Upgrading TV and Audio

Jbracey0 wrote:
Hi! I am new to the forums and new to the RVing life! We are buying our first motor home this week a 2002 Bounder 35S. We have been looking at RVS for a while and we will be doing a lot of upgrades to this old one. We are shopping around for new dinette, couch, chair and cabin chairs and replacing all the flooring and painting walls and cabinets etc. Since we are going to be gutting it I also want to make some tech upgrades. Does anyone have any experience with having large tvs installed? It's a hard subject for me to find for RVS but I was thinking maybe ceiling mounting a swing arm large 55inch for the bedroom.

We stream everything at the home or digital hard drive so we don't have to bring the discs. Does anyone have tips for syncing all of the audio and tvs together? Example: audio over the speakers in the rv and all the tvs playing the same video? I know it takes some hardware to calibrate the lag I just need to know where to start. Thanks!

heres exactly what you need
http://www.displays2go.com/P-35745/Flip-Down-TV-Ceiling-Mount-Sloped-Surfaces?st=Category&sid=26425
the new led Tv,s are super lite so weight is no problem

I know the sync will be an issue for sure. I might have to find some tech that can manually set the lag.

55" might be too big but the distance viewing thing doesn't apply they way it used to with CRT or early LCDs. I know that Internet service will be little to none. I just thought there would be more info about people setting up a LAN or plexi servers. I'm thinking about installing Samsung tvs so I can view downloaded content via WiFi direct.

Since you plan to stream much of your TV programming have you considered what your internet source will be? If you plan to use cellular it is going to eat up a huge amount of data. If you are going to be at RV parks offering free WiFi the service is usually too poor to stream anything or, in many cases, the parks have blocked access to many of these sites due to overloading.
As mentioned earlier, 55" TV in the bedroom is going to need a great deal of support but it may also be too big as you will not be very far away from the TV while laying in bed. Be sure you size the TV to the need and the distance from which you will be watching.

Jbracey0 wrote:
Thanks for the info! I completely forgot about wireless hdmi!

I have wireless HDMI. One issue is synchronizing sound with mouth movement. Not perfect, but close.

J-Tech Digital HDbitT Series Wireless HDMI

Thanks for the info! I completely forgot about wireless hdmi! The model is a 2002 bounder 36s. It has a TV in the driver's back rear where the whole back wall is a wardrobe. It has a 19 inch I think in the cubby but all the space behind is empty. I was thinking about putting the hard drive and an Xbox back there. I was thinking about putting the wall mount or large swing arm for that side wall where there is just a window. I would go to the ultra light 4ks so the mount would weigh more than the tv.

There is also a slide and when you put the slide out there are a couple of cabinet doors with a large mirror on the wall that connects to the bathroom with existing outlet on that wall. I have seen newer models that have a TV there instead of a mirror too that I thought about swapping. We plan on most of our trips to disney campground which does have hookups.

Changing out the TVs is pretty simple, "IF" you can find a couple three ceiling joists to attach them to. In my opinion a 55" class is pretty big and heavy to attach to a motor home ceiling. Also the ceilings are often curved to match the exterior and they don't have an attic space so fishing an HDMI cable is going to be a chore.

We had a 1990 Bounder 27D and I ended up running the cable under the house and then thru the toe kick space under the kitchen cabinets and past the fridge and space heater. It was not easy and I wouldn't do it again. I only did it so when the DGKs were with us we could watch the same recording on both TVs. Now that they are older they don't go with us much anymore and with the Winnie and the living room slide we really don't use the bedroom TV, there is plenty of seating for four.

I would go wireless if I were to do it again. My time is worth the $300 cost of a full 1080 HD system.

I have no info on your current or proposed sound system but HES(home entertainment systems) are not cheap and the wiring is again a problem. The wireless transmitters are A/V so a sound bar and bass may be easier than a HES.

You don't have to buy equipment on ebay, but it is a go to place to see what is available. I bought all my stuff to sync my TVs and BluRay DVD player online at ebay. I don't think you'll be finding a 55" class set with a wall brick, so you'll be using an inverter unless you're in campgrounds all the time. All this stuff adds up and may require additional batteries if you dry camp.

Just some things to think about.

I have two TV's synced together using a HDMI splitter. My sound is wired into my home theatre surround sound system.
I also use a TIVO DVR for both OTA and cable.

Many of us have replaced our TVs. If you do a search on the forum, you will find threads that have information and pictures of how it was done. In our case, we put a wall mount arm in the cabinet. The TV is slightly wider than the outside of the cabinet which may not be large enough for you. I remember threads where people have installed a ceiling mount where the TV rotates down from the ceiling.