What Are You Talking About?

Early on during the quarantine, before we could resume service visits, we spoke to many of our clients about their audio video systems. During these conversations, I soon realized that we often make the mistake of thinking our clients know and use the same terminology as we do and understand the basic system layouts. In an effort to getting all of us to speak the same “language”, over the next couple of weeks, we will discuss and review the basics terms of audio video systems. To start, it’s good to understand that systems are designed and operate in a straight line; it’s starts with a source and ends up at our eyes and ears. This “straight line” concept is critical is diagnosing a problem with your system. This straight line always starts with the source. The source is what we end up seeing or hearing. A few examples of video sources are cable/satellite TV, DVD’s, and video streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon video, and Apple TV. Examples of audio sources are radio, CD’s, turntables and streaming music services such as Pandora, Spotify, and IHeart Radio. As simple as different sources may appear, it is extremely useful is isolating a problem. For example, if you can see and hear your DVD or streaming video but not cable TV, that quickly tells you that your TV and audio system are working and the problem is between the TV or receiver and the cable box. In this example, the problem could be the cable service, cable box, connecting cable from the cable box, or the wrong input is selected. Next week we will discuss the next step, your receiver. Please visit our website @ www.wbsouth.com.