UK - German DVB-T

[hdp160]

Hi

Unfortunatly its come the time to replace the 12v TV in my motorhome.

Anybody got any suggestion / recomendations. (I'm purchasing ASAP).

Requirements.

12v and low wattage.

Ideally circa 600mm corner to corner.

TV DVB-T tuning for UK and Germany FTA. (Europe wide even better)

All my Dreambox / kathrein (motorhome) "satellite" kit is SD ( but HD TV is probablly the norm now anyway.)

My fallback will be to defer the purchase until I'm in Germany and simply buy there.

Obvioiusly I could get a purpose build one from a caravan / motorhome reseller, but there will be "main stream" ones for sale cheaper.

Lidl and Aldi spring to mind.........

 

[Channel Hopper]

Slightly off topic, but whch television do you have in the motorhome that is HDMI and runs off 12 volts ?

 

[PaulR]

Can't comment on Lidl or Aldi or even on 12v offerings but I can say that not all TVs will tune in across Europe because they've been nobbled.

I have a cheapo TV bought in the UK (Digihome I think) which I took out to France and the menu has an option for France and tuned in the DVB-T perfectly. My english friends the other side of the village bought a TV in Tescos a few years and, whilst the menu allowed them to tune in the old analogue SECAM TV stations perfectly, the option in the DVB-T tuning is greyed out.

Be aware!

 

[hdp160]

Hi,

Channel Hopper good to hear from you.

My earlier traveling 12v TV was a BUSH / ALBA clone and I only used it with SCART from the satellite kit.
It did have analogue tunning capabilities for all of Europe but thats history now.


PaulR

Yes buyer beware, I hoping I'll get some leads within the forum, as you say sometimes the sets are "nobled" sometimes not.

It might be as simple as a trivial hardware mod (making or breaking a link within the tuner) or a software or firmware upgrade.

I'm sure someone will come up with a suggestion or two?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Without the HD tv in place, you are not going to get many - useful - channelson top of whatever you are currently viewing with the old receiver.

 

[hdp160]

Yes your absolutly right in fact less channels are available on German DVB-T than FTA on 19.2E.

My thinking is this ............

Often when I'm away from home touring Germany (which is several months of the year) I park up overnight in quiet residential or places where I don't want to publicise my presence.

Now that is difficult enough in a 8 metre motorhome!

But the big give away is poping up the satellite dish........... so if I could use my TV band colinear ariel and watch a bit of DVB-T tele before bed that would be an advantage.

I've had for a long time a laptop TV usb dongle which scans OK in UK and Germany but that means watching TV on the Laptop.

Hence the search for a Europe capable DVB-T TV.

There MUST be some out there!

 

[Channel Hopper]

Why not conect the laptop to the television with a VGA connector ?

 

[hdp160]

Yes that is a possibility.

I get a few hours out of the battery on the laptop and I usually recharge it via the onboard inverter when I'm travelling.

But after say 2 hours I'm back in the realms of running extra kit off the leisure batteries.

I'm hoping a 12V TV with inbuilt Europe DVB-T should come in at 20 watt or less (total).

Those 12V TVs I've found with inbuilt DVB-S are around 24 watt or less (probably due to the LNB feed)

A *** dream *** would be a 12V TV with built in Europe wide DVB-T and DVB-S less than 24 watt.

(BTW ...... I've upgraded all the living area halogen lamps to LEDs.)

 

[Channel Hopper]

A modern TV running at 12v is always going to be somewhat power hungry. but then again running separates isn't likely to be better.

Is there anything else you can change within the motorhome to cut the wattage further ?

 

[hdp160]

I'm waiting for the launch of the next generation nocturnal solar panels on the 1st of next month.

Everything else has been sorted within reason.

I've just emailed an advertiser (KOGAN) on this forum and asked about their 12v TVs ( I will report back)

 

[hdp160]

Below is the reply from KOGAN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It appears as though it may work in Germany as both the UK and Germany use DVB-T.
As I previously stated though, we have not tested our TVs in Germany and cannot guarantee it will work.

In the event that you're unable to pick up any signal you will be able to connect a local set top box to the TV.

Please note that warranty is not covered in Germany.

<<<<<<<<< So until I hear from somebody with first hand experiance I'll still be looking for a 12V DVB-T TV capable of recieving in the UK and Europe (Germany)

 

[2cvbloke]

Having read discussions on 12v TVs on canal forums in the past, there's not really a lot of choice out there, and usually they're not that great in quality, so generally the easier option is to go for a mains powered TV and run it off an inverter (also saves on copper seeing as 12v uses more amps for the same wattage), that way you can get a quality brand and something that looks nice...

For a 600mm (24" I take it?) spec, this Samsung, a smaller version of mine but without the SmartTV funcions, would fit the bill, you can choose the country you're in to tune the channels in properly, it uses 40watts (not including any additional periphery) so wouldn't need a large inverter (100 to 150w), it's 1080p HD, has a standard VESA mount so can be fixed in place, and it's a decent brand to boot:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/monitors/digital-tv-monitor/LT24B350EW/EN

It's also capable of being a computer monitor too, so you can plug your laptop into it when not watching TV and view the web on the big screen...

 

[hdp160]

Thanks 2cvbloke I really like the "" you can choose the country you're in to tune the channels in properly "" line in your post.

You are correct mains TVs can be more efficient than 12v versions.

The reason I'm sticking to the 12v option is to avoid running up my inverter whilst overnighting without mains electricity.

** Inverters eat into batteries like hell I have 2x 110 Ah **.

My generator (its a quiet one 1kw ) is not an option when I'm overnighting and not wanting to draw attention to myself.

My current setup (which I'm trying to improve on) is Dreambox, Kathrein LNB/sat dish, and a 12v TV.

As I have to replace my TV I'm hoping to get one with europe DVB-T so (when needed) all I have (discreetly!) running is the TV itself.

Obviously when I'm on site and have mains hookup or my generator running I'll be using my satellite kit.