Flat TV's

[adrianb]

Flat TV\'s

Not being a techno wizard, or anything close (!), any experiences, of the types of flat screen TV's best suited to the marine environment?
Which ones best value, and are they easy to "install" ? - do they need separate aerials ? Want to do this myself if poss, but don't want to make a hash of hiding the relevant cables...........etc etc
Idea is to fit into each cabin, for PS2 connection etc etc.

I already have one factory fitted in saloon.

All help gratefully received.

Thanks in advance....

 

[gjgm]

Re: Flat TV\'s

thought using the screen was striaght forward, but for tv reception it was all very complex and expensive-maybe thats only if the boat is moving as opposed to moored and so stationary?

 

[Planty]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Hiya Adrian,

No boat on your bio so don't know what or where but hope this helps:

We have an F43 with Manhattan 14" Flat screens in each cabin (2) and a Sony 15" in the saloon. Sony connected to Bose 321 sound system and fore cabin Manhattan wired into PS2 scart socket and aft cabin Manhattan wired up to 12 volt Manhattan DVD. All equipment works brilliantly in Marine environment. In fact Bose system on boat is far better over all audio than the Bose System 16 at home. Possibly due to floor construction / insulation??

With regard to TV reception, as has been said on here many times it is literally always crap if just using Glomex / Saucer aerial no matter how many boosters you employ. Our only success along the whole south coast has been to employ normal internal TV aerials connected to Digiboxes. Then of course you need one for each TV so in our case 3 boxes and 3 aerials. We tried one aerial on a tri booster but in truth had to up the gain so much it destroyed the digital signal, plenty of it but no quality so skipped so bad its unwatchable.

Wire runs are a trial, takes a fair bit of boat "deconstruction" we found to achieve fully hidden finish, but well worthwhile. In the forecabin I had to have made a piece of trunking to come from the ceiling to the flat screen but a boat builder locally in Soton made it and covered it in the wall covering to match, excellent & cheap (£10), plus for the Bose we had to acquire a Sound Negative grill for the bass bin to fit behind a locker door, again available from good boat builder suppliers and even in the cherry finish to match the door. Use shielded cable everywhere and for everthing, we employed a blooming massive inverter so that all could be run even when anchored. It has added to our boating enjoyment, but only because the lads have been entertained whilst we were entertaining others usually. Or indeed the pleasures of watching a good DVD tucked in the aft cabin on a cold winters evening were something I had never had before but wouldn't miss for the world!!

Hope this is of use, if your around Ocean Village & fancy a peep, PM me. Paul

 

[adrianb]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Thanks for reply...........

Filled in Bio now too.

Sounds a good set up you have -what would you estimate the overall costs - of equipment - ?

At this rate I'll be looking at stand-alone flat tv's !


Any advice welcome

 

[CaptainThames]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Just fitted a 13 inch Sharp Aquos which is superb. This one is multi standard so will work when away in Holland (or elsewhere) and has teletext, so useful for news, weather forecast etc. It is also 12 or 240 volt. Sharp sell the 12 V lead as an expensive extra, so bought the connectors from Maplins (electrical bits) and made up a cable for a couple of quid. I fitted it to a fairly cool wall mount which allows the screen to be positioned for viewing at an angle, but stowed flat against the bulkhead when not in use. Currently using it with a small indoor battery powered booster aerial as everyone has said that the fixed omni directional ones are very poor. Now looking for a 12 V DVD player.

 

[adrianb]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Very popular the Aquos range. My saloon has one of these, very nice.

In general then, the "cost competitve" versions - Relisys ? etc etc are not suitable - they're prices seem good though....

Your set up sounds good - and just doing a googly I see the price of mounts is from about £20 to nearly £200 !!

All I want is a couple of "competitively" priced TV's that can be wall mounted tidily !

All info gratefully received - and the more the merrier !

Thanks

 

[Micky]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Just purchased a Philips 15" flat screen with built in turner, only £300.
Still a crap picture, so the omni directional is going and will try a standard TV arial on a long pole.

 

[Rob H 37]

Re: Flat TV\'s

I picked up whats been a good small 12v dvd player last season - PM me if you want details.

Just use it with a sharp flatscreen which is excellent!

 

[compie1]

Re: Flat TV\'s

i use since 2 months a DAB tuner for digital tv reception works great like
cd quality dunno about quality in uk but i still can use my normal antenna
for analog tv receiption any other users??

 

[Trevethan]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Two types of flat panel out there today -- LCD and plasma Plasma are usually v. large so will deal with LCD.

Despite the myriad of brands out there, there are not many manufacturers of the LCD screen itself -- a Phillps may well contain the same screen as a Samsung. Some screens though are superior -- Sonys appear to e very good, for example, but prices accordingly. On a boat given the shock, damp etc, I#d be tempted to by as cheaply as possible and be prepared to replace in few years. Argos have some good deals.

Regarding signals etc.

First I suggest you go digital. From our masthead omni directional antenna the regular picture is awful, but using a freeview box its is so much better, plus extra channels news etc etc.

To get the signal around the boat rather than destroying everything to run cables, you could try one of those wireless jobs that will send signals to other rooms in a house. Suspect the drawback may be you can;'t change channels, but maybe the technology has moved along.

 

[BlueChip]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Do you know of any freeview boxes that work on 12 volts?

 

[amf]

Re: Flat TV\'s

We use this one on 12V with no problems and a SHARP AQUOS LCD (also on 12V)

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Panasonic TUCT20 does, but you'd have to hunt for one as it's an older model
Hauppauge DEC1100

 

[Eccles]

Re: Flat TV\'s

My setup is a bit of a compromise on cost. I have a small form factor PC with a hauppague TV card & dvd drive & a 15" flat screen. Pick most up on the cheap so total cost was under £200. I use a domestic TV arial haules up the mast - quite good reception but lots of fiddling about. Benifit is that the kids can still get their fix of PC games & DVDs, down side I am tied to 240v.

 

[Micky]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Have been told that the Digi freeview boxes only work in some areas??

How do i check it out?

 

[mirage]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Freeview

 

[hlb]

Re: Flat TV\'s

I have 50 quid normal tv wot works wive bit of wire sticking out the back. I tried thingy ariels and 12v but it went up in smoke.

Debs has all singing dancing sky, flat screen wizzy thingies. They dont work. I'm not an expert either!!

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Best way is simply to try it. I live in a postcode where the site says it won't, but it does

 

[Micky]

Re: Flat TV\'s

Thanks, simple as that, and the answer is...it's no good in my area.

Saved myself a few quid there, thanks to feedback from Mirage. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Flat TV\'s

as I said, don't trust the information 100%
It says it won't work in my area, but it does, very well