How To Watch Television

My Bride is technologically challenged.  I just love that terminology--"Challenged"--What my Bride actually is can only be accurately termed "At Sea".  If it's electronic, she has trouble with it.  This would include wrist watches with batteries and AM only car radios.  Interestingly, she seems to have no such liability when accessing the myriad of electronic devices affiliated with cooking.  But, I digress.

Which brings us to today's informative study:  How To Watch Television, a "How-To" guide by Jim Young for his Bride.  We'll start with--

Definitions:

1.  The Entertainment Center is the large wooden wall unit directly across from the sofa and recliner in the living room.  It would seem to be a bookcase, but contains, rather than books, electronic devices and pre-recorded media such as DVDs, CDs, tapes, and the like.
2.  The Toshiba Television is the large silver colored viewable device in the center of the Entertainment Center.
3.  The Explorer 3100 is the cable box.  It is black in color with a green time display.  It is located beneath the Toshiba Television and to the far left, when viewed from the sofa or recliner.
4.  The Sony Streaming Player is the small black box on the same shelf as, and just to the right of, the Explorer 3100.
5.  The Toshiba CD/DVD/VHS player is the silver unit beneath the Toshiba Television situated on the shelf just to the right of the Explorer 3100 and the Sony Streaming Player.
6.  The Remote Controls are small hand held devices with which one can control the aforementioned components from afar.  Their purpose is to activate, de-activate, or otherwise "control" the aforementioned electronic devices.  There is one Remote Control hand held device for each of the electronic components.  These Remote Controls are located on the small table between the sofa and the recliner.

Devices:

The Toshiba 46" High Definition Wide Screen television is the centerpiece of the entertainment system and is centrally located within the Entertainment Center directly across the living room from the sofa and recliner.  It has the capability of providing endless wasted hours of leisure. It is controlled by the largest of the Remote Controls, which is grey in color, and can be easily distinguished from it's brethren by looking at the reverse of this Remote Control and finding the inscription "TV" written in blue permanent marker.  The Toshiba Television is the viewing and listening mechanism for all viewable and audio programming covered in this "How-To" guide.

The Explorer 3100 is located as previously described (refer to definitions, above).  The Remote Control affiliated with the Explorer 3100 is black in color, and is the next largest of the Remote Controls.  It is distinguishable from the others by looking for the inscription "Time Warner Cable" on the front of this Remote Control.  This device is used to view cable television supplied by Time Warner Cable.

The Sony Streaming Player is, as previously mentioned, is a small black box (about the size of a hockey puck) located adjacent to the Explorer 3100.  The Sony Streaming Player accesses Internet content, including our Netflix account and Amazon Instant Video, via our wireless home network and plays that content in high definition through the Toshiba Television.  The Remote Control used for the Sony Streaming Player is the smallest of the four, and is easily identified by the wording "Sony Media Player" on the front of this Remote Control.

The final electronic device is the Toshiba CD/DVD/VHS player.  It is the silver colored unit on the shelf to the right of the Explorer 3100 and the Sony Streaming Player.  The Remote Control that is used for this device is small and black, and can easily be confused for the Remote Control for the Sony Streaming Player.  It is, however, distinguishable by the wording "Toshiba SE-R1070 on the face of this Remote Control.  This device is used to view pre-recorded VHS tapes and DVD disks, as well as listening to the pre-recorded content contained in audio Compact Disks.  This unit will also access the content of a variety of other pre-recorded formats on Compact Disks.

And Finally, Watching Television:

The first thing to do when preparing to access the entertainment that flows through the Toshiba Television is to turn on the Toshiba Television and the Explorer 3100.  The first Remote Control that should be used is the Black "Time Warner Cable" Remote Control.  Point this Remote Control in the general direction of the Entertainment Center, and press the "Power" button (located on the face of this Remote Control at the upper right corner) once.  The Explorer 3100 should turn on.  You will know that it is activated when a green light comes on on the right side of the Explorer 3100.  Near the same time, the Toshiba Television will also turn on.  You will know that the Toshiba Television is turned on when a small red light located on the front of the Toshiba Television near the bottom left of the screen activates.  If only one of the devices activates, you will have to MANUALLY turn on the other.  This is accomplished as follows:  If the Toshiba Television fails to activate, walk to the unit, and push the "Power" button near the lower left once.  If the Explorer 3100 fails to activate, walk to the unit and push the "Power" button on that unit once.  It is located on the right side of the Explorer 3100.

Now that the Toshiba Television and the Explorer 3100 are powered up, you must choose which programming source (the Explorer 3100, the Sony Streaming Player, or the Toshiba CD/DVD/VHS Player) whose content you with to view.  In order to select one you will need the Remote Control affiliated with the Toshiba Television (grey in color, marked with the inscription "TV" on the rear) follow these steps:
1.  Make sure that the slide control on the left side of this Remote Control is at the "TV" setting by sliding it upward to its furthest limit.
2.  Push the "TV/VIDEO" button located on the upper left of the face of this Remote Control once.  This will provide you with an "on-screen" menu with numbers.
Push "0" to access the content supplied by the Explorer 3100 (cable TV programming).
Push "4" to access content supplied by the Sony Streaming Player (Internet content, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and much, much more).  Note that if this choice is made, you must activate this device by pushing the green button on the upper right portion of the face of the Remote Control affiliated with the Sony Streaming Player.  You will know it is on by looking at the small black box and seeing a blue line light up on the face of the device.
Push "7" to access content from the Toshiba CD/DVD/VHS player.  As above, make sure that this device has been powered on by pushing the red button on the face of the Remote Control at the upper right corner.
3.  When you want to change the source of the programming, push the "TV/VIDEO" button once again and make a new selection.

The next "How-To" guide will incorporate the methods of navigating the myriad of choices on the Sony Streaming Player and the manner of selecting different media inserted into the Toshiba CD/DVD/VHS player.

In furtherance of harmony at home, and peace in the valley, there will also be a future "How-To" guide on using the 70's and 80's stereo gear housed in the Entertainment Center.