TV on board

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liamo

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What is the best way to get TV on board?
My boat is 80% of the time in a tidal marina.
The marina does not have TV cabled to the dock.
All answers greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
 
liamo said:
What is the best way to get TV on board?
Click to expand...
Carry it on board. LOL

Seriously you need a 240/12 volt tv. Last year I final decide to fit a Freeview tv and found there are a limited variety of sets that have duel voltage. I also wanted a DVD and connections for HDMI and USB. You certainly do not want a large screen as you generally are sitting closer to the tv than at home and any bulkhead may also restrict your choice. The programs you receive does depend on where you are located in relation to the broadcast mast. Being in a tidal marina might cause some problems at low tide, so an omnidirectional aerial up the mast would be sensible.

If you visit other places, you will always need to retune your tv to local signals.
 
I wouldn’t bother restricting yourself to a 12v - our 240v Sony has done fine for 7years now on a £20 Maplins inverter. Same cannot be said for the aerial, which owing to twin radio aerials at the masthead, had to be mounted just below the top of the mast so in weaker signal areas it is pot luck whether we get much reception if the mast is between the aerial and the transmitter.
 
When we looked last year we found a number of TVs that used power adapter, when we lo9ed at them most used 12-14v, the one we got we just chopped off the lead and wired it direct in house battery, has worked perfectly and uses a £10 free view antenna stuck on the pushpit
 
We have a 240v TV as we only watch it when we're in the marina on shorepower and we watch via the internet on the marina wifi or a tethered phone. safe having to have another aerial aloft.
 
We have an own brand 24 inch TV with a mains to 12v adapter that, like Daverw's, was abandoned and the TV connected directly to the house batteries. Initially we had an aerial at low level but it really didn't work at all well. We now have a Glomex omnidirectional near the top of the mast and with its pre-amp we can pick up pretty well everything, including occasional Catalan channels from northern Spain over 100 miles away.
 
Using inverters isn't an efficient way to use battery power but I guess if you're plugged in to mains and the batteries are mostly on charge it doesn't really matter much. Cello 12v TVs are good, I've used them for years, never had any issues with them & they have a built in dvd player.

The main issue with having tv on board is what strength signal you've got and which aerial to choose. If you're in a good signal area one of these in the cabin or under the sprayhood will do you very well. If you're in a weak signal area a more elaborate solution will be required...
 
We have a standard Samsung smart tv and glomex at top of mast but what suits you rather depends on set up -do you shorepower? Do you have an inverter ? I think some boat/camping TVs seem expensive in comparison to what you buy ashore . Do some reading up on other brands though . We can receive some Uk channels when in Cherbourg etc.
 
Hoolie said:
We have an own brand 24 inch TV with a mains to 12v adapter that, like Daverw's, was abandoned and the TV connected directly to the house batteries. Initially we had an aerial at low level but it really didn't work at all well. We now have a Glomex omnidirectional near the top of the mast and with its pre-amp we can pick up pretty well everything, including occasional Catalan channels from northern Spain over 100 miles away.
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i am assuming these are 12v TV sets ?
 
cherod said:
i am assuming these are 12v TV sets ?
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It wasn't sold as such. It is a mains tv with a 230v->12vdc brick (now discarded!) that I bought in a retail store. Of course this was a necessary criterion in the decision which tv to buy.
Our boat computer 22in monitor is similar and wasn't specifically sold as a 12vdc device either.
 
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If you already have a PC for navigation , or any other task, why not go for a PC TV tuner? That way you don't have to search for, purchase or transport another piece of kit that may break down. Having said that, in the UK a broken TV has the best reception, IMHO. ;) On top of that, a PC will already have a DVD/Blueray for those of use who still like their video collection in a tangible form.

Hauppauge UK
 
HissyFit said:
If you already have a PC for navigation , or any other task, why not go for a PC TV tuner? That way you don't have to search for, purchase or transport another piece of kit that may break down. Having said that, in the UK a broken TV has the best reception, IMHO. ;) On top of that, a PC will already have a DVD/Blueray for those of use who still like their video collection in a tangible form.

Hauppauge UK
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Yes , the ocasions when one is in a spot with decent reception and there being anything decent to watch must be very limited
 
Why not just use your PC and have it tethered to your mobile phone for IPTV ..... most UK is covered by decent broadband and there are so many IPTV sites from free to small fee ...

I have IPTV for my home now ... can view on up to 3 different screens (PC and TV) .. 3500 channels .... costs me 25 euros a year subscription.... via online account.

Before this - I was not able to have UK TV here .. unless I used a 3m dish ... now I have all UK ch's incl Sky ......
 
My experience of using a 4G mobile phone as a hotspot for another device in order to stream anything in the UK is that it's extremely patchy depending on location, provider, what day it is, what time of day it is, etc. 4G signal boosters are available but that's a whole other debate...
 
V1701 said:
My experience of using a 4G mobile phone as a hotspot for another device in order to stream anything in the UK is that it's extremely patchy depending on location, provider, what day it is, what time of day it is, etc. 4G signal boosters are available but that's a whole other debate...
Click to expand...

The UK is one country that providers can actually filter what you can receive online. We have one over here that filters various Russian Channels for political reasons ....

I would assume that there may be providers in UK that filter or block certain subscription channels as many found with Sat dish TV.
 
We have a dual voltage sharp smart TV. we run mains in marinas and got a dc to dc brick off eBay to give a stable 12 volts from on boat cigar socket. If marina Wi-fi is up to it you then have Netflix etc and other streaming services. We use a magnetic base stub aerial designed for canal boats. august dta240 from Amazon, just over a tenner.. Put it on any metal plate to give a ground effect. Amazingly effective sat on the spray hood.
off topic but we use Alfa r36 with a usb rocket aerial from wish to piggy back and boost local Wi-fi and create our private hotspot.
 
For anyone interested .........

After passing on info of my Russian IPTV provider ... I then looked at Free services ... it may be a possibility for some here ... all you need is a good steady broadband servicer :

Get Free World IPTV M3U Playlist 2021 (Daily Updated)

I have no commercial interest or connection to any of them ... and you may find some are filtered or blocked through UK services ??
 
Take your IPad on board, tether it to your phone or a little mifi router, and use the iPlayer etc TV options. You probably won't get much joy from the marina wifi as everyone else will be using it but if you google around you'll find some cheap mobile data deals. You can also load user guides etc etc for your boat systems onto the IPad - arguably the most useful piece of technology for the ordinary consumer of the last few years.
 
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