Question for 2014 owners

[JJvike]

Hello all,

Would one of you new owners please tell me what A/V HDMI powered switch FR is using now that they are using HDMI cables instead of the RCA cables in earlier models? I'm trying to upgrade and would really like to see what FR is putting in the coaches now.

Thanks,
JJ

[Himcules]

imo, pick the components that make you happy.

after taking a look at the components FR chose to use in my 2013, i'm not impressed with their selection at all... much better equipment out there...

i'm going to upgrade my own my way... only thing i'm keeping is the toshiba led tv's. maybe the jensen outdoor tv (its an outdoor unit so not so interested in a high end replacement there). everything else is slated to be replaced and ran with insulated hdmi.

[JTN8]

I had the same questions when I ordered my 2014 390BH. I ended up speaking to a Forest River tech that does all of their TV work and he said they do not use a video switch box anymore. The two TV's in the main part of the coach (mid TV and cockpit overhead TV) are wired together, so that if your blue ray under the mid TV is playing, it will show HD on both of them. They also have a blue ray in the bedroom and a DVD player on the EXT tv. By having separate players for all TV's, they did not need a switch box anymore but what they did was added a component input under the mid TV that branches off to every TV in and outside the coach (not HD though) so if you have a satellite rcvr, you can hook RCA's from the rcvr to the input and place the TV's on video source 1 and it will show what is on your satellite rcvr. My plan is to plug the HDMI cable from the Blue ray on the mid tv into my satellite rcvr to get HD on my Two Tv's inside and then also have the RCA's go into the input under the mid tv for all my other TV's. Hope this makes sense and helps.

Jason

[Himcules]

Originally Posted by JTN8

I had the same questions when I ordered my 2014 390BH. I ended up speaking to a Forest River tech that does all of their TV work and he said they do not use a video switch box anymore. The two TV's in the main part of the coach (mid TV and cockpit overhead TV) are wired together, so that if your blue ray under the mid TV is playing, it will show HD on both of them. They also have a blue ray in the bedroom and a DVD player on the EXT tv. By having separate players for all TV's, they did not need a switch box anymore but what they did was added a component input under the mid TV that branches off to every TV in and outside the coach (not HD though) so if you have a satellite rcvr, you can hook RCA's from the rcvr to the input and place the TV's on video source 1 and it will show what is on your satellite rcvr. My plan is to plug the HDMI cable from the Blue ray on the mid tv into my satellite rcvr to get HD on my Two Tv's inside and then also have the RCA's go into the input under the mid tv for all my other TV's. Hope this makes sense and helps.

Jason

i'm not sure i follow here.. how are the midship tv and the bedroom tv wired? component can be split to multiple tv's. hdmi needs a switch.

if you want the stb to send hdmi to both tv's, i believe you will require a hdmi switch and dedicated hdmi cables to each tv.

if the cabling to each tv is component (red, green, and blue rca connectors for video), then you will have to connect the component cable to your stb. component video can be split. also, you will lose digital audio since component still uses the composite rca audio jacks.

my 2013 290bh has rca composite ran to the 3 interior tv positions via the RCA branded compositve a/v switch (using rca connector cables).

if you want true hdmi to each tv, then you need a hdmi cable to each tv back to the source switch (or to it's own dedicated player: stb, bluray, ps3, etc regardless of where the player is at).

note: RCA vs rca can be confusing... i use RCA is the brand (upper case). rca cables are the analog composite cables that RCA created in the 1940's. these are the analog video and audio that you see as the yellow (video), and red and white (audio) jacks.

[JTN8]

I may have miss worded my post. The two TV's (mid coach and over driver) have HDMI wires from the mid coach blue ray player. The bedroom has its own blue ray Player (through a HDMI) and the ext TV has its own DVD player. Under the mid coach tv, is a input for rca cables (yellow, red and white) that feed every tv in and outside the coach. So, if you take the HDMI cable out of the mid coach blue ray player and plugin into the rear of your hd sat rcvr, the two TV's in the main living area will broadcast hd. Then if you use the rca cables into the input under the mid tv, it will feed all of the other TV's in standard definition. They do not use a switch box anymore because each TV has its own video player and they. Only use the single rca input under the mid tv to feed all the TV's with what ever you wish to broadcast. Hope this makes more sense.

Jason

[Himcules]

Originally Posted by JTN8

I may have miss worded my post. The two TV's (mid coach and over driver) have HDMI wires from the mid coach blue ray player. The bedroom has its own blue ray Player (through a HDMI) and the ext TV has its own DVD player. Under the mid coach tv, is a input for rca cables (yellow, red and white) that feed every tv in and outside the coach. So, if you take the HDMI cable out of the mid coach blue ray player and plugin into the rear of your hd sat rcvr, the two TV's in the main living area will broadcast hd. Then if you use the rca cables into the input under the mid tv, it will feed all of the other TV's in standard definition. They do not use a switch box anymore because each TV has its own video player and they. Only use the single rca input under the mid tv to feed all the TV's with what ever you wish to broadcast. Hope this makes more sense.

Jason

the midship bluray player has 2 hdmi outputs? that's very rare, especially for the price point that FR usually buys for these kind of devices.

again, as far as i know, hdmi cannot be split except with a hdmi switch. so you cannot have one hdmi cable from the midship dvd player to both tv's without a hdmi switch.

the rca composite 3x3 a/v switch is the same as what they offered in 2013.

[JTN8]

Not sure exactly how it is wired or I may have mis understood, but the tech I spoke to said both TV's in the main living area will broadcast HD from the single blue ray player. There is no switch box for the rca inputs either. There is only one rca input under the mid tv which then splits off to all of the other TV's. basically under the mid tv, there is a rca input plate on the wall, whatever you plug into it will the go to all TV's

Jason