TV problems - DH's attitude

You are not being unreasonable, your husband is.

It sounds to me that like my DH and me, neither of you really understand the new technology.

Your husband has got it into his head that he cannot access some of the channels he wants on your new TV. From comments on here, I gather he is barking up the wrong tree.

Do as suggested, get someone who really does know what they are doing to come and set up the TV properly for you.

And find out whether any of the channels you are apparently paying for are unnecessary.

We access nearly everything we want to watch over the computer and only pay for Netflix over and above our broadband connection.

If you both watch television regularly you should have as much say as your husband in what you watch. It is also ridiculous to have paid for an expensive new set and not use its functions.

Others have suggested that your husband is a bully, He may be, but to me we could be talking the onset of dementia or just the cussedness of old age, as he is unwilling or unable to accustom himself to new technology.

I am not good at it myself, but I can read a user's manual, (no doubt you can too) and if my attempts to do what it says don't work there is usually a help-line where some kind and patient youngster talks you through the process.

Get another television definitely. I thought I was the only person on the planet with only one! My DH thinks two TVs is the path to separate rooms, separate beds, separate lives! Ridiculous! He'll say 'I'm easy' when I say I'd like to watch something but I can feel him mentally sighing until it's over. Sometimes I wonder how we've lasted forty five years with such different tastes.

It’s obvious that some of you can’t be arsed to read the thread.
Trisha has stated that her tv isn’t compatible with the Now app

No, I certainly do not think you are being unreasonable. Men always seem to have to have the monopoly on the remote and it annoys me so much. Do you have a room that you can go and sit in and watch another TV? I would get another TV and stop paying towards the other one. We are not all joined at the hip.

My husband never reads instructions first either! Only resorts to instructio - or me! - when things go wrong. He also has no patience which often disrupts doing things in an orderly fashion!

Bit confused as sky and now tv are the same company. It seems like an overlap to me. U could always install now on another tv but seems a waste of money. Anything u get on Now could be included in your sky package probably cheaper. X

Ask the place you bought it from to send an engineer to set it up and show you how to work it ..............that's what I did (apart from the NOW TV for which I have a different remote

No. He's being unfair. Why have such a great piece of technology which isn't being used properly. I would stop paying for stuff you don't watch, as well. Better still, make yourself familiar with the new control and start changing channels, find where Now is.

I should ask your son in law to programme in Now.

Agree, they are the devil to programme, these TVs.

Good idea. Get your own TV but make it a bigger, better, 4k one.

The remote probably just needs a battery. When was the last time you replaced it. Some men get very territorial over the television and what they see as 'their' programmes. So unless you have an interest in any of the programmes he watches, I personally would withdraw any further financial support and buy my own tv which I'd watch when he's watching all his beloved sport. Some men are just very short-sighted which we see as being selfish.

JacquiG
Trishers tv is 4K. She said so 2 days ago !!!!!!

You are not being unreasonable. Ask him for your money back and buy your own TV and put it elsewhere in the house.

Are you loosing the will to live yet, Trisha ?
They’re not listening / reading, are they ?

I'd stop paying towards it, personally can't see the purpose of splitting bills at all, but if you do, then you arent getting any benefit so stop unless you get to see stuff you want with good sound and pictures.

Has he always been like this, or is this a recent thing? Just wondering if his frustration re technology is a sign he is not quite as sharp as he used to, and worried about it?

We have a smart TV and we did have some initial problems accessing NOW TV, I'm not sure why? However, we were advised to buy a NOW firestick which we did - it came with a dongle that fits into the HDMI socket on the side and a remote control for NOW. Works perfectly. Cost about £25. Smart TVs can do everything we went into Curry's and had a chat they were very helpful. Perhaps you could do the same.

MerylStreep

It’s obvious that some of you can’t be arsed to read the thread.
Trisha has stated that *her tv isn’t compatible with the Now app*

I agree Meryl. Trisha had explained that they bought a Philips Smart TV and only later discovered the NOW app is not directly supported.

As they subscribe to NOW TV bundles (effectively Sky without being tied into a contract) her husband has effected a workaround to watch all content via a Talk Talk box using a different remote, not the one that came with the new TV. OP is concerned that this means they are not taking advantage of the superior screen options that the new TV offers. I think that’s it in a nutshell.

Connecting a NOW Smart Stick to the new TV via an HDMI port seems to offer a solution and Trisha has ordered one. Let’s hope that solves the problem so they can both enjoy all the features of the new TV.

No getting away from the fact that many men (and women) enjoy watching sport on TV and there is a lot of it. My dear late husband was a sports fanatic, football especially. Of course, fans want to watch a match live. Part of the excitement is not knowing what the result will be. With big events it can be hard not to hear the result accidentally. On Demand streaming and recording capabilities mean we rarely have to miss a favourite programme even if initial transmission clashes with the footie.

Stop paying for channels you don't watch and buy yourself a new television! We have SkyQ and a smart TV and when the small telly in the kitchen packed up, we replaced it with a new smart tv. Easy to use with access to Netflix, etc., even for me.

If you cannot watch the channels you want the stop paying towards them your husband is being totally un fair and why pay for lots of sports channels when only using one.

You need another Tv and also to stop paying for sport channels etc which you do not watch !! Let your husband pay for those. Buy another TV for yourself to watch. We have Tvs
in two separate rooms so we can each view what we like and when something is on that we both watch we watch it together !

Dont understand why you are paying for channels that you dont watch. I would halt contributions forthwith.

SHES SORTED IT!!!!!!!!!

Why live with a bully and control freak who asks you to pay for things you cannot use. He's getting his smug little sport life for 50% of what it should cost him. Never mind other rooms and TV sets. Life's too short to be miserable over his behaviour. If you don't want to leave, withdraw your half of the Sky and any other payments and tell him why. Then pursue what you enjoy doing and let him stagnate watching football.

My husband and I both have Samsung Smart TVs. I sit on my recliner in the lounge and he sits on a recliner in the conservatory. These rooms are separated by a patio door which we close if we're both watching different programmes. It's brilliant. No complaints about differing TV tastes. Also I often read instead so the patio door is closed then too although if either of us decides to make a cup of tea, we just make a big T sign with our arms and the other one does either thumbs up or down. This way we keep each other happy which is what we all need, especially as we're retired and together so much. It must be really wearing to feel that there's a bit of an atmosphere regarding time together and the expense of a new TV is a small price to pay for this.
Make sure you get one that's bang up to date, Samsung or another Android so that you're a bit more future proofed. Get someone to help set it up, either SIL or technician from TV shop.
Enjoy yourself!

I know not everyone reads an entire thread end to end, but just to clear one or two things up (again!):

He doesn't control what we watch. We watch quite a lot of programmes together which both of us like and at other times one of us will watch something they are particularly interested in and the other will do something else.

I've never said he doesn't "allow" me to watch what I want when I want to chattykathy.

He doesn't control any other aspects of our life ElaineR155, we discuss everything and make joint decisions or agree to disagree and compromise - it's just this techy thing that he's got his knickers in a twist about!

Several posters have told me that I can just download NowTV onto the TV set we have. We CAN'T! Even my son-in law failed to do that, and it has since come to light after some research by me and another very helpful poster that our TV is not compatible with NowTV unless we access it via another source such as a stick or via our TalkTalk box (which is the nub of the original problem as our TalkTalk box does not show programmes in 4k HD).

Anyway, once again thanks to everyone who has responded. It has certainly been helpful to hear the suggestions and what others have done to avoid all-out war! I'm really hoping that the NowTV stick that I've ordered will sort this out once and for all. I'll let you know once I've given it to him on his birthday at the end of the month...........