A couple times this year I've wanted to plug some electronics into a hotel TV. For instance, when I'm on the road and want to watch a
movie from my Creative Vision M. I also unexpectedly came into possession of
an XBOX 360 during a recent trip to Seattle (thank you, Party with Palermo and PreEmptive).
Side note: My XBOX Live Gamertag thingy is:
The last couple hotel TVs I've looked at offer no media inputs on the front. No problem, I'll think to myself. If there are no
inputs on the front, there must be inputs on the back. Getting to the back of a hotel TV, however, is a problem.
You see, here in the United States a television is a prized commodity. Watch carefully next time you see news footage of looting in the U.S. After a natural disaster, you won't see looters plundering grocery stores
for canned food and bottled water, but you will see them carrying 32 inch televisions through streets of rubble. As soon as electricity is
restored, American Idol can alleviate the dehydration and malnourishment.
To protect their assets from rouge bands of Idol depraved looters, hotels lock their TVs into place using the strongest, heat-tempered
metals known to mankind. Depending on how the TV is mounted, it's often physically impossible to look at the back of a television. No
problem, I think, I'll reach around and take a picture of the back, and find some inputs.
The proverbial "black box" is here, bolted onto the TV. All inputs are hard wired. I think the plastic twisty thing is some
sort of tamper detection "seal". Turns out hotels don't want you to watch movies unless you watch their pay-for-view movies.
If this TV was a Visual Basic class, it would have the MustNeverInheritOrOverideAnything keyword attached.
