Entertainment system ideas needed

[440 Jim]

When we left NC to come down to Savannah, we tossed theTV etc, "don't need one for the boat" we all agreed...now there are kids and wives....thoughts and good experiences would be appreciated:

Hide the screen- fold up mounts? How do ya get it out of the way.

Sat? Any good on a moving target? Offair?? XM??

Integrated sound (2 zones wifi currently), whatever ya'll have done. Yes, ya'll is a word.

 

[dwna1a]

All I have is a 26” tv and DVD. We cut the cord with Dtv. I can stream from my phone or pad using Amazon. It’s on a swivel mount in the forward berth. When it not in use it’s locked collapsed against the bulkhead.

 

[ocgrant]

Welcome to the game... I think you are going to find a million options, all just depends on what you are willing to do and how much $$$ you want to spend. You just have to decide space, screens and locations as the rest is all optional from HD antenna over the air to domes and streaming. SOme of us have all of the above and others are migrating to streaming. With the choice and price of monitors now a days they are cheap to install and don't take up a lot of space.

 

[FootballFan]

Couple of years ago when we bought this boat, we immediately upgraded the satellite system to HD and replaced the salon TV with an HD model. It was during football season and we are avid college football fans. We have used the system considerably.

Today I doubt that I would spend the money on a satellite system, that whole category of DirectTV and Dish seems to be dying. There is an excellent thread on here which has a lot of content about streaming services. I have had both Dish and DirectTV, will not miss either of them.

Not making any immediate changes, waiting to see how some of the options for bandwidth shake out in the market. KVH is supposed to be coming out with a new offering, 5g starting to show up, etc. I can say our content will be streaming (already is at home) and that will continue to the boat.

One other change that I feel is a significant game changer TV's on boats in general.

In the past, if you wanted to view a TV in the cockpit, you had to deal with: Mounting (sea worthy) and keeping it dry and protected from the elements.

Given that TV's are so light weight and easy to carry, we have foregone "mounting" and just have HDMI plugs strategically placed on the boat. These outlets have water proof covers that snap shut.

We have a TV that lays flat on one of the bunks when underway. If we want to watch something on the fly bridge, we grab the TV and plug it in.

In the past it was not uncommon to spend more on the mountings and covers than for the TV itself.