbanditoroso Yes it does have a remote. And, can I assume that since certain remotes only power certain objects, they operate on different frequencies? And that is why it would affect one but not the other?

@rojo, exactly right. Otherwise your garage door opener would turn on the stereo, for example.

Probably those black helicopters I keep not seeing interfered with the signal.

It could be anything. It could be a guy playing with some electronic equipment in his garage. It could be a ham radio operator that has a poorly adjusted transmitter. And it could be black helicopters. I doubt you’ll ever find out, unless it is repeated.

The FCC likes to know if there is interference, but they want lots of technical details.

This happens with our stereo from time to time, and it always scares the shit out of me! I blame it on my cats, but who knows…maybe it’s the ghost in the machine.

It looks like the reason it turned on is being covered in the answers above.

Was the volume actually on a different number than you usually keep it on? Like at level 40 when you usually watch it on 10? The TV can sound like it is blaring in the middle of the night even though it is on the typical volume level you watch during the day.

A thought about the volume: If you have cable, do you have the volume on the TV set to a high level, and then control the volume through the cable or universal remote? (That’s how ours works.) If just the TV got turned on, and not the cable, that could explain why the volume was so high.

Is it a Vizio? We had one that did that shit for a few weeks after we bought it, sounded like a damn fog horn, I’m pretty sure it caused some hearing damage to everyone in the house. Then one day it just stopped doing it and its worked perfect ever since.

Scared the shit out of my son one time, he just happened to be in the room when it did it, he let out the most blood curdling scream…..LMFAO, I wish I had it on video.

@cheebdragon no, it is an older Toshiba. I have never had this problem before and I guess if it doesn’t do it again, it is actually not much of a problem.
@augustlan Good observation. It is actually set up like that so that is definitely something that could have happened. I do not recall which we were using to control the volume. I do know that it was very definitely much, much louder that we had it set on, even giving the stillness of the early morning.

I wonder, if we were using the cable box to control the tv volume, it would also be what was turned off, and if it was the box that actually turned off. Why could I get a station/channel on the television at 3 in the morning if the cable box was not on? But, then again, I turned the tv off with the remote and other than pushing the power button, I did not adjust it so whatever it had turned off originally should have been what turned off after it came back on. Unless, as @elbanditoroso said, it was the remote. If it turned it on by itself, why could it not also change what the remote controlled at the same time.

When our kids were teenagers we used to go outside with the spare remote and mess with them while they were watching tv. We would change the channels and the volume on them. I’m sure that no one is messing with you this way but it made me think of that. :-)

Sure sounds like a religious question to me.

No seriously, my guess is that @elbanditoroso is guessing correctly. Either there was a bizarre burst of infrared emissions that just happened to turn the set on and jack the volume to the max; or, as @Judi suggests, some neighborhood Macgyver-like kids have rigged a remote with enough power to penetrate windows and drapes and launch your cat into orbit.

Does the TV have sleep or alarm mode? The remote may have been set to go off at a certain time.

@Tropical_Willie if it does, we have never used it and I am not familiar with it. I will look when I get home today.

Dumb question number TWO . Are you on a a cable or satellite system where they sent an update download to your box on the TV?