I have a screened in porch and have had a regular off the shelf LCD out there for at least 10 years, no problems.
Year round. I'm in Florida.
Year round. I'm in Florida.
Anyone with outdoor patio TVs
- Thread starter NDallasRuss
- Start date
I have a tv on the patio but it is protected from all weather other than the humidity here in Florida. Had a regular tv up for about three years until I picked up a used SmartTV up on NextDoor for $40 to replace it and it's going strong about 18months in. Eventually the salt air and humidity will get to everything here so if I have to replace it every 4-5 years, I'm good with it.
I guess this never occurred to me, but it is a great idea. is your tv bolted to a stand or do you just have it on something? If it is bolted to something how does it protect everything from rain? What kind of cover do you use?
I have an TV on our outside deck from about April-November. I have it on a swivel arm so I can move it from deck side to lower deck/hot tub side. I use the plastic covering that came with it and an all weather covering. Its still alive after 3 seasons. TVs are too cheap to go the actual outdoor TV route
Be careful using covers where you have freeze/thaw cycles.
in humid periods w/ freeze/thaw you can get moisture that forms inside your cover (if not fully air-tight) and will end up dripping water inside the TV vents. Adding a towel underneath the waterproof cover would probably prevent getting drips inside the electronics - just something to absorb condensation.
My dad had a brand (had the word sun in it) and it was thousands. Lasted about 12 years before it had problems. He replaced it with a regular Samsung for under $300 and it's on it's 3rd year. That said, it's covered so doesn't get wet. Just the extreme hot/cold temps and humidity.
Just a regular mount that connects to a ceiling, their is an overhang in the back yard by the pool and it hangs under that then just use one of these covers. Pretty slick, no problems in 3 years.
Thanks. The more I am thinking about this, the more I just do not think I have a good place to hang a tv out there in a way that wouldn't court disaster. We will just stick with a tv on a stand that can be moved inside and outside as the occasion warrants.Just a regular mount that connects to a ceiling, their is an overhang in the back yard by the pool and it hangs under that then just use one of these covers. Pretty slick, no problems in 3 years.
Our is sorta of like this. We first had a regular CRT tv out there. Now we just sit a flat screen on the platform and sorta strap the base down. Works fine. Plus we can move it so we can watch from either end of the patio. We have a porch swing on one end and a dining table on the other.
Hi all!
My new place has a bracket out on the patio for mounting a TV under the pergola. I want to put a TV out there, but I haven't had a TV outdoors before.
Do you use a specific "outdoor" TV, or do you use a regular TV and maybe put a cover on it when it's not in use?
Best Buy has "outdoor" TVs, but a) they're not brands I've ever heard of, and b) they're surprisingly expensive compared to regular TVs - like 3x as much. But, I guess if the outdoor TVs are made specifically to resist rain/weather damage and they're sealed up somehow, and the regular TVs would crap in a couple of weeks, then the price difference might be worth it. Still, I'm surprised that there aren't Sony, Samsung, LG, etc outdoor TVs listed on Best Buy's website.
Thanks in advance, and for your trouble...
I had this exact issue last summer. Mine is in a screened porch, so it's covered but outdoors. Outdoor TVs start at 4 figures. I chose to buy a cheap Hisense smarttv from Walmart and bought the 4 year protection plan and a vinyl cover for it.
The TV says it will operate down to 40 degrees and store down to 5. We live in the mid Atlantic, and it's rare we get temps that cold, but I did buy a heating pad without an auto shutoff and threw it up under the vinyl cover for a couple cold weeks where we got below 0 a couple times. It had no problems at all.
We've watched it down to about 35 degrees with no trouble, but have overhead infrared heaters outside that make it comfortable down below 40.
I don't regret my decision at all to this point.
I think I put about $275 total into the TV, mount, protection plan, cover, and heating pad.
Even so, make sure it has an anti-glare screen. Even if it's not directly in the sun, it still might catch reflection/glare that will ruin your viewing experience.
I have a speaker out there. I go to get away from the screens. Read, drink, swim.
What about ceiling mount? I struggled with cutting into the siding for a standard mount and opted for drilling into a stud in the outdoor soffit. Super simple and allows for taking the TV inside with ease.
Amazon Ceiling Mount
I did the same at our last house, but I did take my down for the winter. I had a weather cover for it anyways when I wasnt using it, so I'd just unhook it from the mount and wrap it back up in the cover and slide behind my dresser in the closet December thru March or so. Never had a problem. It was a pretty new 65" so I didn't want to risk it in the super cold. When it's that cold out the hot tub was the only reason to be out there anyways. I could live without the TV for a couple months.
This is what we do,.. probably only use it outside 6-8 times a season so this works fine.
I get that! The covered area is kind of separate from the pool - there's a fire pit and table & chairs. Having a TV there would be good for when it's nice enough that we want to sit outside, rather than being cooped up indoors. We can still sit and have brunch or drinks or whatever, and can have the TV on if there's a game or movie on we want to watch.
I'm more excited that we'll have a projector and inflatable movie screen so we can have family/kids over and float around watching movies at night. I think that'll be fun.
Movie night in the backyard was always great fun. I built a 16'x9' screen out of PVC and stretchy screen material. It was a bit cumbersome and took about 20-30 minutes to assemble but had some epic times. Showed a few big football games out there as well. Storage was a pain so I got rid of it a few years ago. The blow up screens aren't nearly as big but they are way more convenient. You will have a blast.
This may be what I do in Key West... what projector do you use?
It isn’t a very expensive one. An Epson from Sam’s for like $400. We like to sit by the fire pit and watch night games.
Yeah, we wouldn't use it during the day... I'll check them out.
Agree with this. If it is protected from the rain, just get a low/mid level regular TV & don’t bother with a cover unless some water gets to it.
I’ve had one under my deck for 12+ yrs & they’ve all lasted 4-6 yrs. I can swivel towards my hot tub, so I use it year-round & never had a cover.
Similar threads
