I
t used to be so easy. You bought a television set, you plugged it in. If it was a console, you connected it to an antenna. Set-top clutter was confined to a set of Western Auto rabbit ears and some pictures of your relatives. Maybe a lace doily.
Today - oy Gott. There’s a cable or satellite box, there’s a VCR and/or DVD player, maybe a home theatre receiver, several speakers, and a set-top antenna for the local stations satellite can’t get. In back of the set, there’s a rat’s nest of wiring so thick that if something falls behind the set, it never makes it to the floor. You used to buy a TV, period. Now your shopping list has to include shelving to put all the widgets on. It takes at least two trips to Radio Shack for the cables alone- one to pick up the ones the salesman tells you you’re supposed to have, another to exchange them for the ones you really need. Hooking it all up takes hours. You have to read manuals and call tech support numbers. Often, one feature you really, really wanted won’t work, because something else has to be upgraded first and you’re out of money, or another feature isn’t compatible with it. You could have more fun configuring a computer.
The worst offender seems to be the cable/satellite box, too small to serve as a stable base for most sets, and too large to rest on top of many. The cable itself resembles a boa constrictor with rigor mortis, refusing to coil up neatly and let your TV nestle up against the wall. The cable box has its own remote, which is also supposed to be capable of operating your other stuff, but there’s always a function on each piece of equipment that it won’t operate. You end up with three or four remotes, all of which were also supposed to be able to operate everything, and none of which really do. The only way to avoid some of these hassles is to stick to broadcast TV, or just get the basic cable you can get without a converter box.
The thing that would be funny if it weren’t so sad is flat-screen TV. For decades we were told that someday we’d have TV sets that could be hung on the wall, and now we do. Except it often has to be a specially built wall to take the weight, with a hollow in it to hide all the cables, and cabinetry to hold all the ancillary gizmos. The ads are stunning. So is the contractor’s bill.
Right now, the only well-designed TV’s are the ones that serious TV-watchers wouldn’t spit on - the combination TV/VCR’s. Everything’s in one package, and one remote handles whatever you want to do. Just don’t get cable, or you’re back to component craziness.
What happened to packaging TV as a complete product, and what in hell happened to ergonomics and interoperability? Designers seem to feel that if their product has a lot of whiz-bang features and looks good by itself, that’s enough. No consideration is given to how it looks, or functions, as part of an increasingly complex installation. What’s needed is both creativity and a set of standards, both physical and electronic.
Those remotes? Manufacturers need to come up with a set of standard infra-red codes; the code for a given function should be the same no matter the brand, so that one truly universal remote could be developed that would operate everything. Buttons should be more clearly marked; four-point type is not uncommon. On-screen menus should be at a minimum; we want to watch TV, not do Windows.
Cable and satellite boxes would be much easier to deal with if they plugged into a recess in the set itself; a standard carrier space like computers have for CD drives would be sensible, with a cover plate for curmudgeonly types who don’t want anything but broadcast TV. Cables need to be much more flexible, and it would be nice if someone could come up with a design that could be shortened without tools, although that would probably be a toughie.
Putting the VCR or DVD unit in the TV makes a lot of sense, and hopefully the trend will continue, especially since the higher mechanical reliability of DVD players helps ensure that a breakdown of the player unit won’t put two units in the shop, instead of just one.
For the rest? Home theatre equipment is beloved by its fanciers, and perhaps customers for it are more willing than most of us to go through complex wiring, setup, and learning processes to get the viewing experience it promises. But why isn’t there a packaged version for those who’d like just to buy and watch? Something like the “home entertainment center” consoles of old, with a big, beautiful cabinet and doors to conceal everything when not in use?
There’s a great opportunity coming for TV companies; the advent of digital TV. Since everyone’s going to have to replace their TV in a few years anyway, why can’t the industry come together, consortium-style, to develop design standards that will cut the clutter and the headaches? If we have to abandon current broadcasting standards, let’s get something out of the transition besides ads showing sleek new sets, followed by a nightmarish purchasing and setup experience.
I’ll get off my soapbox now - but not because I have all this off my chest. I need it to hold up part of the new TV system I just bought.
Sandy McLendon is a writer based in Atlanta, GA, who hates cable and satellite boxes so much he sticks to broadcast TV. The fact that there’s nothing worth watching on it is the reason he has time to write diatribes like this one.
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The Worst Design You Own |
