Adding TVs to Your Tiny House
Adding TVs to your tiny house has never been easier. Flat screen TVs are getting better and less expensive all the time. LED (Light Emitting Diode) screen with 4k resolution (four thousand horizontal lines) is becoming commonplace. OLED technology is quickly becoming the new standard with 8K resolution.
Still, the specifications the TV manufacturers brag about do not tell the whole story of a TVs picture quality. The brightness, for example, can be a massive number of lumens. You’d think that was great, unless you knew that white (the color they measure) is the easiest to create. Blacks and shades of gray are the hardest to make.
Avoid Buying a Cheap Off-Brand TV
When adding TVs to your tiny house, try to avoid brands you’ve never heard off. Scepter, Hisense, Diewoo? You’ll be getting years-old technology that the major brands don’t even use anymore. Stick with major brands like Samsung, LG, or Sony. Then choose the better models in their lines.
I inherited 55″ a Vizio LED TV, so that’s what we’ve got. My wife is less discerning than I am, so she thinks it’s fine. However, dark hair appears like a black blob. To be fair, VIZIO does have better models. Because I owned a home theater/low-voltage company, I saw the differences between our TV and the better brands I installed for clients. To me, quality is important.
On a Samsung TV you’ll see individual hairs with subtle shades of color. I’ve had some clients think a really good picture looks bad when they are actually seeing a clearer picture than ever. You will easily see individual photo-shopped frames and special effects in old movies. A crappy makeup job on your favorite talk show host will disgust you, because you’re seeing what your favorite star really looks like for the first time. But new movies will have vivid colors and exceptional detail.
My opinion on why you can’t trust Consumer Reports
If they are testing the TVs themselves, they purchase last year’s models to get a better price.
They use owners’ feedback. Owner feedback tends to be negative, as those who have had a bad experience are angry and want to vent.
They often focus on the newest technologies, like OLED, and give poor grades to companies who use other technologies to obtain great picture quality.
Things to Look for When Buying a TV for Your Tiny Home
Check for specs like High Dynamic Range (HDR), fast refresh rates (240 Hz.), and high def (4K).
You really don’t need 4K and OLED, but you do want 1080P and a fast refresh rate? Check your source equipment. Usually your streaming device and/or cable box does not even put out higher than 1080P. Our backwoods cable company still only sends 320 line of horizontal resolution. DirecTV has 4k, but you need to have the right receiver and a channel package that has the specific channels that send the 4k signal.
Size matters little when adding TVs to your tiny house
You will be sitting fairly close so you don’t really need a big TV. A 55″ shown in the picture above seems huge. Actually a 46″ should suffice. For the bedroom, a 27″ will be just fine.
Make sure the TV has enough of the inputs you need
Some TVs only have one HDMI input. Most no longer offer component connections that your DVD player might need. Match your input package to the peripherals you’ll be connecting.
Many TVs no longer have a basic cable connection, but will you need one? The answer might be yes if you’re wanting to receive the free over-the-air channels available in some areas.
Don’t pay for features you don’t need
Don’t bother with 3D, gesture control, or face recognition. These are just expensive toys. Some are very privacy invasive, and will track what you say like Alexa and other voice-controlled services.
Some have cameras that can be turned on without your consent.
“Smart” TVs come with a bevy of streaming and network options. However, if you have satellite or cable TV or use a streaming device (that just about covers all of us) these features will be duplicated and of no use to you.
Just use your phone or computer for surfing the web, texting, Facebook, and calling the kids with WhatsApp® like you do now.
Do not buy a service plan
If you buy a good brand, the manufacturer will take care of it for the warranty period. If the TV lasts that long, chances are good it will last a long time. By the time it fails there will be a lot better TVs available for less cost than repairing the original.
Service plans are expensive, and TVs for tiny house aren’t. I did provide service plans for my clients’ huge TVs because they were expensive, and had a higher rate of breakdown. There’s no fixing that hundred dollar Walmart special.
If the seller gives you the service plan, that’s fine.
Finding a Place for the TV in a Tiny Home
TV lift cabinet at end of bed using bracket shown.
Wall space is at a premium. You want a lot of windows. You also need cabinets for storage, so you’re going to have to get creative.
Here is a bracket (on the left) that can raise your TV out of a hidden cabinet. You can adjust the height between 70in. and 32in, (shown in the raised position). Both wired switch and remote are available for you to control the lift.
Because TVs are now so light, motorized TV brackets can offer unique possibilities at reasonable prices. The bracket shown in the widget on the right can hang the TV off the ceiling in your loft, then drop it down into viewing position.
Just make sure the bracket you choose is reasonably priced. I saw tiny house with a TV that moved from the living room up the wall to the loft bedroom. The TV cost under $300.00, but the motorized bracket was way more than that. It would have been less expensive to just buy two TVs.
For a Bigger Picture but Smaller TV, Consider a Projector
There are some very cool, low-cost, tiny projectors available. I bought one for my son for just $59.00. Usually they just watch TV on his laptop computer balanced on his knees, but when they want a larger picture they project onto the wall or a sheet. It works fine for them.
This professional Mini Projector is just 7.48 x 3.78 x 2.83 inches and will project up to an 176″ picture. There are built-in stereo speakers and lots of connecting ports. Pretty amazing for under $90.00*.
There are smaller projectors, but they run on batteries and do not have the brightness of this little gem.
When wiring your tiny house, run cable and network wires to the location of your satellite receiver and other source equipment. Run HDMI cables from the source equipment to the projector along with an Ethernet patch cable. Add a CAT-6 from the screen to the source equipment too.
To see my recommendation for a really awesome projector click here.
Projector screen doubles as window shade
If you want a clear picture, what you project your picture on is very important. Sure, you can use just a sheet. That’s fine for a kids birthday party, but not for real viewing.
For a sharp, bright picture you’ll need a projector screen. You’ll also want to watch in a darkened room. That’s one of the shortfalls of any projector.
This motorized projector screen will drop over a window like a shade using it’s wireless remote control. It measures 87″ Wide, and 57.6″High. You can set it to drop down only as far as you need.
The ELITE brand of projector screen was always my preferred brand when I installed home theaters.
More information about TV’s and Internet
See my page about watching movies outside at night, a great way to expand your living space outdoors.
Wiring Your Tiny Home For TV and Internet
Enjoyed the read. I’d honestly never thought about a projector TV. Great idea and seems relatively simple to retrofit. Thanks!