Our television died. There was no doubt about it - the picture faded in from the edges and then vanished, replaced by a blue dot and then nothingness.
We called the guy who helps us with things like these, and he came right over. He and TBG discussed features and measured heights and widths and then measured again. We went to Best Buy on-line and found the television he was recommending for $500 less than he was charging.
We bought it, arranged for delivery, and today men and machine converged in my living room.
One on a ladder, attaching and combining and reattaching cables to components of various capabilities, the other coiling discards and directing the cabling. For a while, TBG and I sat on the couch, but we drifted away when it became clear that the language being spoken was unintellligible to us. Random strings of letters were agreed to without question; we were clearly out of our league.
Fifteen minutes after the delivery men departed, our new 60" Samsung SmartTV was up and running. The next half hour was spent adjusting the picture and changing passwords and explaining. At one point there were 5 remote controllers on the coffee table. By the end of the installation, we were down to 2... and 1 if all we want to do is watch cable programming.
There is a small and lovely device which I admired, but which was consigned to the unnecessary bag despite my protests. I didn't care that much about it, once I convinced them to rename the HDMI icons to reflect what they were controlling. And really, denizens, I don't care that much about that, either.
As an aside, I wondered about boosting the wi-fi signal to the bedrooms on the other side of the house. Sure, I wanted him to do it... now??? .... why not... and soon thereafter we were the proud owners of a newly named network, with a simple to remember but hard for an outsider to deduce password, and 100% connectivity in the guest rooms.
If I'm going to be an enticing venue for children and grandchildren, it behooves me to be appropriately wired.
While all the setting up was happening, many features were turned on or off. We don't have a camera so the Motion Sensor was unnecessary. We're not looking for privacy locks or V-chip protections. But I was intrigued by the Voice Activation feature.
"You mean I could turn on the tv by talking to it?!?!"
Yes, it turns out that I can. It also turns out that that feature requires the television to be listening to everything that is said in my living room at all times, even when the tv isn't on, in order for it to be responsive when I say the magic words.
"Somebody somewhere is capable of listening to you at any time of the day or night. Do you know if they are recording and saving this data?"
Those were the issues Dave the AV Guy raised, and I had to agree; I gave up that feature because it was too creepy.
I don't want my tv listening to me.
No, I do not.
Praise glory HALLELUJAH there is a functioning TV in your living room!!!!
ReplyDeleteYES there is... and we would LOVE to show it to you ASAP!! AND there is wi-fi in your bedroom!
Deletea/b (mama)
We have the Samsung 50" and I absolutely LOVE it. The picture is just amazing. I don't think ours has the voice activation, but even if it did, I wouldn't want to use it. I don't mind using a remote or my daughter can use her Samsung tablet or phone to control the TV. She loves doing that when the remote is by us and she can control the TV from some other place in the house.
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your new TV. I'm sure you will love yours as much as we love ours.
Megan xxx
OOOO, I have a Samsung phone that would work, too..... thank your darling daughter for the suggestion... and the fiendishness it will inspire :)
Deletea/b
Maybe it's because we watch very little tv except for news and a few recorded programs, but we are living in the stone age as far as tvs are concerned. Our model, a 19 inch something or other, has sat on the wall unit shelf for about 21 years. Oh, wait, that's also how old Terry's car is. We ARE prehistoric.
ReplyDeletePrehistoric, perhaps.... but loved here in The Burrow nonetheless. G'ma had an old tv, too... and we couldn't donate it to anyplace except the refugee family which LOVES it. Now, a 21 year old car... that's another issue!
Deletea/b
I realized I mistyped the age of Terry's car. It is actually 24 years old! We drove it to Yosemite last week and it did just fine. Just like tv!
DeleteOh, my.... the longest I had a car was 103,000 miles over about 10 years. I did love that Audi <3
Deletea/b
I got a headache just reading this, can't imagine making it work here. I would someday like a bigger screen TV but this one has to fail and so far it's going great. It did get Netflix streaming added this year so that we can watch Longmire when it comes out and maybe find old movies we haven't seen but would like to. I am so non-techie. I want to only learn the very minimum
ReplyDeleteI learned nothing new, Rain. That's why we have the AV guys come and connect everything. Then, they sit down and explain it all to us...slowly... simply... giving me time to write things down...that's why I wanted the information on the screen to be more than HDMI1.. I need it to say CABLE.
DeleteThe quality of the picture is amazing (see Megan's comment above), but if ours hadn't died we would never have replaced it (see Jenny - Little Cuter - comment above)
a/b
I don't find it odd that you turned the voice-activated feature off. After all, to each his own, although the innovation of that idea is genius, at most. Admittedly, I would've probably left it on. Hahaha! At any rate, I hope no issues will rise upon your new TV. It sounds like you'll be having tons of fun with it, anyway. Hahaha! Thanks for sharing that, Ashleigh! All the best to you!
ReplyDeleteBrian Hopkins @ Microtips USA