Where has this device been all my life?
Last weekend I spent the night at a Marriott hotel. The room had a beautiful flat panel 32" television which I've actually somewhat come to expect.
But what I didn't expect was this little device sitting next to the television:
This is a dream come true for a techie traveler like myself. Basically, this little doo-hickey allows me to hook u just about any type of gadget I want to the television.
Blu-ray player on your laptop? Hook it up with an HDMI cable to the Digital Video In port.
Use the television as a giant computer monitor? No problem. Just connect a VGA cable from your laptop to the PC Video In port.
DVD player or iPod Touch / iPhone loaded with movies? Just connect a composite cable to the Video In and Audio In and in no time you are watching the movies you brought with you.
Just want to listen to music on your iPod through the television speakers? A simple mini-pin headphone cable connected to the Audio In port does the trick.
Often I beat up on companies for doing things wrong. Marriott got this one dead on target. Well done.
5 comments for this blog post so far...
February 03, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Andy
Did they provide cables for you? I doubt I would ever think to toss an HDMI cable in my bag during packing.
February 03, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Patric Welch
Andy, Andy, Andy.... every techie knows you ALWAYS travel with an HDMI cable! ;)
February 09, 2010 at 8:12 am
Colleen Kelly
I think I counted 4 different cables in your note above ... is there a universal cable device that would include all of these with different ends? Maybe too simple a concept but I know I would not remember 4 cables on the off chance that my hotel room might have one of these great little boxes ... by the way are they available for home use?
February 09, 2010 at 9:05 am
Patric Welch
Colleen, given the nature of the various cables (digital vs. analog, etc.) I can’t imagine you could find one cable that would adapt them all. I could be wrong though.
Most likely you would already have the cable. In other words, if you are traveling with a portable DVD player you probably already have the cable (that most likely came with the player) that connects the player to the television.
February 16, 2010 at 10:20 am
Richard Durham
I recently stayed in Andover House in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. They one of these little devices in the room I stayed in. They also had cables down at reception ready to borrow. I think hotels with this kind of tech should offer the cables to borrow. Well done to http://www.andoverhouse.co.uk.
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