The End. (Hopefully)

So this is hopefully the last installment of the TV saga. I figured there was no way to get the TVs back to Argos other than to lug them all the way down the road (luckily it's only 10 minutes away), so I carried the one all the way there, and confused the guy working there - at least he agreed that the whole situation was totally ridiculous! Of course, they couldn't give me a refund until I brought the 2nd one back as well... But I went across to Currys.Digital, or whatever they're called, and bought a 20.1" Humax TV from them. Carried that all the way home, then took the 2nd broken one back to Argos. In total, if you're counting, 3 one way trips between my house and central Wimbledon.

So my arms have had a thorough workout today (who needs to go to gym!) and they ache from my shoulders all the way down to my wrists, but at least Argos have 2 broken TVs, and I have a refund from them and a working TV (although I didn't plug it in when I got home - I just didn't think I would be able to handle it if it didn't work, and I'd probably end up having a nervous breakdown - but I set it up about 10 minutes ago, and it seems to still be working. So far, anyway).

But honestly, the Humax (LEU-20A, if anyone's googling for that) is not as good as the Mikomi. Well, obviously it's better, because it switches on AND displays all 3 primary colours, but it's not as good as the first Mikomi during the first few days I had it. There's nothing wrong with it, as such, but it just doesn't seem as sharp and the colour isn't quite as good. I've tried fiddling around with the settings, but there isn't much you can set up yourself. At the moment it _feels_ like I'm watching TV on a PC monitor, which is somewhat disappointing. If I'd had this first, I'd probably just have thought that's what a LCD TV is like, but the Mikomi was better, if only briefly.

I'm trying to figure out if it's the TV itself, or the signal coming in - what with swapping TVs in and out, I have moved the aerial and I guess that could be having an effect on the signal. The program guide banner isn't very sharp at all, though, and I don't know if that would be affected by the signal. And I'm probably being overly cynical, but the scart lead came from Argos too, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's now not working 100% either (okay, I doubt that could be the problem, but I don't trust anything from Argos any more). What I'll do is wait until Friends comes on, because that's one program where I know what it normally looks like - how sharp, what the colours are like, etc. No point judging by, say, one of those old war movies, because those would look terrible on the best TV. And some adverts do look really sharp and good, so that would suggest that the TV is capable, and it's the signal or the broadcast that's at fault - the sound, at least, is perfectly fine.

Anyway, I'm sure everyone's sick and tired of hearing about my TV by now - I know I am, and I guess if I have a TV that switches on, displays R, G and B, has audio, and can actually display the broadcast, I'm doing pretty well and shouldn't complain. Tomorrow is Stonehenge, and so hopefully I'll be able to post a more upbeat account of my day tomorrow (including photos, if you ask nicely).