The new smart television arrived on Thursday, a dialysis day. That means I was not at top form when I opened the package and attempted to set it up for use. And I made a simple but critical mistake: I put the HDMI-1 line in the HDMI-2 port. So, for four days, I was without Internet or television for a simple error.
Yes, that is the new smart television in the larger photo above. And yes, Dougy (in photo with new television) and Andy both had to check it out, though they’ve never (as far as I know) jumped on the television stand before. Not a good sign! Anyway, they sniffed it, wondered how to incorporate it into their daily routine because they are cats.
That’s Andy by the recliner in the upper right hand, trying to decide if he should shoo Dougy off the television stand so he can check it out or wait till Dougy satisfies his curiosity. He waited. Besides, Dougy was more concerned Andy was by his ottoman than that there was something new in his “zone” so quickly returned there when Andy showed up.
Shortly before the cable company technician arrived and just after the cable company tech support person called me to let me know the technician was on his way – to help me on a Sunday at 2:30 pm no less! – I learned what HDMI-1 and HDMI-2 mean and which gizmo operates off each one. That is to say, I realized after the cable people made a special effort to squeeze me into their support fix-it schedule what I needed to do to regain the Internet and to complete the simple setup of my new smart television. Gad!
Did I mention the technician arrived five minutes after my epiphany?
Yes, I did read the instructions from the start, but I had difficulty reading the small molded-in identifications on the two HDMI ports, which are identical in shape and size, a classic Murphy’s Law situation. Oh, and the port IDs are molded in black plastic in excruciatingly tiny letters.
And how have you been in my absence? Good?
We don’t have TV here, but the Internet and computers can be a bear from time to time. Sorry to hear about the 4 day outage, Doug. Good to see you back!
Thanks! In some ways, it was a welcome change.
Yep,mommy says the bigger things get the smaller the purrint becomes and the older her eyes are. MOL Glad ya’ got things workin’ again. Big hugs
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
Thanks! It is amazing how that works. I even got an updated glasses prescription recently and it made no difference.
Dad got one of this TV’s earlier this year, too. It came with a stand, too, but he hung it up on the wall out of my reach instead! I tried to find a place to scale up to it, but haven’t yet. Maybe I’ll come over and watch TV with Andy and Dougy. Tee hee hee.
Yeah, and you could take turns knocking it over! (It only weighs 9.5 pounds, much lighter than the one it replaces, an eleven year old model.) I think I’d like it hanging on the wall, though the cordfs are an eyesore as it is. I hide them a little bit behind SpongeBob Squarepants.
We’ll join you, Valentine! Our dad put other metal things on the shelf in front of ours. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty.
they should include a video showing how to set it up.It could be downloaded from their site onto their phone.No fussy no muss!
The included a diagram showing where things plugged in, with the connection shape shown. It should have got me from point A to point B.
those darn points are just too pointy.
And how!
my parents got a new smart tv; and between the 5 people at the house at the time of delivery; attempting to set it up; they still had to call the cable provider because it wasn’t working like it should; I think we hit “reset” on the thing 25 times…no joke !!! 🙂
I believe you! I also went through the unplug and replug business, the call the tech support guy who didn’t help since he had to rely on my sense of what was happening or not, and reading and re-reading the instructions till the print was smeared. The computer diagnosis was totally bogus and it was what I was trying to do instead of messing with the HDMI ports. That had to wait till minutes before the technician showed up, you know, when I accidentally stumbled on what fixed it! Geez!!!
I hear you on how difficult it is to read the molded-in-plastic labeling on the different ports, especially since all electronics these days are cased in black. I recently bought a “smart” printer (who knew?) and setting it up has required an LED flashlight and lots of turning and twisting on my part. Plus I don’t have WiFi set up in my new place yet, so I had to figure out how to hook it up to the computer using a real USB cable. (I can hear my kids sighing and saying, “What a dinosaur!”) But for those of us with vision issues, reading those markings on electronics is a challenge. I wish the manufacturers would be more considerate, but we’re not the target demographic. 😛
Amen! On top of it all, the locations invariably are awkward for reading without Superman telephoto vision!
It sounds likes something I would do. So glad everything is up and running. Was beginning to worry about you.
I tried to get the word out, but it wasn’t totally successful.
All is well here! Glad you figured out the honest oops Doug, stuff happens!
And how!
The cables and wiring is something I’ve never been good at Doug, your not alone…
Don’t have smart tv yet. I don’t like the idea of my tv watching me back!
Anyone curious about me has to be the most boring person on earth to find me interesting!
That must have been very frustrating. Glad you are back 🙂
I have little patience with this sort of thing, which complicates stumbling on the solution!
Good to see you’re back up and running the blog, my friend!
Every time I have a problem like that, I know the solution will always turn out to be something stupidly simple, something that I am embarrassed to overlook until just before the technician shows up. This isn’t the first time I’ve solved a problem minutes before he shows, and that makes each instance progressively more embarrassing! (Glad to be back, too!)
I haven’t made that mistake but I have had plenty of other senior moments.
This one was a matter of a fraction of an inch difference between easy success and four days without television or the Internet! There is lots of room on the back of the television where they could put a highly readable sticker that showed where you plug in each component, with arrows pointing to the black holes that you use. Seriously!
I agree. Or they could put everything along the side where you can see it better.
Yes!
I feel your pain. We had a similar issue about a month ago.
Nice to know so many people I respect have similar issues from time to time! When I worked, I had access to a series of excellent, highly competent IT people to take care of these stupid things, and I miss that access now that I am retired!
Glad to see you back and writing…..my better half does the connecting of stuff be cause my meds make me short tempered and stuff has gone flying out the front door…so now she is in charge and working well….LOL chuq
Yes, I know the effects of a short fuse, though I can’t attribute it to anything but my over-bearing sense that a good design of product and instructions for use can spare end users the pain and complications this particular television caused me. You don’t want your customers to feel stupid!
I think that IKEA wants us to feel stupid…ever see instructions for a desk? chuq
Ugh! (I guess that’s your answer! LOL!)
glad the problem is fixed. we will get such a smart thing too, but we hope it is not smarter than we are ;O)))) …we are the people who only read instruction after the chaos started and after the firefighters technicians and er-dogs threw the towel in ;O)
What makes me irritable is I actually am a faithful instruction reader, so I don’t expect complications like the one I had. Another thing I didn’t read in the instructions – it wasn’t there! – was it wasn’t necessary to go through the manual upload of all the channels the television can receive because the television automatically recognizes them! Also, the remote provided by the Internet and television provider automatically recognized the smart television without my help, but that information wasn’t in any instructions I had. Nice, but I was ready to try to find the television in the remote update program.