Nancy,
As a EE, I did considerable research before going my own way on the matter of a 12V TV for the Bambi. The unit I chose is actually an import from Australia (via a US distributer). The manufacturer is Cornea Systems. The unit is NATIVE 12V, has inputs for composite, DVI, S-Video and VGA, and cable/antenna. The resolution is 1280X1024, 16million colors. It has a NTSC tuner builtin. It comes with software drivers for your notebook. The unit does come with a 120V to 12V power brick, but unfortunately does not come with a 12V power cord. This was an easy fix. I just went to Radio Shack and purchased a 12V cigarette lighter cord that accepts a variety of device power input tips. By matching the tip dimensions and tip polarity with the included power brick, the appropriate tip was determined completing the 12V power cord. For mounting the unit, I wanted it NOT to sit on ANY of the limited counterspace of the Bambi, so I ordered an articulating VESA mount with a quick release. I mounted the arm at the extreme rear right area of the refrig cabinet. I did have to disconnect the propane from the refrig, remove the refrig mounting screws and slide the refrig slightly out so as to have access to the inside of the cabinet during the installation of the articulating arm (not all that difficult a job...really). The articulating VESA mount and quick release allows us to dismount the TV during travel, which we store in the original packing box placed in the shower area. When mounted, the TV is totally above the refrig counter and can be swung for viewing on the sofa or the bed as well as allowing the viewing angle to be adjusted for the best picture. The TV also includes a folding support that allows it to free stand. This is nice if you want to use it elsewhere. Other than installing the articulating arm mount, the only other modification that I think should be done is to drill a large whole from the bedside wall into the rack area above the refrig. This will allow the cords from the TV/power jack to pass thru rather than drape between the TV and the connector.
The other thing that we added to complete the "media" center was a native 12V DVD player. The unit, Blaupunkt DVD-ME1, is a really small, well designed unit. As both the DVD player and the TV handle PAL (European std) as well as NTSC (US analog std), we found that that the slightly higher resolution of using PAL was visably better, so that is how we run both units. (BTW, setting the composite input to PAL on the TV has NO affect on its reception of NTSC TV signals nor it use as a SVGA monitor) If this is of interest, I will email you how we did installation. I am picking up our Bambi mid week and I will take some detailed pics of the mount, TV and DVD player and add them to my posted pics. I forgot to mention that both the TV and the DVD come with full IR remote controls
We have been extremely pleased with the picture quality from both DVDs and OTA (over the air). Of course, OTA reception can be spotty if parked more than 50 miles or so from TV stations.
The TV can be found at
www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=967676.
The cost is $479.
The articulating arm can be found at
http://www.lcdmonitorarm.com/lcd_arm_10.htm.
You will need one each, 835.BK ($259) and one each 899.BK ($10).
The DVD player is available at
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/BLADVDME1
for $179.95.
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