What are the signals traveling through a tv remote?

Answer 1

Television remote controls use light to communicate with televisions.

Infra-red light is invisible to the human eye but it is a very effective way of sending data across a short distance. To send a message, the light is sent in a pattern of flashes. When the pattern is received by the television and decoded, it will become a number or perhaps a pair of numbers that the television will use to do a specific task. Every button on the remote has a different number value that is encoded into a string of flashes.

Different remote controls use a wide range of different encoded patterns so remotes for one item of equipment won't interfere with other units.