Another phut

Sunday night I heard the sound of electronics sizzling, it seemed to be coming from the direction of my battery powered clock. I looked at, it was still working hmm. Then it happened again. I picked it up checked it, checked the batteries, all fine. I thought nothing more of it.

It seems the acoustics were playing me false. Last night I decided on a quiet night in; switched on the TV and the DVD player, turned around to find the remote and DVD, turned back and said "Huh?" the TV was on, but the DVD player wasn't. I pressed the on button using the remote - nothing; I pressed the on button on the player - nothing; I pressed the eject button - nothing. Then I noticed the standby light wasn't on.

So I groped behind it to find the power lead, hard-wired in at one end. I traced the plug - seemed fine; so I switched it to another socket - nothing; tried another - nothing. Took the fuse out and tried to find another 3A; switched it and - nothing.

I think it's gone to the great electronic graveyard in the sky. Is it in warranty? Well let's put it this way - I bought it from Dixons, and of the DVD selection I could chose three from I picked The Blair Witch Project, Gattaca, and Mercury Rising. To put it another way three 1999 movies.

So now I'm in the market for a DVD player, except to be precise a Blu-ray player. Now you might be thinking "Haven't you got a Playstation 3?" yes I have and I'd like to keep it working for as long as it can and that means reducing mechanical wear on the drive by not subjecting it to both games and movies.

Now oddly enough I was purusing the electronics section at Sainsbury's just this weekend and I vaguely recall a Sony Blu-ray player for £125, unfortunately I can't check this because the stupid [beeps] don't list these on their website. Of course the main problem is that until I get an HD TV I need it to have a SCART connection and most don't. I can't blame them as the whole point is to play high-definition, but it looks like for the time being I'll be using my PS3