The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

chris_m

silvercar wrote: »

Interesting, I would have identified the obeo as a clarinet!

If you look closely, you'll see that, like the bassoon, it has a thin tube between the main body and the mouthpiece containing the reed, whereas a clarinet has the mouthpiece and reed directly on the end of the body.

chris_m

ivyleaf wrote: »

I had a couple of bassoon lessons at school once (I'd wanted to learn the clarinet, but there wasn't a vacancy as they had no spare instruments - the clarinet was the most popular woodwind option). I didn't even manage to get a sound out of it until the second lesson, and then it made me dizzy having to blow so hard, so i didn't continue.

I never tried wind instruments, but did the violin and piano - I preferred the latter because, as long as I hit the correct keys if it came out as the wrong note that was down to the tuner not me

Which reminds me of probably the best Eric Morecambe performance ever when he was playing the piano and Andre Previn kept interrupting, saying that he was playing all wrong notes, to which Eric finally replied "I am playing all the right notes, but .... not necessarily in the right order" :rotfl:

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I did turn the socket off half an hour ago.
The telly runs through a freeview box, so I can press that button if the monitor springs to life.

It goes off when I'm watching it, so it's not as if I flick it on and nothing happens.... I'm watching it and "!!!!!!" it goes off for no reason at all... so doesn't sound like a retuning issue.... but I'll try that anyway once I get something on the screen.

A bit of a long shot, but my Freeview box sometimes goes awol, and then I have to do a soft reinstall, which in my case, with a Humax box, is to press and hold the 'on' button for 8 seconds, and then it starts again.
As the box gets older, I will need to do that more frequently, but it's not too bad at the moment.
Possibly something you could try. If yours isn't a Humax, though, you'll have to look at the manual as to how to do a soft reinstall.

Also, I do get a messages on the screen from time to time saying that the TV would need to be retuned on a certain date due to works done to the transmitter or something. Have you had anything like that?

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

A bit of a long shot, but my Freeview box sometimes goes awol ...

Also, I do get a messages on the screen from time to time saying that the TV would need to be retuned on a certain date due to works done to the transmitter or something. Have you had anything like that?

I was just thinking it might be the box, not the telly. Still no telly.

I've had the messages on the telly screen about retuning/specific date - but, without the screen being lit up at all, I can't retune as I'd need to make selections.

Something will happen... it'll either work by magic, or I'll start poking around with it all until something happens.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I was just thinking it might be the box, not the telly. Still no telly.

I've had the messages on the telly screen about retuning/specific date - but, without the screen being lit up at all, I can't retune as I'd need to make selections.

Something will happen... it'll either work by magic, or I'll start poking around with it all until something happens.

What sort of freeview box do you have? You might be able to get help online if you haven't got the manual to hand.

Pyxis

I assume you've checked,the connections between the box and the TV?




Another thing to check is if you have inadvertently put the TV into TV mode instead of Freeview channel mode? I do that sometimes when I'm using the TV remote Ito adjust volume or something, instead of just the Freeview remote.

To check, use the TV remote to go into the list of AV channels.....your Freeview box will be connected to one of those, and at the top will be 'TV'. If it's in TV mode that will tell you, so then you can scroll down to your Freeview channel .

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

Yes, I check them every time.

The screen is black. I cannot use the TV remote for anything as the screen displays nothing. It shows no sign of light nor life.

I had the telly ON. It just turned itself off. No lights, nothing on the screen. It's as black and vacant as if it were sitting in the middle of a field.



I've also removed both sets of batteries from both remotes and shaken both units and replaced batteries.

Is your TV an old one? Is it a more modern one capable of receiving BBC1 if connected to the aerial? I.e. Does it have some built-in Freeview?
If it is capable, try connecting the aerial directly to the TV. If you still can't get anything, maybe it's the TV that's kaput. (Remember to go into TV mode though.)

Or, it might be the aerial itself.

If the TV is ok, then it's either the aerial or the Freeview box. If it's the aerial, though, the box will tell you there's no aerial connection.


On the Freeview box, is there a separate power switch? Just check it hasn't been accidentally turned off( but you've probably checked that already).

How old is the box? They don't last terribly long, especially the earlier ones. My first Freeview box only lasted two years.
The current one has lasted a bit longer, so far.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I use an indoor aerial... then a freeview box ... then the telly. I did try connecting the aerial to the telly a while back, but the signal isn't strong enough, so it only works through the freeview box.

The house was built, with sockets - but no aerial was ever installed... and it would be on "the list of annoying stuff" to "find a little man" for, but as the telly worked and I only had to move the aerial every month or so, it really was low priority/never done.

Aerial is 2011, Asda £10.
Box is 2012, Asda £15.
Telly is 2011, Argos/Bush ~£120.

It might be that you do need a new aerial, even a new indoor aerial. With all the changes there have been to the signals over the last seven years, your aerial might just not be capable of receiving the current signals.

If the house is wired up for aerials, you might just need one in your loft, if you can find the connecting point, but I know you won't go up into the loft, so that's probably a no-no.

You also might find it works upstairs but not downstairs.

I can only watch upstairs at the mo, because of aerial problems too! Long story.

Pyxis

This is a bit technicall, but it may indicate that you need a new aerial.


http://www.aerialsandtv.com/rowridgetx.html

GDB2222

Most TVs have on screen menus, etc. These have nothing to do with whether they are receiving a signal. If PN can't get anything on the screen at all, then the TV is what is described by technicians as buggahed.

Most TVs can theoretically be fixed, but it's not usually worth doing so.