Digital Home Thoughts: Hotel TV Hacking

"Safely ensconced in my hotel, I wanted to record the Yankees-Red Sox game while I was in meetings. I had the right equipment with me, obviously. But then I was confronted by the evil system called "LodgeNet." LodgeNet is the in-room entertainment option at many of the hotels around the world. LodgeNet provides TV, movies on demand, video games and other services. To keep costs down, LodgeNet-based TVs are simple affairs, delivering video only through basic coaxial cable, and lacking any sort of alternative video output. Even worse, the company locks those coaxial cables onto the TV, making it impossible to unscrew them and plug them into your own device. So to get my game recorded, I was going to have to hack into LodgeNet. Most televisions these days accept three different kinds of video signals. Before you attempt to hack into any hotel video service, you'll need to know what you're up against..."

This is a pretty funny article about the lengths that Jim Louderback went to in order to record a baseball game. :lol: Myself, I find it frustrating how limited the TV sets are in most hotels, even for something as simple as wanting to hook up my laptop to play a DVD on the bigger screen - most hotels have older TV sets that lack the various input/outputs that we've become used to. The hotels aren't exactly eager to update their TV sets either - they want you to pay for the $10 movie rentals from LodgeNet rather than play one of your own DVDs.

I bought an RF modulator, and while I have yet to remember to bring with me, if I ever remember it should allow me to connect RCA and S-Video connections to an older-style TV set...unless the coax cable is welded on. 8O Have any hotel hacking stories?