The advances in consumer technology have put the pressure on the hospitality industry which needs to impress the increasingly sophisticated hotel guest.
Screen technology investments for the leisure industry are emerging as a high priority in order to stay competitive and meet the expectations of clients. Demand has rapidly shifted from flat-panel screens, to HD, 4K and IPTV service variety, items that were not even considered a priority three years ago.
The largest element of tech budgets for hotel operators is becoming guestroom technology which includes enhancing guest services and entertainment experiences.
Set- top developer, Amino unveiled a new high-powered IPTV device- the H150- for the hospitality and digital signage market earlier in the year at Cabsat 2015 in Dubai. The device, which is distributed locally by CombiTel, features new YouTube TV capability and a specifically developed Amino TV apps store that includes 350 ‘made for TV’ entertainment, news and sport apps.
The box delivers full HD quality video with support for 1080i60 decode for full-screen playback and picture-in-picture (PiP), the H150 can also handle content from multiple sources whether managed IP, in-resort content or from the open internet.
Significantly, the H150 uses the new Power over Ethernet (PoE) capability which is increasing in adoption. CombiTel MD Eugene Razbash said "we are confident IT managers will welcome H150's new cost- and space-saving features such as Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support.” The set top box uses a built-in internal Power over Ethernet (PoE) capability, allowing customers to install H150s where a mains power supply not available.
He added that the new set-top device was a good example of the integration of digital signage and TV into a single platform, which allows for full control over end devices and user experience in general.
In the case of enterprise use this allows corporate IT teams to be in full control of their deployments and support a variety of TV models.
Meanwhile for hospitality, key features also include CEC control and an RS-232 serial interface. It also features dual-core Broadcom SoC and up to 1GB of memory.
Razbash adds that most new enterprise and hospitality TV deployments use IP/data networks instead of co-axial cable used in the past and as such need devices that are adaptable to a variety of technology scenarios.
