Moment of Brilliance

After days of deliberation, I finally broke down and got a new toy for the basement. I am now the proud owner of a 26" HDTV that will serve as a monitor for the media pc as well as receive live DirecTV HD. So I get home after the easiest transaction anyone has ever had at Wal-Mart and begin the setup process.

Since I recently reconfigured the basement and haven't moved my DirecTV connections around, I only had an off-air antenna and the PC connection to hook up. The antenna setup was a breeze, I turned on the set and the TV scanned and found all of our local channels. Then comes the ridiculous part.

In a couple of days, I will be posting a catalog of the myriad electronic cables that I have recently organized. Needless to say, I am familiar with the setup of consumer home electronics. The PC connection should be the easiest part. One cable. Unplug from old monitor. Plug into new TV. The end.

I follow these TWO steps and change the input on the TV, fully expecting to see my desktop, but what do I see? NO SIGNAL! I unplug the cable, plug it back into the old monitor, desktop. Back to TV, NO SIGNAL! I unplug the monitor from my laptop, plug it into the new TV, NO SIGNAL! I plug back into the laptop, desktop. I switch cables, nothing. This of course happens on my lunch break, so I head back to work with a nice shiny brick on my desk that I know will not be nearly as easy to return as it was to buy.

So I try some troubleshooting options that I found on the Internet, including trying to install an updated monitor driver on my laptop. None of these worked either. I am finally frustrated enough to call Vizio tech support. The obvious questions begin...is the TV on? YES! is the cable connected? OF COURSE! is the TV on the correct input? ABSOLUTELY!...um..I think so...what input should it be on?...OOPS.

There is a nice button on the remote labeled COMP. That means Computer, right? Component?!? Of course it means Component! I need to be on RGB? But Component cables have three outputs, Red Green and Blue, and COMP is also short for computer. I politely apologized to the tech support guy and hung up.

Anyway...this monitor is HUGE!!!