Library signage screen to play news all day, no sound

[falko1]

Hi,

 

Our library is looking for a solution to have a screen that plays news all day, preferably BBC. Muted sound.

 

Plan is to buy a signage screen and we have a spare chromebox already that can be used.

 

Any recommendations to better/alternative solutions?

Edited November 6, 2024 by Dos_Box

[timbo343]

Have a look a AbleSign.tv. all you need is a firestick, tv and access to the net. You can tell it to stream a website via it's management system.

[supportman]

We just bought some Philips digital signage TV's. They have a web browser built in that can play anything.

[David44]

VidGrid running as a Kiosk app might do what you want.

 

Change the settings and then paste the resulting URL in to the Google Admin Console, assuming your Chromebox is managed, as a Kiosk app.

 

E.g...

 

https://vidgrid.tk.gg/?config=eyJzdGF0ZSI6eyJ2aWRlb3MiOlt7ImlkIjowLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3ZzLWNtYWYtcHVzaC11ay5saXZlLmZhc3RseS5tZC5iYmNpLmNvLnVrL3g9NC9pPXVybjpiYmM6cGlwczpzZXJ2aWNlOmJiY19uZXdzX2NoYW5uZWxfaGQvcGNfaGRfYWJyX3YyLm1wZCIsInN0cmVhbURhdGEiOnsidmlkZW8iOiJodHRwczovL3ZzLWNtYWYtcHVzaC11ay5saXZlLmZhc3RseS5tZC5iYmNpLmNvLnVrL3g9NC9pPXVybjpiYmM6cGlwczpzZXJ2aWNlOmJiY19uZXdzX2NoYW5uZWxfaGQvcGNfaGRfYWJyX3YyLm1wZCIsInRpdGxlIjoiQkJDIE5ld3MiLCJjYXRlZ29yeSI6Ik5ld3MiLCJwbGF0Zm9ybSI6IkJyb2FkY2FzdGVyIn0sImNhcHRpb25zIjoiIiwiaW5kZXgiOjB9LHsiaWQiOjEsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vZXVyb25ld3MtZXVyb25ld3Mtd29ybGQtMS1uei5zYW1zdW5nLnd1cmwudHYvcGxheWxpc3QubTN1OCIsInN0cmVhbURhdGEiOnsidmlkZW8iOiJodHRwczovL2V1cm9uZXdzLWV1cm9uZXdzLXdvcmxkLTEtbnouc2Ftc3VuZy53dXJsLnR2L3BsYXlsaXN0Lm0zdTgiLCJ0aXRsZSI6IkV1cm9uZXdzIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnkiOiJOZXdzIiwicGxhdGZvcm0iOiJCcm9hZGNhc3RlciJ9LCJjYXB0aW9ucyI6IiIsImluZGV4IjoxfSx7ImlkIjoyLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3R1cm5lcmxpdmUud2FybmVybWVkaWFjZG4uY29tL2hscy9saXZlLzU4NjQ5NS9jbm5nby9jbm5fc2xhdGUvVklERU9fMl8xOTY0MDAwLm0zdTgiLCJzdHJlYW1EYXRhIjp7InZpZGVvIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly90dXJuZXJsaXZlLndhcm5lcm1lZGlhY2RuLmNvbS9obHMvbGl2ZS81ODY0OTUvY25uZ28vY25uX3NsYXRlL1ZJREVPXzJfMTk2NDAwMC5tM3U4IiwidGl0bGUiOiJDTk4gVVMiLCJjYXRlZ29yeSI6Ik5ld3MiLCJwbGF0Zm9ybSI6IkJyb2FkY2FzdGVyIn0sImNhcHRpb25zIjoiIiwiaW5kZXgiOjJ9LHsiaWQiOjMsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8veW91dHUuYmUvZEl4djVRUFk4ZEkiLCJzdHJlYW1EYXRhIjp7InZpZGVvIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9kSXh2NVFQWThkSSIsInRpdGxlIjoiVVMgRWxlY3Rpb24gfCBWb3RlcnMgaGVhZHMgdG8gdGhlIHBvbGxzIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnkiOiJOZXdzIiwicGxhdGZvcm0iOiJZb3VUdWJlIn0sImNhcHRpb25zIjoiIiwiaW5kZXgiOjN9LHsiaWQiOjQsInVybCI6IiIsInN0cmVhbURhdGEiOnt9LCJjYXB0aW9ucyI6IiIsImluZGV4Ijo0fSx7ImlkIjo1LCJ1cmwiOiIiLCJzdHJlYW1EYXRhIjp7fSwiY2FwdGlvbnMiOiIiLCJpbmRleCI6NX0seyJpZCI6NiwidXJsIjoiIiwic3RyZWFtRGF0YSI6e30sImNhcHRpb25zIjoiIiwiaW5kZXgiOjZ9LHsiaWQiOjcsInVybCI6IiIsInN0cmVhbURhdGEiOnt9LCJjYXB0aW9ucyI6IiIsImluZGV4Ijo3fSx7ImlkIjo4LCJ1cmwiOiIiLCJzdHJlYW1EYXRhIjp7fSwiY2FwdGlvbnMiOiIiLCJpbmRleCI6OH1dLCJhY3RpdmVWaWRlb0lkIjozLCJhY3RpdmVWaWRlb0luZGV4IjowLCJjYXB0aW9ucyI6ZmFsc2UsImdsb2JhbFZvbHVtZSI6MSwibXV0ZWQiOmZhbHNlLCJjbG9zZWRDYXB0aW9ucyI6ZmFsc2UsImNsaWNrVGhyb3VnaCI6ZmFsc2V9fQ%3D%3D

[SteveB_NI]

@David44 That is awesome! Thanks for that - nice and useful for my plans too

[falko1]

Thanks all, will check these out.

[dapaulio]

Can you still embed bbc I player in a html frame. Used to embed it in xibo a long time ago.

You could embed other live streams also

[Planehazza]

I have a couple of primaries showing interest in signage screens again. They don't, however, understand that just because they had it years ago it will suddenly work and without any new costs. They have a 10-15 year old sony TV with a VGA to Cat6 converter, but no one knows where the other end is. This goes back 10 years or so, many years before we took over their IT support so it's not worth trying to get it working.

 

 

For a single screen in a small primary, what are you default go tos? They don't understand that a standard home TV isn't really built for 12+ hours per day all year round, but that's all they're going to stretch to.

 

Should I just tell them to get a basic smart TV that can take a USB with images? Or maybe look at one with Google apps/firestick etc and use ablesign?

[dhicks]

For a single screen in a small primary, what are you default go tos?

 

We run a couple of (Panasonic, I think) 75" TVs in our front lobby. They've been on probably 12 hours a day for the past couple of years with no problems that I can see. Around £600 each from Amazon. We have those plugged in to ChromeOS machines - small NUC-alikes reformatted with ChromeOS Flex and joined to our Google Workspace so we can manage them as kiosk machines. Under £200 each for hardware and license, assuming of course you use Google Workspace. Both the TVs and ChromeOS devices are on simple digital mains timer plugs, they get the power cut at 7pm and come back on at 7am.

[Planehazza]

That does sound like it would work, but getting the school to splash the cash is not going to happen.

 

Thanks!

[dhicks]

They have a 10-15 year old sony TV with a VGA to Cat6 converter, but no one knows where the other end is.

 

It sounds like they have a working TV that has, at least, a VGA input - it might also have an HDMI input. In which case, all you should need is a NUC-alike mini PC (£160-ish on Amazon) and an HDMI-to-VGA converter cable (£20?). £30 for a ChromeOS management license if you're using Google Workspace, otherwise maybe try a Linux distribution set up as a kiosk that simply loads the BBC iPlayer page. I have a script to set up Raspbian as a kiosk machine:

 

https://github.com/dhicks6345789/device-config

 

That hasn't been updated for a while and might need a bit of tweaking.

[chazzy2501]

The Samsung Magicinfo screens can select and input and sound level. Also disable controls and schedule power. Not sure if they have tuners in though. but they have web browsers so you might be able to stream it.

[JRA]

I've done variations on a theme with Opensurv (the successor to the original Rpisurv.) Tested the concept earlier in the week and all working well. Raspberry pi is the brains of it.

 

Users get a folder, put images in the folder, so long as the images are named exactly "image1.png" and "image2.png" it'll stick them in the rotation, show each image for 10s then a little 10s video and repeat until a job shuts it down and a plug timer fires it up again on weekday mornings. The good thing is it's just editing an image for them, then when it's right it's up on the telly (no need to restart anything exotic.)

 

Full-fat Ubuntu goes on the Pi. I tried a few flavours of Raspbian but didn't get it working right. Samba and Winbind for the file share, Opensurv goes on, tweak the monitor1.yaml to steer to the content in the share.

 

Bit of Linux involved in it admittedly but meh, the price is right at least! Currently wheezing along on a Pi4 but I'll get a 5 in at some stage and roll a few more out.