Outdoor TV's? (Austin, Converse: house, buy, price)

[cckhek]

Hi, we are building a house in Austin that will have an outside covered patio. We would like to put a LCD TV on the wall, but am wondering if it would be too hot and humid for a regular TV. The patio area will be in the shade all day. I researched and found TVs for the outside, but they were like $2-3,000. We can not invest in this right now.

If anyone has a TV on their patio or would have any input regarding this, please let us know.

Thanks!

[someguyatx]

Use an angled or extendable mount and put it higher near the roof to keep it out of the weather. Also look into weatherproof covers similar to car covers, they aren't that expensive.

[Bo]

All TVs have temperature and humidity ranges within in which the manufacturer designed them to operate. A patio TV in Texas will spend some time outside of those ranges, which will cause it to fail sooner than it would indoors.

Getting it wet or even damp will cause it to fail instantly. Keeping it near the ceiling and as far under the roof as possible, the advice you got above, is the best way to keep it dry.

[gcrissman]

The good news is a 32" LCD can be bought for $300 now, so look at it from a disposable TV standpoint. Even if you buy one every other year it would take 14 years to get to the $2k mark...

[thesonofgray]

I glanced at the manual for the Panasonic TC-L42U30 LCD TV. Operating temperature is 32-95F and humidity 20-80% non-condensing.

There are a lot of days in the year that fall outside of those ranges.

If you go ahead with it, maybe buy or make a wall mountable enclosure that is somewhat insulating? Or you could install outlets for the power and cable/satellite/video input next to where the TV can sit, and carry the TV outside and plug it in whenever you want to use it. It sounds annoying but you could set it up to be really easy and quick.

[bpvarian]

Pantel intros waterproof indoor / outdoor TV consoles -- Engadget HD

[RooCeleste]

We have a 250 square foot covered patio with a TV mounted just above the door, in the center of the patio....thus is has 10' to the front, and 12.5' feet on either side. That TV (a Vizio flatscreen) has been outside, UNcovered other than the patio covering, for over two years and it has worked just fine! It has survived the drought and heat of summer 2009, the flood of 2010, the freeze of winter 2011, and most recently the hurricane-force winds blowing dirt last month!! We recently upgraded it to a bigger Vizio, and the original one will go in a bedroom inside. No need to spend a fortune on a true outdoor TV. (Oh yeah, and it is west-facing, so it gets a lot of heat although not direct sunlight because of its mounting height and the patio covering)

[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by bpollard

Pantel intros waterproof indoor / outdoor TV consoles -- Engadget HD

What's the price for this tv? I read through the article, but I didn't see it.
Does anyone know?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by thesonofgray

I glanced at the manual for the Panasonic TC-L42U30 LCD TV. Operating temperature is 32-95F and humidity 20-80% non-condensing.

There are a lot of days in the year that fall outside of those ranges.

If you go ahead with it, maybe buy or make a wall mountable enclosure that is somewhat insulating? Or you could install outlets for the power and cable/satellite/video input next to where the TV can sit, and carry the TV outside and plug it in whenever you want to use it. It sounds annoying but you could set it up to be really easy and quick.

You don't need to look at the operating temperature as much as the storage temperature. The only time the operating temperature matters is when you're using it outside that range. So if it's 97 degrees, wait until it gets to be 95 degrees then you can use it. Conversely, if it's a 20 degree morning in the winter, wait until it's a 50 degree afternoon and use it then. It's when you operate outside that range that you have trouble. Operating the equipment when it's 105 is a sure way to shorten the life.

[cckhek]

Originally Posted by bpollard

Pantel intros waterproof indoor / outdoor TV consoles -- Engadget HD

In 2008 this TV was going for $2700.00; I would assume it would be too costly for what we want to spend.