Electronics

Telly maintenance - there's nothing to it; anyone who has ever charged you a mint to come out and fix your telly is on to a good thing and they know it.

For a while now we have persevered with my big telly that I inherited from the estimable wallabok family. The only real problem with it was the two SCART plugs were rather temperamental, particularly the one that acted as signal input for AVI2. I got around that by Christmas treeing the DVD player and digibox into the AVI1 SCART and that worked tolerably well for the past couple of years provided that we took the simple precaution of ensuring that the DVD and digibox weren't on standby at the same time. Now and again the sound would disappear, but that was easily fixed by stamping on the floor.

Last night, however, I decided that things needed to change. ellefurtle had sat me down to watch Desperate Housewives one of her DVDs and not only did the sound keep dropping out, but the colour cycled through red, green, blue yellow and occasionally absented itself entirely, along with the rest of the picture. Clearly this sorry state of affairs could not be allowed to continue. Today, then, I acted. The telly came off its stand, was sat screen down on the floor and I removed the back to fiddle with it - ensuring as always, that it was unplugged and that I didn't touch anything that looked even vaguely metallic. Well, I had hoped that the SCART sockets were held in place with screws so I could tighten them (they being loose causing the problem, you see). Sadly they were held in place by plastic clips; there was nothing to tighten.

It was to grumble, and a lesser man would have been thwarted, but then a lesser man would not have seen the possibilities inherent in the combination of blutack, four cocktail sticks and a couple of blobs of super glue. The result is that with a little application, some patience and said raw materials, we now have two properly functioning SCART sockets and I have dispensed with the Christmas tree arrangement of wires at the back of the TV. We have full, unwavering colour and stereo sound on all digital and analogue channels.

More importantly, I believe that I have managed to train both ellefurtle and colonel_maxim how to use the TV in its reconfigured glory.

Now all we have to do is hope that something gets broadcast to be worth the effort of watching...

Electronics

Telly maintenance - there's nothing to it; anyone who has ever charged you a mint to come out and fix your telly is on to a good thing and they know it.

For a while now we have persevered with my big telly that I inherited from the estimable wallabok family. The only real problem with it was the two SCART plugs were rather temperamental, particularly the one that acted as signal input for AVI2. I got around that by Christmas treeing the DVD player and digibox into the AVI1 SCART and that worked tolerably well for the past couple of years provided that we took the simple precaution of ensuring that the DVD and digibox weren't on standby at the same time. Now and again the sound would disappear, but that was easily fixed by stamping on the floor.

Last night, however, I decided that things needed to change. ellefurtle had sat me down to watch Desperate Housewives one of her DVDs and not only did the sound keep dropping out, but the colour cycled through red, green, blue yellow and occasionally absented itself entirely, along with the rest of the picture. Clearly this sorry state of affairs could not be allowed to continue. Today, then, I acted. The telly came off its stand, was sat screen down on the floor and I removed the back to fiddle with it - ensuring as always, that it was unplugged and that I didn't touch anything that looked even vaguely metallic. Well, I had hoped that the SCART sockets were held in place with screws so I could tighten them (they being loose causing the problem, you see). Sadly they were held in place by plastic clips; there was nothing to tighten.

It was to grumble, and a lesser man would have been thwarted, but then a lesser man would not have seen the possibilities inherent in the combination of blutack, four cocktail sticks and a couple of blobs of super glue. The result is that with a little application, some patience and said raw materials, we now have two properly functioning SCART sockets and I have dispensed with the Christmas tree arrangement of wires at the back of the TV. We have full, unwavering colour and stereo sound on all digital and analogue channels.

More importantly, I believe that I have managed to train both ellefurtle and colonel_maxim how to use the TV in its reconfigured glory.

Now all we have to do is hope that something gets broadcast to be worth the effort of watching...

Audio Disappointment

I have been unable to find a single wiring combination that makes a hi-fi designed for four speakers work satisfactorily with two. The old and knackered hi-fi is therefore back in place, wired up and smiling sarcastically at me.

Tomorrow lunchtime I am off to the House of Fraser in Victoria to see if their sale is still on and whether the Sony that caught my eye at the beginning of the month is still there.

It seems that yesterday's telly success was a flash in the pan. Who'd a thunk it?

I am now eating the chocolate of consolation and very nice it is, too.

Audio Disappointment

I have been unable to find a single wiring combination that makes a hi-fi designed for four speakers work satisfactorily with two. The old and knackered hi-fi is therefore back in place, wired up and smiling sarcastically at me.

Tomorrow lunchtime I am off to the House of Fraser in Victoria to see if their sale is still on and whether the Sony that caught my eye at the beginning of the month is still there.

It seems that yesterday's telly success was a flash in the pan. Who'd a thunk it?

I am now eating the chocolate of consolation and very nice it is, too.