One of the things that bugs me about computers is when new products are introduced there seems to be an absence of awareness that these products are being used by people who did not grow up with a computer in their crib. At times it will take me a half hour to figure out something that people who grew up with all of the whiz bang systems seem to know intuitively.
The odds are that over time our members will need to replace their personal computers for one reason or another. I have to replace a 7 year old computer that went kaflooey (a technical term). One of my major uses for this computer was to connect the streaming of continuing education lectures and Cleveland Browns games from the laptop computer to the big screen TV that is connected to a big stereo receiver and huge Infinity speakers. The old laptop and and TV have HDMI (trapezoidal shaped) ports and 1 cable between them provides for picture and sound on the big TV.
So I bought a new computer, same brand with twice the horsepower. It had the trapezoidal port so I inserted the cable into the port and set the TV to receive the transmission from the new laptop computer. And guess what, nothing happened. I did the same thing I had done using the old computer but the TV said it wasn't getting a signal.
So for at least the next half hour I'm going through web site after website trying to get a clue as to how to remedy this situation. After a while I came across an article, WITH PICTURES, that looked like it might address this problem. The text and pictures referred to a second output port, a USB-C (racetrack shaped) port next to a trapezoidal output port. The next picture showed an adapter with a port for the trapezoidal cable end on one end and on the other end of the adaptor was a jack to go into the racktrack output port on the computer. My computer had these same connections. Figuring that maybe I came across a solution, I printed off the pictures so I could explain the problem I was having and see if this truly was a solution.
I drove out to the Best Buy store in York, PA, explained my situation to the technician as best I could and showed him the pictures. I asked him if that store sold such an adaptor and he said it did. But then he started drifting off into the possibility I have to bring my computer in to the store. That's a 60 mile round trip. I asked what the price of the adaptor was and it seemed reasonable to me ($30+ part - about anything that works and solves your problem is reasonable to me). I then asked him what were the chances this adaptor would solve my problem and he said about 80% and I said something like "I'll take one."
After I got home, in the tradition of the old song o/" the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone o/" I connected the trapezoidal cable to the adaptor, and put the racktrack jack on the adaptor in the racktrack output port on the computer, and pulled up the "Music You Like" thread. When I set the TV on the right source, the "Music You Like" thread came up on the TV screen. Then I started the music on the post and the sound gushed forth from my big Infinity speakers.
So here it is, what to expect and what to look for on a new computer that has these types of output ports. If I can save only one of my brother or sister Luddites time and aggravation it will have been worth taking the time to set out all of this.
The odds are that over time our members will need to replace their personal computers for one reason or another. I have to replace a 7 year old computer that went kaflooey (a technical term). One of my major uses for this computer was to connect the streaming of continuing education lectures and Cleveland Browns games from the laptop computer to the big screen TV that is connected to a big stereo receiver and huge Infinity speakers. The old laptop and and TV have HDMI (trapezoidal shaped) ports and 1 cable between them provides for picture and sound on the big TV.
So I bought a new computer, same brand with twice the horsepower. It had the trapezoidal port so I inserted the cable into the port and set the TV to receive the transmission from the new laptop computer. And guess what, nothing happened. I did the same thing I had done using the old computer but the TV said it wasn't getting a signal.
So for at least the next half hour I'm going through web site after website trying to get a clue as to how to remedy this situation. After a while I came across an article, WITH PICTURES, that looked like it might address this problem. The text and pictures referred to a second output port, a USB-C (racetrack shaped) port next to a trapezoidal output port. The next picture showed an adapter with a port for the trapezoidal cable end on one end and on the other end of the adaptor was a jack to go into the racktrack output port on the computer. My computer had these same connections. Figuring that maybe I came across a solution, I printed off the pictures so I could explain the problem I was having and see if this truly was a solution.
I drove out to the Best Buy store in York, PA, explained my situation to the technician as best I could and showed him the pictures. I asked him if that store sold such an adaptor and he said it did. But then he started drifting off into the possibility I have to bring my computer in to the store. That's a 60 mile round trip. I asked what the price of the adaptor was and it seemed reasonable to me ($30+ part - about anything that works and solves your problem is reasonable to me). I then asked him what were the chances this adaptor would solve my problem and he said about 80% and I said something like "I'll take one."
After I got home, in the tradition of the old song o/" the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone o/" I connected the trapezoidal cable to the adaptor, and put the racktrack jack on the adaptor in the racktrack output port on the computer, and pulled up the "Music You Like" thread. When I set the TV on the right source, the "Music You Like" thread came up on the TV screen. Then I started the music on the post and the sound gushed forth from my big Infinity speakers.
So here it is, what to expect and what to look for on a new computer that has these types of output ports. If I can save only one of my brother or sister Luddites time and aggravation it will have been worth taking the time to set out all of this.
