A costly pre-Christmas spending spree

I bought myself a new TV. This, in itself, is hardly newsworthy but considering you’ve kept reading I’ll presume you’re interested. I bought myself a big 1080p LCD TV with HDMI and component video and in-built digital tuner and all the fixings. It is nice.

Of course, given that digital TV and high-definition discs are becoming more mainstream these days, it was getting to be time for a new TV. When my old Trinitron developed a strangely hypnotic wibble, the time came.

Of course, once I had the new TV I could hardly keep watching DVDs through composite video (the only connector my old TV had). So a new cable was in order. Yes, you can see the difference.

Of course, once I’d seen the difference, I could hardly continue watching Foxtel through the component cables either, so another component cable was ordered — this one rather trickier, since the Foxtel set-top box uses SCART and the guy at Dick Smith’s eyes glazed over like a Christmas ham when I said I needed SCART.

Of course, there’s eBay, where you can buy just about anything if you’re willing to chance it. I put my money in, pulled the lever and – ker-ching – a cable arrived a week later. I’m a winner!

Of course, my old aerial was tragically not up to the task (it was a very old aerial) so a new aerial was purchased and installed – the result is magnificent. Almost makes me want to watch Channel Nine again.

Of course, once I’d hooked that up I could finally watch some of the shows I’ve been taping but not watching for weeks, because of the aforementioned wibble in the old TV. But Foxtel can speak either component (YUV) or composite (PAL). Not both. So my VCR, which is connected via composite, suddenly couldn’t see the TV because it was connected via the Foxtel (essential if I want to, for instance, record anything) and the Foxtel was using a signal it didn’t understand.

Of course, this meant reconnecting the Foxtel to the composite connector on the TV required a new cable because the old one was not long enough for the way I have the room set up.

Once I’d hooked the component cable back up I couldn’t see anything because I’d told the Foxtel box to speak YUV so nothing was coming down the cables. I had to reconnect the component cables, tell the Foxtel box to speak PAL again, and then reconnect the composite cables.

Of course, the long-term solution is to buy a digital video recorder and plug the VCR into component when I want to watch legacy tapes. That way when I want to record it I get the beautiful, crisp, clean high-definition image of my new TV.

Of course, while I was setting all of this up and double-checking the connections, my spectacles fell off my face and onto the floor. I stepped backwards to avoid breaking them, and guess where they were?

Of course.

Matthew JC. Powell is waiting for new specs to arrive. Describe your favourite TV shows on mjcp@optusnet.com.au

a costly finance prechristmas spending spree