Blogging every day of June – Blog 22 – TV
Dramatic events in the household tonight. I was summoned to the lounge because Kat thought she had sat on the TV remote, managed to switch on Teletext with her arse (a bankable talent I would have thought), and had lost all reception. Manager Digital Services to the rescue. Well it is digital TV after all. If it had been analogue, I of course would have been unable to assist. I am yet to meet a Manager Analogue Services, but I am sure there is one out there somewhere.
Anyway, I digress. Have you tried rebooting I asked? It is an old IT trick, which is the first answer to everything. Of course she had, I was told. Of course one cannot believe mere users when they try to convince you this has indeed happened, so I tried a hard reboot. This is another IT trick, when you knowledgeably bypass the software driven reboot for the true and total power off.
Sadly, on this occasion, still no joy. The little antenna signal blinked, telling me it was looking for a signal and not finding one. Could all Freeview be out? To the Twitter for a hopeful confirmation this was the case. Alas, everyone else in the universe seemed to still be enjoying the Wednesday night TV, so it was just us. Next, desperate measures here, a quick check to make sure the bush had not grown in front of the dish again. Nope, my recent pruning had not been undone yet…..
Only one option left, I went for the factory reset, but to no avail. Check your dish is connected was the helpful on screen instruction. So finally, unplug everything and plug it back in. Kat had taken over by the stage. She seemed unconvinced the Manager Digital Services was making any progress. Plug it all back in and………………. no power at all. The decoder had well and truly shat itself.
So it looks like we will be getting a new decoder at some point. Now the question is, can we survive without a TV for some weeks or maybe months? We are looking at selling and buying a new house and the new house has a UHF aerial and no dish, so we would need a different kind of decoder. But can we survive……
How much TV do you watch? Could you survive for weeks or months without?
6 Comments
I think I only use my TV for DVDs and the playstation. Hard to remember what actual TV watching is.
Corin, we have an unused satelite receiver box you can borrow. We’ve got TiVo. Am in the office on Friday again (8-2pm)? You’d be welcome to borrow?
TV? They still exist?!
I actually don’t have a TV anymore, but I still watch. Pretty much everything I watch is available online so I get to see the things that matters without having a dedicated screen for only that purpose. I guess saying I don’t have a TV is cheating as most (?) channels have their content online now. For watching movies… I’ve always thought the term ‘home cinema’ is a bit of an oxymoron. I still prefer going to the cinema, it involves so much more than just watching a movie.
it’s quite possible to survive with no gogglebox. I strongly encourage you to make the most of this opportunity to reclaim your time for the things that are truly important and valuable to you. You’ll find other ways to relax!
I’ve gone from a house with Sky to a house with MySky *swoon* to a house with no TV aerial. I miss the music channels.
When we moved house 3 years ago, the new house had an antenna but no cable attached. It took us 2 weeks to get the telly connected. The kids watched DVDs and we either read, were online (note the priority of Internet over TV) or watched DVDs. The only show I missed was Doctor Who and we managed to have that taped by another person. Before the 2 week period I was a TV junkie, but I managed to wean myself off the gogglebox. Except for when Doctor Who is on