Digital Signage

[davenofx]

Hi all

We are about to invest in some digital signage, but our line manager does'nt want to run it through our network. I presume you can just hook up to a laptop or PC off the network and edit and place your pages on this way. Anyone out there using Digital Signage and is it easy to use?

[K.C.Leblanc]

It depends on the system you use.

 

If you're just using a PC with power point then it can easily be standalone.

 

We use a system called OneLan where changes are made remotley through a web brower, you can't make changes on the box it's self. So it needs to be on the network.

 

Why the objection to having it on the network.

[Hightower]

We use some software called Sedao provided by Scotia UK - I don't rate it but the boss does, and she's the one who changes stuff so i guess it's her opinion that counts.

 

Bit strange as to the objection to networked signage, but there you go.

[kmount]

If by through you mean the traffic travelling across it causing load/bandwidth then OneLAN will be fine as the connections from the onelan box to the screens are direct you'd just have a single connection to the network for the administrator to use.

[Ric_]

I believe that the Navaho MediaCats can have files copied to them from a USB drive. Managing via the network is preferred though (no bandwidth is used when not managing the units).

 

The MediaCats are a fraction of the price of OneLAN and other units too.

[dhicks]

We are about to invest in some digital signage, but our line manager does'nt want to run it through our network. I presume you can just hook up to a laptop or PC off the network and edit and place your pages on this way.

 

Yes. Buy an Acer "nettop" PC, £200, and whatever size screen you want (32" ones were £350 or so from Curries the other week). Attach the nettop to the VESA 100 mount on the back of the screen, plug it in to power and network. Have the PC load up a web browser in full-screen "kiosk" mode when it boots. Put whatever you want on some web pages somewhere on your network, use the meta-refresh HTML tag to load the next page in the sequence after a minute or however long you want. You can stick anything you like on a web page, and the browser will cache it so it only needs to be loaded from the network once. Problem solved.

 

--

David Hicks

[plexer]

video over cat5 is ok but what about if you wanted a screen in another building? Do you want different content on different screens? Groups of screens?

[User3204]

video over cat5 is ok but what about if you wanted a screen in another building?

 

Then you need two (or one per different screen / show).

 

Do you want different content on different screens? Groups of screens?

 

Cable splitters, we have an old laptop that displays out into a cat5 extender encoder, this cable is split into two, and then patched through to the ends, and we have two cat5 extender decoders. It does mean we have a spare encoder left.

[maniac]

I'm using Xibo Open Source Digital Signage we're currently running 3 screens around the academy using it, and it's brillient, does everything we need it to, and best of all it's opensource

 

For the clients, we've used old Laptops that have broken screens that have been un-economic to fix, but the VGA output on them works a treat. Just chuck them above the ceiling tiles, and they run perfectally happily with a scheduled re-boot once a week.

 

As the server, I recycled one of our old RMCC3 servers and put Ubuntu on it - does the job nicely. It only took me a morning to get it all working.

 

Mike.

[Edu-IT]

Digital signage is great but it's difficult to get them to look good, unless you have a big budget, or are the creative type.

[maniac]

Digital signage is great but it's difficult to get them to look good, unless you have a big budget, or are the creative type.

 

That's not quite true, there's 100's of free templates out there if you look around, and some of them look quite good.

 

For ours one of my Techs knocked up a background in about half hour, which we now use on all the screens for a uniform look and feel.

 

Mike.

[Mandy]

We supply MediaCat boxes:

 

See here for more information:

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/our-advertisers/40484-mediacat-digital-signage.html

 

We can offer this at £895 for education customers!!

 

Call me for more info!!

[ravens]

There’s lots of good ideas here, but what do you want the signage to achieve?

 

Do you want it to run basic powerpoints and information for students and visitors; custom "corporate" templates with a mix of transitions and scrolling information; or top end stuff with internet feeds, RSS, BBC tickers, local weather, embedded video and sound?

 

There are so many variants but it does come down to how much you have budgeted for.

 

Also, one of the benefits of using a networked device, either a PC or a Hydravision unit which we have is the way the signage software can make use mix of xml and flash to draw information from the internet and present it with real impact.

 

Because the Hydravision unit plays most types of video and sound and is able to display nearly all graphics formats, we have been able to create some really exciting presentations easily and quickly.

 

I'm sure something similar could be achieved with normal software and a little bit of skill and time.

 

If I were you, I would go back to your manager and explain the real benefits that could be had by networking the signage and getting it right first time even if it does cost a little more.

 

Perhaps he or she just hasnt thought it through or is not aware of the benefits.

[nadeem]

I'm using Xibo Open Source Digital Signage we're currently running 3 screens around the academy using it, and it's brillient, does everything we need it to, and best of all it's opensource

 

For the clients, we've used old Laptops that have broken screens that have been un-economic to fix, but the VGA output on them works a treat. Just chuck them above the ceiling tiles, and they run perfectally happily with a scheduled re-boot once a week.

 

As the server, I recycled one of our old RMCC3 servers and put Ubuntu on it - does the job nicely. It only took me a morning to get it all working.

 

Mike.

 

You haven't got any templates you'd like to share have you?

[maniac]

You haven't got any templates you'd like to share have you?

 

The template that's been designed has our academy logo on it in the corner and in the background, but could probably do a version without. It's nothing special really thou, just a few boxes on a blue background with a few effects to make it look the part.

 

This is what it looks like

 

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/mredman/Misc/digitalsignagebackground.jpg

 

Mike.

[plexer]

xibo have a template repositry too.

[nadeem]

The template that's been designed has our academy logo on it in the corner and in the background, but could probably do a version without. It's nothing special really thou, just a few boxes on a blue background with a few effects to make it look the part.

 

This is what it looks like

 

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/mredman/Misc/digitalsignagebackground.jpg

 

Mike.

 

That'd be great if you could share it (without logo)

[nadeem]

xibo have a template repositry too.

 

thanks that wasn't there the last time I looked

 

http://xibo.org.uk/layouts

[maniac]

That'd be great if you could share it (without logo)

 

I'll have to ask John who designed it, I'm sure he won't mind.

 

Mke.

[anup509]

Hay i got Xibo working client working on Windows XP, all features are working but now i want to test this on Ubuntu OS, I've installed Ubuntu on old pc, but i dont know what to do next, is there a client program fpr Ubuntu? Please Help!

[nut-ed]

This could be an interesting product, as the company was formed by the guy who invented VNC and the main graphics engine for HP Multipoint thin clients.

 

Not seen in it action personally - but he obviously knows a thing or two about transmitting graphics over networks...

 

CODA Digital Signage for Education | Camvine