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Summer is here, and that means you’re likely spending a lot more time outdoors. Entertaining outside during the summer, especially by the pool or near the grilling station, is so commonplace that many homeowners have made their outdoor space more of an addition to their living spaces, with the same amenities you might find inside the home. From fireplaces to plush seating to full kitchens, outdoor spaces are now just as important as their indoor counterparts.

Which is why installing a television outside just makes sense. Putting a television in your outdoor entertaining space can be a great way to enhance the atmosphere, and it’s not just for summertime, either. Fall is really when an outdoor television can prove most useful, particularly for sports fans who like to entertain.

But you might not realize just how important having a television designed specifically for outdoor use truly is. It may seem as though any high dollar television with a lot of features would work in an outdoor setting. I’ll walk you through a few reasons why that’s not the case, and why it’s crucial to invest in the right technology for a space that has a lot of variables that you shouldn’t ignore.

1. Greater Picture Quality

Picture quality is a tricky feature even on indoor TVs. Many standard TVs have good picture quality that’s good for your sitting room but poor for your outdoor space. Just think about watching tv at different times during the day. Things like glare, ambient light, and other factors can be tricky inside, and these issues are amplified once you move outdoors.

Color accuracy, color gamut, brightness and blackness are some of the factors that produce better performance on quality TVs that are made specifically for outdoor use.

TV brightness is measured in nits, and outdoor TVs have an average rating of 650 nits, with some even ranging up to 2500, as compared to the indoor sets with an average 400 nit brightness. This will make a big difference when trying to watch something outside on a really sunny day.

2. Greater Audio Quality

It’s generally noisier outside than inside, and outdoor TVs compensate for this by including water-resistant speakers and sound reflectors in the set.

Standard TVs use open speaker grilles to release sound, but this feature is modified on outdoor sets by providing downward-facing speakers to prevent entry of dirt and insects.

Curved metal discs are sometimes used to reflect sound toward those in front of the TV, but where this potentially produces too much echo, detachable soundbars can be used in their place.

There’s enough sound that can be produced during a light rainfall to interfere with sound coming from the television and the sound enhancing features on an outdoor TV are built to handle them.

3. Protection From Sea Air

While this factor may not apply to all scenarios, it is important to note that sea air contains common salt – sodium chloride, and this can be very corrosive if it gets on your indoor TV.

Saltwater can act very slowly, destroying very important circuits in a standard TV.

An outdoor TV is produced with this in mind so materials used are those that can resist corrosion until the salt residue is exhausted. Some common materials used include acrylic-coated polyester fabric, dust-proof nylon fabric, and even water-resistant PVC coverings.

4. You Don’t Lose Your Warranty

If you still have the owner’s manual from any of your regular TVs, you should read every line of it.

The easiest way to void your warranty is by converting your indoor TV to a piece of outdoor furniture.

Exposing your regular TV to everything a dedicated outdoor TV was built for immediately voids your warranty because that wasn’t its original function. This is obviously not the case with an outdoor TV.

5. It Helps Prevent Electrocution

If you could choose only one reason to get a dedicated outdoor TV, your safety should be the answer.

There are many factors that could cause concern, but the first place to look at is water, and as we all know, water and electronics don’t mix.

Pure water doesn’t conduct electricity, but the water you’re dealing with is one that’s mixed with impurities like salts and other charged particles.

These impurities enable it to conduct electricity because water from rain can get stuck in a little hole on your TV which can create an electric shock when you touch that spot.

Outdoor TVs are generally designed to be water resistant, so you won’t have this problem.

6. They’re More Durable

Regular TVs can’t function if they’re constantly exposed to extreme heat and cold.

Outdoor TVs come with UV-coated screens so you can trust them to absorb the hot rays of the sun.

They also have an airflow system to cool the interior when the temperature gets too high and an internal heating mechanism to regulate temperature when it drops to as low as -24°F.

The design elements of a dedicated outdoor television make the decision to buy an outdoor TV a pretty straightforward one. I hope I’ve helped you clearly see the benefits. Stay tuned for my next post, where I will review an outdoor TV that has all these features.