I returned to India on Friday following a 10 day trip to the UK to make a change to my visa. This was less than straightforward...the first attempt at my visa came back from the high commission with a big error on it which was followed by a not-quite-right correction of the error, but thankfully it's close enough. I caught my flight back as planned and am now back in the country for the foreseeable; working for the right company (it's complicated) so things are looking up on the settling-down front.
Aside from seeing family and friends (all most enjoyable), my UK trip was most fortunately timed to coincide with the release of Downton Abbey Series 4 on DVD. We cannot get ITV or watch UK TV online in India so I've been eager to get my paws on the latest episodes, and trying hard to avoid the spoilers in the press. Unfortunately, the media can be horrid and slide plot info into seemingly unrelated articles and headlines so I haven't been entirely successful with this, but was looking forward to seeing the latest series properly nonetheless.
I bought the last copy of the DVD available in the Tooley Street Tesco and guarded it safely all the way home. Phil and I enjoyed watching the first two episodes together at the weekend and I carried on with episode 3 alone yesterday evening. This was a distressing episode (bad Julian Fellowes) and left me keen to watch more in the hope that Downton would get happier again.
So I returned home from work today, cooked a rather tasty tomato and green bean curry, and settled down to watch episode 4.
THE DVD WOULDN'T LOAD. Arrrggghhh....!!!
Importantly I kept calm and hope that I dealt with the situation as rationally and systematically as possible, which was not easy under the circumstances. I tackled the problem (calamity) in the following stages:
1) Pressed open and close, reinserted DVD several times, turned DVD player on and off a few times, unplugged etc. and repeated for 15 minutes or so.
2) Tested other DVDs. None of the other Downton DVDs in the box set worked, including the one I'd already watched, and the only thing I can get to load in the DVD player is a photo CD with pictures of Birmingham used for the publicity for last year's Ringing World National Youth Contest. All very nice, but not Downton. The problem was clearly not DVD-specific.
3) Googled "why will my DVD player not load". Narrowed down likely further options to (i) dusty DVD player; or (ii) terminal fault in computer brain of DVD player. It being India, I hoped that (i) was true and proceeded accordingly.
4) Got my screwdriver out and located an unused glasses cloth, perfect for DVD player polishing. Carefully removed the outer case to allow detailed analysis of the loading process and polished of every bit of DVD player which looked like it could do with a clean.
5) Slowly began to accept the truth, that the DVD would start spinning, in a teasing "I'm going to load manner" but kept cutting off and restarting when a bit of wire leading out of the motor flashed bright red. There appears to be some kind of loop preventing the DVD from loading properly. Bluntly, it wasn't looking good. I reattempted this open air disc loading whilst holding the DVD player at a variety of different angles, but to no avail. That motor just kept on flashing.
6) Retreated calmly from the area to get some Green & Blacks chocolate from the fridge and consider my next move.
7) Returned to the area to reassemble of the the DVD player and remove it from the TV zone. It had let me down and no longer warranted my attention or a place on the TV stand.
8) Collected up every laptop / device in the apartment that looked like it might have a working disc drive. This computer does, but refused to play my Downton DVD. Urgh.
9) Accepted that an emergency new DVD player purchase will be necessary tomorrow. Found a variety of reasonably priced Indian DVD players online, and then remembered that UK DVDs cannot necessarily be played on Indian players and vice versa. None of the website advertising Indian DVD players mentioned this. I know their game...
10) Read a wikipedia article on UK Region 2 / India Region 5 DVDs which, frankly, melted my by now quite soggy brain. All I need is a simple table of if and only if statement linking country DVDs with country DVD players, but was instead bamboozled by contradictions. If anyone can enlighten me about this, then please get in touch.
11) Cried for help on the Bombay expats list. Somebody else must feel my pain:-(
12) Fifteen minutes later, received two very helpful responses directing me towards specific multi-region DVD players and where I should buy them. Woohoo! Downton time tomorrow...
So the problem has not been solved, I've spent my evening attempting amateur electronics, and Downton episode 4 will have to wait until another day. Honestly, when you pay £20 for a HD DVD player from Tesco and then use it extensively on arriving in a foreign country with lots of dirt and dodgy electrical currents, you'd expect it to last for more than 6 months:-) I've been back to check and this DVD player has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Tesco website. It's all WRONG!
Anyway, I've moved on and made peace with the situation. In the grand scheme of things, this is very much a first world problem, even in India.
Aside from seeing family and friends (all most enjoyable), my UK trip was most fortunately timed to coincide with the release of Downton Abbey Series 4 on DVD. We cannot get ITV or watch UK TV online in India so I've been eager to get my paws on the latest episodes, and trying hard to avoid the spoilers in the press. Unfortunately, the media can be horrid and slide plot info into seemingly unrelated articles and headlines so I haven't been entirely successful with this, but was looking forward to seeing the latest series properly nonetheless.
I bought the last copy of the DVD available in the Tooley Street Tesco and guarded it safely all the way home. Phil and I enjoyed watching the first two episodes together at the weekend and I carried on with episode 3 alone yesterday evening. This was a distressing episode (bad Julian Fellowes) and left me keen to watch more in the hope that Downton would get happier again.
So I returned home from work today, cooked a rather tasty tomato and green bean curry, and settled down to watch episode 4.
THE DVD WOULDN'T LOAD. Arrrggghhh....!!!
Importantly I kept calm and hope that I dealt with the situation as rationally and systematically as possible, which was not easy under the circumstances. I tackled the problem (calamity) in the following stages:
1) Pressed open and close, reinserted DVD several times, turned DVD player on and off a few times, unplugged etc. and repeated for 15 minutes or so.
2) Tested other DVDs. None of the other Downton DVDs in the box set worked, including the one I'd already watched, and the only thing I can get to load in the DVD player is a photo CD with pictures of Birmingham used for the publicity for last year's Ringing World National Youth Contest. All very nice, but not Downton. The problem was clearly not DVD-specific.
3) Googled "why will my DVD player not load". Narrowed down likely further options to (i) dusty DVD player; or (ii) terminal fault in computer brain of DVD player. It being India, I hoped that (i) was true and proceeded accordingly.
4) Got my screwdriver out and located an unused glasses cloth, perfect for DVD player polishing. Carefully removed the outer case to allow detailed analysis of the loading process and polished of every bit of DVD player which looked like it could do with a clean.
5) Slowly began to accept the truth, that the DVD would start spinning, in a teasing "I'm going to load manner" but kept cutting off and restarting when a bit of wire leading out of the motor flashed bright red. There appears to be some kind of loop preventing the DVD from loading properly. Bluntly, it wasn't looking good. I reattempted this open air disc loading whilst holding the DVD player at a variety of different angles, but to no avail. That motor just kept on flashing.
Mid-investigation
The dodgy motor - nasty small white circle near top of picture
6) Retreated calmly from the area to get some Green & Blacks chocolate from the fridge and consider my next move.
7) Returned to the area to reassemble of the the DVD player and remove it from the TV zone. It had let me down and no longer warranted my attention or a place on the TV stand.
8) Collected up every laptop / device in the apartment that looked like it might have a working disc drive. This computer does, but refused to play my Downton DVD. Urgh.
9) Accepted that an emergency new DVD player purchase will be necessary tomorrow. Found a variety of reasonably priced Indian DVD players online, and then remembered that UK DVDs cannot necessarily be played on Indian players and vice versa. None of the website advertising Indian DVD players mentioned this. I know their game...
10) Read a wikipedia article on UK Region 2 / India Region 5 DVDs which, frankly, melted my by now quite soggy brain. All I need is a simple table of if and only if statement linking country DVDs with country DVD players, but was instead bamboozled by contradictions. If anyone can enlighten me about this, then please get in touch.
11) Cried for help on the Bombay expats list. Somebody else must feel my pain:-(
12) Fifteen minutes later, received two very helpful responses directing me towards specific multi-region DVD players and where I should buy them. Woohoo! Downton time tomorrow...
So the problem has not been solved, I've spent my evening attempting amateur electronics, and Downton episode 4 will have to wait until another day. Honestly, when you pay £20 for a HD DVD player from Tesco and then use it extensively on arriving in a foreign country with lots of dirt and dodgy electrical currents, you'd expect it to last for more than 6 months:-) I've been back to check and this DVD player has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Tesco website. It's all WRONG!
Anyway, I've moved on and made peace with the situation. In the grand scheme of things, this is very much a first world problem, even in India.
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