Newbie TV Question. (1 Viewer)

[Hampo69]

Will any small TV be suitable for a motorhome, or does it have to be motorhome specific?
We'll be planning on doing some touring in Europe in the future, and old CRT tv's would never work abroad. Is this the case with digital tv's?

 

[ambulancekidd]

Its preferable but not essential that a motorhome TV can run on 12volts & is digital.
There's a constant debate on here about which TV is best & at the end of the day its down to personal preference.
I like Avtex Telly's but some of the newer ones are really good but seem to be a tad fragile.
CRT telly's are old hat & too heavy anyway.
A half decent Avtex TV DVD combo will cost around £100 secondhand.

 

[pappajohn]

CRT tv's are analogue, there is no analogue transmission anymore, only digital.
To use a CRT set you will need a separate digital tuner (digibox)
France now transmits an HD signal only so if your TV isn't HD you won't get a signal in France.
You won't get any UK TV channels via an aerial once you move away from the northern French coast no matter how good your TV is.

Any TV will work in a motorhome but 12v is better as you don't need hookup and size isn't an issue.
Even if the TV is 230v, if it has a transformer (black box) built into the power cord it will run on a 12v battery with a suitable supply wire.
Supermarkets are an excellent, cheap source of suitable tv's.

Best option for UK TV abroad is satellite, but even that has restrictions.

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[namwaldog]

As @ambulancekidd says above. my first priority is that any TV is 12v/240V so that they can be used with or without EHU,
Second is size... you need to be able to fit it where it will be out of the way when not in use. CRT are a non-starter (to me)
Next is cost.. we watch TV infrequently when in the MH so don't see any point in spending a lot of money on one.
Regarding signal outside UK you used to need some sort of satellite setup but we just us our data now and watch UK TV online when we require it. 'We' found that we could watch 1 1/2 hour "Strictly" for less than 1 gb data.
We chose a TV that had a built in DVD player and took a stock of DVD's for rainy nights.
We found ours on Ebay by searching "12v/240v television"

 

[Satandpcguy]

A "digital tv" (tv with a built in digital terrestrial tuner) should be able to , with the correct aerial configuration and alignment, be able to pick up and receive the terrestrial broadcasters in any European country...
(HD Ready TVs will NOT receive HD TV terrestrial broadcasts... HDTVs will)
The old "CRT" TVs were not digital, do not have a built in digital terrestrial tuner, so needed a seperate set top box to get such signals.

 

[pappajohn]

A "digital tv" (tv with a built in digital terrestrial tuner) should be able to , with the correct aerial configuration and alignment, be able to pick up and receive the terrestrial broadcasters in any European country...
(HD Ready TVs will NOT receive HD TV terrestrial broadcasts... HDTVs will)
The old "CRT" TVs were not digital, do not have a built in digital terrestrial tuner, so needed a seperate set top box to get such signals.

I thought France was now transmitting HD broadcasts only.

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[Minxy]

I thought France was now transmitting HD broadcasts only.

You are correct, HD only, our Avtex is a non-HD one so we've got a 12v PVR which hubby records stuff onto so we can watch stuff abroad (along with DVDs) and will also allow us to receive HD transmissions with it plugged into the TV.

 

[FIDGET]

Hi Mel,
@Minxy Girl , what make /model is hubby 's ,PVR 12v
as I would like to get one
Thanks Terry

 

[Deanobeano]

Ref Avtex Tv's. I purchased a new one (21 inch) and the picture quality is very poor (when compared to a home TV). The speakers are also pants.

Yes, its 12V and has freeview / freesat tuners onboard but if I was buying again I would purchase either:

A home 220v system and use an inverter or
A home 220v system and look to run it direct on 12v.

Not really impressed with my Avtex, considering the high price.

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[Stealaway]

The difference in price is significant. A 24"Samsung HD 240 v telly AND an invertor will cost half the price of an Avtex TV. With an invertor you can also have a 60w sound bar.
Bliss - a telly you see and hear

 

[Hampo69]

Thanx guys.
I know the CRT is now a tv dinosaur.
May just opt for 17-19" tv/DVD and watch Netflix via phone data.

 

[Deanobeano]

Don't forget you can download Netflix to your device and watch later (without burning through your data).

Also, if you are going to stream, set up another user on your account and set the playback settings from Auto to low. This streams at approx 300 meg per hour. On a small TV you would be hard pressed to detect the drop in detail.

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[tonyandcarol]

I use a falcon 12v tv cheaper than avtex and better picture and sound.

 

[Mr Chrysalis]

CRT tv's are analogue, there is no analogue transmission anymore, only digital.
To use a CRT set you will need a separate digital tuner (digibox)
France now transmits an HD signal only so if your TV isn't HD you won't get a signal in France.
You won't get any UK TV channels via an aerial once you move away from the northern French coast no matter how good your TV is.

Any TV will work in a motorhome but 12v is better as you don't need hookup and size isn't an issue.
Even if the TV is 230v, if it has a transformer (black box) built into the power cord it will run on a 12v battery with a suitable supply wire.
Supermarkets are an excellent, cheap source of suitable tv's.

Best option for UK TV abroad is satellite, but even that has restrictions.

Careful as not all 230v TVs with a black box convert to 12V dc.

 

[tonyandcarol]

CRT tv's are analogue, there is no analogue transmission anymore, only digital.
To use a CRT set you will need a separate digital tuner (digibox)
France now transmits an HD signal only so if your TV isn't HD you won't get a signal in France.
You won't get any UK TV channels via an aerial once you move away from the northern French coast no matter how good your TV is.

Any TV will work in a motorhome but 12v is better as you don't need hookup and size isn't an issue.
Even if the TV is 230v, if it has a transformer (black box) built into the power cord it will run on a 12v battery with a suitable supply wire.
Supermarkets are an excellent, cheap source of suitable tv's.

Best option for UK TV abroad is satellite, but even that has restrictions.

That's true they will work with a 12v supply without the transformer but they don't like more than 12v if they get a spike it usually pops them

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[Phantomphixer]

This can be a little subjective, and depends what you want. Most people's expectations out of a television nowadays is fairly high. However the range of high spec TV's that run on 12/230 volt is low by comparison to what is available in the market place today.
Trolling through eBay may uncover a bargain however unless you know how it performs your stepping into the unknown.

In the workshop I have an Aldi TV, it's only come in because quote, 'the cat jumped off the shelf in the MH and landed on the aerial cable ripping the socket out' anyhow that aside it looks a nice little set to me. Dispite some comment on the Aldi site about the sound not being brilliant tbh its seems fine to me (unless you want to pick out a single violin in a symphony orchestra!)
Snag is they do not have them in stock all the time and apparently regularly reduce them. Might be worth considering.
Here is the Broken Link Removed
Looks like it has a PVR function too as well as Freeview and HD