Master Antenna TV Systems (Hospitals, Hotels, etc)

Telstra and the SA Health department blaming each other for the rip off that charges patients to watch free-to-air television.

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When I was at Kyabram hospital getting my tonsils out at age 6 my ward had a common TV for free, this was 1974, it was a black and white TV and it was always tuned to GMV 6 Shepparton with its low production values.

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I don’t quite know what this means? Most of their programming was bought in and not of their making. And regional TV was dodgy in presentation at the best of times.

And what other options were there? ABC was doing test patterns and school shows during the day?

I do recall mum saying when she was in hospital during the 70s to have babies the only option to have TV was to pay to hire a portable set or go and find the common area with a TV installed. I think she listened to a lot of radio instead

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I was talking about local news, local commercials and local shows such as “Star Quest” (not the National Star Quest which I think was done at BTV6) which I remember seeing in that hospital ward with local people having a go at performing for the cameras. I remember BCV8 and AMV4 in that same era they both were a bit more polished in presentation than GMV6 was. And yes the only other option was the ABC with school shows, Sesame St and Playschool during the day.

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If only handheld TV’s were vastly available and cheap back then.

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Getting reasonable reception inside a big hospital would have been difficult.

Down in Sydney tonight, and staying at the new William Inglis (Sofitel) Hotel at Warwick Farm.

It’s only been open 3 months, and they HAVE got it right re in room TV.

In my room, the LCNs for 2, 3, 7, 9 and 10 all point to the HD channel (there is no SD version available) and are in true 1080I HD (as we would see it at home).

Even FOX Sports is also in true 1080i HD.

This is the model for all hotels to follow.

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Good to hear that the William Inglis Hotel is doing it right when it comes to the availability of HD channels on their in-room TVs.

But to be honest, my first thought when it came to the in-room TVs at the William Inglis Hotel at Warwick Farm was probably “How many of the horse racing channels do they have available?” since those would be extremely relevant to a lot of their clients! :slight_smile:

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Ah yes, I should have mentioned that!

All 3 (SKY Racing 1, 2 and Thoroughbred) are in my room too :smile:

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Good to see a hotel getting their TV service right for a change. Have they used proper Foxtel channel numbers as well?

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I stayed in the Ibis styles in Hobart last week and they had all the standard channels and the extra Foxtel channels were on their Foxtel LCN. No HD Foxtel tho :-1:

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Many resorts and bars in Bali (somehow) now have WIN HD.

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Yes and no.

All FOX Sports channels are correct, except FOX Footy HD is on 507, not 504 for some odd reason.

And the SKY Racing channels are 201-203.

SKY News HD is 105, Showcase HD is 101, Lifestyle HD is 106.

That’s all the FOXTEL channels that they have.

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Very common to see GWN, WIN, SCTV and Imparja all across Bali as the VAST signal reaches there.

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When I was in hospital last week (@ Hurstville Private), there was just the FTA channels. It was basically the same as watching standard digital TV at home. I couldn’t see any special software or anything, and all they had was an IR repeater hooked up to the TV itself.

It’s a private hospital where TV is always included for all patients, so I think they must have just used a masthead amplifier to provide TV to all the rooms and just bought in some regular TVs and ceiling mounted them. The remote was one of those ones that’s hardwired into the wall with just a channel/volume up/down control, with a speaker in the remote, so no real need for special hotel-style software.

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Here’s a list of stations received on a P&O cruise I just got back from.
Some odd choice of channel numbers and names

LCN - Name (according to promo guide - there were no watermarks or station logos evident on screen, though there was a logo in the ship TV guide)
21-23 were all P&O promo channels
24 - Pacific Flicks 1
25 - Taste
28 - Kids & You
30 - Pacific Premiere
31 - SKY News (Foxtel)
32 - SKY Business (Foxtel)
33 - FOX Sports News (Foxtel)
34 - BBC World News
37 - Sport24
38 - ‘Nightlife’ Music Video channel (as seen in pubs)
39 - Nick Jr (Foxtel)
40 - Nickelodeon

27/41 - was a part time channel that showed FOX produced AFL games - which was totally watermark free and ad free (saw one bit where crew were adjusting the presenters microphones at quarter time on one game).

My main disappointment was that there was NO VAST or even ABC/SBS. Was looking forward to watching some Imparja in peace and quiet :grinning:

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So I’m staying at the Chevron Renaissance here in Surfers Paradise, and they have a very peculiar TV system.

They have a NBN internet gateway that streams free to air to the TV. Picture quality is not as good as with a DVB-T receiver, there is a status bar at the top of screen which won’t go away, the picture is gutterboxed, subtitles don’t work and there is no 9HD! (though oddly enough all other HD channels are available including NBN).

Plugging a pair of rabbit ears into the antenna socket on the TV fixes all of this thankfully, and reception is good (thankfully).

The only upside is that the included NBN internet access is good, about 40 Mbps.

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Wow. Had you packed a spare pair of rabbit ears?

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An essential item for TV enthusiasts to pack while travelling.:rabbit:

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Just one pair - I don’t need a second (spare) pair.:smile:

I had plenty of room in the car, I have always been one to overpack when driving.

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