by Anura Guruge
on November 27, 2021
No, this was not planned as such. No, this was not supposed to be my Christmas in November. It just transpired as such. I kind of wish that it didn’t happen as such. It was too much. Really screwed up my plans & schedule. But, now, TODAY, I am relieved that all three of these major purchases are now in the ‘read mirror’, so to speak.
Getting a new TV, right now, was definitely not, ever, in the plans. The 47″ Philips, which we got in June 2007, a few months after we moved into this house, was old, BUT it still displayed a vivid, brilliant picture. It was better than many new TVs I would encounter. But, at 14 years, it was old. We had been waiting for it to die. It had outlasted all other major electrical/electronic appliances in this house, bar the dishwasher — by years. We are on our 4th refrigerator, 3rd microwave & 2nd set of washer/dryers. We used to joke that it seemed indestructible. But, about 3 weeks ago, while I was having my lunch watching TV, the picture flashed, & the TV went black. I thought it was dead — finally. Not so. When I recycled power, the picture came back, but the left side of the screen was noticeably darker. I tried all the tricks. No luck. It was time for a new TV — after 14 years.
We had talked about getting a 65″. And that is what we did. Got a 6-Series TCL from Amazon. I knew that TCL was a decent brand, & the price was reasonable. Also got a TCL Sound Bar — again from Amazon.
The 47″ TV was not wall mounted. It was on a stand. I wanted this wall mounted. I really had no desire, however, to do the mounting myself. So, I looked around. I would have gladly paid the $450. That was not an issue. But, many of the places INSISTED on a monthly membership program. I did NOT want to sign up for that. I don’t need external support on a regular basis. Plus, ‘Best Buy’, ‘Geek Squad’, was not accepting online bookings. You had to visit a store. I couldn’t be bothered. So, I decided to do it myself.
I did 3 weeks of research, off-and-on. I agonized about it. Finally, after much searching, found a SLIDING, full-motion mount. I bolted it to the walls last night. It worked out flawlessly. It was exactly, 100%, what I was looking for. It wasn’t too hard to install.
This morning I hired a big, strapping 15 year old boy from the neighborhood to help me lift the TV. He was here for about 40 minutes. He got quite the deal. In addition to me paying him (over the top) for 1 hour, I also gave him, per his wish, the old 47″ TV, the Philips DVD/Sound Bar & the TV stand. He was happy. He was going to put it all in HIS room. So, it all worked out.
Right now I am still using my 9 month old external ‘Roku’. I didn’t have the time or energy to mess with the built in Roku.
