edie209 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 We have been using Xibo for many years, but we have decided to have a look at other solutions, to make it easier for our admin staff to manage the various screens around the school. I have used Onelan in a previous school and have also just had a demo from Dsign, which I liked the cloud component but its a monthly cost which I didn't like. I want to be about to have easy management of information displayed and be able to also incorporate web content too i.e Twitter, Weather, News. What is everyone using? also I want a one off payment not something that has a monthly / yearly charge.
NB9457 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 I used the free version of Risevision and linked it to a Google Slides doc that the staff update. Implemented it in September, had one call out since and that was because somebody unplugged it. Effortless, incredibly easy to manage and as it's a Google slides doc to be edited, staff find it a breeze to do what they want with.
rogerdnixon Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 If you use G Suite - Chrome Sign Builder works well and is simple to setup and manage + free. You just need a Chromebit/box plugged into your display. 1
fiza Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 We have been using Xibo for many years, but we have decided to have a look at other solutions, to make it easier for our admin staff to manage the various screens around the school. I have used Onelan in a previous school and have also just had a demo from Dsign, which I liked the cloud component but its a monthly cost which I didn't like. I want to be about to have easy management of information displayed and be able to also incorporate web content too i.e Twitter, Weather, News. What is everyone using? also I want a one off payment not something that has a monthly / yearly charge. If its just Powerpoints you want to show then look at https://www.presentationpoint.com/software/showpoint/ Showpoint is free.
edie209 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Posted January 30, 2018 We don't use Google here we are an O365 site. Xibo works great for me but its a little complicated for some of the admin staff hence looking at another solution Dsign Cloud looks great but its the monthly cost. It will need to have custom layouts too.
NB9457 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 We don't use Google here we are an O365 site. Xibo works great for me but its a little complicated for some of the admin staff hence looking at another solution Dsign Cloud looks great but its the monthly cost. It will need to have custom layouts too. You could probably get the same effect with o365 providing the can embed powerpoints (never tried on o365 so can't say). If so, free cloud solution!
IrritableTech Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 In the x amount of years we had xibo our staff only ever uploaded power point files. So last year we scrapped xibo and used the free version of show point https://www.presentationpoint.com/software/showpoint/ Staff drop the power point into a shared folder and a few moments later show point starts playing it. For different displays just set up different shared folders and drop the right power point into the relevant folder.
bicky Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 We use Xibo and every department has their own screen with the login details.
Simcfc73 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 I've just added a couple of new screens with Xibo using mini android pcs on usb sticks.... only cost £25 each and with a bit of tinkering seems to work great with the android player. Decided to just give staff access to the media so they just upload the media whenever they need to change it and it picks it up on the next refresh.
edie209 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Posted January 30, 2018 It seem Xibo is still in the running. Something else I need to be able to do (Xibo People) is play our school radio via the digital signage TV's around the school at non lesson times, anyone ever done this?
Jamman960 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 We're beginning to use Trilby TV, its pretty easy and allows anyone to upload video's etc for approval
Sylv3r Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 We used Xibo for quite a few years, but have just gone down the route of Wix websites in a browser - seems more reliable and doesn't seem to crash as often.
TechMonkey Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 Interesting thread as we are in the same position as you, using Xibo but fear office staff will not get it. We are possibly looking at getting planet E-Stream, which has a digital signage portion built in. The other option is trying to mimic what someone on here created with Xibo, which was various plugins and shared folders that staff just drop pictures or word documents into. I'll see if I can find the link.
pslater Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 Interesting thread as we are in the same position as you, using Xibo but fear office staff will not get it. We are possibly looking at getting planet E-Stream, which has a digital signage portion built in. The other option is trying to mimic what someone on here created with Xibo, which was various plugins and shared folders that staff just drop pictures or word documents into. I'll see if I can find the link. Possibly me? We're still adding more screens to our solution (currently on 14) and it seems to be working well. We've found that keeping it simple for the content creators works well. We have very little input with the content these days but its constantly changing and is looking good. We've also now created an Instagram feed that displays the latest post by either our Art department or Library - another way for them to post to one place but have content updating in several places. http://www.edugeek.net/forums/av-multimedia-related/175672-xibo-how-we-do-signage.html
TechMonkey Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 There we go. Yes it is you. Nice to hear it is still all working well. 1
edie209 Posted January 31, 2018 Author Posted January 31, 2018 Now this looks interesting thanks guys
PR-UK Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 Planet eStream looks pretty good, I had a demo of it as BETT, part of it could replace our ClickView system but we're also hoping that the Digital Signage stuff could give us better control of our School TVs, feature wise it looked powerful.
InterwebsGuy Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 I like Xibo, the UI isn't the best but I wouldn't say it's complicated to do anything. I also find reasonably reliable. My only gripe is it's a shame they've pushed it down the Docker route with the new version. It's a bit of a faff to set up without using Docker (and even with using Docker it seems a faff especially as they don't seem to like running on VMs for obvious reasons without some trickery). 1
edie209 Posted January 31, 2018 Author Posted January 31, 2018 Planet eStream looks pretty good, I had a demo of it as BETT, part of it could replace our ClickView system but we're also hoping that the Digital Signage stuff could give us better control of our School TVs, feature wise it looked powerful. I just looked their site and it does look good, but and its a big but, it costs £2k yearly
Arthur Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 I want to be about to have easy management of information displayed and be able to also incorporate web content too i.e Twitter, Weather, News. Trilby.tv can do that and is a lot cheaper than Planet eStream.
Simcfc73 Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 I like Xibo, the UI isn't the best but I wouldn't say it's complicated to do anything. I also find reasonably reliable. My only gripe is it's a shame they've pushed it down the Docker route with the new version. It's a bit of a faff to set up without using Docker (and even with using Docker it seems a faff especially as they don't seem to like running on VMs for obvious reasons without some trickery). Agreed, still looking at an easy way to back it up. 2
colly72 Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 +1 for Planet eStream. Not cheap, but when you consider it comes with media library, live streaming, lesson observation etc it's a compelling product.
ITGuyNW Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 I like Xibo, the UI isn't the best but I wouldn't say it's complicated to do anything. I also find reasonably reliable. My only gripe is it's a shame they've pushed it down the Docker route with the new version. It's a bit of a faff to set up without using Docker (and even with using Docker it seems a faff especially as they don't seem to like running on VMs for obvious reasons without some trickery). Yeah the docker thing is horrendous. I've kept it on an earlier version with a web server.
InterwebsGuy Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 Yeah the docker thing is horrendous. I've kept it on an earlier version with a web server. Likewise. I'll install the non-Docker version eventually but it just appears to be a pain.
markwilfan Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 Used planet estream in the past. Great product. We had radio playing via a webpage in our screens. Been using trilby TV for a year and love that too. Great for showcasing student work. Again webpage could stream school radio
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