An outdoor TV is not exactly a new idea. We personally have fond memories of dragging the living room television as far out onto the deck as the power cord and cable box wires would allow and watching some inane Saturday morning cartoon show while sipping juice in the lounge chair. Trouble was if it suddenly started to rain, or worse still someone indoors happened to miss all those cables….
LCD Enclosures – The Ultimate Outdoor TV Cabinet
A lot has changed in just a few years. Now outdoor televisions are supposed to be outdoors, they even have their own outdoor TV cabinet. Al fresco living is a big deal these days. People are building outdoor kitchens (real kitchens with ovens and sinks) extending their decks and patios, buying outdoor fireplaces so that they can enjoy it all for as long as possible. The outdoor TV is of course a big component of these new outdoor living spaces, but that’s only going to work if you find the right outdoor TV cabinet.
There are such things as outdoor TV systems, TVs built and designed for the outdoors, but they are extremely expensive. A better alternative is a type of outdoor TV cabinet called an LCD (or plasma if thats your thing) enclosure.
You have probably seen those rather cool billboards along the highway that instead of being flat paper are in effect digital signage, real moving pictures that change all the time.
These giant TV screens in the sky (because that is what they are) are protected by LCD enclosures. These enclosures protect them from the ravages of the elements as well as any damge, whether intentional or not. The scaled down versions of these LCD enclosures made for residential use make the the perfect outdoor TV cabinet.
A good LCD enclosure has both heating and cooling units that ensure that the television housed inside this outdoor TV cabinet is maintained at an optimum temperature at all times, whatever the weather may be. They are of course completely waterproof , to guard against those unexpected rain showers or even snowstorms (a bonus perhaps if watching TV outside in the middle of a blizzard happens to be your thing) They are also fairly easy to mount if you have a specific location for your outdoor TV in mind.
How Much do LCD Enclosures Cost?
The kind of LCD enclosure that is suitable for residential use as an outdoor TV cabinet are not as expensive as you might imagine. Good ones can actually be purchased in the $500 to $600 range and given that the prices of both LCD and plasma TVs are still dropping buying both a decent sized LCD TV and an LCD enclosure to use as an outdoor TV cabinet can still come in with a price tag that is under $1,000. Those all weather TVs mentioned earlier start at far more than that making the LCD enclosure the best and most affordable outdoor TV cabinet out there.
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