Recently, a friend of mine wanted to know if I would like his two-year-“old” 50-inch Smart TV. It was in perfect shape and he just “needed” a 75-inch TV. Well, it took me about 2.3 seconds to respond…YES! Why not?
Did I really need one? No, not really, but I could always put it in the guest room. And those of you that follow me on radio and in print know that I like anything free. So, how could I refuse?
Now, we all know that I am a geek, but there are two things that I do not prefer to do regarding technology. (It is a strong word but you could read that as “hate.”) One is to set up a new smart TV since they have always been a pain in the past for me. They never have been installed the way they should. It is never smooth. They never just start working as described. There are always unsuspected happenings popping up.
Oh, “What is the other” you ask? That would be setting up and repairing wireless printers. They have fought me since their beginning! They will work for months or years and then fail miserably, after taking way too long to set them up. But back to the TV.
Before he gave it to me, he did a factory reset. Meaning he basically set it back to the point it was when he got it home and out of the box. I needed to set up cable and my Wi-Fi on the TV.
The first thing I did with it was to set up Wi-Fi on the TV. As expected, this was done flawlessly. Then I set up access for any streaming apps I had. That went unusually well, too. I had not set up a smart TV for several years and before if you had Netflix, or Hulu, etc. you had to set up each individually. This required a username and password for every account. I also do not care for the length of time that took with the picking of individual letters and numbers from the screen with the remote. But this time, a QR code was remarkably provided for each. I scanned them with my phone, clicked a link, and I was in business. WOW, that was fine!
Now the Cable TV… oops, I needed a box from the service provider. I called them, thought it would be a few days for the delivery. I received it the next day, around lunchtime. Again, WOW!
I plugged in the cable from the wall, ran the HDMI cable from the TV to the box, and cut it all on. Uh-oh, it says it has to be updated to the latest firmware. After this much good news, I feel doomed. After ten minutes or so, if finished, came up perfectly. I even watched a football game that afternoon. Everything was working fine. Back and forth between cable and streaming services was smooth. Sound was great! The screen was unbelievably clear!
I no longer have a fear of setting up a TV. If only I could overcome my fear of printers, but I worked on one the day after the TV setup was completed. I headed in, full of satisfaction and confidence… this would be easy, too. BAM, not so, I still hate wireless printers!
