plazmaphiles,
I thought some among us would find this story interesting. It got me thinking. Though I presume Le Meridien is a five-star chain, their decision that it's worthwhile to install a $3,000+ PDP where they could install a $300 CRT sure says something about the technology's fast-changing economics and mass appeal.
The skeptic in me wonders whether this isn't just a gimmick (something hinted at in the story), and that the panels will be so poorly calibrated, with such lousy hotel video signals, they'l hardly be worth watching. will the hotel hire crack engineers to tweak and maintain them?
Is this becoming common anywhere else in the world? (Out here in Asia, broadband (ethernet) in the room has been the high-tech must-have, and has become widely available in business hotels at $10 or $15 a day).
Would anyone on this wire choose a hotel because it had a 42" display, decent HT signals available and a decent DVD player , even if the rate was higher?
bests,
Jeff in Beijing
The 42-Inch Plasma TVs in Le Meridien Minneapolis Guestrooms Just Part of Whiz-bang Tech Package
By Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Apr. 8, 2003 - The smallish rooms in the new Le Meridien Minneapolis hotel might seem a bit claustrophobic for all their soothing European-style design touches such as backlit pictures and etched-glass headboards.
But guests may be too entranced by the 42-inch -screen TVs to notice their cramped quarters. The flat-panel displays, mounted on walls so they're visible almost anywhere in the rooms, will help put the soon-to-open inn on the cutting edge of hotel technology services.
full story available at:
http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2...PlasmaTVs.html
I thought some among us would find this story interesting. It got me thinking. Though I presume Le Meridien is a five-star chain, their decision that it's worthwhile to install a $3,000+ PDP where they could install a $300 CRT sure says something about the technology's fast-changing economics and mass appeal.
The skeptic in me wonders whether this isn't just a gimmick (something hinted at in the story), and that the panels will be so poorly calibrated, with such lousy hotel video signals, they'l hardly be worth watching. will the hotel hire crack engineers to tweak and maintain them?
Is this becoming common anywhere else in the world? (Out here in Asia, broadband (ethernet) in the room has been the high-tech must-have, and has become widely available in business hotels at $10 or $15 a day).
Would anyone on this wire choose a hotel because it had a 42" display, decent HT signals available and a decent DVD player , even if the rate was higher?
bests,
Jeff in Beijing
The 42-Inch Plasma TVs in Le Meridien Minneapolis Guestrooms Just Part of Whiz-bang Tech Package
By Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Apr. 8, 2003 - The smallish rooms in the new Le Meridien Minneapolis hotel might seem a bit claustrophobic for all their soothing European-style design touches such as backlit pictures and etched-glass headboards.
But guests may be too entranced by the 42-inch -screen TVs to notice their cramped quarters. The flat-panel displays, mounted on walls so they're visible almost anywhere in the rooms, will help put the soon-to-open inn on the cutting edge of hotel technology services.
full story available at:
http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2...PlasmaTVs.html
