Screens in hospitality: why a domestic television is the wrong choice

Buying a television for a venue often ends up in the same shop as buying one for home. The price is lower, the picture looks the same, and the difference only shows after six months.

What sets a professional display apart

• Rated operating hours. Domestic televisions are designed for a few hours a day. Professional displays are rated for twelve, sixteen or twenty-four hours of continuous use.
• Brightness. A venue with large windows needs a considerably brighter screen than a living room. With too little brightness the guest sees nothing during the day.
• Burn-in protection. A digital menu with a fixed logo in the corner leaves a mark on the panel. Professional models have mechanisms that prevent this.
• Automatic start-up. After a power cut a professional display returns to its previous state and to the correct input. A domestic set stays on the start-up menu until someone changes it.
• Settings lock. Staff cannot accidentally change the input or the language.
• Mounting and ventilation. The housing is designed for permanent installation, including in portrait orientation.

Where the screen goes

Height and angle matter more than the diagonal. A screen mounted too high forces guests into an uncomfortable position; a screen facing a window reflects and is useless during the day.

For sports broadcasts the rule is simple: a guest should be able to see the picture from their seat without turning their body. Several smaller screens on different sides work better than one large one in the middle.

The digital menu

A screen above the counter serves a different purpose from a screen for broadcasts. Here legibility is what counts: large type, sufficient contrast, few items on screen, slow transitions. A menu that changes every five seconds gets read halfway through and then abandoned.

The essential requirement is editing without a technician. If changing a price means calling an engineer, the price will not be changed; the old figure will stay and the guest will expect the old price.

Sound from screens

Speakers built into displays are weak and fire backwards. If the sound of a broadcast matters, it should be routed into the venue's sound system on its own zone, so it can be switched on in one part of the room only. Otherwise the broadcast intrudes on guests who came for lunch.

Before buying

• How many hours a day the screen will be on.
• Where the windows are and how strong the light is at the brightest part of the day.
• Whether this is for broadcasts, a menu, or both.
• Who will edit the content and how often.
• Whether you need sound and in which zone.