Mounting a Flatscreen TV in the truck

I do not have visibility into Garmin's schedule. But I will give you one important tip: Almost all new truck toys and doo-dads are announced in conjunction with the two major shows (MATS and GATS.) So look for March to see a ton of press releases and schedule releases across the industry on a wide variety of neat things coming out at MATS in Kentucky.

Back to your TV question: modern LED TV's use DRAMATICALLY lower wattage than in the past. Plasmas use more though.

Here's an example picture. This is a dual (upper bunk/lower bunk) install. I pointed an arrow at the 400 watt inverter we attached to the mount. That one small inverter was powering both TV's and the satellite box and was still using less than 250 watts COMBINED.

 

Wait he has duel tvs in the bunk sweet

 

Yah, this one had one DirecTV receiver, so both TV's had to be viewing the same channel. But yes, it was still pretty cool when we were done. I asked him if he had a wife or a Co-Driver or something. He said "No, just in case."

 

Lmao, yeah because it's important for your luggage to be entertained

 

Not to get off topic,but i was wondering about hooking up my direct receiver box in my truck and drilling a hole to run my wires from box to satellite on back of cab,although i read up on it, i have never ran into any one thats says it actually works,do it have to be a special satellite like the one vuecube sells or can it be any satellite? If any one is running there tv like i mentioned please pm or fill me in on details thanks, my tv is a 24 inch with the dvd installed on side of it,although i can get regular channels with the box n antenna set up when i park,boy it would be nice to catch the superbowl and the latest on sportscenter about deflate-gate lol out on da road and get local channels lol

 

You are correct that your question is the topic of dozens of other threads already here outside of this one on TV's. But the quick answer is that any satellite dish will work. Those that are not made to be truck-mounted take some additional creativity on your part. The cleanest creative one I ever saw here is THIS ONE. The coax cable is easily passed through one of the plugs already in most modern trucks (look underneath.) If there simply isn't one, then I prefer to drill a small one under the passenger side jockey box and come up under the bunk. But look first. Over half the time, I find an existing hole under there or a plug/pass-through somewhere.

 

Thanks Diesel,i read somewhere that once you install it you have to call the provider and tell them something like you will be out camping or something like that so they can unlock the dish network or something i doubt that its true lol,are you aware of this? Lol you cant believe everything you here on the INTERNET LOL

 

Multiple scenarios result from this question:

a) If you already have Dish or Direct at home, then you can simply add one more receiver to your home plan. Preferably a D12 or H24 model for Direct or a Vip211K or Vip211Z for Dish if you want the least problems.

b) If you don't have it at home, then you have to get a new account with one of them. It confuses them when you say the word "truck." So that's why folks will say they have a portable dish for their "RV" or "camping" instead. Because both providers are trained to send an installer to your "house" on new accounts.

c) DISH has embraced the mobile community with policies like allowing for "mobile" plans and pay-as-you-go, and allowing your home network channels to be viewed once you are more than 100 miles from your home (by calling them every night with your current location...)
BUT, we aware that Dish uses two satellites for standard definition signals and three for standard plus HD. This means that the dish has to be movable from one to the other satellite easily if some of the channels that you want to watch tonight are on the "other" satellite.

d) DIRECT is "less" embracing in terms of no pay-as-you-go style of plans and typically a 2-year lease agreement, etc on new accounts. But they do have the NFL, MLB, NHL, and other exclusive sports packages if that it important. Dish only uses one satellite for standard definition so all of the channels are on one without moving it.

Both companies tend to put us through some pretty wild channel hoops sometimes by adding and dropping popular channels due to contract negotiations (FX, Fox News, etc and recent examples.) DISH can be received in HD on mobile units and DirecTV cannot.

Either way, you have to have an active receiver from one of them. So you may be hearing about "calling them" to activate the receiver on your account.

 

Thanks alot,i appreciate da info we allready linked up with Dish so ill be working on finding a dish and pulling a reveiver from the house and hookn it up,ill let them know that i will be hooking up one to the "RV" Lol and see where this gles from there thanks for the info,once again very informative

 

Wow - sorry, but I just thought of another important difference and added it to my above post. Dish uses two satellites for standard def and three (if you have HD service.) My brain was stuck in "auto-moving" mode because the motorized units automatically shift to the appropriate satellite if needed when you change a channel. Dish puts some channels on one satellite and some on another (the 110 and the 119 they are called, and the 129 for HD.) So if you have a non-motorized dish then you would have to manually move it slightly up and to the right for instance and get back on the signal of the other satellite if a channel you wanted was on the other satellite.

I know plenty of drivers who have a manual dish set up and have become adept at making this movement. And others who only watch the channels on one by making themselves a little guide cheat-sheet of which channels are on which satellite. However, it is an important thing to know because moving it manually could be a painful process if you find yourself often switching between the two main satellites to watch a different show. If you are going to set up a manual dish then you probably want to spend a small amount on a satellite finder meter of some sort (just Google that.) And if you have an Android or iPhone you may want to get one of the satellite pointing apps ("Sat Finder" is a free one on Android, and I'm sure there are equivalent for iPhone.)