S-video cables

Recently my wife and father in law wanted to give me a new tv. When we went to Costco to get the best price I was looking for something I could also plug one of my computers into. When I got home I was disappointed that it didn't have a direct cable monitor connection so I could just borrow a monitor cable from my desktop PC that my son custom built for me from parts he bought online. However, that was not to be. The biggest job was to get the big package out of my wife's large SUV and over the walkway to the front stairs to our home.

So I got an old skateboard out of the garage and set one end of the heavy package on the flat part of the skateboard. I left the back end of the skateboard out the front not touching the box so it wouldn't break through and then used the skateboards steering wheels to guide it to the front porch. Then I took long strips of cardboard about 3 feet wide and about 4 feet long and slowly slid the heavy package up the front steps. After I got it over the threshold it easily slid across the tile floor to the Den where I wanted to set it up.

After putting the stand together and mounting it on an heirloom cedar chest I was very upset to discover no PC cable receptor plug in. After feeling like I was going to have a cardio incident I laid down on the floor to regroup a moment. I did see the S-video receptical so I decided at some point I would go to a local computer store and buy one.

One week later I did so only to find that the first gentleman didn't know what he was talking about (likely a salesman only). I then walked out to talk it over with my wife and when I walked back in I found myself talking to an actual tech. This was great because it only cost me $14.95 for an S-video cable. When I got home I was still worried because it seemed to be missing a few prongs when compared to my wireless laptop.

Then I encountered a third problem. I didn't know how to shift between AV1, AV2, AV3, Side, or the various other modes the thing could go into. There was no logical or intuitive way for me to find this answer even looking at the manual. I was very frustrated and finally gave up. However, my 12 year old daughter who is also good with computers came in and said, "I'll help you Daddy." Though I was grateful I doubted she would succeed where I had failed several times. However, I was wrong. 12 year olds are much more experimental than 60 year old men and so she tried every button on the remote. What amazed me was that none of the programming buttons which are across the top of the remote was the right one. It was the extreme bottom left button on which is written "source".

My daughter just by experimenting found it intuitively in about 5 minutes time. I was happy but chagrined at the same time. Though, alls well that ends well. Tonight we watched "Red Dwarf 4" streamed directly from netflix. Though the pixellation and resolution isn't there yet still it was fun streaming directly through my laptop to a 52 inch flatscreen. (by the way I also borrowed my woofer and tweeters speakers from my desktop computer too and the sound was great after I plugged in into the earphones jack on my laptop!)Happy Streaming!