The Entertainment system is back, and… DirecTV is a #FAIL

This is a heads-up for anyone that’s been seeing Pink on their HDMI connected TVs

It appears that the Bose system wasn’t broke to begin with.

On the plus side the unit has been updated to the most current level of software and checked out by the factory.  It’s nice to know that Bose still stands behind their products 4 years later.

I got the unit back on Tuesday, I actually installed it yesterday and almost immediately had the problem I’d sent the unit in for.

I thought, “SHIT! I’m going to have to go through this whole process again.”Before I yanked the whole mess out again, I figured I’d contact Bose and see if they could give me any insight into why the hell the system was still broken.

I got ahold of a really nice guy back Massachusetts (I’m guessing from the accent) and he helped me out with a number of settings and other questions.

But, and this is the really interesting part… He said that they didn’t have a fix for the Pink Wash I was seeing when I switched to satellite TV.

He informed me that I was one of the first customers to report the issue and that since I’d initially called to send my unit back they’d been sort of inundated with calls about the same issue.

It turns out the problem was introduced by a software update from DirecTV.

Apparently DirecTV did something that screwed up the HDMI signal in such a way that it’s taken not only Bose surround sound systems offline, but a number of other manufacturers units as well.

Turns out, if you connect the satellite box directly to the TV there is no problem.  If you have your satellite box connected to some surround sound systems and then the surround system connected to the TV you see a dark pink wash over the entire TV image.

This of course leads the consumer to swap cables, and ultimately send their surround sound system in for un-needed repairs. I looks like you’ve got a bad HDMI port, especially since when you pull the surround sound system out of the equation everything works fine.

Unknown

So DirecTV cost me $165.00 and a LOT of inconvenience because they didn’t properly test their software.

I’m going to be calling them and asking for a free month of service. Why should I pay for HBO, Showtime, OR pay a premium to DirecTV for HD in the first place when I’m not getting all the services I’ve paid for?

I doubt that I’m going to get it but at least it will register the complaint.

I find myself once again revisiting the issue of simply discontinuing the satellite altogether. If I could put a TV antenna on the roof and get local stations… I’d kill the satellite in a heartbeat.

Stumbled on embedded video problems

Seems that there are some issues around embedding certain video clips in this blog…

Live & Learn!

I’ll figure it out eventually, but for the time being I’ll just put the links to the videos in the blog, instead of the nicely convenient video clip actually being playable here.

I’ve tried several options over the past 3 hours and absolutely NONE of them worked.

Theoretically it’s supposed to be easy… except due to some kind of security reason (I know I don’t have the patience to read the diatribe about copyright infringement and internet security right now.) Only some kinds of videos are permitted.

The thing that I find amusing is that sites like CNN invite you to share their videos. They make it easy with a Share button.

WordPress strips out the nice <embed> tags effectively deleting the video without any warning.

As one poster said… WordPress is free so we really can’t complain. This does of course lead me to wonder about the unfree options and if I can load them in place of WordPress on my host providers servers.

That is an exploration for another time.

A Minor Oops

Just noticed that all comments had been wiped out. 

I’ve finished replacing the missing comments.

Sorry to any of you who thought I was being a prick.

Chores of the day…

Poo Patrol!

Thank you Saint Mike Rowe you are an inspiration to me each and every time I have to dig out that little shit shovel!

A97180 g119 7 poop scooping

Weedwacker

Weed whacking.

This activity always results in my bleeding. Today it was a busted knuckle… There’s a lot of small rocks and in some places little bits of melted metal and fused glass. I always start the weed whacking process with a walk over the ground to pick up anything loose or sharp. I always miss something and whatever I miss always ends up being flung at a high velocity toward whatever exposed skin is closest. Today it was my left knuckle… Last week it was the back of my right hand.

Technology issues.

Circuitbo 6c24a62b656eb13003db70062cb59f3f

Last night I flip on the satellite box in the living room and my TV image was a lovely shade of pink. And that lovely shade was on all channels. I’m thinking it’s something with the satellite box, reset, power down, reset and for just an instant everything is good then PINK! After many hours and substituting cables, moving things around and generally messing around. I come to the conclusion that if I remove the surround sound system (Which all HDMI is routed through) the problem goes away. I call the manufacturer and they’re very nice they tell me I’m out of warranty but that for a flat (and inexpensive) rate they’ll make necessary repairs then return the unit to me with a 1 year warranty. Nice! Service with a smile. They even apologized for the repair possibly taking up to two weeks. Really? That’s nothing… I’ve rerouted all the HDMI cabling to use the TVs internal systems so it’s no big deal. I did however choose not to connect the XBox directly to the TV. Not that I couldn’t it would just require getting behind a credenza and working in a very narrow space which I would have to undo when the surround system gets back. As it stands, Satellite, Apple TV, and DVD are all online I can live without the XBox for a while. If I really need an XBox fix… I can always make the connections.


I’m Hooked!

I’m totally hooked on my new Domain host provider.

These folks rock!

There’s a steep learning curve to any new venture and so far I’m impressed with the way things are going. While I haven’t been living on their phones I can say that they’re there 24/7 and It’s really nice to know that.

For example, I’ve been bringing things online just by poking around in their menus. My new blog is an example of “Oh Yeah… I want that blog here…” Then installing the appropriate stuff.

I was thinking “OH Shit!… I really don’t want to have to transfer each item one by one” Then I noticed  simple little application that said it could grab my entire Blogger blog and move it.

I was dubious… But figured hat the hell? I have direct control over the files and If necessary I can blow em all away and recreate the new blog site.

Guess what? The little application worked just as advertised. These folks also handle moving your Apple web pages seamlessly and can take the data right from your existing iweb application.

So here’s my recommendation Click on the animated link below, It’ll take you to their site and they’ll get you started right away.

As I progress I’ll occasionally post updates about my experiences.

Thus far… I’m seriously impressed. If a moron like me can make heads or tails out of the way they set things up… ANYBODY CAN!