1766

How old was it?

My 2017 was an open box and still runs great, thankfully because it’s past warranty. The 2021 C1 one I got was a refurb and I got the extended one for it. Both from Microcenter where I have a torrid affair with their oven box stuff.

1767

That definitely isn’t common; LG sells a ton of 'em and we would have heard about it. You just got unlucky. Overall, extended warranties are never worthwhile.

1768

Yep I never get them but decided for the refurb. It covers anything for 4 years. I was a little nervous with a refurb plus thoughts of the 3 year old smashing it with something came to mind.

1769

Ahh, it was a refurb. Well you made the right decision this time!

1770

Unless you buy your LG OLED from Costco and get the 5 year extended warranty for free!

1771

I was nervous but Best refurb ever had the new factory wrap still on it and zero hours used. Box was definitely refurbed though :).

1772

Any advice on measuring for in-wall HDMI cable runs? The wall mount will be over a fireplace, about six (6) feet off the floor at the center. About four (4) feet to the right of where the outlet should be behind the cabinet with the cable box and DVD player.

Assuming those measurements are correct, would 20 foot HDMI cable lengths be sufficient? I figure that would allow for 10–12 feet in the wall, with about 3 feet exposed on the TV end and 5 feet on the cabinet end.

Or should I go with 25 foot lengths to be safe? That’s about the max for passive HDMI, and I don’t want to run them any longer than necessary.

Thanks!

1773

Stupid questions from John time:

Current living room TV setup: Sony HT-CT150 sound bar with Amazon Fire stick inserted into one of its HDMI ports, the bar connected to the TV. For the life of me my Google-fu has failed in finding what gen of HDMI is on this sound bar, but it does support ARC. So while I’m doubtful a 2010 sound bar will support 4k, I"m thinking a new 4k Fire stick plugged directly into a new OLED TV’s HDMI port with the sound bar connected to its ARC port should work fine. Hoping for confirmation or correction from the tech wizards residing here. TIA!!

1774

Nothing wrong with that setup in theory, it’s exactly what ARC was meant for and that setup is similar to what I run… However, you may run into some issues - ARC is an older standard and doesn’t support some of the more modern uncompressed audio formats so you may play the odd thing and get no sound (maybe). You’d need to replace the soundbar with one that supports eARC if it proves to be a consistent problem for you. That said - those formats aren’t that common and I’d expect that even when they’re included with films etc, they’re included alongside ‘more compatible’ audio streams you can choose instead.

1775

Thanks for the info! I’ll give the old sound bar a try first then.

1776

Which is what I did. Now just under two years since I bought it. Fingers crossed it lasts, but if it cacks out in the next three, hey, new TV maybe?

1777

I’ve got that exact same soundbar that I got back in 2013 for my first HD TV, a 50 in Panny Plasma (among the last ones they made).

With the LG CX (from 2020, bought in early '21) that soundbar has an occasional problem where it doesn’t seem to make the handshake with the TV, and usually turning the HT-150 off and on again from the power button fixes the immediate issue. Another thing that happens is that the sound is coming from the soundbar, but adjusting the volume with my old TiVo remote (and I assume with the TV’s remote) doesn’t do anything but bring up the onscreen indicator to show rising/dropping volume or the mute icon. Again power cycling the soundbar usually fixes it.

All that said, if the TV has had a software update, sometimes the soft-power cycling doesn’t work for love nor money and you have to go unplug it from the surge protector in the rat’s nest of cables (in my case, anyway) behind the TV).

And I’ve watched a number of shows in 4K with the soundbar’s sound working, FWIW.

1778

Pulled the trigger on the LG B-series 77" 4k OLED for $2k and it arrived yesteday. Costco wanted $30 for setting it up and I gladly went that route rather than the wife and I trying to unbox it, attach its stand and lift it up onto the low table we use as an entertainment stand. It was an upgrade for our Samsung 55" LED 1080p. My 15yo son came home from school, walked in and said, “Now that’s a big TV.”

1779

The five words one want to hear from their children!