Samsung L3 Series 350 Television

Went Choa Chu Kang Gain City with my mom and small brother. She saw an offer on a newspaper advertisement for a Toshiba 32inch television with a Compaq laptop for $499. I couldn't believe it so tagged along.

The newspaper was in mandarin and I confess my language skill needs alot of brushing up!

We reached there, and saw the $499 television at the entrance. After approaching a staff for the display set, I wandered around. Shortly, the staff came to find me and directed me to the display.

It seems reasonably clear and my mom called my dad (who stayed home because he wanted to nap). He asked her to get one that can be mounted onto the wall onto our barcounter. Both my mom and my brother (myself included) could not understand why he wanted to put it up there.

Anyway after being satisfied with the set, my mom asked the staff if she could view the display set for the Campaq laptop. He said there is no free laptop. Then he asked for the advertisement and my mom took out the newspaper she had been carrying in her bag. He pointed out a Chinese word '或' (pronounced as 'huo'). He highlighted that the article meant the weekend's promotion items are the Toshiba 32inch television or the Compaq laptop with a bonus item. Mind you, the Compaq laptop is not selling at $499. My mom then asked to view another $499 television set. So my brother's hope of having a laptop was dashed just like that! Pop!

The staff showed us the television set that was on the same shelf as the Toshiba television. When comparing the resolution and contrast, the Samsung was clearly a winner. But my mom said she cannot see the difference (maybe she needs glasses!)

The staff hovered around and explained in more details. He recommended the Samsung set over the Toshiba set because the warranty covered the pixels and Samsung is reknown for their service response time.

My mom was not convinced but both my brother and I were quite fixed on the Samsung set already. After making more enquiry, my mom found that the Toshiba offer includes the HDMI cable and also the wall mount bracket. However numbers matters and she was out-voted.

While paying, my mom took up the gaincity membership (1000points will give her a $10 credit value, to be redeemed on her next purchase). My brother and I then talked to another staff whom we enquired how to fix the wall mount bracket ourselves.

He was very helpful and I asked him if he were Jonathan (I was called the store earlier and was told to look for Jonathan). He told me he was David and the guy who just served us was call Jonathan. Well, I was thinking why was David more knowledgeabe and helpful if he wasn't earning any commission from our sales?

He even opened up the box and showed us how to fix the television set with the table top stand. He also highlighted that we have to send the warranty via mail if we want to have the 3year warranty (if we were to do it online, the website will offer us only a 1year warranty). David also offered to show us how the HDMI cable looks like, when my brother asked him.

Anyway after payment was made, and David reminded Jonathan to pass us the warranty card, we left the store.

Unfortunately, it was pouring rather heavily and my mom was waiting at the lobby for the rain to stop! I couldn't believe it. I wasn't standing around for the rain to stop! I called my close friend OG. She did not pick up my call. I was wondering if I should call another close friend YH. Though both of my childhood friends lived nearby, I then decided it wasn't worth the effort for them to come render me their help. I went back to Jonathon and approached him for help. He went to the back of the store and returned with 2 umbrellas. I took one and passed to my mom.

After quite abit of waiting, my mom drove and parked near the road! I had to walk there to bring the umbrella back to the building where my brother was waiting with the new television set. Then I went to return the umbrella. It was not quite what I expected! (My mom should have drove to the carpark and we could have board the car at the shelter and no one would have to get drenched!)

Anyway I was pretty excited and did some research. Here is the Samsung L3 Series 350 Television which we paid S$499.

The Samsung website listed the specifications and the CNET (Asia) website provided some reviews which were all good?

Well, all in all, I learnt what is a HDMI cable and how to mount the bracket.

 Just in case you are lazy to read the links (which provide the fuller details from Wikipedia), a HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data, quite different from the usual analog standards.

Of course, I also read up on the RCA connector. RCA stands for Radio Corporation of America

Here is the box of the Samsung L3 Series 350. It is now waiting for my dad to unveil it.

Bonus information for you

Simple steps to mount TV onto table:

1) Fix in the 2 screws (usually smaller-size ones) for the table stand and the plastic part (Part A) that will touch the table.

2) Attach in the plastic part (Part B) that will hold the television to Part A which should be already fixed onto the table in Step 1.

3) Place the TV set onto Part B.

4) Fix in the rest of the screws that will hold the TV to Part B.

Simple steps to mount TV onto wall mount bracket:

1) Place wall bracket against TV

2) Fix in the 4 (or 8) screws that will attach the wall mount bracket with the TV

3) Measure and drill the hole at the place where you want to place the TV. Make sure the TV screen will not show any reflection from the place you will be sitting. (*Check for sunlight and your room lighting. Also check if your wires can reach the power socket. And if the television will appear straight to your viewing position)

4) Place the TV set onto wall location.

5) Connect in the wires

There, you have done it!

Things you need to get the job done:

1) Screw driver

2) Drill

3) Pencil / Marker

4) Assistant (must be able to reach the height of the wall mount!)

Things you may need to make the job easier:

5) measuring tape

6) dusting clothing (or mop if it comes to that?)

You may want to tape up your screen before you start your work. Removing the protection layer  after the job is done makes sense if you are rather clumsy.

Last picture of the day: The box waiting to be unveiled!

*Lynspirations

Good service is memorable!