Quote:
|
DSO has started here today,
|
Yes here too we are serviced by Rowridge.
I'm afraid I'm very cynical about the digital TV debate. As has already been stated, it doesn't help that it is non - optional.
At the risk of going OT, what doesn't help now is the inherent complexity or at least the perceived complexity. My mother who is now in her eighties is no fool, yet she is completely befuddled by it all. She wanted to keep her old CRT TV and so i added a freeview box for her, simple enough you would think. However, there are so many issues here I don't know where to start:-
1. Trying to explain how to swtch the TV source between Freeview and VCR / HDR is something I've done so many times, yet have still not succeeded in getting through.
2. My mother in common with most elderly people do not have the slightest interest in any of the technical aspects or HD capabilities. Her eyesight is not what it was and all she wants to do is switch the TV on to her favourite soap, quiz show or whatever.
3. The Freeview box confuses her, especially of late - She keeps getting onscreen messages to retune. Programme content appears to move or disappear and she doesn't understand why retuning is required. There are so many Freeview channels and she doesn't understand how you can go to 'Channel+1' to see something you may have missed earlier. Don't even mention the fact that there are lots of radio stations accessible via her Freeview box.
4. The remotes supplied with some of these Freeview boxes leave a lot to be desired. If you have poor eyesight or arthritic hands it is nigh on impossible to make a simple selection (assuming you can decode the hieroglyphics). Some of these product designers should be shot. Just because the features can be included doesn't mean the average Joe public wants or even uses them. User interfaces for many of our digital devices are extremely poor and I struggle to think of a single appliance that is simple and intuitive to use. Every blasted digital clock in our house has an entirely different way of resetting it that is rarely obvious from the front panel markings - I hate them for that!
5. My mother lives in a warden assisted flat and as such they are required to have regular PAT tests carried out on all appliances. No problem with that, but the guys who carry out the testing are paid piece rate and frankly seem to be in too much of a hurry. After the last test my mother was left without TV again, and it transpired that in order to carry out some of the tests, certain cables were disconnected 'round the back' and were not reconnected. Needless to say my phone was ringing again that night. Now this is where it gets subtle:- I was unaware that the sparky had been round and when I was told her TV programmes had 'disappeared', the first thing I did was carry out a retune on her Freeview box. Wrong! it turned out the aerial was disconnected and so the Freeview box retuned, found nothing and overwrote the stored settings so no programmes were available. Once I'd established that the aerial had been disconnected, I had to go through all the retune hassle again which is not a terribly fast process. Ok, I may have been a bit hasty with the retune, but how on earth did we get into this state of affairs?
I'm no luddite, honest, electronics is my stock in trade, but I do despair at the way the user is presented with unnecessary complexity and digital tv is certainly a major offender in that respect.
Sorry for the long rant but I 'm expecting more phone calls tonight and in the next 2 weeks or so. Digital TV - I'm not impressed!
Dylan