Bringing a console along?

RaajTM

This may sound silly, but I was wondering if anyone else is planning on bringing a console (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, etc) with them on the trip to play in their hotel rooms for some late night sessions before bed, I imagine there would be a few but I am sort of hesitant in this matter. I am thinking about bringing my Xbox with me and I normally would just leave it at home, enjoy the DS games I have brought.. but with the new Deus Ex game coming out in the same week - I was thinking I am going to want to play some of it late at night in my hotel room as I am not planning on doing much after dark between the convention days anyways.

Wondering if some people are doing this or have done it in the past, what the experience was like, if there are some do's and don'ts. Travel wise, I plan on keeping the hard drive with me on my way to Seattle and back. But other than that I am just curious if there are any others doing this, any other precautions I should take or just simply keep it at home as it will be waiting for me when I get back.

whypick1

Lots of hotels have the A/V ports on their TVs ripped out or locked up. You'll want to check that first before hauling your Xbox over.

RaajTM

whypick1 wrote:

Lots of hotels have the A/V ports on their TVs ripped out or locked up. You'll want to check that first before hauling your Xbox over.

Ah thanks, was planning to bring HDMI cables but I can see those slots being blocked. So I might want to bring a small monitor of some sorts.. if this is the case then I may just leave it at home, not worth the extra trouble.

pillarofdawn

I have brought an xbox 2 times before and I never played it once. The console freeplay has all the games you could want, better tv's than your hotel will have, and cool people to play them with. Plus it's open till 2am.

RaajTM

Thanks for the heads up fellas. I think I will just check out the free-play area if I have the urge to play and possibly meet some new players. I didn't quite think the whole thing through so the hookups between the console and television kind of puts me off into trying. I have been to this hotel before, but never checked the outputs and even so, a lot could change in almost a year.

dyaballikl

I have brought consoles several times. They don't/can't really block HDMI ports. What you may have trouble with is switching a/v inputs on the tv. When I've done this in the past, I've brought my Ninja Remote to do the job. Either way, it shouldn't be a problem, happens a lot, works well for parties.

Drakmathus

I'm bringing my cdx. I'll be playing Panic!

Cuddly Aardvark

I just called the Sheraton, and they said there isn't a HDMI slot but you can use the A/V. I find that a little hard to believe seeing as on there website it said they upgraded all TVs to 32" Flatscreen LCDs. I don't think I can recall a LCD that didn't have an HDMI. But we will see. I'm not sure where your staying at but your best bet would be to call them.

I don't think I'm going to be doing that much late gaming though. Seeing as I don't use elevators and I will end up walking mass amounts of stairs in addition to walking around Pax. I'm still going to bring it though. I currently have a 801 day sign on/play streak on my Xbox. Ranked #81 on 360Voice. =3

tsrblke

Cuddly Aardvark wrote:

I just called the Sheraton, and they said there isn't a HDMI slot but you can use the A/V. I find that a little hard to believe seeing as on there website it said they upgraded all TVs to 32" Flatscreen LCDs. I don't think I can recall a LCD that didn't have an HDMI. But we will see. I'm not sure where your staying at but your best bet would be to call them.

Cheap LCDs still lack HDMI sometimes. And I'm sure Sheraton picked them up on the cheap, last years model cheap .

dyaballikl

Cuddly Aardvark wrote:

I just called the Sheraton, and they said there isn't a HDMI slot but you can use the A/V. I find that a little hard to believe seeing as on there website it said they upgraded all TVs to 32" Flatscreen LCDs. I don't think I can recall a LCD that didn't have an HDMI. But we will see. I'm not sure where your staying at but your best bet would be to call them.

I don't think I'm going to be doing that much late gaming though. Seeing as I don't use elevators and I will end up walking mass amounts of stairs in addition to walking around Pax. I'm still going to bring it though. I currently have a 801 day sign on/play streak on my Xbox. Ranked #81 on 360Voice. =3

I can almost guarantee you they're wrong. My last two times staying at the Sheraton, the tv's had hdmi ports.

MTSonic11

I've been seeing these black boxes on the back of TV's more and more. These have a phone cord running through them. I assume this normally enables the hotel guest to be able to watch TV & order movies/games/music through the TV. However, this box also limits the controls of the HDMI or other A/V inputs.

If you disconnect the phone line from the TV, the HDMI input will be restored and accessible through the normal remote. If you tried the Input or A/V switch on the remote previously, it would do nothing. After disconnecting the phone wire, it should work fine (though if you want to use the TV as normal, you will need to hook it back up).

Obviously, they do this so you have to order their movies and games, they don't want you to bring your own. They make no money off of that!

I admit, the first few times, I was paranoid that the hotel would get mad or possibly worse, find out and charge me an extra fee. I have tried this at a few of the major hotel chains and not once have I been confronted or charged. I'm naturally paranoid, but I'm not sure if the hotel would even care. If you don't want to do this without asking, I don't see how it could hurt.

tsrblke

MTSonic11 wrote:

I've been seeing these black boxes on the back of TV's more and more. These have a phone cord running through them. I assume this normally enables the hotel guest to be able to watch TV & order movies/games/music through the TV. However, this box also limits the controls of the HDMI or other A/V inputs.

If you disconnect the phone line from the TV, the HDMI input will be restored and accessible through the normal remote. If you tried the Input or A/V switch on the remote previously, it would do nothing. After disconnecting the phone wire, it should work fine (though if you want to use the TV as normal, you will need to hook it back up).

Obviously, they do this so you have to order their movies and games, they don't want you to bring your own. They make no money off of that!

I admit, the first few times, I was paranoid that the hotel would get mad or possibly worse, find out and charge me an extra fee. I have tried this at a few of the major hotel chains and not once have I been confronted or charged. I'm naturally paranoid, but I'm not sure if the hotel would even care. If you don't want to do this without asking, I don't see how it could hurt.

It's odd, Hotels seem to be going in diverging directions on this. There was a national change (IIRC Hilton) that was rolling out VGA and minijack on all their TV's so you could hook up your netbook. While others are locking it down. Craziness!