How to Use the CRTV in Silent Hill: Townfall (Room 204 Puzzle)

The CRTV is the small analog pocket television Simon carries through St. Amelia, and it is the one tool the whole opening of Silent Hill: Townfall is built around. It does two jobs: it pulls in signals that contain puzzle information, and it shows you where something is moving nearby. Screen Burn Interactive built the game in first person specifically so the CRTV screen stays in your hands rather than being flattened into a minimap.

Quick answer: The CRTV is a handheld television found in Room 204 of the Haldane Hotel. Tune it to pick up signals that reveal puzzle clues, and hold it up to spot nearby enemies.

What the CRTV does in Silent Hill: Townfall

The device has two functions, and the game teaches them separately with its own tutorial cards. Both use the same screen, so you are always reading grain and static rather than a clean interface.

Function	What it gives you	First taught in
Tuning Signals	Images and clues hidden in broadcasts; logs a “SIGNAL STORED” entry	Room 204, Haldane Hotel
Detecting Threats	The position of a nearby figure as you move	The caged corridor outside Room 204

Tuning is not decoration. The first locked door in the hotel cannot be opened until you have tuned a signal and read the number it shows you.

Where to find the CRTV: Room 204, Haldane Hotel

You do not start with the CRTV. The opening chapter, “Arrival”, walks you from the water to the hotel before the device turns up on a desk.

Drag yourself onto the wooden dock and follow the shoreline. The gate at the top of the stone pier is locked, so use the ladders to drop to the lower dock and climb back up, then continue until you reach the Welcome to St. Amelia sign.

Approaching the town sign — The Welcome to St. Amelia sign marks the entrance to the town proper. Shown at 06:09 in Rubhen925’s video. Image: Screen Burn

Work through the fogged streets and alleyways past the notice board and the shuttered storefronts. Pick up the St. Amelia Shorefront map from the ground, which labels the Town Square, Main Street, West Shore Road, the Clinic, the Pharmacy and Farrow Street Parking.

Simon finds a map — The Shorefront map names the districts you can reach during the opening. Shown at 10:28 in Rubhen925’s video. Image: Screen Burn

Step into the ringing phone booth and answer. Dialling 900 for emergency services and 010 for the operator both fail, and a second call comes through with a voice offering protection. The save menu appears during this stretch.

Game save menu — The save menu, shown after the phone booth calls. Shown at 13:07 in Rubhen925’s video. Image: Screen Burn

At the town-square monument, take the tube out of the hanging man’s mouth. Simon loses consciousness and comes to in a concrete room. Next, open the door marked with tally marks, crawl along the red-lit passage, cross the submerged tunnel, and use the ladder to reach the bridge for room 204.

Inside Room 204, the CRTV is sitting on the desk playing static and flickers of a woman. Picking it up triggers the tuning tutorial.

Room 204 calendar puzzle solution: 18 January 1938

The hidden door in Room 204 is held shut by a calendar wheel. The number you need is not written anywhere in the room — it only exists inside a broadcast.

Raise the CRTV and adjust it until the picture locks. The “CRTV – Tuning Signals” card explains the input, and a clean signal resolves into a calendar page with 18 marked on it.

CRTV tuning tutorial screen — The tuning tutorial appears the first time you hold up the pocket television. Shown at 20:32 in Rubhen925’s video. Image: Screen Burn

Walk to the calendar puzzle mounted on the door and interact with it to take control of the wheels.

Rotate the wheels until they read 18 January 1938 and confirm.

You know it worked when the door releases and opens onto the bathroom. Inside you will find a note and the Room 204 Key, described in the inventory as a key for a room in the Haldane Hotel. That key is what lets you leave the room and continue into the corridor.

Sweep the rest of the room before you leave. The desk area also holds a room service card and a medical monitor, and the CRTV keeps any signal you have already locked.

Using the CRTV to detect threats

Once you unlock Room 204 and step into the dark, caged corridor, the second tutorial appears. “CRTV – Detecting Threats” turns the same screen into a tracker, and a shadowy figure shows up on it while you move toward the elevator.

Holding the device up costs you awareness of everything else, so the practical rhythm is short checks rather than constant monitoring. Simon can defend himself with improvised melee weapons such as planks and pipes, but hiding is a legitimate option, and the tracker exists so you can route around a threat instead of fighting it. In the elevator sequence, the figure reaches the doors as they close.

The CRTV stays useful outside too. Back in the town square, now covered in protest signs for C.E.G., you can hold it up to scan for signals in the open, which is how later clues surface as you explore locked doors, the Video Star rental shop and the closed Shorefront Family Clinic.

Silent Hill: Townfall launches September 24, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Steam and the Epic Games Store, with Deluxe Edition digital pre-orders including 48-hour early access that begins September 22. Pre-order bonuses are cosmetic skins for the device itself, CRTV Style: Rusted and the PlayStation 5-exclusive CRTV Style: Beach Edition.