Digital Signage software, what do you use?

[Mixed]

Hi all,

 

Just having a rethink on what we could be using within our school. We have 11 screens around the school running ScreenCloud to display images/news/information to everyone. This currently runs at about £205 p/m which I think is pretty high...

We do not use their hardware and simply just run the software from a firestick which links to the cloud portal.

 

I did see TrilbyTV at BETT but they weren't running any sort of demo, you had to book in one which I haven't managed to organise yet.

 

Wondering if there any software out there you would recommend and whether this is good pricing for what it is.

 

Thanks!

Edited March 7, 2025 by Mixed

[NegativeKillDeath]

We use TrilbyTV on 5 screens.Its a recent addition for us and it works well. The comms team manage all the content and I see its frequently showing new stuff so they must get on with it. We had a bit of an issue getting the app to work with LG android TVs but there was a good dialogue with Trilby and they gave us up to date builds to work with.

 

No idea on cost though.

[mrbios]

Xibo cloud hosted and some DSCS9X devices from them. Think we pay for 7 TVs and it's £128/yr

[DWilson1997]

Trilby - can't go wrong for the price. We run around 80-90 players - every classroom screen is set as one and we pay the same annual fee. We have lots of different media pulling from external calendars, websites etc that auto update. Delegated access so only specific staff can add content to specific areas. It just works.

[hallamke]

We are also a Trilby school after we transitioned from Anomaly (formerly Life Channel... don't ask! ).

 

We currently have 5 screens all being run from small Latitude 3190s from the DFE in 2020. Easy enough to use from a cloud based console. They are in the process of changing their pricing based on a per screen model (currently we pay one price that covers "unlimited" screens). Think the new pricing is about £200 per screen which in our case will save us money going forward. Those with larger estates may not find it as economical though.

[Rob_D]

xibo self hosted here.

[mark100]

Ablesign - currently free, but looking like they are planning to start charging $2 per screen/per month. Installed around 18 months ago and seems easy to manage and reliable.

[machy]

Raspberry Pis here, that just play from a folder of videos.

 

I have a nice script set up that auto adds and removes videos based on which folder staff put the videos in.

 

No ongoing costs and the pis are cheap enough and hardy enough to use until they die and just stick a new one in

 

4 Screens but no reason it can't scale to many more

[dhicks]

Digital Signage software, what do you use?

 

Managed kiosk ChromeOS devices (£200 small NUC-alike PC) running a simple Google Slideshow (or my own slideshow script in a couple of particular cases). Google actually seem to be pushing ChromeOS as a digital signage solution, and as we have an existing Google Workspace domain it makes it nice and easy to manage.

[flipthebit]

http://www.yodeck.com with Raspberry Pis

 

I think there's a trial available.

[TechMonkey]

I use Trilby, but slightly miss Xibo.

 

Good points for Trilby:

- Really simple setup.

- Good content provided.

- Can add external content pretty well.

- Android player so we can use cheap devices or built-in.

 

Things I don't like (or miss)

- proper data handling missing, even RSS. It can show RSS but you have no control over how it is displayed or formatted.

- Regions. Would be nice just to have a bit of control of what is displayed where. But this isn't a biggie.

- presentations, even online ones, don't auto progress even if timings set. Again, no biggie and I have a feeling Xibo now doesn't do this.

- Groupings and access control is a bit convoluted.

[timbo343]

I would have said AbleSign too, though with them starting to charge is it still cost effective? From a management point of view it's dead simple and for a trust it's ideal. Cloud hosted and centrally managed. Edited March 7, 2025 by timbo343

[JRA]

Raspberry Pis here, that just play from a folder of videos.

 

I have a nice script set up that auto adds and removes videos based on which folder staff put the videos in.

 

No ongoing costs and the pis are cheap enough and hardy enough to use until they die and just stick a new one in

 

4 Screens but no reason it can't scale to many more

 

Similar story to this here. Pis with Rpisurv (and Opensurv on the newer ones) that make a little slideshow and video sequence out of media in a folder/folders. Free (apart from the hardware) and does the job, not a flicker in years. Now I've said that they'll all explode ofc. I would definitely Xibo if I had to buy something in.

[FragglePete]

Xibo self hosted here within Docker. Have some of the Xibo signage units and paid a trivial amount for a lifetime perpertual license.

 

Pete

[Sephiroth]

We have Xibo self-hosted on Docker. Very powerful but not the simplest to understand. We're looking at Trilby TV so that we can move the day-to-day running away from technical personnel.

 

In the past we've used Navajo Mediacat, which is again powerful and complex but was also quite expensive and the hardware we had was underpowered (this was about 10 years ago). Not sure what they're like now, but I wouldn't rule them out based on previous experience.

[Mixed]

Got a demo booked in with Trilby next week so see what they can show me, thanks for all the suggestions will look into the rest.

[thimon]

Use Planet eStream here. No complaints, it just works. Their support is brilliant.

[CrootUK]

+1 xibo self hosted

[Rob_D]

Got put on to Vivi by an MSP contact. Anyone done anything with them?

[lmgtfy]

We recently moved from Xibo to Ubiquiti UC-Cast-Lites which are around £160 each. They are WiFi and USB C powered.

 

Xibo did us well for years but we found it complicated for anyone apart from us to change the content. We were also running it on old computers that were increasingly giving us issues.

 

The Ubiquiti solution is pretty basic in terms of functionality but the ease of use is unbeatable. Also no subscription so pay once for the device.

 

Also supports CEC so the TV will turn on and off with the schedule.

 

Hope this helps.

[FN-GM]

For those using Xibo, what players do you use please?

[RobFuller]

Vote for Yodeck here, very powerful, API , loads of options for players/embedded devices. Have a look at the criteria for becoming a reseller for the discounts..

[Rob_D]

For those using Xibo, what players do you use please?

We're using some old Mini-PCs that currently run LTSB, but we're looking to move to linux.

[mrbios]

For those using Xibo, what players do you use please?

 

Their own Android DS9CX devices. One TV has a HP Mini behind it though as it runs a script that we can do with Xibo.

[Sephiroth]

For those using Xibo, what players do you use please?

 

Slightly late reply, sorry...

 

We use Optiplex 3060 Micro pcs running Windows mounted behind the screens. Plenty of power to run 4k content. Managed by GPO so I barely have to touch them.

 

Set to turn on in BIOS every morning and we have a Xibo command scheduled to shut them down if not overridden, which works really well.