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TV/DVD Television: Yay Or Nay?

Television: Yes or No?

  • Total voters
    42
S

sarmay

Junior Ranger
What are your thoughts on having/not having the television? I have mixed feelings about it, and can't decide whether a television in the camper is a good idea. I am waffling between getting the TV and just getting the drop-down desk/cabinet option. Here are my thoughts so far, and I would be very grateful to hear from others on the TV issue.

1. It would be nice to have the TV so that we can connect a game console to it. The kids and the husband are gamers, so they would like to have something they can use to relax in bad weather or at night after a day of sightseeing/hiking/etc.

2. BUT I don't want to have to chase them out of the camper to go DO things, and they can play their games at home. (Against television.)

3. Game consoles need a monitor, and won't work connected to a laptop. (In favor of television.)

4. Some of our best vacation memories are playing actual games together, with no television available. (Against television.)

5. Aging technology. Seriously, who buys DVDs or CDs anymore?

6. A game console would be delicate for travel, and might not do well on the road, and our son (at least) has a portable gaming device. It would mostly be Tony who wouldn't have a game to putter around with when he wants to relax.

7. We really only watch online streaming services: netflix, amazon, hulu, which we can (theoretically) get on a laptop with a WiFi hotspot

8. But streaming via WiFi hotspot is crazy expensive and spotty at best.

9. I don't want to store/carry an antenna.

10. Resale value? (But: aging technology.)

11. Difficulties finding a replacement that will fit our cabinets when the TV inevitably breaks/dies.

12. But not getting a television means we also don't have the cable and antenna hookup should we decide to get a TV later.

13. Cost difference is not insignificant.

14. Battery drain unless we are connected to electricity.
 
We use our TV in a couple of circumstances and I am happy we decided to have it installed. A bit of background - where we camp there is almost never power available or broadcast signal, and rarely cell coverage. We have found that the battery usage of the television is pretty modest, we have never run out of battery even with 4-5 days of evening movies, though we don't power our fridge from the trailer and I have converted all the lights to LEDs.

We very often camp in the fall and winter months when the days are short. When the sun sets at 6 and it starts to get chilly, we can retire to the 560 and pop in a DVD. Yes, we do watch DVDs, we maintain our Netflix DVD subscription, lots of titles of the film eras we like. We sometimes camp with one of our sons and again the evening after dinner can be difficult with the grandchildren so we bring DVDs geared for them on these outings. We can stash the kids in the trailer with their movie and the adults can sit around and talk (and sip our wine!).

Another use we have for the TV is to view the day's camera pictures. The model TV we have (I am not sure they all do) accepts an SD card so we can go over the photos of the day.
 
Our previously owned camper came with the TV option.

I’d thought it would drain the batt, and wanted to preserve power for cpap use - so far I’ve been *very* stingy on power use. But, I just received an auxiliary battery dedicated for cpap, so circumstances change.

Gamers can do a lot of hours, that’s not what we’re out there for. YMMV.

In the mean time, we’ve been watching a few Netflix downloads on a 12.9” iPad Pro - it’s a great solution, especially with a quality bluetooth speaker. A couple hours of movies only takes the iPad down to perhaps 92% battery. Note that it’s mostly the Netflix productions that are available for download - the process has worked pretty seamlessly, and we even did a download in a coffee shop last weekend!

I do want to see this TV work, but suspect we’ll (almost) never be camping where there’s signal. I like Rotus’ practice of looking at the day’s pictures... there’s also an iPad solution for that. But we do have a few DVDs, and our local library has them for checkout as well. When we complete the power rework we’ll try it!
 
Sarmay,
I think it's such a personal thing that it's hard to seek advice from others - I personally don't care for hardly any movies or TV programming. I once asked a bed and breakfast owner if she could remove the TV from our room. She offered to cover it with a towel.

When I'm out in nature, I definitely don't want screens. Books are nice and music can be nice as well.

If I did like screens, I'd still want something that I could move more easily - watch inside if the weather is crummy or place outside when possible. It could be nice to put the TV in the galley if there are several people who want to watch something. I suspect that there are a lot of TVs that could run on 12V or battery and would play DVDs or connect the game console. Ben
 
Handben said:
Sarmay,
If I did like screens, I'd still want something that I could move more easily - watch inside if the weather is crummy or place outside when possible. It could be nice to put the TV in the galley if there are several people who want to watch something. I suspect that there are a lot of TVs that could run on 12V or battery and would play DVDs or connect the game console. Ben
Click to expand...

This is actually really interesting. A projector might be fun for moving things outside.
 
We use a screen and projector for family movie nights at campgrounds but still have the TV. We use it when we want to isolate the kids in the camper at bedtime so adults can talk. We have four kids though, and two are 2 and 1/2 year old twin boys so without some electronic bribery, they are hard to herd...

When it's time for mom and dad to hit the hay, the older kids go to their tent. Babies sleep on the bunks.
 
Enjoy streaming a Netflix movie from my phone at night from time to time. The only options we regret on our 560 are the ones we didn't get!

Randy
 
Building technology into a trailer that one might have for 20 or 30 years isn’t such a good idea, in my opinion. Right after we bought SnuggleBug, with the TV and a custom iPod dock, Apple came out with iPads and changed to the smaller lightning connector. If we want to watch something in the trailer, which we hardly do, it is on an iPad now. And none of the new iPhones fit in the built-in dock, so it doesn’t get used either. Lesson learned.
 
I'm thinking I would rather have the drop-down desk cabinet to store portable tech. I was looking at a pico projector, which would allow us to watch either inside or take it outside on a nice night.

I'm not worried about losing hours to video games. I keep everyone pretty active during the daytime.
 
Never used our TV. We don't know if it works although I am sure it does. We have some DVDs in there, just in case. We bought Jeremiah through Poplar Hill and they had ordered it installed.
 
You might consider having the antenna connection, and coaxial cable installed during construction, but not the TV. We bought our TD used, and it was built when they were still using small analog CRT TV's with a built in DVD player.

We removed that, added some doors and a retractable shelf, then initially used our laptop on the shelf to watch an occasional DVD, but have since added a 19 in flat panel TV that we can hang from straps attached to the TV's mounting screws, then via a couple of hooks hidden in the small alcove in front of the A/C . It hangs down far enough not to block the A/C outlet, and at enough of an angle to not block the inlet either, which also ends up being a good angle for viewing through bifocals while laying down;). It doesn't interfere with opening the cabinet doors, and can easily be taken down, and stored when not in use or traveling if desired, or left up, but then a piece of foam pipe wrap should be placed over the wood handle below the A/C unit to protect it from bouncing against it on rough roads. These pics were made more to show the sofa bed, but you can kind of see what I'm talking about anyway. At least that might be one more option that would allow you to add it in the future if wanted.
Happy building!:)
 

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Randy said:
Nice Dustnip. Does it run on 12 volt?
Click to expand...
Yes, it runs on 12V or 110V. It was kind of funny. I had bought a 12V power source for my laptop to use in the TD, then when we got the TV, I thought we'd use it when we stayed at places with Elec.hookup, but when I opened up the TV I found its power source was an AC to DC converter, so I tried running it on the 12 laptop power source which had the same plug end for the computer as the TV used on its power source, and it worked fine (and has for the last 3 years or so). Amazon.com: Proscan PLEDV1945A-B 19-Inch 720p 60Hz LED TV-DVD Combo: PROSCAN: Electronics
 
I posted details of our alternative to a installed TV here Ipad Mount, The Simple Alternative To Tv

Basically, its the iPad option.
  1. Easily controlled
  2. Content can be pre-downloaded from Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. before trip
  3. Can stream with MiFi when available (i.e. updates on the big game, news, etc.)
  4. Doesn't lock you into one technology. You can update your devices over time.
 
Ditto for the tablet. We download old movies from free-classic-movies.com or bnwmovies.com/classic-movies to an old Samsung Tablet. Tim made a little stand out of a chunk of wood with a notch in it and we set it on his lower cabinet door. Works great.
 
I agree with Sarmay, the decision is personal and you should listen to your intuition since people desire different things from vacation. I do play video games and watch movies at home. But, for me a TV in the trailer is a strong no. I go to the trouble of going to nature to experience what humans and our technology are otherwise crowding out and taking for granted. Projectors are a neat idea in the right context, but I hope I don't have to have a campsite next door to that. Maybe my views will change in a few decades after the mystery of nature has waned.

Sincerely,
--Ken
 
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The TV has only been used less than a dozen times over the past ten year. We ordered it so we would have an option if we were stuck in the Raindrop while staying out of the raindrops. As for antenna we use a Mohu (mud flap) unit which has a 50 mile range, they now have a larger model with a 65 mile range. These antenna are like a piece of paper no problem to store. Reality most places we go do not have much OTA (over the Air). Some of the regular campgrounds the we visit have free cable hookup but most of the time we do not even use them but we have a cable with us anyways. What we do use is a satellite radio, which is the only way to get the Red Sox games out west, along with National News and Music. We had the radio antenna put in during the build.
 
We have definitely decided to forego the television, figuring that we can use our laptop or other devices if we want to watch something. We're hoping to use our camper for both camping and traveling, and we tend to be out sightseeing, hiking, etc., during the day, so I'm not planning on hiding inside watching television, but it's nice to have some option for downtime.
 
I think this is highly subjective as it depends on what type of content you like and how you consume it as well as where you tend to camp. We have a TV in ours and sometimes we use it a lot and other times not at all. There are a lot of ways to enjoy movies. I have a Msft Surface and a portable HDD that has 700+ movies on it that I have acquired over the years (daughter worked both at Hollywood video and Blockbuster). The TV screen is larger than my Surface so I will cast the movie to the TV screen when the weather is bad and we are hiding inside. I have a TV antenna as well so if I am somewhere that gets reception, we hook it up for local news/weather and programming. If the weather is nice, we have movie nights outside. I have a pico projector and a sheet hung from our canopy for that. However, you could just use a tablet for movie playback in the trailer if you wanted and bypass the TV completely. I prefer the TV but it's not a necessity given other options out there.
 
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