When it comes to pure decadence, no technology delivers like LCD. Slim, space-saving flat-panel LCDs have made it practical to have home entertainment systems almost everywhere: swinging out from underneath a kitchen cabinet, appearing almost magically from behind a bathroom mirror, even rising from underneath a bed. Sadly, though, we've had to leave all that sheer video joy behind as soon as we step outdoors.
Hospitable as the outdoors can be to the human body, they're brutal on TVs. After all, LCD panels produce images using liquid crystals, and we all know how extreme temperatures can affect liquids. They thicken or freeze in the cold, and thin or vaporize in the heat. Even in Southern California — arguably the most hospitable climate in the lower 48 states — temperatures can drop below freezing in the winter and exceed 110 degrees in the summer. The electronic components inside TVs don't tolerate heat well, either. Yup, the backyard is no place for a TV set.
At least, not for an ordinary TV set.
A few lifestyle-savvy electronics companies have noticed that Americans are outfitting their backyards with fancy furniture, underground subwoofers, and pools elaborate enough to make Steve Wynn blush. Why, they asked themselves, must we leave our movies and TV shows behind when we want to enjoy a fresh breeze or an evening in the hot tub? So they set themselves to designing TVs that could handle the heat, the cold, the moisture, and the dirt that outdoor environments dish up every day.
"There's a real need for outdoor TVs," says Joe Pantel, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur who recently founded a self-named TV company. "They're not just for backyards. You need them for sports stadiums, hotels, boats, bars, restaurants . . . We found that people have been using regular TVs outdoors and changing them a couple of times a year because they keep breaking."
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Scott Hix, vice president and general manager of Planar Systems Home Theater, agrees. "There's about $100 million already being spent in this market," he reports, "but most of the product is considered disposable — it's expected to go bad. Planar builds displays for ATM machines and gas pumps, so we know how to make a TV that can survive outdoors."
Planar's Runco division has already introduced the Climate Portfolio WP-42HD, a 42-inch LCD screen designed to be used outdoors in ambient temperatures ranging from -4°F to +104°F. The company is now working on a TV with twice the normal amount of internal backlighting so it's bright enough to be viewed comfortably in direct sunlight.
Planar and Runco may be making the most noise about outdoor TV, but others are getting into this nascent market, too. Besides Pantel, other notable outdoor TV makers include SunBrightTV and Aquatic AV.
I've had the pleasure of punishing two of the new outdoor TVs: Pantel's 32-inch, $3,950 PAN320 and Aquatic AV's 17-inch, $1,999 AQ-LCD17S-1. Both are similar in that they receive video and audio wirelessly, which saves you a ton of hassle because you don't have to run wires from your indoor audio/video system to the outdoor TV. All you have to do is plug them into an outdoor AC socket. A wireless transmitter plugs into the indoor system in your home. A supplied infrared emitter connects to the transmitter; you can put the emitter in front of, say, your DVD player and control the player from outside by pointing the remote at the TV. Neither brand's transmitter accepts high-definition video, but the PAN320 does have HDMI, component video, and VGA inputs behind a panel on its back.
(Click on the image above to see our image torture gallery, where we slam the TV with water, fruit-punch, and fresh soil.)
The AQ-LCD17S-1's plastic chassis makes it look much like any other 17-inch LCD TV, while the PAN320 resides in an aluminum cabinet that looks rugged enough to survive at least a couple hours in a New York City subway station. Both come with waterproof remotes.
According to Joe Pantel, the PAN320 can take just about any punishment the outdoors can deliver, short of complete immersion in water. The AQ-LCD17S-1, though, can be completely submerged if you run some sealant around its DC input jack; for residents of coastal cities who worry about global warming, the two grand spent for this 17-incher is surely the safest possible investment in a TV.
Both TVs laughed off all my water attacks, whether delivered from my dog's upended water bowl or from a high-pressure nozzle'd garden hose. Nor were they fazed when I hurled shovelfuls of potting soil at them.
(Click on the image above to see our image torture gallery, where we slam the TV with water, fruit-punch, and fresh soil.)
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Unfortunately, the weather in Los Angeles was unseasonably cool when I had the Aquatic AV set, so I didn't get a chance to test its heat resistance. After hearing Joe Pantel boast that his TV could survive anything outdoor temperatures ranging from -40°F to +140°F, I was glad I had his set on hand for a sunny spring day. The inside of the set can run much hotter, by the way: A digital meat thermometer I inserted into a screw-hole on the back of the PAN320 read 128°F, though the set's internal fans kept it cool enough to deliver a vivid, enjoyable picture.
I did encounter one chink in the PAN320's armor, though. When I placed it in direct sunlight one morning, large gray blobs appeared in the LCD screen, making the image unwatchable. I turned the set 180 degrees so the screen faced away from the sun, and the blobs vanished in 2 to 3 minutes. According to Joe Pantel, this is a feature, not a bug — in extreme, direct ultraviolet light conditions, the crystals in some areas of the screen black out so they don't overheat. I had a hard time believing him when he insisted that this effect occurs only in certain high heat conditions when the sun is bearing directly on the screen. However, that afternoon, with the sun once again shining directly onto the screen, I encountered no black-outs at all. And even in the direct sunlight, the picture was still bright enough to watch. It did lose a lot of its contrast, but there was still enough for me to enjoy Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith — a movie loaded with dark scenes that are tough to reproduce in brightly lit surroundings.
Speaking of picture quality, neither of these sets would give a Pioneer Kuro a run for its money, but that's not what they're intended for. Watching outdoors during the daytime, I found myself pushing the black level (brightness) settings far higher than I'd ever dared before, which left the picture without the contrast I'd expect indoors. But it didn't matter. I was sitting in my backyard in the middle of the day, enjoying a Diet Coke and a cigar while watching Revenge of the Sith for the umpteenth time. Sometimes, it's good to be an audio/video gear reviewer.