Digital TV for those of you with the 15" cabin LCD

[teekster]

I just purchased a Polaroid 15.4" HDTV (with digital tuner) from Circuit City this afternoon. Installing it in place of the existing LCD TV was fairly simple and it fits the width of the cabinet PERFECTLY!

I needed to move the LCD mount up approximately 1 inch and add a black plug to cover an exposed screw. I also needed to trim some of the material behind the TV to allow for the passage of cables.

I also added a small 120v converter mounted behind the TV. My kids can now watch TV or DVD without the generator on :smt001 .

Sorry for the cell phone pix, but my camera batteries were dead.

While not the nicest HDTV I have ever seen, the actual picture quality is obviously much better than these pix show. I was able to watch some preseason football on it tonight.

 

[teekster]

slightly better pix

 

[Alex D]

I also got 15" a flat panel in there ...

albeit not a digtal TV ... we have satellite at the slip, so I hook my tuner up and way we go ...

 

[teekster]

That's a nice job of using the existing CRT alcove. I just edited my post to say that I was replacing an LCD. I had the factory Zenith 15" LCD with an analog tuner. I am not sure if the new 340s have digital tuners or not. I previously used an outboard digital tuner, but the wife hated having to open the galley cabinet to change channels. The picture is also better on this one.

 

[Steve04]

Teekster, quick question, like the TV the DVD unit above your TV, do you know how to remove it? mine does not play some of the DVD's that I have burned and I would like to replace it with a newer one that plays DVD+R. there are three screws just below the unit and I am figuring that these must be the ones holding the unit in place. Also did you use the the same antenna for the HDTV?
Steve 04

 

[tphinney]

I just installed the same tv in my 240DA. I used this mount from BJ's

in the cabin and a second reciever for the mount up on deck so I can move the tv from inside to out side depending on the weather. this way we can watch movies or tv up in the cockpit area.

 

[teekster]

Teekster, quick question, like the TV the DVD unit above your TV, do you know how to remove it? mine does not play some of the DVD's that I have burned and I would like to replace it with a newer one that plays DVD+R. there are three screws just below the unit and I am figuring that these must be the ones holding the unit in place. Also did you use the the same antenna for the HDTV?
Steve 04

I didn't try to figure out how to get the dvd player out. Sorry.

I used the same antenna for HDTV.

 

[fc3]

Does it still work? Polaroid is notorious for poor quality.

Best regards,
Frank C

 

[KayKook]

Polaroid does not make the electronic's nor the display on this TV. It's just a name.

 

[teekster]

Does it still work? Polaroid is notorious for poor quality.

Best regards,
Frank C

I see that you really want this to fail!

There is very little choice in 15" HDTVs. It works fine. It doesn't hold a candle to my Pioneer Elite plasmas, but then what does.

The Zenith that Sea Ray had installed was a POS. The black level was basically a light grey. The only complaint I have about the Polaroid is that the viewing angles are a bit restrictive, but then the TV is on a swivel mount. My kids don't complain about watching their Finding Nemo DVDs on it, and I did see a few NFL games in my boat last year.

 

[teekster]

Polaroid does not make the electronic's nor the display on this TV. It's just a name.

When I bought this TV, CC had a similar model from another brand whose name escapes me. That TV was preced $80 lower, but the controls and user interface were identical. The Polaroid had better filters for a more contrasty image. It was worth the extra $80, but it was clear that some no-name Chinese company was mass producing this TV under many different names.

 

[fc3]

I see that you really want this to fail!

Not really. I don't have a dog in this hunt. I did buy a Polaroid monitor years ago. It was DOA and they wouldn't honor the warranty or replace it. I had the credit card company reverse the charge.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[rondds]

i've got a 19" polaroid in my bedroom at the house and it's performed admirably now for about a year. but keep in mind if you didnt spend upwards of $1500 on your boat's boob tube, you've obviously "settled" for less and shall now be deemed a "cheap-a$$."

 

[Four Suns]

but keep in mind if you didnt spend upwards of $1500 on your boat's boob tube, you've obviously "settled" for less and shall now be deemed a "cheap-a$$."

Why do you say that? I've bought TV's at Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc... I don't like to spend money I don't have to but as I've pointed out, I've had performance issues that I find not acceptable on some of these things. I did stop by Wal-Mart yesterday in fact and looked at a few of the small TV's mentioned in a few posts here and I found the viewing angles to be horrible and the color was also horrible.... but to each his own... I did go check them out though.

 

[Newbie]

The first weekend we bought our 340 I sent the wife into town to get a tv to occupy the kids while we worked. We don't own VHS tapes anymore and no cable at the slip yet so she picked up a Polaroid 17" with the DVD player built in. It still is not permanently installed and has been tossed off of the forward berth twice and rear berth once while underway. Still works problem free :smt038 I was not expecting much of a Polaroid but I will have to say it has a good picture for the price and so far has been pretty durable. Amazingly, I also get about 20 channels OTA with the glomax. I will be buying the 15" to put in place of the original like Teekster did soon and permanently mount the 17" in the rear berth for the kids. SB

 

[Four Suns]

I do have one question for those of you with these articulating mounts (I guess as well as the fixed mounts). How do you stop the TV when pushing it back and how do you prevent it from moving while underway? Does the set vibrate or wiggle around while underway? These movable mounts are generally not designed to prevent vibration as they weren't designed to be put in a boat or RV and tossed around.

 

[teekster]

Easy. I use the mount system that came with the boat. They work just like the older crt mounts (I am sure they are just the older crt pedestal with some modification).

 

[rondds]

i dont use mine while underway (kid is 11 and hangs out with dad on the bridge) so i couldnt say. but i specifically purchased a mount that has wing-nut type tighteners (as opposed to allen screws) so it absolutely maintains it's position wherever we swing it, even leaving great egg inlet heading directly into 6 footers.

gary i'm just messin' with teekster. my salon TV is a KLH CRT w/ built in dvd - it replaced the 9" panasonic that came with this boat back in 1989 (which was DOA when i bought the boat -stupid surveyor didnt pick that up:lol and when i bought the KLH at best buy (summer '05), LCDs were still pretty costly. havent replaced it b/c it has a great pic, limitless viewing angle and it sits in a real dead spot (up where the lower helm option WOULD be if i had it) that wouldnt benefit from the space conservation aspect of a flat panel. i replaced the other OEM panasonic (which worked fine but everyone looked seasick) with a samsung 15" that cost > $400 for and it blows. pic sucks and sound is awful. viewing angle is not an issue b/c it's in the forward stateroom. shame on me for not bringing it back i guess, but you figure that by hooking a samsung to directTV at the slip you cant go wrong (?) my blow-mex antenna is just something for me to hang on when i wax the radar arch at this point. where we are it doesnt get diddly, even for people with brand new boats.

since then i've bought the polaroid 19" and a magnavox (15") for the house and a sanyo (15") for my inlaws. each has a great picture (i've now viewed the sanyo - in an earlier post i hadnt seen it in action yet) and good to very good sound. i'm much more satisfied with the polaroid than the other two, but all were fairly inexpensive and the viewing angles are GOOD L to R and POOR up and down.

 

[Four Suns]

Just for grins, I went out looking at 15" LCD TV's again tonight... I even looked at the Polaroid one. I can't find a single 15" 720p HDTV that can be viewed from below. Every one I looked at had horrible viewing angles. I noticed the stores put these things on display below eye level. Next time you see one, get down a few degrees (like one degree) below the screen and the viewing just goes down the pooper.

Oh well... I'm sticking with the Toshiba 480p LCD/DTV jobs for the three staterooms this year. Hopefully next year someone will come out with a good 15" HDTV.

 

[teekster]

Just for grins, I went out looking at 15" LCD TV's again tonight... I even looked at the Polaroid one. I can't find a single 15" 720p HDTV that can be viewed from below. Every one I looked at had horrible viewing angles. I noticed the stores put these things on display below eye level. Next time you see one, get down a few degrees (like one degree) below the screen and the viewing just goes down the pooper.

Oh well... I'm sticking with the Toshiba 480p LCD/DTV jobs for the three staterooms this year. Hopefully next year someone will come out with a good 15" HDTV.

Unfortunately, the number of small LCD TVs has been dwindling over the past few years. I suspect that the major TV manufacturers pulled out of these sizes because there is no margin.

The last good quality small TV I bought was a 13" 4:3 Sharp I still have this TV in front of my treadmill. It has great viewing angles and decent contrast (but still limited by the technology). Unfortunately, It's not an HDTV. At the time, I think I spent $600-700 on it. There was probably some decent profit at that price for everyone in the chain. That TV today would have to sell at $200. At that price, All we are going to get are the no name/ brand engineered Chinese products.

That said, this one still does the job just fine.