BATH TIME

BATHROOM TV GUIDE

Alastair Benn, Owner and Managing Director, Aquavision, provides his guide on what to look for when specifying a waterproof or in-wall TV.

The first question to consider is what makes a waterproof or in-wall television different from a standard television? The perhaps obvious point is that a standard TV is free-standing or wall mounted so the physical size of it doesn’t really matter as much as when fitting a truly integrated wet area TV. If it goes wrong or needs replacing, you simply swap it out and if the new one is a slightly different size, it’s not the end of the world. However, when you build your TV into a fully tiled, or CNC cut marble wall, replacing the TV with one of a different size has huge implications. So there is a very strong need to plan well and get things executed accurately at every stage.

Viewing angles are also a big issue here. We are all familiar with laptop screens and adjusting the position to get the best picture, this is because most computers have cheaper LCD panels. So, when you specify a bathroom TV be sure that any product you choose has the viewing angle capacity needed. You may get a good picture for standing up for a shave or doing your make-up, but what about when lying down in the bath? The bathroom environment is really challenging for viewing angles as it needs to be seen when you are standing up, sitting down, or almost lying on the floor. You therefore need to make sure your waterproof television has a viewing angle of 178° x 178°. A good guide is to look for screens that are using IPS (In Plane Switching) panels, as those will give you the required viewing angle.

Other areas to be aware of include the fact that some brands offer ‘HD Ready’ or ‘HD’ resolution of 720p or 1366 x 768 pixels. Even on a smaller television, users will notice the poor image quality compared to what they have in the rest of their home. Specify a minimum of FHD, 1080p, or 1920 x 1080 pixels and avoid televisions of lower resolution as you will be unhappy with the picture quality.

Some companies also offer screens that were only designed for laptop use and so will have ‘strange’ resolutions. These can be

1440 x 900 for example. The video processor will then need to completely reformat the picture it receives via HDMI or the aerial to match this screen resolution, which again can lead to a distorted picture. Again, if the resolution isn’t displayed, it probably isn’t FHD 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) so I would suggest you avoid televisions of this resolution. You get what you pay for in this sector and although some brands will be more expensive, the implications of compromising on quality are significant. For example, we have products out in the field that are going strong after being installed as long ago as 2002.

Customers may want smart TV functionality in their bathroom and wet areas however caution is needed here. Smart TVs need regular software updates and rely on APP’s that get updated and often go obsolete due to the smart technology in the TV. Potentially, you may have to upgrade a perfectly good, very expensive, television which is annoying. If smart functionality is needed we recommend partnering a non-smart TV with something like a Firestick, Chromecast, Apple TV or Roku box, these can easily be updated for minimal money when it goes obsolete.

There are many ‘cheap’ waterproof and in-wall televisions being offered on sites like eBay and Amazon, but would you really want to build one of these into a wall not knowing if the importer will be around to warrant the guarantee, or if they are, that the replacement TV will fit the hole in the beautiful set up you have created? Think of the cost and disruption of re-tiling the wall for example, all to save a few pounds on a cheaper TV. The smart move is to invest up-front and gain customer satisfaction in the long run.

Bathroom TV installation needs careful planning