Black Friday - My Wife and I Indulged

[MineralMan]

Last edited Sun Nov 29, 2020, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

We have an anniversary coming up. Both of us are at a "certain age," so our vision without glasses is not quite as good as it once was. I have a cataract that is not too bad in my right eye, and my wife has early stage macular degeneration. So, we decided that it was time to update our living room TV. Our old one was a 32 inch flat screen we bought many years ago for $250. It came complete with a built-in DVD player, which gets used maybe once a year.

We still have cable, but we also used wi-fi and a Chromecast HDMI dongle to access, well, just about anything we wish.

It's our anniversary present. A Visio 50" 4K smart TV. We don't need the dongle, so it goes into the little TV in the bedroom, which we almost never watch at all. On sale at Target for $299. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, we chose curbside delivery, and picked it up this morning. Surprisingly, it fit into the back of our little KIA Soul, after I folded down the rear seats. I thought I would have had to fold down the front passenger seat, as well.

I installed in in about 15 minutes, went through an update of its software, put in my wife's passwords for all of the streaming channels she watches, which are all available from an Android-looking Home screen on the TV. Change the input source, and we have 29 broadcast channels we can also watch, during cable outages, along with being able to cast anything from either of our phones to the device. I have not told my wife about that feature, for fear of watching funny dog and cat videos ad nauseum.

But, best of all, we will be able to watch Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20 on a much larger screen than we had before. I think that's the best part of this anniversary present to each other. I could also cast DU to the TV from my phone in the evening, but probably won't. I have good reading glasses.

My wife said, regarding our anniversary gift, "I can read the small print on MSNBC on that thing. Yay!" Just wait until I add it to Alexa's list of things she can control. "Alexa! Show {movie name} in the Living Room." If it's on Amazon Prime, it will pop right up. My wife will say, "I didn't know Alexa could do that..."

Happy Anniversary, Love!

[MaryMagdaline]

1. Excellent gift! Hope you and your wife enjoy!

My husband endeared himself to my mother (and to my siblings) by buying my mother a TV big enough to see when her eyes were failing and she was stuck in the house with emphysema. Something the rest of us just never considered. She was a small gift person (we always got books for Christmas) but that extra bit of empathy from my husband, to see what she truly needed, really won the day.

[MineralMan]

4. The old TV won't be idle. We gave it to my wife's nephew

and his partner, who are expecting a second child soon. They watch a lot of DVD's, so the built-in DVD player will make that even easier. We dropped it off on our way to Target.

[MaryMagdaline]

6. Extra sweet!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Did the same for my Dad when his vision started to go.

He tended to be kind of cheap and he didn't want to spend his money on himself (we were told to stop spending our inheritance on him). At the same time he wouldn't let us buy one for him. So we finally talked him into buying himself a big screen tv and he loved it.

[MaryMagdaline]

11. Those depression era parents always denied themselves

But it sure felt good to see them splurge a little on themselves.

[underpants]

2. Sounds great.

When we bought our current TV the conventional wisdom was you couldn’t lay it flat even in the box. I got it in my Ford Taurus that I had at the time but I was driving turned sideways and my face was smashed up against the windshield. Luckily it was a short trip.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Nice! The thing about a large HDTV is that you can see every pore,

wrinkle and zit. This makes some things scary that weren't intended to be scary, like Rudy leaking whatever that was - and any shot of Trump, which makes me lunge for the remote.

And I didn't know Alexa would do that last thing either, either. Will have to try it instead of scrolling through all the channels. The Comcast guy told me that the voice remote would find movies for me, too. I'm such a Luddite that it never even occurred to me to use that feature. Isn't technology wonderful?

And Happy Anniversary.

[MineralMan]

9. Well, it has to be a smart TV connected to the same wi-fi network

as Alexa. Then, you have to use the Alexa app on your phone to find the device and show it to Alexa. Once you do, Alexa can do some things on the TV. I'm not sure exactly what that capability encompasses, though. I have to look it up. I know that you can use voice commands to watch things on Prime TV, though, if you have a Prime account.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. It is and I do. Gonna try it out.

[CottonBear]

16. I have an Amazon FireTV dongle. The Amazon remote has an Alexa button!

It’s great! You can ask Alexa anything. We look up stuff online, on YouTube, on Amazon Prime TV, and on Hulu! My kid asks Alexa all sorts of questions. I ask Alexa to play what ever movie or TV show I want to watch.

[MineralMan]

24. I may add that to my TV. I'm not sure. I'll wait to see

how it works out without the dongle.

[CottonBear]

28. Our Panasonic LCD TV has a great picture, but isn't smart,

so I purchased the Fire TV in order to be able to access online TV.

If your phone can be used as an Alexa device, then I’d try that first.

[orwell]

5. Congrats...

...you will love it. When we upgraded (over a decade ago now) we couldn't believe the difference in picture quality. I'm sure the new TV's are even better.

The only negative is that Trump's head will be bigger...oh well, that feature goes away on January 20th...

[MaryMagdaline]

7. Good point! Seeing orange makeup up close is a definite drawback

[MineralMan]

12. Thanks. We could have bought a larger one for the same price, but

the place it sits is only 48" wide. The new TV is also 48" wide, so it's a perfect fit. Plenty big enough for our small living room. Had we opted for a bigger one, we would have needed a new platform to hold it. Never mind...

[dawg day]

13. That's an amazing price.

Electronics are a great bargain. Maybe I should look to replace my old TV, bought to watch the 2010 Super Bowl.

[mvd]

14. Nice!

Happy Anniversary to you!

For early Christmas, I got myself (on Amazon) the Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones since Amazon might not have them for that price near Christmas. The monthly plan offered was very useful.

[JDC]

15. Happy Anniversary

Think how great the Inauguration Speech will look. Enjoy

[birdographer]

17. So cool!!

Happy anniversary!!! Enjoy it!!

[BadGimp]

18. Good for you guys!

Smart that you are comfortable with al the tech, and set up etc.

[MineralMan]

25. Oh, I've been doing technology for decades.

In those decades, I've encountered almost every possible interface between human and machine. That's a good thing, because none of the current tech comes with printed user manuals any longer. You can see manuals online, of course, but it's a lot easier if you can look at the interface and instantly see what you need to do to make the thing work.

The remote for this TV uses a directional circle control with a center command button. So, using the on-screen keyboard is a simple matter of highlighting the letter and pushing the command button. Other systems use directional arrows, a mouse sort of thing, or some other method of selecting and activating.

The TV's setup program runs when you first turn the TV on. No manual needed, if you understand the interface of the handheld remote. I'd prefer a mouse-like selection and command method, but I can live with the slower directional circle and center button, too.

Kids today instantly recognize the control methods when they see them, since they are constantly presented with a variety of them. People who don't regularly use tech stuff, though, don't always recognize the control methods, which means they sometimes have difficulty with such technologies. That's why there should be a printed user manual with all of this stuff.

[shanti]

19. Congratulations!

My vision was the primary reason I upgraded to a 52" teevee. It makes a world of difference! Now, if I could just get it mounted on the wall...

[BobTheSubgenius]

20. The price of some technology is at ridiculously low levels!

A Black Friday ad I saw was for an RCA, which I concede is no longer a premium brand, but a 40-something inch TV for $88 was quite startling. And those are Canadian dollars, so...about the same price as a premium beverage from a US Starbucks.

[hurple]

21. Now you need to add a sound bar

A good vizio can be had for about $130 and you won't believe the difference in sound quality over those dinky little TV speakers.

[Boomer]

33. Second that!

My wife is hard of hearing, and the TV's built-in speaker sound distorts at higher volume, so she was having more and more trouble enjoying shows. Fortunately, I received a perk for our company gift store and one of the options was a Bose sound bar. Since I could get it for free, I selected it in the hopes it would be improvement (not being technical, I had only the vaguest idea what I was ordering).

Best. gift. ever. Beautiful sound at all volumes, and really gives her a range to choose from.

[hurple]

35. Last night

We only have a mid-level Klipsch SB. Last night we binged the 2nd "season" of the Jordan Peele "Twilight Zone" and the sub was rattling our windows.

Those puny little TV speakers could never do that!

And, that 2nd season is far better than the 1st.

[wendyb-NC]

22. Good for you two.

What a sweet, treat. Hope you enjoy it for many more years to come.

[Martin Eden]

23. Next up: a good sound system?

Flat screen TV speakers, even on large pricey units, leave much to be desired. Most people connect it to their home stereo system for home theater sound, or at the very least use a powered sound bar.

I plan to upgrade ours soon. My problem is the clarity of dialogue from the TV speakers. Quite often I need closed caption.

[MineralMan]

26. Yeah, maybe. I have a couple of great speakers and a good two channel amp.

I'm not that critical of sound quality, though. I can install them, if needed. There's all kinds of fun stuff in my basement. It's just a matter if I want to deal with yet another thing to control, really.

Most of our TV watching is news programming, so great sound isn't a high priority. It would be nice for movies, though. We'll see.

[Wounded Bear]

27. Sometimes, you just have to indulge yourself...

enjoy!

[TNNurse]

29. Sounds like the perfect gift, good for you both.

Happy Anniversary.

[Hekate]

30. Happy Anniversary-coming-up! May you enjoy all that for years to come!

[TxDemChem]

31. That is wonderful!

Wishing you and your lovely wife a very happy anniversary!

[Alacritous Crier]

32. Happy Anniversary! Happy Anniversary! Happy Anniversary! ....

[Boomer]

34. We're pretty frugal, but...

But sometimes an indulgence can make such a difference in daily quality of life.

For me, it was getting a second TV so I could watch streaming shows upstairs while my wife was watching football. I had hem and hawed and dithered, because we didn't "need" another TV, but it was such an improvement to have that option. My wife didn't feel obliged to miss games and I had an option for staying entertained, other than sitting at the computer.