Freeview in small hotel - best solution?
Discussion
Some people we know have a 10 room hotel and need to deal with the impending switch to digital without changing all the TVs (they're built into units and it would not be trivial to change them) and for the same reason they don't want to put a STB in each room.
They have some kind of distribution system already and I've seen suggestions that they could basically have a pile of RF out STB's at the central point, one for each channel they want to offer (so maybe 10 of them), connect the outputs together and send them off over the distribution system.
That seems incredibly crap! But is that they way it's typically done, or is there a smarter solution? It needs to be pretty low cost (like the cost of 10x STB's!).
They have some kind of distribution system already and I've seen suggestions that they could basically have a pile of RF out STB's at the central point, one for each channel they want to offer (so maybe 10 of them), connect the outputs together and send them off over the distribution system.
That seems incredibly crap! But is that they way it's typically done, or is there a smarter solution? It needs to be pretty low cost (like the cost of 10x STB's!).
OldSkoolRS said:
How do the guests change the channel if the STB is in a central location?
Sorry - I probably confused it by having the same number of STBs as rooms.The guests don't change the STB channel - each STB is set to its own dedicated channel and outputs on a different RF frequency. Then you tune the room TVs in to the relevant RF channels and you get the 10 channels (or however many STBs there are).
Thanks for that. Apart from the difficulty of fitting a STB in each room, the other thing they were trying to avoid was having 2 remote controls which may well confuse the type of guests (usually cracking on a bit) who typically stay there!
Mind you, these days most big hotel system remotes confuse me anyway, and they're rarely the most intuitive of things.
Mind you, these days most big hotel system remotes confuse me anyway, and they're rarely the most intuitive of things.
headcase said:
...and see if you can find a box where you can get rid of the red button services.
Ah - that's something I hadn't thought of, thanks! Do boxes that can have the red button services hidden or disabled exist?I did find one unit which will convert the basic channels but looking at a review from a couple of years ago it seems to cost about a grand. http://multibox.se/6t/
E31Shrew said:
What size tellies do they currently have and are they LCD? For the cost of a new 19" Freeview set these days I would just put new ones in. Simpler in the long run even if they sorted out a cheap lease / purchase deal.
They're weird size CRTs, perhaps 16" (we have 14" and 20" at home and they're between those sizes) and they're built into units. Apparently they've looked at LCD TVs but there isn't a size which readily fits because of the aspect ratio change.A stack of RF output Tvonics boxes would appear to be feasible - not sure if "press red button" could be disabled. May not be an issue - chances are people wouldn't worry about it if nothing happened and I bet a lot of people don't know how to turn it off on their own TVs anyway.
headcase said:
Deva Link said:
A stack of RF output Tvonics boxes would appear to be feasible - not sure if "press red button" could be disabled. May not be an issue - chances are people wouldn't worry about it if nothing happened and I bet a lot of people don't know how to turn it off on their own TVs anyway.
Tried a few boxes today, it looks like the exit button does the job on most of them 
E31Shrew said:
Dont forget that a 15" LCD with have approximately the same viewable area as a 17" CRT so dont discount a good quality 4:3 ratio LCD. We've put a lot of tellies in case sin hotels by taking the foot off and using a swivel wall mount to decrease the height...if you get my drift!
I didn't realise that 4:3 LCDs were available (other than monitors). I'm sure there must be something suitable available.VEX said:
There is a very neat little box available to us installers that will take a freeview signal in and give a group of analogue channels out.
These can be set up to allow the installer / hotelier to chose their own groups or channel line up, would be happy to check on this further needed.
Regards.
V.
Do you mean this: http://multibox.se/6t/These can be set up to allow the installer / hotelier to chose their own groups or channel line up, would be happy to check on this further needed.
Regards.
V.
That would clearly do the job but as best I can gather it's getting on for a grand, and it's also limited to 6 channels - the hotel wants to provide 10.
VEX, Thanks for that, and CJS's earlier comment about getting STBs with a channel display on made me realise that if someone approaches the stack of boxes and presses a remote then they'll all change channel!
I think supporting such a setup could be a bit of a nightmare and the hotel owners are coming round to the idea that biting the bullet and getting new TVs is the right thing to do. They're a now bit worried now that older guests will struggle with the complex remote controls that TVs have these days!
I think supporting such a setup could be a bit of a nightmare and the hotel owners are coming round to the idea that biting the bullet and getting new TVs is the right thing to do. They're a now bit worried now that older guests will struggle with the complex remote controls that TVs have these days!
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