Flat panel TV recommendations?

[Lumatic]

We first had a little portable DVD player. Too small

Next through Ecost got a Akai 15" TV/DVD which also works on 12v for $209 player didn't work. Found out "recertified" means some kind of factory reject. Ecost would not let me return said I had to order and pay for a replacement unit then return the original. Guess what? The replacement unit did not work either. Went through a nightmare of phone calls but finally got both returned.

Now bought a 15 Audiovox TV/DVD for $289. It also works on 12v. So far so good. I usually don't by extended service contracts but did in this case to cover the DVD players moving parts.

I liked the stand on the Akai which is hinged and allows for different angle settings. I like the DVD set up on the Audiovox seems simpler.

I thought about a bigger unit or mounting one on a wall but decided this is big enough for my Tradewind and I will keep it portable

[Garfield]

Hi All, OP here!

Well, after a lot of research and hard thinking we decided to leave the TV in the factory designed location in our Safari 25SS, which is on the wall right behind the dinette in front of the sofa. We were originally thinking of moving it to the fridge wall behind the dinette but that would be far enough away from the sofa that you would need at least a 23" model and those start to get really big, thick and heavy -- and there was a possibility of the person sitting at the dinette banging their head on it.

So we settled for a 19" Sharp model LC19SK24UW. We found a nice white one at BestBuy in Port Huron. What we really liked about this model was it is very compact -- extremely thin and light with a very small bezel. The white goes nicely with our Safari's interior and we like the fact that it's a brand name, although we did pay a bit of a price for it. It's only 19" but when you're sitting on the sofa or dinette it's only a few feet away so we didn't need a larger one.

We decided not to get an integrated DVD because the forthcoming format change to Blue-Ray would make anything we bought today obsolete. Besides, most of the integrated units are quite thick and heavy. For now we bought a cheepo external $30 stand alone DVD that we'll plug into the TV when needed.

To mount the TV, we bought a single arm flat panel mount and had the dealer install it. They pulled the wall apart and installed some extra plywood backing just to be safe, although I didn't really think that should have been necessary since it was mounted in the factory location where the old tube TV mount was which was much heavier. Better safe than sorry I guess.

The single arm mount allows the TV to swivel either towards the dinette or the sofa for optimum viewing depending on the circumstances. The movement of the arm was originally very slick and the TV wouldn't stay in place so I replaced the teflon washers with garden hose washers and clamped them tight so the arm now stays put. It's very stiff now and there 's no need for straps to secure it even when travelling -- a true no fuss setup.

I velcroed a surge protected power bar on the back of the dinette to plug the TV and DVD into when needed. It will also be handy for charging the kids Ipods, cell phones and camera batteries etc.

Here's a couple of shots of the setup. Nothing special, but it might provide some ideas.

Cheers!
Gary

[Westfalia]

Originally Posted by Condoluminum

Not sure how RV parks with analog cable setups are going to respond in 2009

I know this is on older comment, but just an FYI, the ATSC digital transition only applies to over the air broadcast and not cable systems and satellite providers.