Penelope

Just ignore this post -

I got a DVD home theatre from my son for Christmas. Now such gifts do not include my son installing them so .. fortified with acres of confidence and two cups of coffee, I began to set it up this morning.

I didn't have a DVD player until now. I sort of knew how they worked and I just asked for that. My son went whole hog and bought the shooting match. It came with a sub woofer and five speakers to strategically place around the room. Now it said they should be mounted approximately three inches above ear level. I have a cat and cat would try to perch on them if they were within jumping reach.

I went downstairs and hunted up the drill after I discovered that the hot glue mounting brackets didn't work at all. I maneuvered around the living room drilling holes in the plaster walls. I inserted those anchor thingies and screwed them in. This worked much better.

Now I had to think about how I was going to get two sets of wires across the living room to the DVD player .. instead of stapling the wires to the ceiling while stringing them across or lifting the carpet I chose the basement. I slipped the wires through holes that had been drilled 15 years ago for the old speakers. Those speakers left eons ago but the wires still poked out through the carpet. I taped the new speaker wires to the old and went to the basement. Then I yarded on the old wires and Eureka! the new ones came snaking through! I strung them across the basement ceiling and then taped them to the cable line after shoving some slack down through the hole in the floor behind the TV. I taped the wires to it and then yarded them back up through the floor in the living room.
I slid the subwoofer in beside the television and closed the sliding door a smidgeon to hide it. Now came the three speakers near the TV. They were easy but required more hole drilling and screwing. The wires that had traversed the basement ceiling didn't reach so I had to splice some extra length that I borrowed from the subwoofer and the center speaker lines. I actually found two rolls of electrician's tape and didn't chew up two feet when stripping the wires.
Now came the attaching all the wires to the proper receptacles in the back of the DVD player. I did pirroettes to make sure left was left and right was right. I always need some mental calculations while I wonder if it means the speaker's right or mine. Ego prevailed. I'd had to drill holes in the back of my stereo unit to thread through all of the new wiring as well. I did run into trouble with the drill when it wouldn't reach my last speaker location so I had to go out to the garage to get an extention cord. Irritating but only due to me being lazy.
Now I hooked everything up - threaded the plug through one of the holes and the audio/video cables through another.
I plugged it in and turned it on .. guess what? a cool blue glow lit up the volume dial

but

I don't have a DVD to test it out. I played the Boney M Christmas CD to check the sound and it works .. I flicked the remote to DVD and it worked .. but .. I don't have a DVD to play.

Now I am thinking about going out to get a DVD ..

do you think I should? maybe it won't work! and all of this typing will need to be deleted cause I screwed up.

I think I was very talented to do all this in three and a half hours but what if it doesn't work? Then I will feel like a twit/prat/buffoon/whatever.
I think I will go have a nap.

__________________
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." Ronald Reagan ~ 1981

Poetry Editor @ Sacred Twilight

flier58

You won't know if it works until you try it! If you buy a DVD and it doesn't work, at least you will have it for when it does get sorted out. In that way it's a win win situation.

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Gillian

safari invasion

When I bought my DVD player, I got a DVD to play, so I knew it worked. I thought it to be an intelligent purchase and would recommend others to do likewise.

Buy a DVD.


It's worth it.

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"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams."
-Willy Wonka

Penelope

Just to make readers aware. I did buy a DVD shortly after writing this [note the posting date] and the home theatre had been installed correctly.

__________________
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." Ronald Reagan ~ 1981

Poetry Editor @ Sacred Twilight