Rv television ?

[RSchleder]

Originally Posted by jlyon69

LED. They are much lighter, thinner and use much less electricity. They are 12vdc (but come with a 120vac plug/adapter) so you don't NEED an inverter or use the genny to watch TV when SP isn't available.

After having worked at Best Buy for 5 years (part time after retirement), in the Home Theater Dept, I strongly recommend an LED TV also. They are rugged and somewhat lighter that the LCD and much lighter than a plasma which is very heavy by comparison.
Be aware that receiving HD will totally depend on what your input source is as well as what type of inter-connect cables you use between the source and the TV.

[smiley87]

People, please remember that LED is only the type of backlighting used it is not a different type of tv. Both LED and cathode lighting based TVs are LCD screens. Way too much confusion going on in this thread. The only advantage to an LCD backlit tv is that it "CAN" be thinner, but a regular 720p LCD tv is still the best option price wise.

[Dano97470]

My choice was LED...like others have said, lighter, thinner and uses less power.

[ghoststories]

We have the Vizio TV's in our house, TT and MH, no problems with them. The price is right and picture is fine.

[RoyM]

We started out with an LG LED (which died after three weeks, that is a story for another time) in the stick house so we exchanged it for a Samsung LCD. The big difference we noted is sound quality. The speakers in the first set sounded very tinny, I tried running the audio through the old home stereo which was much better but we couldn't control the volume with the remote. The thicker, and heavier, LCD allows room for better speakers.
We are not geeks and don't see much difference in picture quality. We watch a lot of nature and travel shows, a real treat in HD.

[Wolfpack Fan]

My recommendation would be LED, in whatever size pleases you. Thinner, Lighter weight, more efficient and a little better picture, IMO than the LCD's because the blacks are better, making for better contrast. Our home theatre tv is a 60" Sharp Aquos 1080p LED and the picture is incredible. Combo with DVD, I would steer clear of. Common sense to me is, DVD's having moving parts that will eventually get misaligned or stop working altogether. 720 or 1080 is a matter of choice. I won't even get into the p or i designations or refresh rates. 1080 is essentially blue ray quality and pretty darn nice. 720 is what you would see on a cable or satellite regular HD broadcast, unless it says 1080 on the guide channel. Both look good. Brand doesn't matter to me, so long as it's not some crazy brand I saw in Best Buy years ago called Brokesonic. Really I saw it! Best buy's web site has a great feature with the the user reviews. And the last bit, Pawn shops. Our next tv for the motorhome basement will be from a pawn shop most likely. Way cheaper than new and considering it's gonna be used out doors, no big loss if it gets jacked up.

[Muddypaws]

We currently have 4 HD TVs. I will arrange them by how I perceive their quality.

37" LG LED in the front of our Bounder. (awesome TV)
55" Samsung DLP. (10 years old and still works, great picture)
26" Toshiba LCD
26" Visio LED (bottom of the list because of poor viewing angle and week sound)

Brand I will never buy again: Sharp Aquos. 2 months out of warranty it died. over $600 to fix. A 'top of the line' TV? Expensive too. Discarded and replaced with a basic Sony for half that. We sold the RV it was installed in.

Be aware that LED TVs are thinner, and because of that they generally have weaker sound because the speakers are facing the back and smaller. But if you're going to connect it to a surround sound system that won't be a problem.

I'm not a fan of TVs with a built in DVD players or anything like that. More to break. And even bluRay will be obsolete before you know it!

[DC Cruiser]

We put a 26" LED/LCD VIZIO in the bedroom last year and just am finishing mounting a 32" LED/LCD VIZIO in the front. They are so thin and light that I was able to rework the front cabinet to eliminate the noggan/shoulder buster cabinet and mounted the TV on a hinged board which when not in use is tucked up out of the way. Also allows one to really enjoy the true IMAX screen we all have out front without the old TV hanging in the way.

CHEERS

[CTYankee9]

Viewing angle was mentioned above. If you go into where you plan on purchasing a new TV they all should be mounted on the wall. Just look at them all from every angle to see which gives the best picture when your view is off-set from the front of the TV. Many of the LED type will vary greatly as to which can be viewed from an angle and it may be surprising as to brand name which are better than others! And don't forget to look at it from a lower angle the front-on if this is going into a sleeping area.

[EelKat]

Originally Posted by Akibase

I am about to purchase a new television for the RV bedroom. What is best LED, LCD, or Plasma ? What stands up best to the RV movement etc. It will be wall mounted and am looking for around 32". As well we live in an area that has cold winter conditions for a portion of the year. (hopefully a small portion) This electronic gear is something I have very little knowledge about. When you don't know, you turn to the experts. Also, I plan to buy a national brand, but are there some I should avoid? I have also thought of getting one that has a built in DVD player. Your thoughts?

I was told (by a generator salesman) that you can not run a plasma tv on a generator...well, you can, but he said it'll ruin the tv because of the way a generator "backfeeds". I'm not sure what he was talking about actually. But he said to avoid plasma tvs in rvs unless using only shorepower.

[Clay L]

Originally Posted by EelKat

I was told (by a generator salesman) that you can not run a plasma tv on a generator...well, you can, but he said it'll ruin the tv because of the way a generator "backfeeds". I'm not sure what he was talking about actually. But he said to avoid plasma tvs in rvs unless using only shorepower.

He is wrong.
Plasma units were popular in some higher end RVs a few years back for a while and while higher altitudes affected the early units they ran fine on generators.

[12VT]

Both LED and LCD TV's use the same screen types. The difference is in the way the screen is lit. An LCD TV uses CCFLs (cold-cathode fluorescent lamps) all around the screen and the light meets in the middle. An LED TV has a panel of LED's behind the screen which produces a much brighter and more evenly lit picture.

LED's have a much longer life span than any other light so they aren't as likely to burn out. Also, an LED TV isn't affected nearly as much as a standard LCD TV by ambient light in RV's during daylight hours.

Jensen makes some of the best TV's for the RV industry. A Jensen TV built specifically for RV's will stand up to the conditions of travel much better than any TV intended for wall mounting at home. All new LED TV's built for the RV will include a 12 volt power cord that doesn't require inverting or converting power. Using your power in it's stored form (12V) is the most efficient way to go.

[Ramblin]

Originally Posted by 12VT

Jensen makes some of the best TV's for the RV industry. A Jensen TV built specifically for RV's will stand up to the conditions of travel much better than any TV intended for wall mounting at home.

I purchased an 'Insignia' brand 19" TV for my conversion van, specifically because it has a 12V input and a wall-wart power supply. I mounted it on a standard home-type wall mount. It bounced around and rattled and squeaked like crazy when driving, so bad I had to take it down and mount it directly.

Can you expand a little on the internal differences the RV-specific Jenson TV's have that make them more rugged than the standard models? I've always wondered.

Also, are there any RV specific features these TVs have that make them better suited for mobile life? I particularly hate the constant scanning and rescanning for channels. Seems like the TV would just handle that in the background.

[BCooke]

They are generally "designed" to handle vibration better and some have a coating to help reduce moisture penetration. So is the advertising, actuality do not know, I have not had bad luck with regular units.