SAMSUNG 32-INCH HDTV

Mike and I drove back to the town house last Friday (Aug. 7). We had errands and business in town. We renewed tags on a vehicle, bought insurance for the Barracuda so that we can drive it to Seattle for Hallie's wedding, bought groceries and supplies, did some weeding. Mike rode from Pullman to Troy (round trip) with the bike club and I met with the study group. AND – we went to Costco and bought a 32-inch Samsung HDTV for the farm. We have been without television here for several months since the LG quit working (painful subject). During that time I / we relied upon podcasts of vintage radio programs. I like those almost as much as television. However, old radio programming does not make me feel connected and the football season will soon be upon us. Need I say more?

We bought the LG from Sears because we thought it had an excellent picture. Through the LG experience I learned a couple of things:

1. An online search for product info will yield only positive info unless you search for problems, and
   
2. Always buy an extended warranty on expensive electronics.
   

As we searched for our replacement set, a friend pointed out to me that if we bought it from Costco on our Costco credit card, we would have an automatic 3-year warranty. And the Costco sales associate pointed out that Costco keeps the records and should we need service, they would not hassle us for paperwork. Sounded good to us; we had the hassle experience with Nikon.

So we brought the new Samsung with us when we came to the farm yesterday. Set-up was easy enough but then we had a snowy screen. In great frustration and impatience, Mike called our satellite provider; they were no help. (But I did note that he asked for a rep who spoke English and his request was granted.) When we did not achieve a fix through our satellite provider, we began to imagine a lot of problems, but of course, all we really needed was a kid. Why didn't we think to buy the set while Jack was here? Anyway, when it was my turn to try and make the set work, I noticed the last option in the satellite troubleshooting guide was "check television manual." The first option that caught my eye in the television manual was "press source button." That brought up options on screen and I selected HDM1. Voila! So, last night we sat side-by-side and watched a documentary about the crumbling of America's infrastructure – not an "upper" but we loved the picture. Then we went to bed and I listened to a podcast while Mike began his new Grisham book. KW