New TV thread

[barryd]

Our ancient Akura TV is starting to play up on the power socket and I hate the Satellite tuner that came with this van. I would actually like to bin it off and the dish completely to make way for a solar farm but that isn't happening. Yet.

I want to do away with the free sat box and just get something like this with it built in. As its also a smart TV I Reckon I can hook it up to our hotspots or stick a Firestick it with a VPN and just use it that when away as well, especially out of the UK. However for live TV with the dish I think I need it to have a “Satellite In” or “DVB-S2” type connection. I think this one does.

Amazon.co.uk

Any thoughts? These are the pics of our set up. Basically one LNB in cable coming from the socket in the rear lounge to the Free sat box. This is the one that needs to go in the back of the new TV. The white box in the wardrobe turns the dish on and off and allows you to select satellites and the black box just powers it all and connects to the dish. Ignore the vision plus box, its an old TV signal amplifier. Not used.

 

[r4dent]

I just record stuff onto DVDs when we are at home, then watch it when we are away.

Simples, cheap and no swearing.

 

[RichardHelen262]

We have tried a few different tv’s over the years, although they are probably the most expensive Avtex have definitely been the best, now I wouldn’t even think of other tv’s.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for

 

[barryd]

I just record stuff onto DVDs when we are at home, then watch it when we are away.

Simples, cheap and no swearing.

The TV hardly gets used. I have about 250gb of series that I downloaded before we left and some while we have been away. Everything from Game of Thrones to Line of Duty. Its probably what we watch most. Madam of course still likes to watch the odd soap or other trash and she likes to mess on with her laptop at the same time so I can't quite dump the TV and Jodrell bank on the roof just yet but its days are numbered. I like the idea of a 16" smart TV though as it will do what the laptops do and hopefully connect to Jodrell bank as well.

 

[barryd]

We have tried a few different tv’s over the years, although they are probably the most expensive Avtex have definitely been the best, now I wouldn’t even think of other tv’s.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for

I hear you but the Akura as been fine. I bet its easily 15 years old. 1.2 amps. Sound is a bit crap but you can easily plug a speaker into it. Its mainly the awful tuner I want shot of but as the TV power socket is a bit iffy its only going to give up completely at some point which would be a real shame.

 

[Val54]

No dish just a Roku stick gets us live tv or catchup.

 

[Robmac]

We have tried a few different tv’s over the years, although they are probably the most expensive Avtex have definitely been the best, now I wouldn’t even think of other tv’s.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for

Couldn't agree more Richard, the one I got from you is still going strong, simple to tune and a fantastic picture even at an angle.

When it does give up the ghost I will replace it with another Avtex without question.

 

[Val54]

If you can increase screen size then AO do Toshiba refurbs with 12 mth warranty like this, with free levelling blocks ........

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Fisherman]

I used to swear by Avtex, and they are excellent tvs.

But in my new van I could not quite get the right size of Avtex and bought a Cello tv for roughly half the price. First whilst the Avtex looks to be better built, and easier to set up with its one button, the Cello performs much better with sound. To get similar sound quality with the Avtex, I had to use their soundbar, you don’t need a soundbar with the Cello. Picture Quality, well I can see no difference, they are both excellent. The Cello comes with two USB and HDMI sockets, plenty of apps, and an excellent remote which includes the remote for the DVD at the bottom. At half the price of an avtex I would highly recommend the Cello Barry.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[campervanannie]

Another vote for the Avtex though we tend to go round charity shops and buy a couple of dvds to watch in the van but at home we have sky so we watch sky go on the iPad if we can’t find anything else on the I just wish I could find a way to hook up my iPad to the tv with a bigger screen.

 

[RichardHelen262]

I used to swear by Avtex, and they are excellent tvs.

But in my new van I could not quite get the right size of Avtex and bought a Cello tv for roughly half the price. First whilst the Avtex looks to be better built, and easier to set up with its one button, the Cello performs much better with sound. To get similar sound quality with the Avtex, I had to use their soundbar, you don’t need a soundbar with the Cello. Picture Quality, well I can see no difference, they are both excellent. The Cello comes with two USB and HDMI sockets, plenty of apps, and an excellent remote which includes the remote for the DVD at the bottom. At half the price of an avtex I would highly recommend the Cello Barry.

Pardon our interruption...

Cello must have got their act together now as the one we had,the sound was awful and the viewing angle was atrocious.
This was about 8 years ago, then we swapped motorhomes, and it came with an Avtex already fitted and the quality was so much better, so have stuck with them ever since.

 

[Robmac]

If you can increase screen size then AO do Toshiba refurbs with 12 mth warranty like this, with free levelling blocks ........

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Fisherman]

Cello must have got their act together now as the one we had,the sound was awful and the viewing angle was atrocious.
This was about 8 years ago, then we swapped motorhomes, and it came with an Avtex already fitted and the quality was so much better, so have stuck with them ever since.

I can assure you unlike most I have used both AVTEX and Cello and the cello has far superior sound to the Avtex. I had to use an Avtex soundbar to get equal sound quality. As for viewing angle I have absolutely no issues. So they obviously have improved a lot in eight years.

 

[merl]

If you can increase screen size then AO do Toshiba refurbs with 12 mth warranty like this, with free levelling blocks ........

Pardon our interruption...

Interesting....which leveling blocks do they come with?

 

[ProDave]

From that Amazon link " DVB-S2 tuner for Satellite HD TV"

Yes it has a satellite tuner built in, but it is NOT a "Freesat" tuner

Yes it will receive all the UK freesat channels, but it will not function as a freesat receiver as you are used to it. The channels will likely appear in the order it finds them when scanning with unfamilliar channel numbers and probably only a now / next channel information.

The whole point of "freesat" is you get a proper 7 or more day EPG and all the channels will be on numbers you expect. If you want that, then whatever you buy must explicitly say "freesat"

But you will still need that dish for freesat so won't be making room on your roof for more solar.

 

[colinm]

As Dave mentions, to improve over your present satellite set up you need Freesat, I don't think any Avtex tv's come with it, and the only Cello ones appear to be 43"+, the TV you linked to will order the channels the same as the box you have, i.e. all over the place.
So your choice seems to be.
1) A big TV with freesat.
2) A all in one TV which will have similar sat tuner to that you have.
3) A new TV and Freesat box.
4) A new TV and put up with the present sat box.
I wonder how many pages this thread will run too.

 

[barryd]

From that Amazon link " DVB-S2 tuner for Satellite HD TV"

Yes it has a satellite tuner built in, but it is NOT a "Freesat" tuner

Yes it will receive all the UK freesat channels, but it will not function as a freesat receiver as you are used to it. The channels will likely appear in the order it finds them when scanning with unfamilliar channel numbers and probably only a now / next channel information.

The whole point of "freesat" is you get a proper 7 or more day EPG and all the channels will be on numbers you expect. If you want that, then whatever you buy must explicitly say "freesat"

But you will still need that dish for freesat so won't be making room on your roof for more solar.

I see. Thanks. This is mainly what I was wanting to know. The connectivity. As long as it receives all the Free sat / free to air channels it will do. All we do is select a few favourites and just use them. Of course there was an argument over the summer that not all satellite receivers are equal. We managed to get UK Channels all over France with just one or two black spots. Some say the quality of the receiver tuner matters so if this one is crap your kind of stuck with it as its internal. Well you could buy another box I guess but the whole point was to get shot of that.

 

[barryd]

I should point out that 16" is ideal as it hardly gets used and its the only size that fits in the overhead locker above where it stands. This van did come with a much larger TV. Quite a good one but it mounts on a bracket. It can be easily removed but its storing the feckin thing. Anyway being anal about power I decided it would be far too power hungry. The Free sat box is. It gets really hot and uses 35w!! The TV is just 14w.

 

[maingate]

You can have a smart TV and use wifi to watch it. You can also have a Freesat box connected to give you a choice of how to watch it. I do this regularly with my home smart TV. Freeview does not have +1 channels for certain channels but Freesat does.

So I have the options of using wifi, TV aerial or Sat Dish at home. You could do exactly the same in a van.

 

[colinm]

Our original set up was a TV+ separate freesat box, that set up consumed a relatively lot of power, swapped out the tv to a Avtex tv with combined sat tuner, whilst the ordering of channels is a PITA, the required power is much less.