Missed Connections
I swear softly to myself. It has been a long day and I am quite looking forward to sitting in front of the telly, beer in hand, to relax and unwind. Except that the TV does not work.
In actual fact, the TV works fine since I can watch DVDs without any problems at all. The problem is with the cable company’s decoder. I had noticed this problem on Sunday evening but I’ve been away all week. I also forgot about it when I arrived home early this afternoon when I could have called the support line and hoped to speak to someone.
I try calling them again and play a quick game on the computer while I am repeatedly assured that my call is important to them.
It’s when I am about to beat my own high score that I remember having moved the decoder last weekend. I thought I could tidy the mess of cables up from behind the TV unit but I found out that I could not only after I had already unplugged everything.
This is too much of a coincidence, I tell myself.
Rather than have some snotty teenager laugh at me because I could not plug a few cables back into a decoder, I decide to hang up and troubleshoot things myself.
I take a look at the cables. There aren’t many and they all seem connected properly.
- The socket marked HDMI on the decoder connects to the socket marked HDMI on the TV.
- The power cable? Plugged into the wall and into the decoder.
- The long white cable from the cable company? Plugged into the only round socket available.
- The socket marked ‘TV’ on the decoder? Connected to the TV.
It all seems fine to me so I decide to turn to the manual figuring that I have more chance to solve the problem that way than try my luck with telephone roulette again.
After ten minutes of careful deciphering, I discover what the problem is.
The socket marked ‘TV’ on the decoder should not be connected to the TV. I should have used the one marked ‘VCR’ (Video Recorder).
Only in Belgium would this make sense.
Modern technology wrapping you up in knots? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!
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I am sure there is moral in this episode, however I had a similar experience when I bought my Nokia mobile a year ago, when upon reaching home I looked for instructions to customize it to my preferences, I found that the instruction book is Spanish only.
Technology is always supposed to help us, Henry .. but rarely does ‘out-of-the-box’. Still, it made for a good blog post!
They are playing mind games with you :p
I think they are Invader_Stu – the dreaded Jedi cable company strikes back!