Saturday, September 6, 2008

Good News, Bad News...a matter of perspective!

Sat 060908.

Good news. Bad news. It's actually a question of perspective. A point of view. Depends on how one looks at it.

Now what am I trying to say here?

Well, on the morning of the day before ie yesterday...5th Sept, me switched on the TV in our dining area. ( And yup, we have one old tv there...a "National" 22in unit...it's as old as our house...so that we could keep in touch with the outside world even while we were eating...haha! ) The day was like any other day. Routine. Switch on TV...have breakfast. But, that morning was gonna to be different...

Yup, the TV was switched on. But, nothing came on. Waited. Still nothing. Tried switching it on & off a couple of times. Still a dark screen. Then my other half came. "Hey, there's a burning smell...", she said. Me tried inhaling hard...really deep breaths. Yup, the smell of something burning was there! On tuning my ears up, I could also hear some kind of "zzzzzzzz" sound. The smell of something burning became stronger! "Switch it off. Switch it off!", she exclaimed. I did.

As there was an AVR connected to the power socket inbetween the TV, I disconnected that and plugged in the TV directly to the power supply. The smell came back! That eliminated the AVR as the faulty unit. It was our ole TV in its "self-destruct" mode! Trying to cremate itself at the end of its life...wish we could do that to ourselves! Haha....

Well, what was there for me to do? A replacement became so urgently needed. What would meals be without the luxury of staring into the idiot box? I wouldn't even try to imagine that. Something so very much a part of our daily life would be missing. Life, from then on, would be incomplete!

So, off we went to our now fav "Sundry Shop". Yup, Tesco. Where else? I had in mind (for some time already) to get a Samsung set should that tv KO. But there was this offer at Giant. A Haier unit. Checked the price at Tesco. RM499. It's going for RM399 at Giant! RM100 is a lot of difference these days, right? But when compared to a Samsung Slimfit TV, the display was not so good. Difference in pricing between them only RM69. Not much, right?

Decision was fast. A Samsung it should be. As originally planned. A sales guy was asked about the features. He confirmed there was stereo sound with AV stereo connections. His assistant was called to get a unit & do the testing. Me looked & looked. No stereo connections anywhere to be found! Asked. Confirmed NONE! That sales guy "BS" us!! With an experienced reminder that we were the "paymaster", I rejected the set, with apologies, of course. Told them that we were misled by said sales guy...no stereo...not the set we wanted. End of story.

After lunch, it was off to Giant. Second choice...Haier unit on offer. At the electrical section, we found more choices of similar pricing. Found a Philips model just RM39 more. Philips (being a well-known brand & moreover, we still are enjoying one 29in unit since umpteen years ago.) caught our eyes. Ok. Get a Philips instead. Called the sales guy. When asked how was the Philips model, he recommended an LG model...only RM30 more for many more features & with good reliability, too.

Our "fren" took us to view both sets at their demo area. Yup, the LG looked better...richer colour tones...most importantly, sharper images...besides the extra features. Decision was made on the spot! An LG it would be...

Paid for it. Carted to our car. Brought it home. Installed. Here it is...

Had a bit of problem trying to get a sharp image from our Astro unit via its second RF output connector. After some elimination attempts, it was found to be due to either the cable &or connectors used, or the quality of output from the module itself at that connector.

Redirected existing AV connecting cables originally connected to our old VCR directly to the AV connectors on the LG. Perfect images! Great...

Now life is so much better. Why? Old one was kinda blurry already...also dark. Like everyone on screen was a darkie! This is a feast for the eyes! Watching TV while having meals in our dining area would never be the same again!! Haha!

So was what happened to be considered bad news? Or good news? YOU tell me...

To me, what is important is the ending...to me, the ending is GOOD! Cheers!

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