DVD Player Shopping

Our DVD player bit the dust. Probably literally "bit the dust." We've had so much dust over the past year - that is why my little lap top that I'm writing on right now had problems earlier this winter. When they opened it up, it was full of dust (and some cat hair, too - I wonder where that came from, huh, Cheyenne? heh heh). The DVD player is used a lot because Mel also plays his music CDs on it and my dear husband love music. It had been acting up for about two or three weeks and three nights ago just quit. Right in the middle of the end of the "24" episode we were watching.

Now, I may think "24" is funny (Mel and I are now trying to out-guess each other as to what is going to go wrong next and how each person is going to react and we're getting really good at it - we should be writers for tv programs!), ahem, back to the main thought - I may think this show is 'funny' but it is also addicting. So, when it quit right at a high tension place - is there any other kind of place in "24"? - we had to finally watch the rest of it on the computer. Very inconvenient. Altho I laughed right out loud at where the picture froze and wouldn't budge from. If you know the second season story line - it was where the father of the two daughters was told that his youngest daughter is a villain and he is in SHOCK - yep, the classic I AM SHOCKED look - camera up close, eyes wide open, mouth open, a tinge of fear on his face - frozen in time I AM SHOCKED!! Very appropriate for "24".

Yesterday Mel and I walked down to a local BweetTechnika (my spelling of the for English speakers unpronounceable little BI first vowel in Russian) and went shopping for a new DVD player. We found a really nice one, talked a bit about it, the price seemed really good, so we bought it.

Then we walked over to a nice little coffee shop. Mel had a latte' and I had "hot milk with cocoa" which ended up being really tasty. I was afraid it would taste like milk with a touch of cocoa, but it didn't. I don't like milk, was allergic to it as a kid and it has always tasted really bad to me. This hot drink tasted almost like it had a touch of malt in it. I'll get it again some day when we go out for coffee there. Anyway, we had a nice talk about all sorts of things and just enjoyed an impromptu date. Then we walked home.

Mel got the DVD player out and set it up. He stuck in a music CD and it played fine. He put in an MP3 disc and it played fine. He put in an American DVD and ... nothing but a blue screen that said: Check regional code. Mel was not happy. I pulled out the little operational booklet and it was written in 3 or 4 languages, the last of which was English. It took me awhile but I finally found the part that talked about regional codes. Mel was to look for a little globe on the DVD player and see what number was written in it, then check the little globe on the DVD package and see what that number was. The player was a 5 and the DVD was, well, we never got that far but assume it was not a 5 or did not read ALL. sigh When he saw the 5, we knew. This nice little DVD player was not compatible with our American DVDs.

Mel very quickly put the whole thing back into the original box, put his coat back on and took off back to the BweetTechnika to exchange it for one that would play. I was surprised at how quickly he got there. I know how quickly he got there because he called me from there to ask, "Is the receipt and warranty book there on the table?" And I looked and sure enough, there was the warranty book and receipt right there on top of The Two Towers. Oh dear. My fault. And to top it off, they don't sell multi-country systems at that store, so couldn't exchange it anyway. We never thought to ask about it, although when we bought our first DVD player about 8 years ago we had to find a multi-country system then, too. Of course they would not give him his money back without the receipt. Since it was already after 5 Mel decided not to go back last night.

Instead, on the way home he went over to another place that sells DVD players. Now, if you have ever seen the movie, "You've Got Mail," think back to the salesman in the Fox Bookstore, the kid who had no clue whatsoever as to what book the customer wanted, yet there he was, supposedly helping people find what they wanted. Well, the young man that Mel talked to had no clue. He didn't understand what Mel was talking about when Mel asked him about the multi-country system. The young man actually had to call a friend of his and ask him what Mel was referring to.

Finally the young man told Mel all Mel needs to do is copy his DVD onto the computer, reformat it and then burn another disc, then Mel can play it on a system made for this country. Mel gave up. The poor kid had no idea how many American DVDs we have and there is no way we are going to copy and reformat and burn them onto new discs. We'd just watch them on the computer instead. (Please remember - we have no television or news in English, so if we want to watch something that we can understand, that is not voiced over and the original meaning often lost in the translation, well, we have to buy a DVD of it, or receive a DVD as a gift. We don't have all these DVDs because we are crazy over movies - really!)

Mel thanked the young man and left. We ended up watching two episodes of "24" on my computer, set up in the living room beside the tv and hooked into the speakers Mel bought a few years ago that make his music CDs listenable (is that a word? I like to make up words that fit what I want to say whenever I can't think of the correct word in English any more).

Late this morning Mel took the DVD player back to the BweetTechnika, along with the receipt and warranty booklet. The woman who actually gives money back to customers was not there, so they would not give him any money. They did, however, keep the DVD player and take his phone number and say they would call whenever she came back in. They called a few minutes ago, but he is getting ready to go to a meeting and told her he'd be in tomorrow instead. I just hope this works out. They won't refund the whole amount, which we expected, but right now we've paid for TWO DVD players because...

Mel left BweetTechnika and went to TsUM and found a VVK player there, very similar to our old one. It is multi-country and plays just beautifully. We learned early on here to never throw away the original box something comes in, so here is a photo of both VVK (looks like BBK) boxes, stored up on top of the shkaf in the office. I am not sure why it is so important to keep those boxes, but it is. We will try to have the old player repaired and then donate it to someone. Not sure who yet, but we have to see if it can even be repaired first.

You know, nothing is simple here. :)