Modern television is harder to use than it used to be, and that isn't your fault. Most of what we do here is making one remote work, getting sound out of the right thing, and showing you where your shows live.
$39 books an in-person visit and comes straight off the price. Remote help is $39 for 30 minutes. Card only, and you approve the price before we start.
The input. Half the 'my TV is broken' calls we take are a TV sitting on the wrong input. The buttons are named things like HDMI 3 and ARC, and there's 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's right it stays right.
The apps. We put the services you pay for on the front screen, in order, and get rid of the tiles for things you don't use.
Nearly every household we sit down with is paying for at least one streaming service nobody watches, and often two. They're easy to start and made hard to find again.
We go through what's being charged, show you where each one is canceled, and leave you a written list of what you're keeping and roughly what it costs a month. It's common for that to save more per year than the visit costs.
Some of these fix it outright, in ten minutes, and save you the visit.
We don't do hardware repair, the kind that needs parts or a soldering iron. Better to know that before anybody drives out.
$39 books an in-person visit, and it comes straight off the price of the visit. Our hourly rate steps up with distance from downtown of the city that serves your area: $110 an hour within 25 miles, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band, and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. That's how we cover the drive, so there's 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 aren't permitted to accept cash or checks, so you'll never be asked for either at the door. Full detail is on the FAQ.
Rather talk it through first? Have a Local Nerd call you, free, no obligation.
In-person visits reach up to 75 miles out from downtown of each city we serve, whichever state that address is in. Remote help works anywhere. Check your address on the ZIP checker, or see the whole state on the map.
Almost always the soundbar isn't on the HDMI port marked ARC or eARC, or the TV's audio output is still set to its own speakers. There's usually only one port on the TV that carries sound back out, and it's 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 find what's being charged, show you where each one cancels, and leave you a written list of what you're 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's set up, and where that isn't possible we'll set up a universal remote and label it clearly.
No. We don't drill, mount or run cable inside walls. Get it mounted by an installer and we'll gladly come and make everything work afterward.
$39 books the visit and comes off the price. Our rate is $110 an hour within 25 miles of downtown of the city that serves your area, $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.