Does the AV system on your RV leave something to be desired? Do you wish you could have a HDTV in your rv? Do you wish you could have a home theater in your rv? well then, read on.

Projector

In April of 2006, we began ‘full timing’ in a coach that we have come to love! We purchased a 2006 ALFA See Ya 40’… this coach has more then most people could ever want. However, after discovering the wonders of HDTV, and now living without it, we needed to figure something out.

Our Motorhome has 4 tv’s, and the main TV is a 27 inch CRT mounted above the dash. This is fine for casually watching of the news, but when it comes time for a movie; it leaves much to be desired.


The integrated cabinet that the tv and av equipment is mounted in is happens to be custom fit for each peace… and therefore it would be nearly impossible to swap the low-def CRT tv for another HDTV. This main tv is 27 inches, and 3:4 aspect ratio (square). All HDTV’s above 20 inchs are 16:9 (letterbox), so a 27 inch LCD is much wider, and not as tall. This replacement option will look like a total kludge, so we decided against it.

Our RV has a residential height 9 foot ceiling, so this opened another option to us.

We can mount a front projector on the roof forward of the ceiling fans, and mount a pull down screen at the front of the coach. This gives us the ability to seamlessly watch our normal tv, but when it comes time for a move, we turn on the ‘home theater’.

Alfa HDTV idea

When choosing a front projector, there are many important aspects to research. Probably the most important is the brightness (measured in Lumens). This brightness is what will allow you to use the projector in anything other then pitch black. If you spend the extra money and purchase a high quality projector, you will not regret it!

After much research, I settled on the InFocus ScreenPlay 5000 Projector. This projector had all the features of more expensive models, and did not break the bank. With more then 1,100 lumens, it is more then adequate for projecting in a room with the lights on. This unit is also light, at 11 lbs, it is easily mounted to the roof. The resolution is not the highest on the market (it’s only 720p), but that accounts for its price being half of others on the market. If your main video source will be dvd’s then this will be adequate, because dvd’s are only encoded at 480p.

A quality screen was more expensive then i had anticipated, but also worth it. There are a few options (powered/automatic/manual) that will vary the price dramatically. All you really need is a manual rollup pull down screen mounted to the roof.

The projector we have chosen can project to a screen size of greater then 80 inches… although 55 is probably about the biggest you want to go in a coach. Any bigger then 55 and you need to sit too far away.

The final important piece of this puzzle is a good up scaling dvd player. I found a good Toshiba SD-K860 at Costco that can up convert a dvd to 720p or 1080i.

Using your new theater system for dvd’s only is pretty easy… however, if you would like to watch tv on it, or receive high definition from a satellite, there are a few more things to know about.

If you want to watch a high definition satellite feed (our coach has direct TV), then you will need to call and have your dish upgraded. This new dish will be larger then the current one (and it will also render your roof mounted automatic dish useless), because in order to receive a high definition signal, your dish needs to communicate with 2 to 5 different satellites… not just the 1 of standard definition. This can pose a problem if you don’t have the storage, or expertise to aim this new dish (it’s not has hard as they say it is). Next, you will need to get a high definition receiver that can process this new signal, and output at the correct resolutions using component cables.

In order to transmit the new high definition signal from the dish to your receiver, you need very high quality coax cables to accommodate the increased bandwidth requirements. High quality coaches should already have this cable run throughout; however, it would probably be a good idea to test it before hand.

I’ll add more later

-Robby

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