DAY OF FRUSTRATION #1

I tried connecting the Samsung SIR-T451 to my analog TV (Mitsubishi CS-2015R) and existing VCR/DVD combo (Sony SLV-D100) last night to no avail. I also purchased and attached a new Terk TV5 amplified low-profile antenna (HDTV compatible with amplified gain of 12 dB min [VHF] and 6 dB min [UHF]) with much greater success. The upshot is that the antenna works nicely for analog but I’m getting neither DTV reception nor the Samsung electronic menu. Something is dreadfully wrong here, but at least we can still get analog stations, so I won’t be thrown out of the house…. Yet.

Here’s what happened. I opened the set-top box and had no problem until I looked at the bewildering array of inputs and outputs on the back. Yes, I am the kind of person who studies the manual, so after carefully reading the manual I realized there was no mention of how to hook the box up to a system with a VCR! All, right, I said to my self: Self, you’ll just have to work by analogy and imagine that the input terminals on the VCR are like the TV inputs in the manual. So far, no problem. I didn’t have a fiber optic connection or S-Video or Dolby or computer multipin connection on the VCR, so those were easily eliminated. I also switched a very tiny switch from DTV to analog as was instructed. I saw that my only option was to connect the yellow video cable and left/right audio cables from the box to the VCR and leave the VCR-TV connections alone (which incidentally were also the same yellow [video]/red [audio]/white[audio] connections. Of course, the box came with a L/R audio cable set but no yellow video cable! It did come with the new red/green/blue cable, which wouldn’t work with my VCR/DVD.

I cursed and fumed. I invoked various gods of technology to intervene. I stared out the window. Then I recalled that I rarely throw anything away no matter how antiquated and looked in the scary closet in the study. There, among discarded computer mice, outdated software and decaying printers, I found a cord that could serve as the extra needed video cord. It was of uncertain vintage but might do the trick.

I connected everything up and powered up the set-top box, TV, VCR/DVD and antenna. Everything worked nicely except the set-top box. Its little LED display initially said “boot.” No, you’re not a boot, I said, you’re a piece of consumer electronics. (Incidentally, this reminded me of Magritte’s painting of a pipe that is titled “This is not a pipe.” Perhaps Samsung was engaging in a bit of surrealism at my expense.) Then the display changed to the mysterious but unexplained “A-02”. I pushed the required button on the remote and then on the box itself, but no on-screen guide, which is the only means to navigate the channels and understand whether there was any reception.

I suspect the problem lies with the cable connections. So I called Samsung tech support the next day from work and described the problem. Support told me to bypass the VCR/DVD and hook the box up directly to the TV. How, then, I asked, would I be able to record a program? Or for that matter, record one channel and watch another? The answer was somewhat unintelligible but I did gather I should call when I have the equipment before me.

Next step: Buy a new video cable and install, then call tech support again at home sometime before the kids go to bed. That should be interesting.

By the way, my wife thinks the new low profile antenna is pretty, although she did say the TV looks like it has sprouted wings.