Outdoor LCD tv

I've went through a couple crt tvs on my patio. SunBrite sells an outdoor designed lcd tv for $2500. I like the lcd technology, have a hd lcd in the house. Don't want to cough $2k+ for an outdoor tv when I could buy a normal

20" lcd for a few hundred bucks. Sunbrite mentions additional fans, heaters and circuit board coating to make them robust enough for outside. In daylight a crt has an unavoidable glare on the glass tube. I'm guessing an lcd would be immune to this problem. Given their skinny case, building a box around it for heating and cooling wouldn't be a major problem, don't know what the guts look like regarding circuit board coating for moisture. My location is behind an outdoor covered bar so direct sunlight or rain wouldn't be an issue, just temperature and moisture. Does anybody have any thoughts or experience with a lcd tv outside?

Are you referring to direct or ambient sunlight. My location is immune to direct sunlight, the tv is under and at the back upper end of a 10ft wide

2nd level deck. It's setup for viewing from barstools or standing at the bar with the tv being 7ft or so from the bar stools.

Dampness and moisture might be your biggest problem (unless you live in the desert).

If you seal it up tight, then, as you suggest, the problem becomes one of removing the excess heat that might be building up in a sealed environment. The power rating (watts) on your lcd will give you a rough idea of what your dealing with, but it would be helpful to measure it with one of the small, inexpensive wattmeter devices available today.

You might consider dissicants to keep out the moisture and minimize condensation problems. (Any water present will condense on the inside on cold nights). There are also commercial solid state Peltier Effect cooler ooler modules (solid state air-conditioners), that might help with the cooling).

Beachcomber

I guess an enclosure that was well ventillated would deal with the heat issue but dealing with the moisture could be challenging using a device designed for internal use. Could you build the enclosure into the wall and draw air from the house through it as cooling then seal it at night? Also by the time you get through with it all the 2K might become more attractive. OTOH you could by a few tellies for it as well :-)

If cost is an issue, stop reading right now.

Still here? There are LCD displays that have been engineered for outdoor daylight use. Probably the best way to find them would be to contact a yacht equipment dealer/installer.

I told you this could get expensive.

The idea of mounting the tv inside i.e. a pseudo window to the outside is interesting.Unfortunately in my situation the wall is 8" of concrete. My primary concern was the electronics with an lcd. I've not had a crt fail it's always been other components and like somebody all ready noted I could buy a truck load of these for the cost of one lcd. However the appealing aspects of the lcd were compact size and the ambient sunlight issue (if I'm correct in my assumption that lcd technology would be better). I installed a karaoke player in my outside bar and used thermostatically controlled heating and cooling with the player in an insulated cabinet, .... going on 3 years now in northern Indiana climate and still running. But without knowing the guts of a lcd tv, that technology has to be more challenging in weather extremes. At this point my main concern was the effects humidity would have on the display.