Digital Signage (again)

[klingklang]

Hi All ,

 

Fresh from a governors meeting ive been informed we have to have a screen up in school . So as usual it has to be cheap and do everything ! Ive seen Xibo up and running via @soveryapt has anyone any info to assist please.

A tv screen with a usb pen was mooted as a cheap and cheerful option but i was hoping this was said tongue in cheek:rolleyes:

[soveryapt]

Fancy meeting for a brew can always talk you through setups and what not.

[LeMarchand]

A tv screen with a usb pen was mooted as a cheap and cheerful option but i was hoping this was said tongue in cheek:rolleyes:

 

I've seen that done! If all that's needed is a slideshow, it doesn't look too bad - assuming things can be set to loop and not go into standby.

[klingklang]

Hi Andy ,Sounds like a plan . Im hoping that i seriously dont end up with a 21" tv and a usb pen and "there you go " option ! lol

[Sagima]

 

A tv screen with a usb pen was mooted as a cheap and cheerful option but i was hoping this was said tongue in cheek:rolleyes:

 

That served us well for a couple of years, then we tried codapod and now we use eStream (which does everything but I'm not sure I'd call it cheap)

[soveryapt]

Hi Andy ,Sounds like a plan . Im hoping that i seriously dont end up with a 21" tv and a usb pen and "there you go " option ! lol

 

Cool. I'll message ya.

[craynerd]

Hi guys, sorry to jump into the party uninvited but I am in exactly the same position and also in Lancashire - I'd be interested in joining the conversation if possible.

 

We currently have 4 displays already linked to a pc serving each. Admin currently remotely login, boot up the PowerPoint and then logout. We are looking to improve this and the dedicated digital signage software available looks great. I've been playing with digitalsignage.net (interestingly and randomly also local in blackburn) - you can sign up andlogin to their cloud software for free and even preview your designs. Super easy to use but it's £160 a year licence per computer. That's not too bad if you run all your monitors off one pc but the displays are a long way from each other. Apparently you could get around this by using HDMIor VGI TO Ethernet boxes but this it quite a large one off expense and my understanding is that it is still a lot of wiring. Each having a dedicated pc would make life easier but increase the costs.

Xibo looks good to me as well. I was sat with the IT manager for an hour trying to install it this evening with some difficulty and now he is off for a week so it'll have to wait for a week now anyway. I've been trying to install it this evening on my home pc, installed appache but for some reason couldnt hit the xibo install directory on my local web server. I'll give it another go over the next few days.

I'm not the IT manager but have a decent tech understanding but I've been set the task of getting it active.

 

Cheers

Edited November 26, 2014 by craynerd

[ryangushue]

Hi KlingKlang,

 

I've seen multiple schools use digital signage to their benefit. Knowing exactly what you need will allow you to pay as little as possible and get the biggest impact. Few questions:

 

-Are you looking for a hardware solution, software solution, or both?

-What kind of content are you looking to showcase?

-Where in your school is this going?

-What does you setup look like?

[MrGAWilson]

Hello there! I am also looking in to the Digital Signage solutions out there having decided to move away from Xibo. Its a mission to set up and I just cant trust it to work reliably. Plus it doesn't really look nice either!! So I am currently on the verge of buying 5 HD222 Bright Sign boxes for our 5 School TVs. Any feedback on both these particular devices and / or Digital Signage in general most appreciated.

[hyb80]

I bought brightsign, thinking it would solve all my problems. It didnt, mainly because it was not flexible enough for our requirements so it went back.

 

I ended up playing £100 a year at https://springsignage.com/ to host our xibo install and buy some micro pcs to run the client.

 

Yes I had to deign the back drops myself. On one of them it just runs a slides presentation hosted online. Slides is getting better and better for this.

[MrGAWilson]

Thanks hyb80! What Bright Sign Model did you go for? What were your requirements?

[hyb80]

I think it was the xd232 or equivalent back then. The management software was just too commercially orientated. We required more interactive plugins like youtube playlists and inserting webpages, twitter etc

 

At the time brightsign didnt support these things.

 

Might be worth downloading the software to see if you can create something in preparation to see if you can do what you want to do

[hyb80]

Do you have clickview? they now have a digital signage option which is incorporated into clickview online now

[plexer]

Have a look at One PC runs multiple screens for digital signage - Multi screens over the network! this was what I was going to use.

 

Ben

[southhamster]

If you have a QNAP NAS there is a free digital signage app (webpage) which looks interesting - we are looking to give it a go next year with a raspberry Pi showing the webpage on a TV or 2.

[fiza]

if all you want to show is powerpoints then look at Start PowerPoint slide shows remotely

otherwise I would go with Xibo.

[MrGAWilson]

Thank you for all the great info guys! We used to just want a PPT but now we want some nice twitter feeds, video, streaming from iPlayer etc and so forth. We used to use a similar product to the one above (posted by fiza). We have had a good crack at Xibo but it seems to require a lot of time and effort! Thanks again!!

[fiza]

Thank you for all the great info guys! We used to just want a PPT but now we want some nice twitter feeds, video, streaming from iPlayer etc and so forth. We used to use a similar product to the one above (posted by fiza). We have had a good crack at Xibo but it seems to require a lot of time and effort! Thanks again!!

@MrGAWilson - When did you last use Xibo? The latest version is so much better and easier to use for the novice.