frustration level = orange

[susandennis]

What's saving me is that I have tomorrow off.

The platform we do publishing on is a legacy system which is no longer supported. And it's dying. And, apparently, these folks don't believe in hospice.

I was able this morning to measure response times in minutes. Plus, there are a couple of runaway email threads that need to be snapped off and killed. Pick up the phone, people. Don't drag a crowd around while you contemplate your navel!

I have homicide on the brain here.

I decided to turn on the new TV again for a test. I plugged nothing into it and plugged it into the wall and it did not shut down. But, it also gave me the opportunity to wander around the settings. I went to the Vizio chat and asked about inputs and learned that it is not possible to hide them. I do a lot of flipping around from TiVo to TiVo to TV to DVD. It needs to be not painful. And the set is still so big. And while researching the turning off thing, I read several reviews that this 'rebooting' is not at all rare and often happens with the POP/PIP feature (which I would be using a lot). So I stand by my decision. It's going back.

They did call and are picking it up tomorrow between noon and 3.

I made a quiche for lunch. Anita left a little container marked 'quiche goodies' and it was all pre-prepped bacon, scallions and mushrooms. She left crystal clear instructions. It was easy and delicious.

The first chef complained about the temperature of my oven. She said that it did not heat up to the temperature it said. So I have never trusted it. A lot of Anita's meals need the oven so I finally bought an oven thermometer. It just arrived so I tested it. Set the oven for 350 and when the preheating thing went off, I looked and the thermometer said 352. Then I set the oven for 425 and when the preheating thing went off, I looked and it was 425. Now I owe my oven a huge apology.

Comments

[howeird]

Most of the TVs out there make you scroll through the whole list of inputs, but I get around that by using a Logitech programmable remote, which can be made, at a single button press, to turn on the TV, set it to the correct input, turn on any external device which might be needed (DVD player, etc) and with a different single button, turn everything off.

They are pricey, and take maybe an hour to get the program the way you want it, but worth it, I think.

But yeah, a TV which reboots for any reason is a loser. We don't use PIP/POP here, so I'll trust the forums on that.

[susandennis]

Interesting... my Toshiba lets me 'hide' any that I'm not using so I can scroll through those that I chose. I have a Harmony and really really don't like it but I hang on to it knowing one day, I'll be forced to use it again.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

I was going to basically say the same thing. Most TVs actually do have commands allowing you to go directly to inputs without scrolling through them all, they just don't put buttons for that on their own remotes. Probably trying to save every last penny on the cost of making the remote.

I just bought a new 42" LG TV, and besides being able to directly enter inputs using my Harmony, if you do scroll through the list of inputs it only offers the ones you actually have something hooked up to, with the exception of the over-the-air antenna input (because there's no easy way to tell if you have an antenna hooked up there or if you simply tuned to a channel that your area does not use).

[susandennis]

"it inky offers the ones you actually have something hooked up to"

YES! That's exactly what I want and expect. LG, eh? Thanks for the info!

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

The exact model I got is the 42LD450. Although I just bought it last month, its not their newest model line. I may be silly, although now you can appreciate this with what happened with your first choice there, but I wanted a slightly less new model that had been out long enough to have a track record, and not the newest piece of relatively untested hardware in the catalog. I wanted to be satisfied, not a beta tester :-)

I have been pleased. It does everything I wanted, had enough inputs to suit me, and although I did check it myself with tools I have, its color correction was almost spot-on right out of the box.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

Oh, while I'm giving the new set rave reviews, I should mention I really don't have any idea how it is on sound quality. Everything I have hooked to the TV, including the PC, has its audio piped in to a Yamaha 5.1 surround sound system. I haven't used actual "TV audio" in over a decade.

Edit: Oops, make that a Sony surround system. I had the Yamaha before the Sony.

[susandennis]

good to know... my sound requirements are really low level.

pip by any chance? never mind, I'll research. I appreciate the info and, yep, making a technology step back in TV's seems to be very smart right about now!

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

To my knowledge that model does not offer pip (at least its not on the remote), but LG has other models that do.

[susandennis]

I see that, thanks! I think the only reason I rejected LG before was that it did not have built in wireless but I now have an ethernet connection over there so LG is now, officially, back on my list for WHEN this one dies... Thank you!

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

That was actually another feature that I didn't care about, a network port. So long as it had a USB port so that I could install firmware upgrades if necessary, that was all I wanted. For accessing media content on the net, I have a full PC sitting on the entertainment center that feeds the TV on hdmi port 1 (and the Sony system on one of its digital audio inputs). The PC also acts as my blu-ray player.

[susandennis]

smart.

I just 'chatted' with lg and they have nothing on the market currently with picture in picture. sigh.

samsung, however, has a nice - not the latest but everything i want - model with pip, ethernet, and auto hiding of unused inputs.and it's about half the price of the one going back today... so now i have a backup plan...

[mhaithaca.livejournal.com]

Yup, I'll reiterate that I love my Samsung. :-) I was already going to comment that both it and my much older Sony don't bother me with inputs I don't want to cycle through.

[susandennis]

Yep. I bow to your excellent judgment... just bought a Samsung :) - When they ask, I'll tell 'em you sent me.