Bighorn Entertainment Systems Standards and Options

Larryheadhunter

X-Rookies Still Luving it
I recently purchased a 2009 Bighorn 3400RE in February 2008, and I received a Samsung DVD (not sure if it includes a FM Tuner), a 42" Olevia HDTV, and a 19" Jensen HDTV for the bedroom and surround sound in the living room. That's all folks for an Rear Entertainment System RV.
Jim informed me that to add a satellite system would require temporary removal of the large TV and attach as many cables to the back as necessary. 2 person job. And of course wire in the proper essential equipment.
My question to all that bought Bighorns is what entertainment systems were standard or options on your rig?
I added the bedroom TV and nothing more yet. This is the first thread on this subject, so any feedback or input would be appreciated.
I personally feel that if Heartland is going to call a rig an Entertainment RV, there should be much more standard equipment installed and offered as options as well from the get go.:confused:
 

geeksrus

Well-known member
Be happy with what you got... in my unit I got a $75 (perhaps I'm over-estimating the price) Coby player/tuner, which is a piece of junk.

EH!
 

creeper

Well-known member
What more do you expect? You have a large TV and surround sound, which IMO works pretty well.

I have the Samsung DVD,CD, FM tuner and surround sound. Hooked to the 20 something inch Jenson TV...
 

cjbearden

Visitor
Count yourself lucky!

LarryHeadHunter sounds like you do have an entertainment RV based upon what we don't have. Our unit came with the large tube monster Toshiba TV in LR and nothing in BR. Still nothing in BR much to the disappointment of DH. The DVD player was offbrand and we replaced immediately with Pioneer. Never had surround sound and haven't had it fixed. Won't until we can have a TV that allows direct hookup to it. We did find that the subwoofer stored behind a panel under the TV wasn't even wired up to anything. It has since been removed and the panel moved back to give us larger storage area. We do not have the fireplace.

So, we sit here with a hard-to-hear TV. We do have DirecTV with east/west coast feeds and local feeds whenever we are parked longer than two weeks in any one location. We have dome mounted unit for DirecTV, our only entertainment luxury at this time. We have just begun full-timing and will be looking at upgrading to 3670 in a couple of years. Hopefully by then, the 'entertainment' issues will be resolved and up to date.
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
Yeah, we got the coby too...replaced it with a Phillips Micro System that works great. It was the only unit that would fit in the cabinet and leave room in the rear to attach all the cables, without having to be a contortionist.

Put the Coby in our coach house on our lot, figuring we'd use it till it died...well that didn't take long...need to hit Best Buy ASAP. The cd/dvd tray has stopped working already! Go Figure!
 
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sealman

Active Member
Our Coby unit was dead at birth. We replaced it with an Onkyo unit and a THX powered sub woofer that fits perfecrly under the bottom shelf in the entertainment area. We may still replace the speakers, enen though we added 2 Bose speakers to the middle shelf. Note: We do not have the fireplace.
John
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
Wow! A 42" TV and a SAMSUNG DVD player. I think you done good! I also got a 27" Toshiba tube TV but I got a Zenith DVD player. They work pretty good. (knocking on wood)
jdwigley, You just need to add one cable from the TV to the AUX side of the DVD player to make your surround sound work. Pretty easy and works well in mine. (don't know why the factory wont do it as cheap and easy as it is) Of course I don't have a fancy ear for music.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi Larry,

I hear what you are saying. Bear in mind that if Heartland was to make assumptions as to what everyone wanted in terms of entertainment equipment, it would really drive the cost of the unit and it would drive it for everyone.

The way they are built and priced now, each owner has the opportunity to add what they would like upon delivery. In most cases, it's all anchored around the TV set. And in that department, a 42" LCD with lots of inputs is a great start in your coach.

When you or anyone decides it's time to kick it into high-gear with the RE units, I suggest taking that TV off the wall only once to attach cables.

If it were me, I'd go to Cables For Less and order up the following:

1 ea HDMI (M-M) cable x 3 meters @ ~$10
1 ea Component Video Cables with Audio Pair x 12' @ ~$17
1 ea Composite Video/Audio Cables x 12' ~ $10
1 ea SVGA Cable (for viewing PC on the TV) x 25' @ ~$12

At ~$50 plus s/h, you'll future-proof the back of the set in terms of having to ever pull it back off the cabinet.

Have fun - do it once!

Jim
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
I agree Jim. However I was kind of baffled when my friends new high end Landmark Augusta came with the low end Olivia instead of the once offered Sony's. Could be one of the reasons for the Landmarks being priced so well though.
 

theharveys

Active Member
When we looked at a 2008 Landmark Augusta, it was equipped with the Olevia TVs in both the living room and the bedroom.
We ordered a 2009 and when it showed up it has a Jensen TV in both the living room and bedroom. 32" in the living room and 19" in the bedroom.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Hello everyone. I also have a 3400RE and it has the 42".


My dealer placed a couple of magnets on the left panel to hold it in place, where it was nailed into the cabinet. The TV is hard installed onto 2"x4" boards. It is not made to be removed easily or at all. The dealer added a cable to the component1 input to the TV for the DirecTV input in the cabinet where the Colby system is located. It works will. I have had no problem with the system. Have connected a front bedroom TV to the Directv receiver in the back and it works. Am going to get a couple of the electronic devices (like a splitter but the opposite) that will take 2 LBN’s to one cable from the Directv dish to the entertainment center and the back to 2 cables, one to the rear Directv receiver and then one to connect to the coax for the front TV and us the second receiver for the bedroom.

Have a Colby system. We mainly use it for playing movie DVD's and music CD’s. May make some changes if I have problems with it, but so far no problems. May also do some rewiring for inputs. Main problem is not with the entertainment equipment. It is with the DW. She likes only one remote control, can live with 2 but gives me that old go to h*** look if there are more than two.

FWIW
BC
 

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Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Larry, We let the dealer keep the TV in our 3400 because I knew we were upgrading to a 32" LCD. I don't think there is a TV on the market that has true surround sound out of the box. All need to be connected to a surround sound receiver or DVD player of some sort. We usa a combo VCR/DVD receiver from Toshiba and route the TV's A/V out to the receiver aux input for surround sound. We upgraded the sub woofer to a Sony 8" and I think it's a pretty impressive set up. I knew from the start that the factory sound system is sub par but it is as good as you will get with most RV's in this price range. One thing for sure, Lin is always telling me to "turn it down".
 

sealman

Active Member
We have 3 remotes in the living area (Surround, Olivia, Satellite) sometimes its better to keep the DW confused.:eek:
John
 

slmayor

Founding California Northern Chapter Leader
I don't want to be mean, but just read over on ebay that the new 2009 3600RE has a big back window with a pop-up big screen that rises out of the lower cabinet. Either a new factory upgrade or dealer item? pretty cool anyway. No pics yet, just a description.
 

Larryheadhunter

X-Rookies Still Luving it
BH Entertainment Options and Comments

Jim,
Thanks alot for that info on how to set up the 42" Olevia for prime viewing. Thats exactly what I wanted to know and I will follow your advice.:)

As far as my comments to open the thread, I only suggested that buyers should know what products they are getting, and to know of any other options available they wished to purchase or negotiate in the original sale or at a later date which wouldn't drive up prices. It would just offer the opportunity to spice up the unit which is enticing, as they say more options mean better choices. I wasn't complaining, especially after I heard what others got. The fact I received that 42" TV was that it was standard, and thats what I bought at the 2007 Pomona show. The fact they put in a Samsung DVD was by chance. I don't even know if the DVD as a FM Tuner or a radio. I would have liked to know maybe catalog style if there were upgrades available for purchase, so they could be installed at the factory. And in my defense, Heartland did name the rig 3400RE Rear Entertainment.


Hi Larry,

I hear what you are saying. Bear in mind that if Heartland was to make assumptions as to what everyone wanted in terms of entertainment equipment, it would really drive the cost of the unit and it would drive it for everyone.

The way they are built and priced now, each owner has the opportunity to add what they would like upon delivery. In most cases, it's all anchored around the TV set. And in that department, a 42" LCD with lots of inputs is a great start in your coach.

When you or anyone decides it's time to kick it into high-gear with the RE units, I suggest taking that TV off the wall only once to attach cables.

If it were me, I'd go to Cables For Less and order up the following:

1 ea HDMI (M-M) cable x 3 meters @ ~$10
1 ea Component Video Cables with Audio Pair x 12' @ ~$17
1 ea Composite Video/Audio Cables x 12' ~ $10
1 ea SVGA Cable (for viewing PC on the TV) x 25' @ ~$12

At ~$50 plus s/h, you'll future-proof the back of the set in terms of having to ever pull it back off the cabinet.

Have fun - do it once!

Jim
 

Larryheadhunter

X-Rookies Still Luving it
DW and I checked out the entertainment system thoroughly and found out one of the surround speakers doesn't work at all, however, the rest do for the Samsung DVD when you are watching a DVD movie. The FM tuner(which got 2 stations on the CA/AZ border) and our CD uses 2 of the diagonal speakers only. The subwoofer is there but can't tell if it works yet. Next step is to try out the Jensen 19" HDTV in the bedroom. With the 42" Olevia HDTV and the electric fireplace on below in the living room, resting on the comfortable but bulky cloth recliner, at night I find myself sleeping half the nite cozying up and just relaxing. Too bad the DW is in the bedroom sleeping in our comfortable bed. I guess I will call Heartland Customer Service to find out how to fix that surround sound.
 

swoosh

Member
instead of removing tv , i took off side wood panel on left side of tv,you can hook up wires from there i put in vga cable for laptop also cables for kids x-box, its not easy but better than removing tv
 

wittmeba

Member
Hello,

I have a question similar but related to the OP.

Sometimes there are particular brands/models of electronics that I would like to have. They may not be available from the RV mfg as an option.

My question is - is there any standard wiring included when an option itself is not included? Like for speakers? If I wanted to select and install my own HDTV or Stereo is beyond a 'plug-n-play' approach?

Thanks,
Bruce
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi Bruce,

The speakers and the wiring are pretty standard in these coaches. I have not heard of anyone deleting the factory surround stereo systems. The Samsung units appear to be working better than anything we've supplied in this plant to date.

That said, I doubt you will save much money on the coach if the stereo delete is an option. Likely best to let it go as a standard build and replace the unit with what you want. You can use the speaker wiring as it will be right there in the cabinet for you.

One challenge may be the sub-woofer. The one that comes with the equipment you by, may not fit behind the cabinet or fireplace where Heartland installs them.

Also, you may have a challenge mounting speakers from the unit you buy and covering the holes in the ceiling from the old speakers with the new ones. Maybe make a round plate and paint it white. Mount the mounts for your speakers to that plate. Drill a hole in the plate to bring out the speaker wire, then mount the plate to the ceiling, then mount your speaker to your speakers mount.

Others who have done what you want to do may weigh in on this one too.

Thanks,

Jim
 
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