Still confused with the entertainment system

To watch TV:
1. Turn on TV
2. Select desired Channel

To watch VHS movies:
1. Turn on TV
2. Set TV to Channel 4
3. Insert Tape into VCR
4. Press play on VCR

To watch DVD movies:
1. Turn on TV
2. Set TV to Video 1 (Input 1)
3. Turn on DVD player
4. Insert DVD and wait for main menu
5. Select "Play Movie" on DVD menu with DVD player remote or use arrow buttons on remote to select other scenes/chapters and push the green "select" button.


Ok, my mom already knows the TV and the VCR but she keeps getting confused when it comes to the DVD player. She does steps 1 and 3 for that but instead of pressing Input, she keeps putting the TV on channel 3 or 4 and wondering why the DVD won't show up. (Typical of people used to VCRs)

Other than the TV, Dad dosen't know a thing about the entertainment center at all. Last night, my dad brought home some DVD movies a friend gave him and both he and my mom were messing with the TV for several mins trying to get it to work. I finally had to teach her again on how to switch the inputs on the TV to the DVD player.

30 seconds later, I hear "The movie's not playing!" and go downstairs to find them watching the DVD menu. I had to select "Play Movie" for them.


Anyone here have a family member who is confused when it comes to using an Home theater/Entertainment center ?

my system is pretty extreem

over 300 watts per channel- rms(over 400 watts rms at 1% clipping - 10% clipping - who knows - I will not go there)all 6 channels driven at the same time - 2 amplifiers per speaker.

1.2kw subwoofer - jbl sub 1500 - fantastic driver -
2 copper shorting rings and a 25 pound motor structure - over 5 ounces of copper in the voice coil - not a 1 note wonder sub.

to turn it on is simple - the whole system will turn on when the dvd player turns on - just hit the eject(play or power)button on the player or remote.

the tv even turns on and sources to the dvd player.

I have a few older relatives who still can't figure out how to program a VCR for timed recording.

These same relatives always wanted to know how to get the clock on their VCR's to stop flashing 12:00. Telling them to check the manual was like talking to a wall.

When I told them to stick black electrical tape over the clock display they all felt a bit foolish but when I would drop by for a visit years later you just knew the electrical tape was in place.

At my house I tried one of those super fantastic stupendous mega do-it-all-and-then-some remotes to control all the components in the HT system because of the "too many remotes" complaints but I grew tired of giving the same leasons over and over and over again so I eventually went back to farming remotes on the coffee and end tables.

might try a harmony remote.
They allow you to select macro features such as "play movie" or "watch TV" with the push of a single button. You simply connect your remote to your PC, go online and select your components and how they are hooked up and your remote will be programmed based on your input. They're awesome.

I have an older/cheaper/simpler/smaller TV with only 1 input. I use Y adapters to connect to both VCR and DVD. As long as I do not have both the DVD and VHS onat the same time I'm OK.

tiktok 22 said:

might try a harmony remote.
They allow you to select macro features such as "play movie" or "watch TV" with the push of a single button. You simply connect your remote to your PC, go online and select your components and how they are hooked up and your remote will be programmed based on your input. They're awesome.

Click to expand...

I had 8 different macros programmed into the remote and that wasn't so bad, it was the 20 different buttons I had assigned specific unique tasks to that threw them for a loop.

tiktok 22 said:

might try a harmony remote.
They allow you to select macro features such as "play movie" or "watch TV" with the push of a single button. You simply connect your remote to your PC, go online and select your components and how they are hooked up and your remote will be programmed based on your input. They're awesome.

Click to expand...

...and how do you think you get someone who cant even adjust the time on a vcr to "simply connect your remote to your PC, go online and select your components and how they are hooked up"

my system is simple to use - with or without a remote.

I had macros programmed into my remote for watching TV, VCR and DVD, but I tend to upgrade at least one component every year or so, and I think the only thing I have left from the original macros is the receiver. One of these days I'll have to go back and reprogram all the macros for th ecurrent equipment (if only I can find the dang manual)

-Keith

Sometimes I have to turn the "rabbit ears" when the picture flips. :laughing:

Geoff

yuandrew said:

Anyone here have a family member who is confused when it comes to using an Home theater/Entertainment center ?

Click to expand...

My dad bought an HDTV and DVD player about eight months ago. I had to talk him through everything. OK-AV1 is the VCR, AV2 is the DVD player, TV1 is the WebTV, etc. It took him a while to catch on.

Interestingly, I heard a lot of people don't know how to set the clock on their VCRs, and I think the majority don't know how to record (which is why they'll rent the same movie from Blockbuster that they could have recorded from HBO when it was on a week ago).

Fact is the majority of people over about 40 these days are technophobic and probably utterly incapable of adjusting to a house full of gadgets. I guess you really need to grow up with these stuff to feel comfortable with it. By the same token most of us would probably be lost in the mostly mechanical world our grandparents or parents grew up in. I heard for example that operating a steam locomotive was a real art.

MayCooper said:

...and how do you think you get someone who cant even adjust the time on a vcr to "simply connect your remote to your PC, go online and select your components and how they are hooked up"

Click to expand...

This would definately be a job for Yuandrew. It does require a little knowledge of home electronics and computers but is fairly simple for the average computer user. But once they're set, anyone can use a Harmony.

jtr1962 said:

Fact is the majority of people over about 40 these days are technophobic and probably utterly incapable of adjusting to a house full of gadgets. I guess you really need to grow up with these stuff to feel comfortable with it. By the same token most of us would probably be lost in the mostly mechanical world our grandparents or parents grew up in. I heard for example that operating a steam locomotive was a real art.

Click to expand...

How true. Fortunately, my dad purchased a computer two years ago. He surfs the internet and is now an Ebay king. I would never have guessed he would be into computers as he seemed very skeptical and scared of them at first. He is 70 years old.

jtr1962 said:

Fact is the majority of people over about 40 these days are technophobic and probably utterly incapable of adjusting to a house full of gadgets. I guess you really need to grow up with these stuff to feel comfortable with it. By the same token most of us would probably be lost in the mostly mechanical world our grandparents or parents grew up in. I heard for example that operating a steam locomotive was a real art.

Click to expand...

Here's the weird thing. My GRANDPARENTS and most of their peers are far less technophobic than my parents and their peers.

Of course my grandparents (both recently deceased, sigh) had to handle technology that went from mostly horse n' buggy (Grandma born 1889, Grandpa born 1893) and kerosene lanterns, all the way up to moonshots, microwave ovens, and computers. In general they were far more open to new stuff than my parents who insist on a "comfort zone".

I don't know, maybe living through two world wars tends to put everything else in a different perspective.

zespectre said:

I don't know, maybe living through two world wars tends to put everything else in a different perspective.

Click to expand...

You might be right. My maternal grandfather was definitely a gadget freak. He probably would have been right at home on CPF if he were still alive. I might chalk up the openness to new technology being due to a better education. 100 or even 75 years ago school actually taught people to think and to analyze rather than just preparing them for standardized tests as schools today do. The breath of the education my grandfather had received though he only went up to sixth grade exceeded that of most college graduates today.

I'll also add that years ago most of the population saw technology as the solution to all our ills. I attribute some of the technophobia I see today to a general disenchantment with technology. Sad thing is the disenchantment is usually due to technology being misapplied or poorly executed rather than inherently flawed. I see so many poorly designed products these days it isn't even funny.

"it's no worky, no worky, I push dis and dis and dis and no worky!!"

(my fiances philipeno grandmother)

she cought on, after we showed her how to do it every day for about 2 months.

patience
patience

I am getting better. 8 out of 10 times I can play a DVD without having my 15 year old make it work.
Topper

Well if you only use the VCR for watching, not recording, you can simplify things. Get yourself a card for your computer that can take the output of the VCR and store it as an mpeg file. Then burn the movies to DVD. Then pick up the VCR and toss it into the garbage.

Now your parents can forget about the VCR and concentrate on the DVD player. This also eliminates the flashing 12:00 problem.