I am so absolutely fascinated by this whole discussion on TVs. Let me explain why.

My friend's husband paid $1000 for a new 32 inch High Definition TV for her bedroom last week.

She calls me up all upset and says "Melody, all I want to do is turn on the tv, is that so much to ask". Now this friend is what we call techno challenged, so after I stopped laughing, I took her seriously and said "what do you mean you can't turn on the TV?"

She said 'we just got the Optima package (tv, internet and phone), so I said 'oh, then that must be it, something is not configured".

She said: "Well, the guys came this morning, did something, it worked for a while, but now I can't turn on the tv" I then said "walk over to the tv and manually turn it on". She did and said "nothing is happening".

I said 'NOTHING HAPPENS WHEN YOU MANUALLY TURN ON A TV??? DO YOU HAVE THE CABLE BOX TURNED ON?"

She said 'yes, everything is plugged in, but the tv won't turn on".

Well, I just sat there dumbfounded because her husband was in the background telling her "you don't know how to operate the remote, you did this, blah blah blah, and he's yelling at her.

So he took the remote and did something (actually he pressed two buttons on the remote simultanously), and VOILA!!!! the tv turned on.

I just sat back thinking, "wait a minute, how come the thing didn't turn on when she walked over to it and manually pushed the power button", I mean, has technology completely taken over our lives that we can't manually turn on a tv??

So the tv was finally turned on. She tells me on the phone "I'm afraid to turn it off". I started laughing so hard I fell off my computer chair. I had to get a box of tissues. You have to picture this scenario. My friend is looking at her brand new $1000 tv and she's afraid to turn it off.

So finally, she had to go to bed, and she ultimately turns it off.

The next day she calls me in tears saying "Melody, all I want is a tv, it won't turn on". (He's yelling in the background blaming her yet again). And she's going: "what do I want in life, am I asking for much??? I just want to watch lifetime". I got hysterical.

I told her 'it could be the cable box, can you just get a little portable tv and just plug this in and see if you get a picture". she goes. " Are you serious, he's yelling at me, all we have in this house is huge tvs." So of course I get hysterical again, and she goes: "Melody, all I want is to watch Lifetime, is that too much to ask". I start getting hysterical again.

So what does the husband do? He brings the $1000 tv back to where he got it and gets another one. The previous one was a Samsung. I think the new one is a Sony. So what happens???

He hooks it up and the tv is humming. She calls me up and she said 'well, my life is one big drama, I have yet another tv, and it's humming. "Melody, all I want is to watch Lifetime". with that, I had to go and get a box of kleenex because I laughed so hard I almost croaked.

I said 'what do you mean the tv is humming?" She said "listen". and sure enough there's a hmmmm coming from the TV.

I said 'what the heck is going on with these big TVs, either they don't turn off, or they humm.

So what happens?? He goes back and exchanges it again.

Now she is on her 3rd tv.

He connected it. She calls me up and she said and I quote:

"He turns it on for me, and he turns it off, I won't go near it"

I believe her.


Actually, Alan and I want someday to replace the 21 inch Sony Trinitron in the living room (after we save up that is), and buy a new tv. The guy from PC Richards told us "don't get a plasma, it gives off too much glare". I said 'so what should I get?" and he said 'Oh, high definition".

Now if you think, after reading all of your posts, and after what my friend went through (and believe me I am NO techno phobe), believe me, I am going into PC Richards, and test every single thing on that tv.

I have Direct TV. I actually thought that all I had to do was go and buy a new tv, take the cable thing out from the back of my old one, and simply plug it into the back of the new one. I now see that this might not be the case. I don't like surprises. I will know what I'm doing before I ever buy a new tv.

I have had no problem with humming, with turning on or off (oh, sometimes Alan yells from the living room "I HAVE A BLUE SCREEN, WHAT DID I DO"?? (he's the techno phobe in the family) I then usually have to go in, aim the remotes (we have 3), and I finally figure out what the heck he did and I just undo it. He is now banned from aiming anything but the channel changer at the tv.

God help me!!!

lol

Melody