LCD TV?

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Gary

OK, I'm tired of trying to find a place to wedge in a "normal" TV on my Hunter 34. It seems like a flat-panel LCD model has to be the right answer ... but which one? I have noticed that West Marine sells a 4" Jensen, but that seems too small. I'd rather not spend as much money on it as a new dinghy. Any suggestions? Thanks, Gary
 
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TOM MCNAMARA

Tevivision

I think I have dead something like this before,we have a 450 and placing a TV in place of the small one that came with the boat,new in 1999. We live aboard so tv is a thing to have and we have satilite with about 250 channels. Wall brackets mounting devave tices solved that problem. WE now have two 23" sets with no problem, and with a strap around when we sail holds fine,One over the nav station is a head bumper,but I like my football and baseball. The other is over the washer and dryer. I dont mean to brag,but some big boat owners might be interested, the dealer were I bought it said the 13"battery operated one was all that everyone used. I tried a 25" over the area were they put the tv ,stereo and cd but the viewing was bad and we need that pole and I was pushing my luck. If I were going to brag I would tell you about the shark I caught in Guam island and he towed me all the way through the panama canal and up to N.Y. Now thats a story
 
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Dave

TV

Hi Gary: I can't help you on LCD's' but RCA makes a 13" color with remote that operates on both 110 and 12V. Its the only 13" I have found that is also 12 volt WITHOUT a built in vcr which makes them quite tall. Ours fits nicly on the dresser across from the head on our C30 good Luck, Dave S/V Westwind
 
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Wayne Estabrooks

Flat Screen TV's

Funny you should ask. I just returned from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV. There I saw a wide array, hundreds of flat screen TV displays for custom installation in vehicles and conversion vans. They had models that fold up flat against the ceiling or headliner, others that mounted in the front seat headrests so that rear seat passengers can watch. Panasonic had several sizes and styles and even had one that folded up into an auto radio. I thought then that that would be the neatest setup to install in my boat. I would just mount it on a bulkhead. Panasonic had a 15 inch and 22 inch wide screen models with 16 by 9 aspect ratio rather than the standard 4:3 aspect ratio for the new DTV standard. It will still display conventional size TV pictures but leaves black spaces on the sides. Panasonic also had a model with a built in DVD player that played the wide screen movies! Check their website at http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/tv/lcd.htm They are quite expensive. One High Definition 24 inch model I looked at from Samsung with native resolution over 2,000,000 pixels and retailed for $7,000. Ouch ! Also you could check with an auto radio custom installer they might have what you need for smaller 10 to 12 inch 4:3 displays. Hope this helps.
 
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Sam Kurtz

Use your Laptop?

Is there a TV card available for laptops? I have one in my PC and use it to do double duty. I can watch Baywatch whilst looking for new pictures of Pamela Anderson on the Internet. Ain’t technology cool?
 
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Keith

Flat screen TV

I went to Best Buy a couple of days ago and they had a flat screen TV that ran off of 12 VT and folded up against the ceiling. 9"deep, a little over a foot wide and when the screen is folded down it takes up 9". When folded up less than 2" thick. Remote control, very low power comsumption and fully adjustable to any viewing angle. The screen had very good image although not that big. At $299, I thought it was a good start. Might give it a look.
 
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bill walton

LCD Screen

I've been using a LCD screen for TV and other video entertainment on our P42 since last year. I purchased a VG181 monitor from Viewsonic. This model, along with their VG151, has inputs for your computer output as well as composite video and S-video. These are both 12V native in that they use a transformer to convert from 115VAC to 12VDC. There are many brands that offer this now. Originally I used a VCR as a tuner when I was docked and had cable access but later changed to a small tuner that interfaced to my computer via USB. My computer plays DVDs so I took the VCR home. The audio output of the computer is interfaced with the 12V amplifier that is part of the boats stereo system. Then I got a larger external disc drive and transferrred all my Cds to MP3. The PC runs my nav s/w and the entertainment simultaneously quite nicely and any alarms generated by the s/w are heard over the speakers. All of this has a pretty low drain as well and doesn't run through the inverter which adds a bit of efficiency.
 
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Justin - O'day Owners' Web

Laptop as TV

go to http://www.margi.com/products/tvtogo.html to check out a PCMCIA laptop tuner. There are others out there too, I think there was a nice Voodoo pmcia solution too. Justin - O'day Owners' Web
 
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Ian

slick

At the Annapolis boatshow One of the Hallberg-Rasseys had slicker-than-snot installation of a lcd tv opposite of the lounge chairs. They are quite expensive (the H-R and the tv), but offer a great solution that will make you the envy of all the guys down at the marina. Technically speaking I think the only drawback may be temperature problems. LCD's respond kind of strangely to colder temps and don't really produce enough heat to clear up the image. Depending upon where you winter your boat, I'm sure you remove all of the electronic goodies anyway.
 
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Bryan C.

Do a web search

I was looking for a 5 1/4 " wide radio on the web yesterday (no luck) and saw lots of LCD screens for cars that I'm sure would fit on a boat. Funny thing was, most of them were smaller but more expensive than a cheap laptop computer with a 12" LCD screen
 
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Rick Webb

This May be the Answer

This is a 15" PC, DVD, TV, FM Radio only thing missing is the autopilot. It is a long one make sure you get it all. http://www.mcglen.com/McGlenWeb/listItems.asp?SSID=2250023156E701X659&u=none&pc=none&sec=Z&KEYWORD=hdepcint
 
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Wally Boggus

Notebook Computer

I have been deliberating the TV situation myself and have come to the conclusion that a notebook computer with a DVD and TV tuner card is probably the way to go. The price point for this luxury is a bit high, although I figure you could justify it if you consider the other things that you could do with it games, nav, charts, letters to mom, etc. Another benefit of this option is that a notebook can be 12v DC powered as opposed to other options that would require 120v inverter power. Not sure about mounting the thing but have seen some fold a way "Navy" designed brackets that may work. Being that I was just overwhelmed with decisions on the notebook option, I opted for a GE 5 1/2 inch DC portable. Now I'm looking for a portable DVD player:)
 
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Gary

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts on this question. I'm doing a lot of online research as well, and will post any further information I find. I'm guessing that the right LCD TV at the right price is out there somewhere.
 
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