Airwave in Scotland

DARWIN DUNDONALD

Following a £25 million makeover, golf resort Darwin Dundonald boasts a new clubhouse, state of the art leisure facilities and freshly built hotel rooms & luxury lodges.

Looking for world class AV technology to suitably adorn their plush new development, Darwin enlisted Airwave’s services.

Having implemented satellite & reception equipment, including an IPTV headend, a Sky Bar IRS system & Sky Brightbox, Airwave recommended a content o ering based on bring your own device technology, and premium entertainment from Sky TV.

A mixture of 43, 50, 65 and 75-inch Samsung ET690 Series hospitality TVs were installed across the estate; each TV was wall-mounted and embedded with an Otrum Mirage guestroom entertainment system, featuring Google Chromecast.

A Sky Select service was also installed within each lodge, offering guests premium HD content, including Sky Sports.

Several ET690 Series TVs were wall-mounted in public areas, including the reception, bar, club shop and changing rooms. Each display features a Geochron Digital Atlas, o ering a series of customisable dynamic overlays or ‘map sets.’

An audio rack headend was deployed, enabling cloud-based audio to be sent to ‘zones’ throughout the estate – this facilitates the control of ambie players, radio, and Sky feeds - using 50+ ceiling speakers as an output.

AIRWAVE at work

RAASAY HOUSE HOTEL Raasay House Hotel sits proudly on the Isle of Raasay - a tiny, but stunning island situated between the coast of mainland Scotland and the Isle of Skye.

Small in size (Raasay’s last population census counted 161 inhabitants), Raasay is big in beauty, boasting a barren landscape overlooked by stark mountains and stormy waters.

Visitors to the island enjoy hiking, wildlife spotting and watersports, with Raasay House (the island’s only hotel) acting as the epicentre of the tourism trade.

But as is often the case in remote environments, the hotel’s TV system struggled. Issues included a limited line-up of channels and regular system crashes, requiring sta intervention.

Raasay approached Airwave, fed up with an expensive incumbent TV system that frustrated guests and the hotel’s sta alike.

After a quick, but enjoyable, site visit, Airwave were able to implement a lower cost, but more appropriate solution, using the local Freeview TV signal and redistributing it in RF over the hotel’s data cable inputs, implementing a balun in each room, connected to the TV’s aerial input.

The result? a simpler, cheaper and more reliable solution, and a load more TV channels! LOCH MELFORT HOTEL Situated a short drive from Scottish west coast jewel Oban, Loch Melfort is a country house with enviable views across the Sound of Jura.

Set in 17 acres of gardens and beaches, Loch Melfort provides an away from it all experience in luxury suites and sea view lodges.

Whilst stunning sea views, tranquility and roaring log fi res delight guests, the low defi nition, limited channel TV service was a problem.

Simply speaking, the remoter the environment, the more di cult it is to provide a TV service. Add an abundance of mountains, trees and rain, and the Scottish Highlands throws up a perfect storm of factors likely to inhibit TV reception.

Having dealt with similar issues at hotels in the Inner Hebrides and Yorkshire Dales, Airwave took to this latest assignment, like a duck to a loch.

Having checked for Freeview reception and drawn a blank, Airwave implemented 2 x OM10 multichannel transmodulators, enabling the transmission of Freeview channels over Freesat instead.

Freesat o ers a satellite alternative to Freeview, with over 170 TV & radio channels and access to catch-up players.

Airwave wall-mounted a mixture of 32-inch LT661H Series and 43-inch US662H Series LG hospitality TVs, utilising DVB-S2 tuners to transmit Freesat.

Loch Melfort’s new TV technology enables the transmission of a comprehensive line up of channels, on high defi nition displays.

A happy hotel, happy guests and happy Airwave install technicians who spent an enjoyable day in a breathtaking location....