New 2008 310 Dancer with Analog TVs

ANYTIME

ANYTIME

New Member
Dec 3, 2006
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Northern Virginia
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This past Friday we took delivery of our new Boat. As we checked out all the systems on it (after we signed the papers), we were upset when we learned that Sea Ray had equipped this boat with OBSOLETE ANALOG TVs! Don't get me wrong, we absolutely love the boat, just not the expensive optonal TVs that they installed in it.

I called the sales manager at the dealer (the salesman who we worked with was off for the weekend) and he told me he would look into it.

I know I can buy "converters" and there are $40 coupons available to reduce the cost, but...that is NOT the issue. The issue in that Sea Ray is installing obsolete equipment in boats that they are asking a quarter of a MILLION $$ for. This sucks!! :smt021
 
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ANYTIME said:
This past Friday we took delivery of our new Boat. As we checked out all the systems on it (after we signed the papers), we were upset when we learned that Sea Ray had equipped this boat with OBSOLETE ANALOG TVs! Don't get me wrong, we absolutely love the boat, just not the expensive optonal TVs that they installed in it.

I called the sales manager at the dealer (the salesman who we worked with was off for the weekend) and he told me he would look into it.

I know I can buy "converters" and there are $40 coupons available to reduce the cost, but...that is NOT the issue. The issue in that Sea Ray is installing obsolete equipment in boats that they are asking a quarter of a MILLION $$ for. This sucks!! :smt021
Click to expand...

We took delivery of our 2008 38 a couple months ago and the TVs are DTV compatible. They are Sanyo (4 of them...this was a showroom boat...I would never order these). You may have DTV, they won't receive HDTV but will do the DTV. Did you check the manuals to be sure? Did you get the Glomax antenna? We don't get many stations with it and I've been considering a sat TV..but that's another story.

Keep pressure on the dealer. I know you will like your 31..congradulations.

Mike
 
I would not stand for it. Sea Ray charges WAY more than these TVs are worth. At that premium, you should at least expect digital TVs.
 
mawyatt said:
You may have DTV, they won't receive HDTV but will do the DTV. Did you check the manuals to be sure? Did you get the Glomax antenna? We don't get many stations with it and I've been considering a sat TV..but that's another story.
Mike
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Mike, Thanks for the suggestion. Both of the TVs are ANALOG and this was confirmed by the Technician who prepared our boat for delivery.

It has the GLOWMEX antenna and the TVs do work, not a really good signal on local network channels, but okay. We didn't expect HDTV, we did expect DTV capability.

Our dealership is one of the best and I think that they will do whatever it takes to make it right. I plan on calling Sea Ray next week to register my disappointment with them.

I know you love your 38. If we had the $$, that would have been our next boat instead of the 310:smt089.
 
I don't think anyone is making analog TVs anymore. You should look the model up on the Internet and find when it was discontinued.

As far as the "at least" DTV part, I wouldn't expect HD TV's in the small size you are looking at. HD TV's are fairly new (if you can even find them) in smaller sizes and the one I've messed with had viewing angle problems. However, every TV bought today should be DTV.
 
Sam,

Sorry I said we had Sanyo, they are actually Sharp. 2 LC-15SH7U, a LC-19DV22U and a LC-20S7U. What models did you get?

Mike
 
mawyatt said:
Sam,

Sorry I said we had Sanyo, they are actually Sharp. 2 LC-15SH7U, a LC-19DV22U and a LC-20S7U. What models did you get?

Mike
Click to expand...
Our TVs are LGs, the 15 and 20" models. I don't know the Model #s off the top of my head.

As to Gary's comment - HD technology is no longer unique and as costly to implement as it used to be. WALMART now sells 15 - 20 inch HD & DTV LCD sets in the $200 and lower ranges. That being the case, I stand by my statement of "at least" DTV.

Happy Memorial Day
 
ANYTIME said:
WALMART now sells 15 - 20 inch HD & DTV LCD sets in the $200 and lower ranges. That being the case, I stand by my statement of "at least" DTV.
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt that on the 15 inch side... Do a search on any manufacturers site and find me *any* 15" TV that does HD....

Go check this thread out:

http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9118

15 inch HD LCD TVs are rare.

I would rather have a good quality 480p LCD TV (non HD) than a cheap LCD TV that sports an HD tag and has a bad viewing angle, etc... Buyer beware on the Wal-Mart and Target stuff... I bought one from Target and it ended up being useless because of viewing angle issues. Viewing angles are *very* important in a boat.

Edit: I do see that Wal-Mart does carry a single 15" LCD that says it is "HD". I don't know the quality of the thing but you should check it out before you buy it. see above.
 
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Four Suns said:
I seriously doubt that on the 15 inch side... Do a search on any manufacturers site and find me *any* 15" TV that does HD....

Go check this thread out:

http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9118

15 inch HD LCD TVs are rare.

I would rather have a good quality 480p LCD TV (non HD) than a cheap LCD TV that sports an HD tag and has a bad viewing angle, etc... Buyer beware on the Wal-Mart and Target stuff... I bought one from Target and it ended up being useless because of viewing angle issues. Viewing angles are *very* important in a boat.

Edit: I do see that Wal-Mart does carry a single 15" LCD that says it is "HD". I don't know the quality of the thing but you should check it out before you buy it. see above.
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Nowhere in my original or subsequent postings did I state that I would or should buy a cheaper TV. My statement only chided Sea Ray for at least not providing a DIGITAL TV.

The solid state chip HD and DTV decoding technologies are not what is driving prices, it is the huge, super high definition displays with all the bells and whistles

The Sea Ray MSRPs for the 20" Analog TV Option in the Salon and the 15" TV Option in the V-Berth are $3000 and $2500, respectively.

Don't you really think for the $5500 asking price, these mediocre products should not reach obsolescense (sp?) within the first year of manufacture?

You should also check out Circuit City's TVs. They also have one as I stated under $200.
 
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i have a 15" magnavox HDTV in my kitchen at home that also doubles as my computer monitor. viewing angle is pretty lame. bought it over a year ago. got my inlaws a 15" HDTV (sanyo) for father's day 2007. i've not seen the picture quality. both of these were purchased specifically for space constraints and dual-purpose (for my kitchen computer). paid at/around $250 for each. i think a more accurate statement would be that 15" HIGH QUALITY HDTVs are rare. no one sits around and marvels about the picture quality of a 15" tv. IMO, picture quality is only important when the guy you're looking at on the screen is bigger than you are. viewing angle is an issue with any size TV.

i'd imagine that if you could find the perfect 15" LCD HDTV it'd cost about $500, which still leaves SR plenty of wiggle room to make a profit without charging $2500 for the option.

good luck getting anything over the glomex.

congrats on the boat!
 
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I just installed these (2) 15" Supersonics. They are 12 volt, 1080i and have a veiwing angle of 90 degrees horizontal and 50 degress vertical. $320.00 ea. online. They work great with my UFO arch mounted ant. The only draw back is they have no video out for the dvd, but plenty of inputs,s video,hdmi.component and standard.
 

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Went pokin' around the net today. Found that there's very little choice in displays these days. A few years ago, one could find a number of projection (several different technologies), CRT, LCD, and plasma displays. Looks like now there's LCD and plasma and not much else. Pity. For color gamut, contrast range, viewing angles, brightness, resolution, and more, it's hard to beat a CRT. They were making some short necked 16x9 aspect CRTs from below 20 to about 40 inches, but don't see them anymore. No problems doing 1080p with near 180 degree viewing. Oh well.

Best regards,
Frank C
 
rondds said:
i'd imagine that if you could find the perfect 15" LCD HDTV it'd cost about $500,
Click to expand...

If you can point me to the source, I'll buy it.

I just want to find one that has a decent viewing angle... I can't... I think the 15" "HD" TV screens are just computer monitors so they are designed to sit directly in front of them and at a small angle above. Having something with a 90 degree horizontal and a 50 degree vertical viewing angle is useless for a room TV.

I agree that Sea Ray should provide damn good TV's for the prices they charge.... On that same note, I doubt they would put TV's in a boat with bad viewing angles as people would really complain if they could not see the TV when they were sitting on the sofa in the salon or something. My point was that HD in small form factors is just not there yet from what I've seen so I don't equate "HD" as making it better in a smaller set at this point in time. I wish it did as I want 3 of them. The price is going to be the display... not the electronics to decode the signal. The problem with this stuff is things are advertised in such a way that average consumer doesn't understand and thinks they are getting something they are not. For example, having a non-HD display being able to decode and scale an HD channel does not make it an HD TV... I see ads for 480p small TV's with this all the time. I went to the supersonic website and the TV that Craig has a picture of is advertised as "1080i" but it doesn't have the resolution to support 1080i... so they scale it, market it, and people think they bought a 1080i set... bzzzt. Some people even think their iPhone is HD.

I will stop by Wal-Mart tomorrow and check out the ones posted here.

Anyway, the thread was about Sea Ray getting cheap on the TV's and I agree. Shoot... for that price they should be putting in some of those snazzy Sony OLED TV's... now there are some small TV's with 1080p and color...
 
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Four Suns said:
If you can point me to the source, I'll buy it.

I Having something with a 90 degree horizontal and a 50 degree vertical viewing angle is useless for a room TV.

I see ads for 480p small TV's with this all the time. I went to the supersonic website and the TV that Craig has a picture of is advertised as "1080i" but it doesn't have the resolution to support 1080i... so they scale it, market it, and people think they bought a 1080i set... bzzzt. Some people even think their iPhone is HD.

..
Click to expand...

My apologies, I was referring to this type of set being used in the confines of a smaller vessel. It may not be suitable for some larger boats with ginormous cabins or club rooms.

Most small screen TV's scale the 1080 signal to fit. For the purist, finding a true HD (1080p) 15" TV will be hard. Its very hard to tell the difference between 1080i and 720p on a 15" screen. On the boat its fine. My most important criteria for the boat was it had to be 12 volts. Don't need the genny to watch TV on the hook. The orientation of the DVD slot if equipped may be a issue also.
 
I wasn't pointing a finger at you. The manufacturers don't tell the whole story on these things. For example, if you have a 4:3 aspect ratio and the vertical resolution is on the order of 720 pixels, when you stick a DVD or Blu Ray disc on it or are watching an HD channel that is widescreen/16:9, the letter box effect will give you vertical resolution (what is used) of less than 500 pixels so it ain't 720p anymore.

If someone can find me a 720p LCD with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a good viewing angle and is 15", I would pay $500 for it... I can't find one... But you sure think I could by all the marketing.
 
Craig said:
I just installed these (2) 15" Supersonics. They are 12 volt, 1080i and have a veiwing angle of 90 degrees horizontal and 50 degress vertical. $320.00 ea. online. They work great with my UFO arch mounted ant. The only draw back is they have no video out for the dvd, but plenty of inputs,s video,hdmi.component and standard.
Click to expand...

Do they have 19 or 20" models? Do they have audio out? Thanks, in advance.

Here's a couple I'm considering:

http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/...10001&storeId=10001&productId=15272&langId=-1

http://www.mrmarine.com.au/mr_marine_-_majestic.htm

http://www.asaelectronics.com/detail.html?catid=&pid=220

http://www.beachaudio.com/Skyworth/Slc-1963a-p-128811.html
 
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