dloudon96 Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Hello, How do you manage your digital signage for TV Screens with minimal computers. At the moment all of our TV Screens are running via USB sticks which are updated frequently, this has been the case for the last couple of years, i'm looking for an easier solution as this isn't really practical in the long run. Any help at all would be great. I'm looking at having around 6 TV Screens running with minimal PC's. Thanks, Dan
Joanne Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Could you have 1 computer and run VGA over ethernet to each of the screens? There are boxes that can send video over ethernet. I don't know what they are called though. There was one at a school I once worked at.
CyberDrac Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 We had a system name Adder? that did something like this
Mr_Jiminy Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 I highly recommend SignageLive, great system with excellent on tap support.
Shadow_Walker Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Could you have 1 computer and run VGA over ethernet to each of the screens? There are boxes that can send video over ethernet. I don't know what they are called though. There was one at a school I once worked at. Thats what i do with our 5 tvs. All the feeds come back into our office via ethernet then converted into vga and plugged into a windows computer running rise digital signage.
dry Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Could you have 1 computer and run VGA over ethernet to each of the screens? There are boxes that can send video over ethernet. I don't know what they are called though. There was one at a school I once worked at. I've also seen VGA over Cat5 in other schools I've been to. My experience is although it's handy to have all screens receiving video from 1 PC, the VGA to Cat5 adapters are approaching as much as buying a NUC or similar for each screen. Once you've added the numerous video cards needed to output to x number of screens, the costs certainly add up. We went for a client-server setup using Xibo. One repurposed desktop as the server and 4 Windows based fanless micro PCs to run the Xibo client. They sit behind the screens and have WiFi built in, so in theory all you need is a power and HDMI/VGA cable going to the PC. In some cases we have ethernet cable runs to the PCs to improve reliability.
Joanne Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 The setup was computer VGA - box VGA - box ethernet - patch panel - network socket - ethernet/vga adaptor - tv vga Not sure what cards you are on about?
dry Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) The setup was computer VGA - box VGA - box ethernet - patch panel - network socket - ethernet/vga adaptor - tv vga Not sure what cards you are on about? The school I saw them in had these: StarTech.com VGA over Cat 5 UTP Video Extender Receiver (ST121RGB) - www.misco.co.uk Would convert VGA output from PC to Cat5 (via converter box). Cat5 all the way along the run. Cat5 into other converter box by TV screen. VGA output from converter box into TV screen. ETA: sorry, just realised what you meant. The school had about 6 or 7 screens around the site, so needed numerous VGA outputs. I think they found just using a splitter unreliable or something? Not too sure as this was a few years ago. Meant the PC had to have numerous graphics cards to provide sufficient VGA outputs. Edited January 12, 2016 by dry
Joanne Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Ooohhh OK. Yeah there will be a splitter involved. Sometimes the signal can degrade over certain distances....
asc Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 We are currently looking into using the 'Chromebit' as a Digital signage solution. Currently we have some Mini PCs hooked up to our screens, pointed to a web page on a local web server which is updated with tweet information etc.... But Chromebit it both easier and cheaper! The Chromebit is in the same class as the Intel Compute Stick, I guess. It runs Chrome OS though ovbviously.
CyberNerd Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Chromebit or chromebox with one of these: https://www.google.co.uk/work/chrome/devices/for-signage/#cms
VeryPC_Anthony_L Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Hi @dloudon96 I have worked on with various Digital signage systems. Alot of the early systems people used cat5 -vga convertors to send the signal out from one pc. More and more people are tending to now go for a pc behind each screen which personally I prefer as you can then make the content more suitable for the area the screen is based in. There are some great systems out there that are worth looking at.
dloudon96 Posted January 13, 2016 Author Posted January 13, 2016 Hello all, Thanks for the replies, I didn't expect them to be so fast! We've managed to find a solution which, touch wood, is working and hopefully will continue to work effectively, by using Air Parrot 2, and Apple TV's, this allows us to use a one licence software and stream it to 6 Apple TV's with one rolling power point, yes, all the content has to be on the TV screens in that department, but it still works great. I'll come back to you if i need anymore help. Thanks, Dan
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now