The Smart TV vs the Luddite—Things Did Not Go Well

Andrea here, channeling my inner Grinch today. Along with shopping for family and friends this holiday season, I decided to give myself a present—a new smart TV! My current TVs are, umm, not very smart. And after yesterday, I’ve decided neither am!
 
A very nice team from the Geek Squad at Best Buy showed up—because I wasn't so dumb as to think I might be able to set it up and program it myself, even though I’m fairly good at figuring certain tech things. They bring in the humongous box and eye the current TV in my living room and ask if I want them to haul it away. I explain that no, would they be kind enough to carry it upstairs to the bedroom, where an even older TV is the one that should be recycled. They smile cheerfully and say “No problem!”
 
Up we go. They regard the older TV. “”Wow, says one of them. “I used to sell TVs, and like that’s one of the first flat screens ever made. It’s from 2004, right?”
 
“Yup,” I reply.
 
They chuckle and switch the sets (and bless them, they program the remote as I upgraded my cable boxes in preparation for their visit.) "Okay, all done."

 
Back we go downstairs. They have the new TV unwrapped, assembled and ready to program in about five minutes. We enter the WiFi code, go through a few more tech steps, which take about another five minutes, and lo and behold, the home screen shows the Roku choices! We click Netflix and test a program. Perfect! Then we check the cable box icon and on come the regular channels from my cable provider. Beautiful picture, but no sound.
 
They begin fiddling with the cables. I walk away to double check the old TV upstairs, which is of course working perfectly. Twenty minutes later, still no sound. They come up and switch the cable boxes, just to make sure it’s not the box. No luck. They finally test the audio output with a CD player they have in their truck, and the sound cable seems to work fine.
 
They finally scratch their heads and say they think I need to go get a fancier cable box from my cable provider. Okay. My cable provider has a retail store close by so I agree that I will go and do that. They show me where the cable should go on the new box and take their leave.
 
Off I go to the cable store. I explain about my new TV not having sound and that the Best By techs thinks I just need an upgraded box. The guy shakes his head. He can’t give me an upgraded box. That has to be installed by a company technician. So I ask him to schedule an appointment for me. He gets on the computer . . .

Five minutes later, he’s still clicking away. Then he calls his supervisor, as a certain code isn’t working. They both get on the job. Click, click.
 
As the supervisor is typing away, he says, “Oh, by the way, if you get a new fancy box, they will have switch your router and modem. You see, it's all in one device in the fancy new box.” An evil smile. “That means if your television has a problem your internet will go out. Unlike now, where every device is separate.”
 
I groan. “But I don’t want to change my router and modem. They work perfectly!”
 
He nods. “Neither would I.” He keeps typing, then looks up again. “Sorry I can’t schedule an appointment for you anyway. Our codes aren’t working.”
 
Oh, wonderful. The tech store’s tech isn’t working. They then convince me to try a new normal box in case the old one was broken.
 
No luck. So I begin to google. I can’t accept that the regular cable box can’t run a smart TV. I’m the last person in the world without one. There are all sorts of suggestions on the internet. But after shutting down the system and re-booting, I just didn’t have the stomach to start trying the rest of them. By this time it’s late, and I’ve wasted half the day on this. Also, I paid a lot to have installation, so I am going to go back to Best Buy and ask them to help figure this out, as the Geek Squad left me with a TV that is not fully working.
 
Then I shut down my computer . . . and went upstairs to read a book!
 
What about you? Have you gone to battle with supposedly smart tech and been soundly defeated? I don’t have have Alexa or smart light switches or any of the other bells and whistles that most of my friends have. And now I know why!

Comments

[Janice J.]

I don't believe in new tech for new tech's sake, nor in spending a lot of money on gadgets which will break or become obsolete in a couple of years. I listen to the radio, I play cds and dvds, I read books, I watch plain cable TV. That makes me dependent on tech too, but less so than those who rely on streaming. I like having a physical copy of my favorites.

I find reading print books very soothing and quieting to the mind, kinda like meditation only I have learned something by the end of it. I think about what are all those people going to do when the power goes off? There is no backup plan. Most equipment is useless and inert without power.

City folk never hear of techniques that country folk, out where they have to depend on themselves, know from babyhood. We have made ourselves prisoners of our own technology. People ask if there are intelligent races on other planets, where are they? Why haven't we heard from them? Probably because they got too dependent on their technology and did themselves in.

Going back to my paperback book now :) (For the curious, it's The Devil's Due by Rita Boucher - also available in ebook).

[Quantum]

I can sympathise Andrea ..... very frustrating.

I think you need an interested schoolboy. This tech stuff is second nature to youngsters these days.

Alternatively you could search the menu for 'auto setup'. Don't touch anything else but 'auto' should be safe to click on!

Good Luck

[Andrea Penrose]

Janice, I heartily agree with all your say. I am very low-tech. I can trun on my own light switch, thank you very much. And reading is my go-to relaxation.

But I do like to stream rather than watch regular TV, so getting a a model with built in WiFi seemed like a reasonable nod to smart technology. And the picture quality is wonderful. I'm not unhappy with the choice . . .and Best Buy is sending a technician tomorrow to help figure it out!

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks, Quantum! What's most frustrating about smart tech is that while it usually works well on its own, it rarely matches well with the systems to which it needs to connect. That becomes the nightmare. Sigh.

You're right about finding an 8-year-old. But hopefully the tech guy coming tomorrow with be just as smart! Fingers crossed!

[Patricia Rice]

My utter and total sympathies, Andrea. We did the smart TV thing from Best Buy a couple of years ago. They wired it to the wall, gave us a remote that should run all our devices, signed us in with some account, and cheerfully said I should never have a problem turning on everything now.

You know the outcome. We now have three remotes, none of which work. We have a sound bar because we can't hear the smart TV, which apparently mutters. And I believe the smart AI now has utter control of what we watch.

I wish you well.

[Christina Courtenay]

Oh, Andrea, how incredibly frustrating! I get so irritated whenever I have to install something new, it's like nails on a blackboard. If I can, I enlist my daughter to do it for me - much better for my blood pressure! Hope you have some young relative who can sort it for you if the Best Buy guys can't. (They should though - it's their job!!!)

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks, Pat. What's so frustrating is smart devices are very smart on their own. But getting them to talk to each other seems impossible, even for the so-called experts. It seems a very malicious gremlin lurks in the ether, taking great glee in creating havoc!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Oh, Andrea, the HORROR! So many ways that new devices can go wrong, and so confusing to sort out. If the Geek Squad can't fix something, we're all DOOMED!

[Patricia Franzino]

Andrea, I got rid of my old flat screen TV and purchased a smart TV about a year ago.

It took eight hours until it worked. I called Samsung three times, and only with the last technician gave me the right information to get past the advertisements on the screen to get to the TV channels I wanted.

When I moved to another apartment, it took ten days for me to find the technician at the cable company to tell me it was the router I needed to change. The store is close by to me, too, and I was finally able to have all working properly.

[Mary T]

I think the most frustrating thing about your story is that the geek squad couldn't do their job.

I have a smart phone, but I use it only as a back-up. I still prefer my little flip phone which fits neatly into my pocket. The smart phone has too much "gingerbread" on it. My needs are simple. I do text but I prefer to use my voice on my phone.

And fortunately I have a 10 year old nephew who is usually able to help me out of a jam if I get in one.

[Jeannette Halpin]

Oh my, this all sounds so familiar! No, you are not the last person in the world to get a smart tv. I have a not very intelligent tv that I only turned on today to watch the January 6 committee final report, and that's the first time in a couple of months it has been on. I don't have alexa telling me what to do or listening in either. Cue the tin foil hats! I do like the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They are very courteous to cranky old ladies like me. Best of luck.

[Janice J.]

I should haved been clearer. I have cable TV which has some channels that are commercial free, including TCM with its good supply of favorite vintage movies. Since I have amazon prime, I've got their streaming and once in a while they have something that interests me :) But mostly I prefer watching dvds because of the great sound, the subtitles and the pause button for bathroom breaks :)

[Janice J.]

Ah, the bad sound. I was told that the bad sound is a result of designing TVs to be as flat as possible, so they can be hung on the wall, thus allowing apartment builders to to do short narrow living rooms and squeeze in another bedroom or another whole apartment per floor. The sound all goes out the back of the set and into the wall - so you are forced to buy a separate sound bar if you want to hear anything. And then there's British sound, which for some reason usually comes out muffled on American TVs, hence my love of subtitles.

[Andrea Penrose]

Janice, I've never heard that explanation. On this TV the streaming show have perfect sound. When we switch to the cable box and regular TV, it's no sound at all. A setting has to be off somewhere. We just have to find it!

[Andrea Penrose]

Exactly! I need an 8-year-old! ((The Geek Squad is coming back on Wednesday , so fingers crossed.)

[Andrea Penrose]

SO true. The devices work—they just refuse to talk to each other. Very frustrating.

[Andrea Penrose]

Arrgh, Patricia. What a pain. I know I have something similar. There is an easy fix. Someone just has to figure it out

[Andrea Penrose]

Mary, I tend to be more like you. I don't go in for bells and whistles. But I want to stream some movies and TV shows, so thought this would be something i will use. The Geek Squad has promised to send someone familiar with my cable provider, so fingers crossed he will spot the glitch.

[Andrea Penrose]

Yes, I avoid the bells and whistles, too. The Geek Squad guys were wonderful. They got the TV up and running quickly. They just weren't familiar with my cable rpovider/cable box, so I think they just didn't know how to troubleshoot it.

[Janice J.]

I was thinking of the bit where you said the sound mutters. I too have a smart TV, but with the speakers being on the back, all the sound goes toward the wall, not toward the viewer, so people wind up buying a sound bar that they can put in front of the TV and pointed at them, not the plaster :)

The sound on many British shows is in a "mutter" too a lot of the time. I have heard it's because the Brits do not often rerecord sound; they just go with whatever the mike picked up while they were filming, where Americans will redo it if it's garbled or too faint. Whatever the reason, I am glad to have the subtitles (which are usually taken from the script) on the dvds.

[Constance]

Mary T - “Gingerbread”!!! Love it - a perfect description for all the apps I don’t want or need that just appear on a new phone or with a system upgrade!

[Constance]

Andrea, I sympathize and empathize! My husband worked in audio and video consumer products his entire career, but not on the engineering side, and my expectations that he would easily understand smart TVs have been unfulfilled, to say the least. As I am more technically apt (“more” being a relative term), I am the one who ends up trying to program the thing. As for remotes, we have so many that when we swapped houses with friends last summer, I had to create a spreadsheet to guide them through the system, just so they could watch baseball games! I do hope your Geeks get all resolved soon - perhaps you could thank them with copies of your books!

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

Andrea - I am a technophone..Seriously. I bitterly resent having to replace analog TV's with digital oness. I don't have cable - I'm too cheap. I need a new printer- mine died. But most of my friends urge me to get a monster laer. I would just like to replace my old ink jet. And let's not even mention the CD player I've never hooked up. I miss my old VCR - may it rest in place. I'll echo you, Andrea. I'd rather curl up with a book. One with printed pages. (Yes, I'm a a Luddite!) My current page-turner is Sarah Morgan' The Christmas Escape. Thanks to Sarah, I can now (temporarily) forget technology and return to Lapland.

[Annette N]

WOW! And I thought I was the only human left on the planet who does not want every waking minute connected to some electronic thing.

On the other hand, I have a kindle with several thousand book on it. So, I guess, I am not always anti tech.

I just came back from a visit with my son - a tech giant....he is 6'4". He explained all the remotes....and I never learned a thing.

I will muddle through with what I have and what I learned and when new things happen, I will be one of the last to get it.

But, my son introduced me to a series "Ted Lasso". I fell in love with it and am very grateful. Of course, now that I am home and on my own, I will never see it again, cause I have no idea how to see it again.

Happy Holidays to each of you. I am so grateful for each of you, authors and readers. You entertain, and I enjoy. Take care and be blessed.

[Andrea Penrose]

Yes, isn't that a great phrase! I will remember it for future kerfuffles with tech!

[Andrea Penrose]

LOL on the programming diagram. It's SO true. The real frustration of smart tech is that the devices refuse to talk to each other. If they are so smart, why can't they do that????

Sigh. At least if I give a book to the Geek Squad, I won't have to include a 10 page manual on how to operate it.

[Andrea Penrose]

LOL, Binnie. I have a fancy smart phone (I sue the camera a lot, so am happy I have it, but don't use most of the other bells and whistle.) I still have boxes of videotapes and DVDs and CDs, but of course the players can't hook up to the new TV without special cables that are beyond my understanding.

Thank heavens my real go-to relaxation are books—mostly the old-fashioned paper kind.

[Andrea Penrose]

Annette, I'm with you on not being tethered to tech.

How nice that your son can walk you through setting some things up (like you, I rarely remember the directions) I LOVE Ted Lasso, too! I hope a new season is out soon.

Happy holidays to you too. We are so grateful for our Wench family and wish you all the best for the coming new year.

[Karin]

I think we had the same problem with our TV. But because we got it from Costco, which accepts returns no questions asked, we returned it and tried another one(a slightly upgraded model) which worked fine. And we are using the same old cable box and modem and router.
I don't think I want my refrigerator and other devices to be "smart" but we did get a garage door opener that connects to a phone app via Bluetooth. It's wonderful, because there is no more wondering, half an hour after you've left the house on a trip, if you closed the garage door. Now I can check and open or close it from anywhere!

[Andrea Penrose]

Karin, Best Buy seems very responsive. Someone is coming tomorrow, and if it can't be made to work, I sense that I'll have no trouble returning it. But fingers crossed.

Yes, I really don't want smart appliances, either! But that garage door opener does sound very useful.

[Kathryn Smith]

A Shock Hi-Tech can be heavier than holding an actual book. My family's Christmas gift of a Nook for me & my sister kindly helped me fill the nook with ereads of ebook romances. I was happy & looked forward to hrs of pleasure reading. But the nook proved too heavy an object for me to hold in my hands as I have carpel tunnel damage in both wrists. It was too painful to hold the nook for more than a few minutes, it must be propped up, supported due to weight. Sigh, I'm back to reading stories in book form with comfort, Christmas romances bring me peace before I go to sleep. Sorry hi-tech nook.

[Patricia Rice]

the sound quality of our local news stations are almost as bad as the Brit shows. And the sound bar is always a few seconds off so if I'm lip reading, it's very disconcerting. Close captioning is a mind saver!

[Valarie]

My mom's TV went out recently and she bought a Roku smart tv which took me a bit to figure out how to set up. I had to go back to Best buy twice to ask questions. But she has a sound bar so she had no trouble with the sound.
I also recently bought a smart tv, but it was an Amazon Alexa smart tv and once I logged into Amazon it transferred my streaming subscriptions which saved me a lot of time and was really easy. I also have a sound bar and they definitely help with the sound.
The Roku tv was definitely harder to setup.

[Susie Felber]

Hilarious and sad and really common. Trying to merge legacy tech (wonky cable boxes) with streaming is always painful. The days of cable are over but so many of us still have it. But love your bookish dismount from the mounting entertainment tsuris!

[Kareni]

My sympathies, Andrea!

I am yet another with Luddite leanings. I use a flip phone though I do read on my Kindle. I don't tend to watch media, but we do have a TV (no cable) and a DVD player that my husband uses. We have two remotes for our CD player and amplifier; I don't know how to use them and am grateful I can play a CD by pushing a few buttons and change the volume by twirling a knob!