Television recommendation?

[JRRNeiklot]

I'm looking to put a tv in my travel trailer. I'm struggling over getting a 24 inch 12 volt tv vs a 32 inch ac tv and run it off an inverter. How much difference in amp-draw is a regular tv vs a 12 volt tv? And can anyone recommend a fairly inexpensive tv that supports usb video?

Thanks.

[APT]

Articulating wall mounts should be under $50 to assist with poor viewing angled TVs.

[D_E_Bishop]

I don't know if your question was answered or not but here is my take, a 24" TV with a wall wart is somewhere around 25 Watts. A cheepo HP inverter draws about 0.5 watt. So total, 25 watts for tv and .5 watts for the inverter.

You can extrapolate that out by the size of the TV and the number of TVs being run.

I went to Best Buy as some mentioned and bought a couple of their brand TVs(Insignia), a BluRay player and the cables I needed. The TVs had wall warts as did the BluRay player and no inverter necessary. Drops the draw down by maybe 2 or 3 watts.

The BB TVs were each under $200 and they are several years old and work fine. There are a lot more TVs with wall warts today than 5 years ago. Don't know why there are more now but I shop cheap, not super high quality. Both TVs are 1080p.

[TechWriter]

IAMICHABOD wrote:
One thing to remember when purchasing a TV for the RV is to look at the viewing angle . . .

. . . And make sure it has a QAM ("digital") tuner if you plan to use campground cable TV. Campgrounds are making the switch from analog to digital cable so you need a TV with a QAM tuner.

Inexpensive TVs like Element and some VISIOs don't have digital tuners.

Though all new TVs are required to have built-in ATSC tuners to receive over-the-air programs, new TVs are not required to have QAM filters.

More here.

[IAMICHABOD]

One thing to remember when purchasing a TV for the RV is to look at the viewing angle, if you can go to the store and sit lower then off to each side to see what it looks like at those angles.

Most times in a RV you wont be looking straight on at it. I found out the hard way after buying and returning 2 TVs, that sometimes at those angles the screen is washed out or black making them un-viewable.

After buying and returning a Samsung and a RCA I found a Insignia that has a much larger viewing angle, 160 horizontal and 160° vertical viewing angles.

In my RV with the TV in the front or the rear bedroom you have to look up at it. This TV works great in both areas. The DVD quality is excellent.Runs off my small inverter very well.

[Tom_M1]

Go to Best Buy and check their Insignia brand TVs. According to the Insignia web site, there are two 32" models that can run on 12 volt. Check the viewing angle of the TVs while you're there. Picture quality on some sets drop off a lot when viewed from an angle.

[BB_TX]

You will find a lot more choices in 120 vac TVs than 12 vdc TVs. And if similar sizes then probably similar wattage and similar power draw. I would guess an LED LCD would draw less power than a standard LCD.

I replaced both my TVs with Samsung TVs (32" LED and 19" LCD) several years ago.

[JRRNeiklot]

I should add that I will be spending a lot of time on battery power, recharging by solar.

[rockhillmanor]

Agree with above.
I bought several cheap off brand flat screens that all puked within a year. Spend the extra couple bucks to get one that will last.

I also found out that when you go to look at them and you see all the different prices, different sizes, and the spec cards attached to them......forget trying to compare them on that part.

==Grab the TV and physically see how many different and how many PORTS it has. USB, computer, etc.

Many do not have them all. That's the gotcha on trying to compare the TV's all by price. And they are 'very' vague on the spec cards about the ports.

When my laptop computer screen died I grabbed one of my flat screens only to find out it did not have a port to use it as a monitor.

IMHO how many different ports it has is what makes it worth buying. Especially now a days when all the different electronics that can use the TV.

[jplante4]

I replace the boat anchor TVs with Best a 32" and 25" Insignia (Best Buy store brand). The mounting bracket for the bedroom TV cost more than the TV. I run then off the MSW inverter and shore power just fine.

[Chuck_thehammer]

I purchased a 32 inch Samsung AC TV, ($200) and I also have a directv satellite box. run them both off of a Harbor Fright inverter..
and TV is bolted to cabinet top. Homemade mount. No factory wall mount area.

[RoyB]

I replaced my old analog heavy TV's when the National Broadcast went to digital TV a few years back. They all went to the dump...

The 5th wheel got the 26-inch VIZIO HDTV's that had all kinds of external ports on them. My OFF-ROAD POPUP setup got the 22-Inch VIZIO HDTV...

Have had zero problems with the VIZIO brand from WALMART and I don't have to always search around for the correct remote thumper unit since all of my TV's both trailers and Home are VIZIOs...

My TVs are 120VAC and I run them from a PSW INVERTER when camping off the power grid with absolutely no problems... I also run my 120VAC DVD units off the Inverter as well when OFF-ROAD...

I suspect the power efficiency is around 85-90% using 120VAC coming from the Inverter verses getting a 12VDC TV unit... The cost for 12VDC TVs unit is really high for the ones I looked at... I could not justify the difference in the cost...

Some of guys were able to find TV sets that ran from the external Power BRICK and just find a ADAPTER plug (got mine from Radio Shack) to connect 12VDC directly to the TV set from the trailer battery hookup... I looked into that as well and at the time I couldn't find any of those type TV's.. I went around to all of the big stores here looking at the backs of all the TV's they had on display haha... Guess they thought I was a nut case... I have also read from some users on here that 12VDC is almost at the too low DC VOLTAGE point for the usual 17-19VDC that the TV BRICKs produce... I do have a small 15-inch Black and White TV here that uses the brick and it worked just fine for me but who wants to watch Black and White TV anymore...

I just went with the 120VAC TVs which solved the problem for me... I am also very happy to have the low wattage PSW INVERTER setup in my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer. Having that with me has proven to be a MUST HAVE unit to power up many daily use 120VAC low wattage devices and things in the trailer when camping off-road. A good move on my part...

I ended up with a 600WATT AIMS PSW Inverter ($159 AMAZON) but for the most part only draw around 300WATTS from it when camping using all of my daily items. Being the PSW mode Inverter I don't have to ever worry about what gets plugged into it and going up in blue smoke... ALot of folks use the modified type Inverters for their TV operation but that just didn't set good with me and all of my electronics items I carry on my off-road trips supporting my other hobby of Ham Radio.

Roy Ken

[Old-Biscuit]

Vizio 120V AC TVs

I swapped out the oem 27" analog hunk of a tv in late 2007 with a 32" Vizio
Weighs 11# uses some thing like 28W in power consumption.

It has bounced around the USA for 7 yrs. FT and couple of yrs. of camping.
Temps from 19*F to 110*F.

When we stopped FT travel I bought 2 for the house.