Fuck my prior preparation day with the Chromecast with Google TV before the hotel checking…

I don’t travel too often so my Chromecast needed some tweaking (AKA updating system and apps etc), I like to take it as a travel companion and found out this shitty frame around the TV.

It is the first time it happened to me, I can see this being annoying for frequent travelers.

  • ZeroCooler@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Pull the bottom drawer out, there might be a set top box or something else connected to the TV via HDMI that you can unplug and use the cable from.

    I travel with a Fire Stick and bring a female to female HDMI coupler for this reason.

  • fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Call front desk and politely ask if they have a unframed / spare TV you can use. If you’re nice enough and they’re willing and able, they might just drop one by your room.

  • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I gave up on this a long time ago. Phone screens are big enough, or a laptop if you own one, and ear buds. Done.

    • Sarcastik@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yep, between fixed mounted TV’s with zero space behind the TV to reach the HDMI ports or the TVs that have the weird cable box firmware/software that blocks you from accessing the tv inputs it was doomed from the beginning.

  • 1st@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Chromecast doesn’t work on most hotels WiFi anyway. At least it won’t work if they have a page to sign into the WiFi after connecting. Pretty much have to use a HDMI cable in most cases

      • nocaptchaforme@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        100% recommend this. Setting it in repeater mode with the captive portal is great. I have a Slate and a Brume.

        • kratoz29@lemm.eeOP
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          1 year ago

          Slate still holds up so nicely, but if it ever breaks I’ll get another one from glinet!

      • Swarfega@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I should upgrade my crappy TP-Link TL-WR702N actually.

        Any idea why the Slate AX router costs more than the Beryl AX, which has better specs?

        Edit

        I’ve done a bit of research and the Beryl is twice as fast over 5GHz. It’s slightly smaller and lighter. It has one less Ethernet port, but the WAN is capable of 2.5Gb. The Slate has an SD card slot for file sharing. It also has a quad-core CPU, so is faster when connecting to a VPN (550Mbps over 300Mbps of the Beryl).

        I actually prefer the black colour of the Slate over the light blue Beryl, but with the slower VPN speed and lack of an SD, both of which are not really a problem for me, the Beryl looks like it’s the one I should go for.

        If anyone in the UK is interested, you can make quite a saving in the UK from Amazon. Normal price is £119 but if you tick the £20 off and 16% off voucher you end up paying £79.96. A saving of £43.53.

      • Maslo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Some projectors are about this size too, and are surprisingly powerful for their size. But then the new issue is finding a blank section of wall

    • Alex
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      1 year ago

      Google TV works because you can click through with the controller. But getting it plugged in is the first challenge 😃

    • dan@upvote.au
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      1 year ago

      The newer Chromecasts work fine since you can just log in using the remote.

      For older Chromecasts, you can set up a wifi hotspot on your phone. At least on my Samsung Galaxy S22, you can share any wifi network that way. It’s also a good way to bypass restrictions that only allow one device to connect to the wifi network, as they’ll only see your phone on the network.

    • Spellinbee@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I ran into the same issue with the chromecast. So when I travel I always bring a roku, because that will let you access the login page.

    • some_guy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You can call the hotel’s IT and get your MAC address whitelisted to avoid all that captive portal bullshit. Once you have one device whitelisted you can just have others spoof that MAC if you are able.

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I have yet to call a hotel IT department that was competent enough to even know what a MAC address is. Last time I called one, the lady on the phone didn’t know the difference between megabytes and megabits.

        • scottywh@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          What hotels are you guys staying in that give guests the ability to contact their IT department at all?

          That sounds like insanity to me.

        • some_guy@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I have yet to stay at a hotel that wasn’t able to get my streamer onto the network without a login page. 🤷

      • schmidtster@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Doubtful many would have access to that without calling a different company.

        And doing that would be a security risk regardless, if they just randomly whitelist devices… holy fucking shit, no wonder everything is getting “hacked”.

  • jeffw@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The mildly infuriating part is that you posted it back to back on the same community 20 minutes apart

  • LazaroFilm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I read a post (back on Reddit a few years ago) someone had the same situation they ended up buying a TV at the local BestBuy to place in front of the Hotel’s TV and returned it before leaving.

    • caroline@lemmy.fmhy.net
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      1 year ago

      Fill out the individual sections please. My staff gets a bonus based on the staff service portion and I can guarantee you none of them played a part in how the building was designed.

      • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Absolutely! I was thinking on Google maps or Yelp or something, but definitely condemn the design specifically. Don’t need to get any hotel staff in trouble!

  • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Is it possible it had an access panel with input ports somewhere around it? I’ve seen that in hotels in the past. On the side, or underneath, or in a drawer.

    • kratoz29@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      It is all sealed, if a wire catches fire I’ll be the last one to know it (?).

      • Custoslibera@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If its completely sealed it’s likely if you just yank it evenly from either side (using light force) the outer frame should click off

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    With a ton of effort, we got our Chromecast plugged into the TV screwed onto the wall at the last hotel we stayed at, only to find that the WiFi signal wasn’t strong enough for the Chromecast to pick it up.

  • LazaroFilm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What is their financial gain from doing this? They really hoping I’ll get their shit pay per view?

    • kratoz29@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      Dude, the TV isn’t even Smart TV, and the quality is ass, I think it is 360p or some shit.

    • Ataraxia@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Hdmi ports aren’t meant to be used over and over. Plug in and leave be. Then again I guess they could just have an hdmi cable sticking out of it that cannot be removed and is being held in place by the frame. But why not just cast it?

      • LazaroFilm@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I recently went to a hotel that had something like that. A breakout box with HDMI in and RCA Video in even. They also had a special Netflix app that you could connect to your account temporarily with your phone or credentials.

  • RedEye FlightControl@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Most hospitality systems have a “channel” set up to receive HDMI1 or HDMI2. The front desk will tell you how to connect, if you can find a port.

    Sometimes you have to find the box and override it, if the display is framed like this.

    • ZMonster@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This, the don’t just rip off framing every time they need to replace it. There will be some way to access it. When I traveled for work, I had a tool bag for a few things, chiefly the thermostat.

  • weedazz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I usually take mounted tvs off the mount in hotels to plug in my Chromecast w/Google tv, but this one looks tough!

    • kratoz29@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      I don’t think it is possible to achieve this without proper tools 😂