TV system. New ways.

TVs can now work in a variety of ways. Do we Motorhomes still need to use aerials and satellite dishes or can we do it via firesticks and tablets these days ?
Phil
Your choice your media, a large screen (TV) is great for a shared experience. For example I won’t use amazon (Fire stick) Amazon collects to much data about you but us Apple TV iplayer itv hub and yes good old DVD and traditional TV 📺
 
Ditch the telly and aerial? And miss the experience of flicking through foreign channels looking for some dodgy subtitled 1980s action movie when it's raining? :cool:

We don't watch much telly when away - but usually download a few films or shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime on other devices and hook them up to the tellybox. Interwebs keep us in touch with news via BBC site but we keep an analogue aerial to pick up national news wherever we are - it's part of the travelling experience and can be useful for local context.
 
If you're staying in the UK then telly via tinterweb is the most cost effective solution nowadays for most locations. If you want to tour abroad for any length of time then satellite is still the best option although decent volumes of roaming data are not far away (until the B word makes it unattainable again)

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We "invested" a full £7 on a USB3.1 Type-C to HDMI cable two metres long, which plugs into the power port of either of our phones. The other end plugs into the hdmi port of the (not smart) TV.
Download all the catchup apps, (BBC iplayer, ITV hub etc) onto both phones and watch them through the TV.

The phones are on two different networks and if neither of them get a signal, connect them via the mifi which is on a third carrier.
If still no signal we read a book.

Having said all that, our viewing needs are simple and certainly dont use any subscription channels.

I did in a moment of madness buy a 4k Firestick and set that up (I think:unsure:) but find it much simpler on the phone.

Barry
 
We generally don't watch much TV at all so losing the satellite dish when it broke down for the third time wasn't much of a loss (actually a net gain, have you felt how heavy these things are?) We generally watch old shows and films downloaded onto a portable hard drive and viewed via the laptop which is sometimes connected to the TV by HDMI. Sounds a faff I know but works for us. Last trip I tried a Firestick which worked very well - but then used up the rest of the data I had left on my 3 payg datasim equipped mifi! Music on USB datasticks plugged into the radio.
Phones are for making calls/texts and accessing the internet via the mifi.
Yes I know there are other methods, probably more efficient, but as I said it works for us.
 
For what it's worth we use Freeview aerial for UK telly, Firestick for UK Netflix & Amazon stuff and satellite for Freesat UK when in Europe. We occasionally use some of our roaming data as a treat to catch up with Netflix etc when roaming but it hoover's data up very quickly and the jury is out on whether anything more than 20Gb is available.
 
We don't need TV when abroad, we're on holiday! Use freeview in the UK and downloaded stuff or DVD's if we want. We each have a Kindle, best e-readers you can get.

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Everything from data. A TV for us both or 2 tablets if we want to watch something different. And when over the channel we have UK radio to listen to.
 
I'm having similar thoughts. Just at the point of swapping vans and have Sat on current van but can get pretty much everything from phone and 4G these days, except BBC in Southern Europe. And between my wife and me we've got enough data to last us about 6 weeks worth of streaming. Last time we were abroad we only used the Sat to watch the news at 10 (on Sky or BBC) the rest of the time we streamed Netflix or watched stuff on SkyGo, plus Poldark on DVD. When in France, and not too far South we'd watch MOTD using the Sat at weekends too. We can get Sky News and SkyGo on 4G or using site's WiFi (lot of sites in Spain are free or low cost) but I think I'll miss not being able to watch MOTD. And as someone else mentioned the 4G option may become very expensive next year. But then again they want £435 to transfer the Sat from the old van to the new so I'm in a bit of a quandary. I suppose you could argue that even if you had to pay for 4G next year it would take you a while to rack up £435 worth of data.
 
Yes, I've recently upgraded my TV so it's now got a hdmi input, so use a firestick, next I'm thinking of removing the status aerial to allow the fitting of a solar panel on the roof as my space is quite limited up there

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Has anybody got one of the new Avtex TV's with built in Wifi and if so, What do you think of it?
 
We have tried to keep things low tech in our van until recently. We have a small TV and DVD player. If the TV reception is not good or there’s nothing to watch we put a DVD on.
Before lockdown I bought a MFI device for the van so our daughter put TV apps on my I Pad. I wouldn’t have an I Pad if the kids and management hadn’t bought me one for my birthday.
 
Is this easy to set up ?
Phil

Firestick needs a power supply but once it's plugged in you just connect to wifi and you are good to go. The FS is a real slick device with a nice slimline remote control.

Excellent for iplayer, IT hub etc and plenty threads on here about how to get 'a bit extra' out of them.

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I have never downloaded anything tv wise there is enough c**p on free view, fire stick ? Never needed one (yet), satellite won’t ever bother with one again, only ever watched one or two dvds in my whole life, no point in changing now, and my pet hate is the news.
That said how is Eena Sharples cat doing 🤣🤣🤣
 
Has anybody got one of the new Avtex TV's with built in Wifi and if so, What do you think of it?
Yes we have the 27inch connected, seems good so far but not watched it much yet, we have the soundbar with it as well and that is certainly better than the standard speakers.

Martin
 
I have never downloaded anything tv wise there is enough c**p on free view, fire stick ? Never needed one (yet), satellite won’t ever bother with one again, only ever watched one or two dvds in my whole life, no point in changing now, and my pet hate is the news.
That said how is Eena Sharples cat doing 🤣🤣🤣
She was murdered by Minnie Cauldwell. :giggle:
 
Firestick needs a power supply but once it's plugged in you just connect to wifi and you are good to go.
You can power your Firestick by plugging it's power lead into your TV's USB port - if it has one. Means one less cable trailing away from the TV.
 
I’m happy just using 4g and Firestick or tablet to watch Tv / Movies (and IMO I don’t think Jeff Bezos gives a $hit about me nor do I think Bill Gates wants to know where I am or what I’m doing - thus using products from Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and others is not a problem for me. Besides I had heard that the BBC have been tracking people for years by using radio waves and TV transmitters, all so we can be controlled by the state ;-)

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We use a chrome cast and and an huawei mifi with 3 sim unlimited data to stream stuff . Normal tv there is a freeview antenna on our unit .
I am looking for an alternative to the three unlimited sim so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know (y)
 
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We use a chrome cast and and an huawei mifi with 3 sim unlimited data to stream stuff . Normal tv there is a freeview antenna on our unit .
I am looking for an alternative to the three unlimited sim so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know (y)
Smarty from Motorhome Wi-Fi have some good deals I only know this as I have just bought a mifi from them.
 
Is this easy to set up ?
Phil
You have all the answers in the posts following mine. There are 2 answers to that question.

  1. You need to have a robust internet access solution
  2. You need a simple streaming box

1.Getting a robust wifi installation can be a simple or as complex as you can manage. If you have some basic networking skills you can for example use a Netgear M1 or the more expensive M2 (would not bother) and get yourself a roof top LTE antenna, there are simple puck types or a complex vertical hi gain on a motor mount as I have. The exterior antenna is the must for a robust solution, it will work without but nowhere near as smoothly. You will also need a good cellular package suitable for the use you have. ie predominantly UK or loads of Roaming. These are covered elsewhere, by experts like Minxy Girl . Added to this you could install a Ubiquiti Bullet connected to a roof top 8 dBi antenna to connect to site wifi and local bars etc for a some cheap data when available. This can be selectively accessed through the M1 with the data offloading setting and use the M1 to distribute to your devices in the van.

2. The simplest streaming box in my opinion is the FireTV. It has all the main streaming providers apps plus loads of others like browsers and even Plex. Google it, the box is cheap enough to buy and play with to see, and I even have one at home too as my Samsung TV is a few years old and its smarts 'ain't so smart any more. Get a desktop PC display with soundbar that has a HDMI connection and that's your FireTV to display done. As stated the USB power for the Fire can come from the display, make sure what you buy has HDMI, USB power out and a sound bar.

It would be simple for me to say these setups are easy because for me and many others they are, but if you don't have an understanding of your setup then troubleshooting becomes a nightmare. I hope this helps a bit.
My roof
Roof Antenna.jpg
 
Another happy fire stick user! 👍🏻
I had the HD only version for a couple of years but recently upgraded to the Ultra HD / 4K one.
The dearer one is faster in the menus than the cheaper one.

I’ve added lots of none Amazon sources of television via their apps tool 👍🏻
And there’s 3rd party tools for adding more - but I’ve not looked at that.
 
If you're staying in the UK then telly via tinterweb is the most cost effective solution nowadays for most locations. If you want to tour abroad for any length of time then satellite is still the best option although decent volumes of roaming data are not far away (until the B word makes it unattainable again)
Can get everything in Europe that i watch in UK just with firestick and tethering to my phone...Easier and quicker than tuning a dish. BUSBY.

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