Televisions in a caravan.

[Nath911t]

I've got a built in aerial with booster box, along with a sky hd box hard wired in (but no dish) in our new box on wheels. I'm thinking of getting one just for some background noise and something to glance at on those wet, cold windy days.

My spare tv is an LG monitor version which I run via the sky box in the guests bedroom meaning I'd have to get a portable dish set up for the caravan if I wanted to watch sky. Or I could buy another tv with freeview - probably the cheapest and easier option and hook that up to the caravans ariel.

I did look at 12v tvs in case we did go off grid but some of the prices were crazy. Is running 240v ok for most campsites? I've seen one TV locally that is 19v so wondered how easy that would be to set up?

[bristolracer]

£20 freeview box with the monitor?

Campsite electrics will run a TV ok

How often will you off grid? Enough to bother with the cost of a TV ?

[shed driver]

Dependent on what you actually wanted, a few years ago the answer was always a WD TV live hub. A 1 or 2 TB hard drive media player that would play any format and output to any kind of device. They seem to be going for about £70 - £100 on eBay - they are great for being off grid - no arial, and minimal power consumption. Many of my friends with narrow boats used them - a great way to store several hundred films in a space no bigger than a thick paperback book.

SD.

[Eric Mc]

I use my TV to watch DVDs or, most recently, downloaded programmes from a plug in hard drive. If I want to watch TV news, I'll use my phone.

I'm not that worried about not having access to terrestrial or satellite TV channels.

[Nath911t]

bristolracer said:

£20 freeview box with the monitor?

This sounds like something that will do the job for now

Thanks for the other replies.

A tv is something that will not always be on. I haven't bought a film on disc or online for years and would prefer to listen to them through my sound system at home as these small tv's have poor sound quality.

Maybe I'll make do with a freeview box with the LG monitor for this weekend then see what turns up afterwards.

[Antony Moxey]

We bought a 21" TV from Tesco with built in Freeview for about £120. Does the job fine, although the previous (cheaper) telly had a built in DVD player too. Not sure SWMBO would be happy about the cost for Sky.

[chasingracecars]

I got a 22” Samsung that just fits in the opening. Run it with a Blu-ray player and the TV antenna. Went for a Full HD set and looks great. Installed a 450watt inverter in the cupboard and a flick of a switch and it will run on 12v too.

[Eric Mc]

Nath911t said:

This sounds like something that will do the job for now

Thanks for the other replies.

A tv is something that will not always be on. I haven't bought a film on disc or online for years and would prefer to listen to them through my sound system at home as these small tv's have poor sound quality.

Maybe I'll make do with a freeview box with the LG monitor for this weekend then see what turns up afterwards.

A pair of cheapish plug in speakers or a stand alone Bluetooth speaker (if supported) can work wonders to improve the sound quality from a small TV.

[ColinM50]

I bought a £70 Aldi satellite dish last year but tbh never bothered to take it out of the box. Yours for £50 if you want it

[Smokehead]

I bought one of these for my caravan. Decent enough for watching while away. 12v Telly
Might be of some use to you.

[PRTVR]

Smokehead said:

I bought one of these for my caravan. Decent enough for watching while away. 12v Telly
Might be of some use to you.

I have the same one, bought it from the factory as a return without a box, very happy with it,
Plays DVDs and from a usb, also will record to usb, only one tuner so cannot watch one program and record another, Downside is the menu for things like the guide take some getting used to,
it will even drive a movable satellite dish, for the money I think it's a bargain.

[Nath911t]

Thanks for your replies

I noticed an aerial socket on the back of the monitor and despite even the manual stating it's just a monitor I plugged it into the caravan aerial socket and I have freeview channels!

ColinM50 said:

I bought a £70 Aldi satellite dish last year but tbh never bothered to take it out of the box. Yours for £50 if you want it

Thanks for the offer but I'll give it a miss as a local friend will be donating one once they've upgraded to a newer one.

Smokehead said:

I bought one of these for my caravan. Decent enough for watching while away. 12v Telly
Might be of some use to you.

We're away this weekend in Dorset/Hampshire border for a our first time so wish us luck

Here's our set up -

[Smokehead]

Nath911t said:

We're away this weekend in Dorset/Hampshire border for a our first time so wish us luck

That monitor is a bit of a result! Have a great time.

[RRH]

I found the satellite dish an utter pain in the a*rse, and had to stop using it once we upgraded to sky Q and could no longer have an extra card for £10...

I now use an IPTV app on a firestick - I think I paid £40 for all channels - and and unlimited data phone sim from Three which costs me £20 a month.

We have decent data speed over 3g / 4g where the caravan is, although it can slow to a crawl Bank Holiday weekends.

Thats aid, we don't use it much. Having bought a couple of zero gravity recliners, we spend most of the evening staring at the stars (and just maybe the odd glass of red or a nice malt )

[C0ffin D0dger]

Not really that bothered about TV while I'm away, happy with a book, caveman TV (firepit), or just sitting out watching the stars whilst getting inebriated.

However because our caravan does have an aerial I bought a USB TV tuner for my laptop. Thought the kids might want to watch some of there dross if nothing else. Turns out the aerial doesn't work, I suspect it's the booster, the radio doesn't work either which I think runs off the same thing. Might get round to sorting it one day.

I do also have a portable hard drive full of movies for the kids to watch on the laptop if it isn't sitting out weather.

[Nath911t]

Smokehead said:

That monitor is a bit of a result! Have a great time.

Thanks. We both enjoyed our first trip out. We went to Hill Cottage Farm, nr Ringwood. The weather was pants but the sun came out towards the end. I've added some new things to my "need" list.

Decided to bin the idea of setting up a sat dish. Firstly, it would have been on a freesat basis as I no longer subscribe to sky meaning using the freeview on the TV a simple and easy set up. Secondly, as some people have stated, it's not really worth it. I also spoke to a few people who did have a dish set up and they were saying anything more than a weekend might be worth it but for just a weekend it's not worth the hassle of lugging it about and setting it up.