The end of an era...

One of the things that made the boat more like home while in Friday Harbor this summer was the satellite TV.  Yeah, I know: not much "adventure" in that. ;-)  That's OK, I liked having good internet, too.

We put in Dish service back in 1997; first in the motorhome, then in the house.  We had 3 receivers... we bought the kind that came with radio remotes, not infrared.  We could control the receiver from the living room or the bedroom with the same remote.  Even in the outdoor entertainment center in the coach.  Easy.

We have resisted replacing those receivers.  One by one, they began to die off.  We moved the receiver from the house to the RV... and this summer, to the boat.  In that humid environment, it occasionally acted up, requiring expert electronics repair: we whacked it!  Hey, it worked.

We knew it was on its last legs, though.

Another era: we use a VuQube.  First generation.  It is the satellite dish, contained in a cube (yes, the thing some of our summer neighbors thought was a porta-potty).  Dish is now promoting these as "Tailgaters".  They don't do HD, and only one satellite at a time.  Not a problem for us and our ancient receiver.

And, one last era:  When we built this house 9 years ago, we had custom cabinets built in.  Custom to the point, that our cabinet maker needed the exact dimensions of the TVs we'd have in the house so he could fit the cabinets to them.  We bought "state of the art" flat front TVs, with built-in DVD and VHS players.  Flat front, not flat screen.  Yep, the old "squarish" format.  Way before the mandated change to digital TVs.  And the 9x16 format.  Yep, we have a squarish opening in a rectangular world.  Since we have cable and satellite, we didn't have to make that move... and our somewhat dated TV was just fine.

Back to the summer in the boat, and that 7 inch "big screen" we watched.  We agreed that new TVs were in order when we got home.  We're home.  We ordered a new receiver from Dish and brought home one of those new-fangled TVs.

First order of business: undo all the cables and wires...

Since Huey Louis was wrong, it isn't hip to be square, we set about removing that TV.  The new one that will go in there is about 12 pounds... the one coming out is closer to 500 pounds.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit?  The out-going TV is free to anyone who asks for it, you pay the shipping... I estimate it to be about $12,000. ;-)

If all you had to do is unplug one TV, pull it out, plug in the other TV, and slide it into place, it would be easy.  We're not game console people, but we do have to hook up cable, satellite, and a nearly as old sound system.  The cable part was easy (after I replaced connections on the ends of several coax cables).  The satellite part takes more doing: you have activate the new one... "Have patience," one of us told the other, "It has to do a bunch of internal checks and set ups."  I remember the "good ol' days," where you called Dish customer service, someone who spoke English answered the phone, you said, "I want to add HBO," and within a few seconds, you had HBO.  Almost magical.  I really didn't want to be on hold for the rest of the evening.

Patience...

I grilled steaks, potatoes, and corn; we ate; while doing the dishes, the receiver completed its self-checks, and we have satellite again.

On to the first generation (see a trend here?) Bose 1-2-3 system.  Before HDMI.  Old school connections to go with a new TV.  "Warning, Will Robinson!  Danger!"  Inputs, outputs, any ol' put.  I didn't recognize any of those output connections on the back of the TV.  After careful thought, I decided we need a mini-jack connection to a double RCA to make it work.  I said to Joan, "The only thing I can think of with all the different TVs and cables that we own that might have that... is our little 7" TV that we used this summer."  I really didn't want to make a trip to Wally World.

Yep, there is was, in the bag of stuff for that TV.  Proof that I am more than just a pretty face... just the connection we needed to make it sound as pretty as it looks.  And once again, that little TV helped fill a need.

32" is the biggest TV we could fit in that opening.  Puny, compared to the drive-in movie screen size the kids have.  I figure I saved myself a bunch of money by putting this off for a few years... the price on flat screens has come way down.  I figure I saved enough for another guitar.  Which reminds me: tomorrow, we take on the office/music room. :-)