Gonna make my first attempt at full TV setup for a tailgate this season. What's the best method? Thinking of a portable generator and using the phone as a Hotspot for the smart TV, but not sure how reliable the internet will be. Any help?
Best/easiest/cheapest TV setup for tailgate?
- Thread starter Paulsitive
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Honestly, I'd take your phone out there for the UGA game and test it's hotspot connections with maybe a laptop or the like first.
You'll definitely want to make sure you can run the tv's off of a phone hotspot. My internet went out a few weeks ago and I couldn't get any of my smart tv's to lock onto the hotspot. It could have just been my issue, but I couldn't fix it.
Yeah I'll definitely be testing the TV with the phone Hotspot.
How about power wise? Do I absolutely need a portable generator?
That's something you probably need to research too. I don't know if portable battery packs would have enough juice in them to sustain a TV for that many hours. We have one that is great for crockpots and radios but haven't tried a TV. Enough folks around us have TVs that we don't worry about it.
A setup using rear-projected video to an acrylic screen might work. Front projection would be defeated by ambient light if gametime is before sundown.
There are good battery options like jackery. But the ones that pull enough juice for TVs are usually as expensive as generators.
I haven’t checked in a few years but you used to be able to rent quiet generators from places like Sunbelt for around $30
No, marine battery and inverter much cheaper. We used two marine batteries to power all our tailgates. Ran lights in both tents, two TV’s, couple of fans for early games and even a crockpot. Never ran low on power!!!
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