Crofter Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 We're about to open our holiday let and need to decide what we're offering in the way of TV. People are only going to be staying for a few days at a time so simplicity is key. A good proportion of visitors will be from overseas as well which could complicate things and make written instructions less useful. Terrestrial reception is very poor and a dish sounds like too much trouble- no guarantee of getting a good line of sight anyway. We use a Fire Stick ourselves and find it very intuitive. Not without its glitches, and removal of support for YouTube is a big step backwards. Any other streaming devices to consider? As I said, ease of use is everything. I'm told people will often want to log into their own Netflix accounts, so actual content provision isn't that important and I'm sure free to air stuff will be good enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultramods Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 I like the Roku box, I use it connected to a Samsung TV. I found it better than: Roku Stick - it's faster Amazon Fire - Roku box has more channels that I wanted Apple TV - Roku box has ore channels that I wanted Samsung Smart TV - Roku box is far quicker/responsive 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 Thanks for that feedback I'll check it out. The TV itself is a Samsung smart tv, but now too old for most of the apps to be supported. One of the reasons I will never be an early adopter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexphd1 Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 In a perfect world terrestrial coverage backed up with a smart TV. Keep it simple if you provide it and they can't work it, it will be your fault. People who can work Netflix etc are catered for with their own account. I think I would supply a new smart tv. Personally I would be more happy with good Wi-Fi and decent coffee machine than a tv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 51 minutes ago, Alexphd1 said: In a perfect world terrestrial coverage backed up with a smart TV. Keep it simple if you provide it and they can't work it, it will be your fault. People who can work Netflix etc are catered for with their own account. I think I would supply a new smart tv. Personally I would be more happy with good Wi-Fi and decent coffee machine than a tv. I'm concerned about a smart tv becoming obsolete very quickly. The one I have was my in laws' and is already outdated. We have a Nespresso and the local broadband is being upgraded a we speak. Like you,I don't really rate TV- more of a Radio 4 type 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 If it has wifi and guests can zap their own content onto it from their portable device then forget about apps and jazz. Digital radio and wifi #1 priority. Put a DAB radio alarm clock in the bedroom too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 1 hour ago, Alexphd1 said: Personally I would be more happy with good Wi-Fi and decent coffee machine than a tv. +1. How very sad that people visiting somewhere like Skye would be worried about a TV! Having said that I don't really watch TV. Last time I switched mine on was for the Olympics in 2016 lol. I watch a few things via streaming on occasion, or iPlayer so provide a note of websites where they can get content on their laptop etc (iPlayer, ITV Hub and the like) . With Wifi they can get whatever they want on their own device. I would say don't stress about it. Put something basic in if you must and make clear that is what is provided. Job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 I would just fit a simple freesat box if terrestrial reception is poor. No more, no less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richi Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 At the risk of thread drift, YouTube is still supported, just not via the standalone app. You need the official Amazon Silk browser app, which comes complete with a YouTube shortcut (or just add youtube.com/tv). (You can also try other browsers, e.g., Firefox, but Silk works best for me: other ones seem to have weird video scaling issues.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 A smallish new smart TV (32 inch) will have access to BBC iPlayer, itv player, all 4 and 5 on demand. Being smart the guests can use Netflix and any other range of similar streaming services and cast these to the TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 I like watching TV and for me recently with being very busy at work and building a house one of the pleasures of being on holiday is that I can do things during the day and then kick back in the evening and watch a box set or a movie. I don't think you can underestimate the need for a simple system for guests. When we recently stayed in 3 AirBNBs I actually had to fix the TV in one place where the reception was so poor it kept losing Freeview and another place had a flat screen TV from the dark ages. For simplicity I would go for a SmartTV with built in Freesat (Unless you can get Freeview reception sorted out). Nowadays people are going to want to have access to Netflix. Having to swap inputs etc causes a lot of confusion. I would also want built in WiFi. I do agree that in my own house a SmartTV is likely to become obsolete, but this is a slightly different situation. Luckily the price of SmartTVs has been collapsing recently. Costco has some cracking deals for example. However, often the best deals don't have Freesat. I feel it is best sticking with LG or Samsung as it with their volumes SmartTV support is less likely to disappear. Something like this would probably work. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6998563 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 Cpc have some cheap tvs: http://cpc.farnell.com/cello/c32ansmt/32-hd-ready-smart-led-tv-freeview/dp/AV26490 Cello is made in the UK etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 He he checked out that link. Weight of TV 4.9kg I bought a cathode tube big screen Sony TV five years ago for the boys flat.(Gumtree) Must have weighed 49kg...took two big lads to shift it! Works great though and fits the bill...with his autism and occasional but very intense melt downs it can't be thrown anywhere ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexphd1 Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 (edited) We have some cello tv's in a b&b, pretty good so far. I bought from eBay, I think direct from factory slightly cheaper than Cpc. Edited May 11, 2018 by Alexphd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 I'm a wee bit reluctant to buy another tv since we already have a Samsung 40" that was top of the range a few years ago. Is a smart tv really any easier to operate than a tv with a streaming dongle plugged into it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 If that has Freesat then there is no harm trying it with a FireTV or other cheap streaming stick. If it doesn't work out you will have only spent the cost of a cheap stick. People will really only likely want Netflix. Just type up some laminated instructions for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 We have had a FreeSat dish for 11 years. It's been totally painless. Never had to go near it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted May 11, 2018 Author Share Posted May 11, 2018 My concern with freesat is that I might not reception. I bought a dish for my own house, just across the road from the holiday let, and wasted hours trying to find a signal. Eventually the wind ripped it off the wall so that was the end of that. The aerial went the same way, we now stream everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvincentd Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 We had a holiday let which was remote to us and so at the end of each guest stay we'd send a cleaner in to prep it ready for next guests. 80% of guests would fiddle with controls to the extent that the system would not then work according to the instructions we provided.....and the cleaner would not always be able to fathom how to get everything reset. Keep it simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 A lot of tv's have a "Hotel mode" that disables all the setup menu's. Well worth investigating and enabling that if it has that function. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richi Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 15 hours ago, AliG said: I feel it is best sticking with LG or Samsung as it with their volumes SmartTV support is less likely to disappear. Marginally less likely ? Avoid old stock; plan to replace it every 3 years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 10 hours ago, Crofter said: My concern with freesat is that I might not reception. I bought a dish for my own house, just across the road from the holiday let, and wasted hours trying to find a signal. Eventually the wind ripped it off the wall so that was the end of that. The aerial went the same way, we now stream everything. You have to be at the foot of a steep hill or behind trees to not be able to receive satellite tv. A rough rule of thumbs is you need to be able to see the sun between about 10AM and 11AM on the spring equinox. If you can't you won't get satellite tv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 You could mount the dish on the ground and encase the rear in a concrete block for all it matters as long as it points in the right direction. Make it look like a summit marker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Freesat get's my vote, too. My experience has been that it's 100% reliable, dead easy to use and there shouldn't be any problems with having a dish on Skye - IIRC, Paul Camilli out on Raasay relied on a dish for internet connectivity for a time, and his place is pretty exposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 2 hours ago, richi said: Marginally less likely ? Avoid old stock; plan to replace it every 3 years or so. Let's draw a line under this . Its a rental. £300 every 3-5 years upgrading a tv is deductible under depreciation. Just buy a half decent smart with USB, wifi, hard wire it to the BB router, have freesat, mount a dish ( try doing that with bigger bolts ) and move on. Netflix and Digital radio and freesat = problem solved. Put the TV you have in for the immediate and get some revenue if that's the issue, but the suns about to shine so........... Get it rented out ! Chop chop. @Onoff any reason that threaded bar can't be used to stabilise the dish if it's that battered by wind ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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