Hotel RCA connections

[SpiderSpartan]

I'm staying in a Hampton Inn hotel and the TV has RCA connections, but I can't get the TV to switch to them. I'm trying to play XBox. The TV is one of the ones with the Menu where you can order Movies or games with the controller they have hooked up, but I just want to play my xbox. Anyone know how I can switch it to the RCA connections? Thanks.

[SmokieStover]

Call the Desk.

[redwudz]

Most hotels these days have the TV controls locked down and use a proprietary remote for control. As mentioned, call the front desk.

[pinetop]

Look for an input or mode button or the front of the TV. My thoughts are the front desk might be no help at all.

[Brainiac]

Try changing the channels. I just visited a hotel and in order to play my dvd palyer connected to rca jacks, I had to change the channel (lower channel numbers) until I got to the aux input.

Brainiac

[SpiderSpartan]

Yeah, there's no mode or input buttons on the remote or the tv. I tried going down to channel 00/Aux, but it just goes to their rental menu. I'll try to ask the people at the front desk, but I suspect they'll have no clue what I'm talking about. Thanks for the suggestions.

[neomaine]

You won't get them to change it, period. The solution:

- Pick up a coax to a/v converter at Radio Shack. $20. And, an extra short piece of coax. $2.
- Unscrew the coax leading to the TV and put the converter in-between. Usually have to set a channel, like 3 or 4, to a matching (preferably unused...) channel on the TV.
- Plug your rca jacks (yellow/red/white) into the converter.
- Play XBOX!

From 10 years of hockey tournaments on the road with the kids.

NOTE: Sometimes there's plastic cap around the coax attached to the TV. If so, either get the coax where its screwed into the wall or use a pair of needle-nose pliers to reach in and unscrew the coax. Remember to reverse this before you go home.

[FulciLives]

What about a cheap programmable remote control? You can usually buy one at a store like WALMART or K-MART for $10 - $15 and if you are lucky it will work with this TV and any other TV you come across in your travels. Just don't loose the booklet that comes with such remotes as they have all the codes you will need as each TV is different.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[GT Music]

Neomaine has hit it on the head.......
This is what I've been doing for at least 10 -12 years.
I travel a lot and do multimedia productions on the road.
and when I get back to the Hotel I like to review the post- DVD production of that day.
Items needed:
Thin long nose pliers
1 3 Ft. Coax Cable
1 3 Ft. Extention Cord
1 Radio Shack RF Modulator (Cat # 15-1214)
As Neomaine said, be sure to but everything back the way it was before you arrived.
Note for those of you out there who prefer to watch your own DVDs
this setup works very well although I haven't come across the Plasma and flat screens yet.
So I don't know if there are any complications with attaching this setup to them.
Happy Viewing!!!!

[GrayStrickland]

NOTE: Sometimes there's plastic cap around the coax attached to the TV. If so, either get the coax where its screwed into the wall or use a pair of needle-nose pliers to reach in and unscrew the coax. Remember to reverse this before you go home.

FYI... this security measure is used by lots of cable cos. to keep casual users away from connections. The tool their workers use looks like a long socket with 1/3 cut away (to slip sideways over the cable) and a folding wire lever to turn it. You can buy this tool at Home Depot or GrayBar for under $10.00. A handy thing to have in your arsenal.

Here's a slightly different version of the same tool.

but at a ridiculously higher price ($29.00).

[oldandinthe way]

I'll join the call the desk crowd.

When you call ask for the original remote for the TV. Believe it or not, this is not an uncommon request. Most often it comes from people who do not wish to watch 4:3 images upscaled to 16:9. Sometimes they will send the hotel's engineer with the remote.

Joe Morganstern the Wall Street Journal's movie reviewer wrote an article about this some time back.

[neomaine]

Requesting the original remote is always my first action. It has NEVER been provided. Maybe its the hotels I've stayed at, not 5-star, but not 1-star either.

Maybe its because they knew that there was a dozen hockey teams in the hotel at the time and they new what they were going to do. Probably wanted to try to sell the lame games provided with the TV service.

Either way, I tried the nice approach but always ended up with the 'hack'.

[pstedman]

Having been part of 3 hotel construction projects I can tell you from experience that:

* The AV jacks are purposely disabled to keep people from connecting DVD players and such. The content providers want you to purchase their PPV instead.
* You won't get the original remote for the above reason AND because in general most of them get lost or thrown away. The engineering dept might keep one or two
* Pulling the coax won't always work either as the newer systems have the encryption devices built into the sets. The head-end and TV must do a handshake for the TV to accept any input.
* Newer hotels w/flat screen bury the wiring so well that it pretty much requires taking the TV off the wall to access it.

Granted this is for newer hotels. Older properties with less advanced systems can easily be bypassed with the methods mentioned above.

[SpiderSpartan]

OK, i Got the original remote for the TV. Nothing works on it. I'll have to get new batteries in the morning. I'm about to just ghetto rig a connection from the Yellow plug into coax, so I can just get video. When I pulled the entertainment stand out from the wall I noticed the coax goes through a LodgeNet box before going to the wall. Maybe this could be helpful. Still looking, and I'll hook this thing up if I have to just cut the coax from the back of the TV.