By Klaus Jakobsen, developer of A Decent Remote Panasonic kept real buttons on their TVs longer than most brands, which makes the no-remote input switch a solved problem on every model year, even the ones no app can control.
How do I switch inputs with the buttons on the TV?
Face the TV and reach around the rear left edge (some models: bottom edge). You’re feeling for a small cluster: power, volume, channel, and an F or MENU button. The dance: hold F/MENU until a function list draws on screen, step through it to Input Select (repeated presses of F/MENU or the channel keys, model-depending), then use volume +/- to pick the input and confirm with F/MENU. Thirty seconds once you know the pattern.
When can my iPhone do this instead?
On every Viera through the 2018 model year, immediately and permanently. These sets accept network control with no pairing whatsoever:
- iPhone on the same Wi-Fi as the TV.
- Open A Decent Remote; the Viera appears and connects with no PIN and no prompt.
- Inputs, volume, apps, navigation and media keys are now on the phone.
It’s the easiest brand in the entire lineup, which makes the next part more annoying.
What about 2019 and newer sets?
From 2019, Panasonic encrypted their control protocol with per-device keys, and no third-party app can drive those sets; apps claiming otherwise fail after install. A Decent Remote detects a 2019+ set and says so plainly rather than pretending (the full story). For those TVs: the button dance above, Panasonic’s own app where your model is supported, or a $10 generic IR remote, which decades of stable Panasonic IR codes make a near-certain fix. HDMI-CEC also helps daily: wake the streaming box you want and the TV switches to it by itself.
