Saturday, December 15, 2007
Yes, last night the TV blew up, with a very loud bang, a retina burning flash of light and kind of attractive wisps of smoke coming from the back of it. I was surprised the electricity stayed on and the windows stayed intact. It was a very loud bang.
The bad news: When the 5 year renewal date for cover came up in October last year we decided not to renew. Shit.
The good news: We were forced to buy a new TV and stand. It did cost a bomb, so why was this good news? Well, let me explain.
The new TV is a lovely Panasonic. Black finish, 32 inch widescreen, good sound quality, as thin as an After Eight mint, HD ready and with a built in Freeview box. (Not that built in Freeview box was ever a deciding factor. We have always relied on our cable box for TV pictures as our Aeriel reception has always been shit because of the... er... absence of an Aeriel. Lorraine told me a long time ago that the daft woman who lived in the house before us took the Aeriel with her from the loft when she left. I've never questioned that story. I stuck my head in the loft once, but have never actually been in there.)
As I have the physical dexterity of Laurel and Hardy, Lorraine put the stand together, hooked up the TV, DVD player and cable box, plugged in the Aeriel cable (although we knew that it would not produce much) and turned it all on. She went through the setup and... oooh, fantastic. Glorious pictures, great sound, etc.
The interesting thing was that the cable box was not switched on. Where were the pictures coming up? God? The future? (I have seen "Prince Of Darkness". Forget what the critics said about it. It is one of John Carpenter's best films.) No. They were coming from the digital Aeriel in the loft that neither of us knew anything about. It had been there for 6 years, at least.
So, where exactly did the story of the Aeriel being removed from the loft come from? Did Lorraine really believe that story or had she made it up? Maybe she been in the loft and just happened to miss it? Possibly. I am not going to pursue it.
We now have a cracking TV with Freeview and a few more channels. True, the TV cost a bomb, but we can live with that.
Inside every cloud there is a silver lining, and all that kind of thing...
On top of that Leon won "The X-Factor". Excellent. I didn't mind Rhydian, or Same Difference come to that, but it is nice to see the underdog win sometimes.
It has been a good day.
The bad news: When the 5 year renewal date for cover came up in October last year we decided not to renew. Shit.
The good news: We were forced to buy a new TV and stand. It did cost a bomb, so why was this good news? Well, let me explain.
The new TV is a lovely Panasonic. Black finish, 32 inch widescreen, good sound quality, as thin as an After Eight mint, HD ready and with a built in Freeview box. (Not that built in Freeview box was ever a deciding factor. We have always relied on our cable box for TV pictures as our Aeriel reception has always been shit because of the... er... absence of an Aeriel. Lorraine told me a long time ago that the daft woman who lived in the house before us took the Aeriel with her from the loft when she left. I've never questioned that story. I stuck my head in the loft once, but have never actually been in there.)
As I have the physical dexterity of Laurel and Hardy, Lorraine put the stand together, hooked up the TV, DVD player and cable box, plugged in the Aeriel cable (although we knew that it would not produce much) and turned it all on. She went through the setup and... oooh, fantastic. Glorious pictures, great sound, etc.
The interesting thing was that the cable box was not switched on. Where were the pictures coming up? God? The future? (I have seen "Prince Of Darkness". Forget what the critics said about it. It is one of John Carpenter's best films.) No. They were coming from the digital Aeriel in the loft that neither of us knew anything about. It had been there for 6 years, at least.
So, where exactly did the story of the Aeriel being removed from the loft come from? Did Lorraine really believe that story or had she made it up? Maybe she been in the loft and just happened to miss it? Possibly. I am not going to pursue it.
We now have a cracking TV with Freeview and a few more channels. True, the TV cost a bomb, but we can live with that.
Inside every cloud there is a silver lining, and all that kind of thing...
On top of that Leon won "The X-Factor". Excellent. I didn't mind Rhydian, or Same Difference come to that, but it is nice to see the underdog win sometimes.
It has been a good day.
Labels: Television
# posted by Pynchon @ 11:57 pm 
Comments:
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Digital TV just uses the normal analogue aerial, that's the cunning thing.
Wonder if you can claim back your cable subscription for the last 6 years ;-)
Wonder if you can claim back your cable subscription for the last 6 years ;-)
stef: I bow to your superior knowledge.
suburbanhen: It's big. Very big. And the TV ain't bad either.
suburbanhen: It's big. Very big. And the TV ain't bad either.
fuff: Well... The old TV was not exactly crap. We were very happy with it, but obviously having to upgrade suddenly opens up lots of possibilities that we were either unaware of or not interested in investigating.
Figuratively speaking of course. Ahem. I shall put my crappy old shovel down and step away from the hole now :)
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