Modern television is genuinely harder than it used to be, and it is not your fault. Most of what we do here is making one remote work, getting the sound coming out of the right thing, and showing you where your shows actually live.
The input. Half the 'my TV is broken' calls we take are a TV sitting on the wrong input. It is not obvious, the buttons are named things like HDMI 3 and ARC, and there is no reason anybody should have to know that.
The sound. A soundbar that only works sometimes is nearly always an ARC or eARC setting on one specific HDMI port, plus a setting buried in the TV's audio menu. Once it is right it stays right.
The apps. Knowing which service actually has the show you want is now a real skill. We will put the ones you pay for on the front screen, in order, and get rid of the tiles for things you do not use.
Nearly every household we sit down with is paying for at least one streaming service nobody watches, and often two. They are easy to start and deliberately hard to find again.
We will go through what is actually being charged, show you where each one is canceled, and leave you with a written list of what you are keeping and roughly what it costs a month.
It is common for that to save more per year than the visit costs. We are not being noble about it. It is just the most useful hour we can spend in a living room.
Some of these will fix it outright, and that is fine. We would rather you solved it in ten minutes than paid us to do it.
We are a support and setup service, not a repair shop. Saying so plainly saves everybody a wasted trip.
$39 books an in-person visit, and it comes straight off the price of the visit. Our hourly rate steps up with distance from the town your Local Nerd works from: $110 an hour within 25 miles, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band, and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. That is how we cover the drive, so there is no separate travel fee.
Remote help is $39 for a 30-minute session and starts with a phone call at the time you picked. If you use us a few times a year, Nerd on Call is $14.99 a month and includes two remote sessions and an in-person visit each year.
Cards only. Local Nerds are not permitted to accept cash or checks, so you will never be asked for either at the door. Full detail is on the FAQ.
In-person visits reach up to 75 miles out from the town each Local Nerd works from, whichever state that address is in. Remote help works anywhere. Check your own address on the ZIP checker, or see the whole state on the map.
Almost always the soundbar is not on the HDMI port marked ARC or eARC, or the TV's audio output is still set to its own speakers. There is usually only one port on the TV that carries sound back out, and it is easy to miss.
The TV is on an input with nothing plugged into it. Press Input or Source and step through them slowly. If every input says no signal, unplug the TV at the wall for a minute and try again.
Yes, and we do it on most of these visits. We will find what is actually being charged, show you where each one cancels, and leave you a written list of what you are keeping. It often saves more in a year than the visit costs.
Usually. Most modern TVs can control a soundbar and a streaming box over HDMI once it is set up, and where that is not possible we will set up a universal remote and label it clearly.
No. We do not drill, mount or run cable inside walls. Get it mounted by an installer and we will gladly come and make everything work afterwards.
$39 books the visit and comes off the price. Our rate is $110 an hour within 25 miles of the town your Local Nerd works from, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. Most living room visits take about an hour and a half.