RE: TV in the camper
Mike, I've used three solutions over the years.  For several years I had
(still have) a Sanyo very compact portable, 7" screen, built in VCR.  Ran
off internal battery or external 12v, had it's own rabbit ears, worked very
well.  Wanting to reduce clutter and redundancy about a year and a half ago
I switched to using my laptop.  The laptop can play DVDs just fine and I
acquired an external TV tuner that can handle cable input when in a
campground or use an external amplified antenna if no cable availalbe.
But I found the use of the external tuner box and the external antenna a
small PITA, eneded up with wires all over the place.  So last fall I started
looking and found two solutions from Audiovox.  The first is a small 8" LCD
TV/DVD player that sells for about $250 at Best Buy or less than $100 on
eBay, search 'audiovox lcd tv'.  The second is a bigger unit from Audiovox,
a 10", this model here: *http://tinyurl.com/2xjyyh. *IIRC I paid about $250
for one new off eBay.
I don't see these new on eBay right now.  It has detachable speakers, FM
modulator that does a great job of broadcasting through the vans stereo, and
two sets of IR driven headphones for private listening. Has remote, runs off
12v, and comes in a compact but rugged canvas case that can also serve as a
stand or mount.  It will still need the external antenna but is less hassle
to set up than the laptop.  I haven't used it camping yet, will provide
reports when the time comes.