June 19, 2007

• many happy returns

  When my mother died the other year, I immediately started thinking of how I might spend some of the modest inheritance, and decided to up-grade my TV viewing system–which originally consisted of a 13″ JVC TV/VCR.  Over the years I added a $20 low-end DVD player  (duh!!–as opposed to a ” $20  high-end DVD player”?) and a $40 Durabrand home theater speaker system from Wal-mart.  It worked well enough, and in a tiny cabin (roughly 3×4 meters in area), I had to sit close to the TV anyway.

  (Oh, and don’t waste your sympathy–mom was sick, depressed and demented–death came as a blessing)

  After spending about a year learning the lingo and comparison-shopping, I got a check from the lawyer doing probate for $2000–$1500 went to paying down a credit card bill, which left me with $500.

  I saw a Sony  upconvert DVD/VCR   at Fred Meyers for $99, bought it, got it home and discovered it wasn’t what I thought I had gotten.  The shelf tag said model 570–the box contained a model 370, which didn’t upconvert–so back it went.  Turned out, the floor model was indeed a 570, and as the last one–so I got it (sans box, but with instruction book and remore) at a huge savings–$79.95–they list for over twice that.

  A guy at Fred’s  told me I could use a computer monitor, so I got one, took it home–and the instructions were on a computer disc.  So it went back.  The manager of the same store assured me I could indeed use a comp monitor, so I got ANOTHER one–turned out, I  coldn’t use it after all, so I  returned that one.

  Then I went to Wal-mart and got a 20″ Emerson that had been a floor model–had no remote or instruction book.  That was a total fiasco, so I returned it, and got a 20″ Phillips at Fred Meyers.  That was okay but it didn’t have a digital receiver.  So I took it back to Fred’s, returned that one, and got a 20″ Sylvania.  It had a low contrast ratio, though–and what’s more, it didn’t have an HDMI input–the DVD/VCR upconverts but only puts out the upconvert signal though the HDMI output–the S-Video and component outputs only put out the 480i signal.

  So I returned that one, and went up to a 26″ Sylvania.  It was  awesome–digital broadcast signal blew me away.  I never realized the anchor on KTUU-TV had such a bad complexion.

  However, the one I got was all black, not the silver one I saw in the store– it looked like something from Darth Vader’s rec room.  But I lived with it for exactly one month–and then the digital  tuner puked.  So I returned THAT one, got another one, same model but in silver.

  Whew–I am finally done–and the last one I got was on sale at almost half off the list price of $799.95–so I got my Sony upconvert DVD/VCR and the hi-def LCD digital TV for amost exactly $500–my original budget.

  Was it worth the trouble?  Heck yes–I watch a lot of videos–I have about 150 videos in stock for my business,  most all of which I got because I wanted to see them–besides, sometimes when I want to lay on the bed and read (I have a folding chair to sit on when watching TV or eating, and the bed for reading–like I said, it’s a small cabin)–and when there are seven cats on the bed–as there were last light–I just don’t have to heart to move them all.

  Besides, I don’t lose the bonus points on all the stuff I returned to Fred Meyers, so I will get a huge rebate check in a few months. 

  • 3:35 pm
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