Freeview in small hotel - best solution?

[Deva Link]

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!).

[OldSkoolRS]

That seems a very clunky way of distributing Freeview, with one very important problem: How do the guests change the channel if the STB is in a central location? You can get devices that retransmit the infra red remote signal (I built one myself to operate some equipment in a cabinet out of sight) but that would add considerably to the cost buying commercially available versions. Also, assuming the aerial system is already setup to distribute the signal down to each room, then it really seems to make more sense to have the STB in the room, like many hotels I've visited myself have done. Some of the new models are very small (I even saw one that is like a larger scart plug, just a little longer) so it might be possible to find a place to put one without upsetting the decor.

[Deva Link]

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).

[was8v]

Do the tvs have scart?

If so could you fit one of these into each TV.


http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/334...

Just need a spare plug socket in each room as well.


If no scart then using your distribution system would be an OK method - just offer the top 10 channels! you would need a 10 way aerial amp to get a decent signal on each of the 10 freeview boxes though - like this but with 10x outputs http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000VEK0MS?ie=U...

[Deva Link]

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.

[headcase]

With a hotel people dont go there to watch tv so you can get away with doing the bare minimum, just as you suggested, you will need a pile of freeview boxes (your really only gunna need 5 for the first 5 channels) set the RF out on each box to a different frequency (at least 2 apart and not on any of the freeview mux's) and set a channel on each box, then tune into all of the TV's. Thats how they do sky in hotel distribution, i see no reason why you cant for freeview. And of course no ir loop is needed and see if you can find a box where you can get rid of the red button services.

[Fishtigua]

I live in a small block of flats, 30 odd, and Freeview has been bought by a few residents.

What is the best way of a letting everyone get it without having 30 dishes sprouting from every flat,which makes it look like a council estate?

Cheers

Fish

[Deva Link]

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]

Fishtigua said:

I live in a small block of flats, 30 odd, and Freeview has been bought by a few residents.

What is the best way of a letting everyone get it without having 30 dishes sprouting from every flat,which makes it look like a council estate?

Cheers

Fish

Think youre getting Freeview confused with Freesat. AFAIK it will need a distributed sat system already in the block or individual dishes for each appt.

[E31Shrew]

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.

[Deva Link]

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.

[E31Shrew]

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!

[headcase]

Deva Link said:

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.

Tried a few boxes today, it looks like the exit button does the job on most of them

[headcase]

Fishtigua said:

I live in a small block of flats, 30 odd, and Freeview has been bought by a few residents.

What is the best way of a letting everyone get it without having 30 dishes sprouting from every flat,which makes it look like a council estate?

Cheers

Fish

If your talking freesat then you can get LNB's with upto 8 outputs so that would mean you would need 4 dishes which you could install on the roof, or you can go for the one Dish solution that requires a 4way output LNB (no the standard quad like sky uses) and associated multiplexers etc... either way you have to run 1 cable to each flat. It can be done discreatly buy colour matching the cable as clost to the brick work as possible and if installed professionaly so each flat gets a symetrical cable run then it can actually look like it was always there.

[Deva Link]

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

It comes back next time a programme with interactive features comes on though.

[Deva Link]

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.

[cjs]

First I would look again at getting a freeview LCD that will fit in the hole. If that is not an option then yes, it is feasible to get 10 Freeview boxes with an RF out and combine the signal into the existing distribution system. I have done this before.

Try and get a freeview box with an LED number display so you can see which channel it's on, they are out there.

[dtmpower]

Fishtigua said:

I live in a small block of flats, 30 odd, and Freeview has been bought by a few residents.

What is the best way of a letting everyone get it without having 30 dishes sprouting from every flat,which makes it look like a council estate?

Cheers

Fish

Freeview doesn't need a dish - just a wideband aerial... which can be shared by many connection.

If however people want Freesat/SKY then you can put up to 4connections on 1 dish... to save too many unsightly dish. You might also have a planning issue if too many dishes are put on one building..

[VEX]

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.

[Deva Link]

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/

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.