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Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

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didds
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Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112954

Postby didds » January 24th, 2018, 9:10 am

A local hotel/guest house based in a restaurant to us (bijou, 3 bedroomed, "quality") has asked me to help them - they've drawn a blank with any local businesses it seems.

They currently have three bedrooms (which will be expanded to 5 with a couple of garden based cabins in the near-ish future.)

They are to upgrade their broadband connection to the fastest they can get, and then relay the wifi via homeplug to each room (I had a query about this a week or so ago) with the fastest homeplugs we can get (500Mbps or whatever). The wifi homeplugs will be in each bedroom to maximise bandwidth available immediately. There is a consideration to providing a cabled provision to each room but cost may be an issue here.


The proprietor (P) wants to provide Netflix to each room also. Currently they have smallish TVs with standard freeview offerings. Each TV has a HDMI input.


I have a very limited understanding of how to provide this and I must say some reasonable googling found very little regarding "this is how you do it". I think it will require a amazon firestick but all i can find is hints at a netflix ocmati9ble device with very few specifics.

So - DAK how to provide Netflix to a guest house bedroom to non-internet ready TVs? (If push comes to shove smart/internet ready TVs could be provided instead I suppose but nothing like some 72 inch screen).

Presumably this would also require some sort of corporate Netflix account?

didds

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112960

Postby ten0rman » January 24th, 2018, 9:33 am

Hello Didds,

Just a couple of thoughts re homeplugs.

I have the earlier versions - 85Mbps, so what I'm about to say may be wrong if the later versions have got over the earlier versions problems.

Although mine are rated at 85Mbps, the actual throughput speed is considerably less at about 20-30Mbps for me. This is dependent on a) distance - the longer the distance, the slower the speed; and b) the number of units in service - the more units, the slower the speed.

I offer this as a warning against expecting 500Mbps throughout the proposed system.

Regards,

ten0rman

dionaeamuscipula
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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112966

Postby dionaeamuscipula » January 24th, 2018, 9:54 am

didds wrote:
So - DAK how to provide Netflix to a guest house bedroom to non-internet ready TVs? (If push comes to shove smart/internet ready TVs could be provided instead I suppose but nothing like some 72 inch screen).

Presumably this would also require some sort of corporate Netflix account?

didds


Not sure that such a thing exists. The Netflix Ts and Cs say:

"The Netflix service and any content viewed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only. "

DM

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112970

Postby didds » January 24th, 2018, 10:16 am

ten0rman wrote:I offer this as a warning against expecting 500Mbps throughout the proposed system.


yeah -0 that;'s understood. Their current provision is IIRC 200 Mbps homeplugs, so its an attempt to increase that possibility. its not so much hoping for 500 Mbps, but more than they get currently.

Like all these things its a case unfortunately of not knowing until its tried



didds

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112975

Postby didds » January 24th, 2018, 10:34 am

dionaeamuscipula wrote:"The Netflix service and any content viewed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only. "

DM


I just "spoke" with Netflix online custoimer services and they just told me that could be done in a guest house! I specifically asked if it was within T&Cs too.

They did mention however that anybody using such a service would have the "power" to make changes to settings etc :-(

Netflix You can set up Netflix with the premium plan. That will be good for 4 devices.
You so .. confirming
You the guest hjouse (bijou hotel) woud have
* one normal account
* with four devices configured for it
* one each for each bedroom with one spare.
And that would be acceptable under Netflix T&Cs ?
Please confirm
Netflix
Yeah that would be fine. It will be your account. The thing is, It is possible to make changes on the account if someone else can access it.
Netflix Sure you have a good one and good luck with the business :)





DAK of any commercially available similar solutions to Netflix then?

didds
Last edited by didds on January 24th, 2018, 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

dionaeamuscipula
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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112977

Postby dionaeamuscipula » January 24th, 2018, 10:37 am

didds wrote:
DAK of any commercially available similar solutions to Netflix then?

didds


Sky or BT, but commercial premises costs can be huge.

DM

didds
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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112987

Postby didds » January 24th, 2018, 10:53 am

Secondary thoughts....

If instead of providing Netflix P instead provided eg chromecast in each TV so that visitors could cast their own provision from their own laptop/tablet/phone etc...

... the issue would still remain that anybody could make changes to its settings.

And presumably bedroom one could cast to bedroom 2 "as a joke" or whatever?

There's also the potential for theft of course - though maybe some superglue would sort that!

didds

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#112994

Postby didds » January 24th, 2018, 11:13 am

A thirdly thought...

NowTV boxes? how do they work?

didds

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113046

Postby wheypat » January 24th, 2018, 1:49 pm

Amazon firesticks would do the job. They come with netflix pre-installed.

Or for £150 they could buy these TVs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-24W375 ... l+smart+tv

Which also come with netflix pre-installed and then you can hard wire them, as opposed to using wi-fi.

Fire sticks would be cheaper - note that there have been stories of amazon closing down people's accounts if they have too many connected to one amazon prime account. But in perspective, I've got 7 hanging off my Amazon account and they've not shut that down.

Each active account will need a minimum 2 meg link, faster would be better.

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113047

Postby swill453 » January 24th, 2018, 1:52 pm

Have they done their market research? Do they know that providing Netflix or similar in the rooms is going to be cost-effective?

I'd be looking at what similar hotels are providing - if nobody else does it then there might be a good reason.

I've stayed at a few Airbnb's, small hotels and apartments and never found anything more that cable or satellite TV. I usually take my own provision for watching stuff on a tablet or laptop.

So fast wifi - yes absolutely a 100% requirement. But added value telly? A bit of a minority interest in my opinion, and not really expected. I may be wrong though.

(A smart TV with iPlayer/Youtube etc available may be a happy medium).

Scott.

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113050

Postby Alaric » January 24th, 2018, 1:57 pm

wheypat wrote:Which also come with netflix pre-installed and then you can hard wire them, as opposed to using wi-fi.


The hazard with "Smart TVs" is that the manufacturers cannot always be bothered to keep the software up to date. Sony were guilty of this. When the BBC updated iplayer, it disappeared from models that were nor that old.

Another approach might be to have cables available on loan, so that visitors could plug their laptops into the TV screen/monitor.

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113072

Postby Infrasonic » January 24th, 2018, 3:29 pm

The first consideration is how fast is the Broadband connection into the premises? Contention ratios tend to cause issues during peak hours.
Have you measured the max/min down and uplink speeds?
What are the minimum requirements for Netflix?
I know for streaming 4K they generally say a minimum of 20Mbps downstream is needed, (obviously 4K is an extreme case.)
(You could channel bond two BB connections with an appropriate modem/router, but obviously the economics of that could quickly become a no no.)

If it's an old building in the sticks there is probably a fair bit of BT copper wiring between it and the local BT street box (even if fibre is available from that point onwards.)
Add in the old mains wiring that is presumably in the house walls (the main limitation to homeplug throughput) and already you've got a less than ideal situation bandwidth wise if wanting to distribute BB internet to all rooms that want to stream HD movies.

Even if you don't provide Netflix itself and allow clients to 'cast' the various services from their smart phones or laptops to the in room TV's, using their own Netflix/Amazon et al accounts (the better 'KISS' option IMHO), you'd still have the issue of your local wifi/BB network bandwidth being enough to cope with the combined traffic streams.

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113121

Postby didds » January 24th, 2018, 8:26 pm

Yep. Agree with all the bandwidth points and this has been explained.

It is rural-ish - but there is fibre in the village and P is up for improving the provision from the current frankly paltry efforts. His current provider has a reasonable deal and he's ordered that.

We are also looking at ethernet cabling to RJ45 ports in each room, from where a local wifi provision can be made, as well as homeplig wifi. I would expect the former to better generally. Whatever happens this is a better general provision that is available currently.

After that (whether cable or wifi) its really a bit of a guess. I agree it could be that eventually there may still not be sufficient bandwidth. But there's only one way to find out and that is to buy one and test it.

Though faced with the possible "abuse" of either a amazon firestick+netflix account, or even just a chromecast, it could be that P ends up deciding against it after all. I've let him know of these possible issues but we've not had a chance to discuss it more fully yet. Its not a show stopper if it doesn't happen - I think he just wants to be able to offer as much as he can (obviously there is a limit to price on this within reason, but this isn;t a £30 a night place... whilst not being £250 a night either :-)

didds

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113136

Postby BreakoutBoy1 » January 24th, 2018, 9:14 pm

I have zero expectation of getting Netflix at a guesthouse or hotel, and it certainly wouldn't alter my booking decision which is likely to be driven by competitive price, decent room photography and location.

This is not going to sell one additional room but is going to cost money.

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113195

Postby didds » January 25th, 2018, 8:41 am

BreakoutBoy1 wrote:This is not going to sell one additional room but is going to cost money.


I actually agree - but its not my business.

Then again, I'd pretty much expect BoB's approach to be typical of those on TLF. Its clear however that other demographics dont; think like that - how else do you explain the success of home shopping channels?

didds

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113899

Postby servodude » January 29th, 2018, 4:37 am

Have they considered using BluRay players?

There are plenty on the market that also afford access to netflix (e.g. www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMP-BD84EB-K ... 01CEE1OZE/ )

The players store your account login details on them - so you could have multiple accounts to get more access if necessary
- they would work well via ethernet cable to a powerline adapter
- they are less likely to go missing than a chromecast (easier to affix to furniture)
- they could also offer DVD/BluRays to guests

they do cost a bit more than e.g. a chromecast - but they're a bit more "stand alone" and reliable

good luck
- sd

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#113930

Postby Infrasonic » January 29th, 2018, 10:30 am

^^You need to be careful with licensing in commercial premises WRT to things like Blu ray/DVD/CD et al.
Hotels need PRS/PPL/VPL where applicable, collectively it can potentially run into the thousands.

The collection agencies aren't daft, they scan adverts and listings looking for breaches and will send in undercover visitors if necessary.
If you aren't properly licensed they'll send you a nice letter inviting you to send them some money (or have a nice day out in court with them...)

With the streaming services the licensing is built into the pricing (but you'd still need to check if you require a basic license from PPL/PRS/VPL. It's one of those areas that is always shifting so I'm not up to date on the current state of play.)

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Re: Netflix provision in a hotel bedroom

#114134

Postby servodude » January 29th, 2018, 11:51 pm

Good point.
This website https://www.visitbritain.org/pink-book/ ... t-licences provides what looks to be a good synopsis of the state of play regards licensing (for the UK).

If they already have TVs in the rooms then they should have the necessary "Hotel and Mobile Units Television Licence".
- just providing the hardware for playing discs (and netflix) should be covered by this "hotel licence"
- providing a free library of discs (if they chose to do so) would incur another "concierge" fee (paid elsewhere)

it will get even more convoluted if they start charging extra for the services

good luck
- sd


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