Digital Signage For Reception - Any Experience or Recomendations?

[glennda]

Thing is with powerpoints, it's easier just to export all slides as jpgs and run as a slideshow [/QUOT

 

When i used the navaho boxes we were still on office 2003 (cira 2008/2009) which didn't have that option so it was a pain in the backside 3 slideshows a week of 20/30 manually exporting slideshows etc. I got Xibo running fairly easily within a few hours and as far as I am aware they still use it to this day. When i left the school they had around 7 displays running I think @mdench can say how many they have now as I presume they still use it (the bosses mate writes xibo)

[mdench]

Gone from 7 displays to 24 now with departments managing their own screens with some basic training

[JimmyTown]

We used the free signage software on our estream system. Lets you upload powerpoint and we find it easy to use. If it didnt come free then we would have probably used something like Xibo. Less money spent the better really.

[VeryPC_Colin_F]

Hi Sam_Brown.

 

please PM Me if you still require information on this

[mhathaway]

We recently installed Xibo to manage our large plasma screens around the school site. Easy to install; both client and server. Very happy with it.

 

Despite what previous posters have said, it handles PowerPoints just fine. Approx. 90% of our content is PowerPoint based.

[clodhopper]

Have a chat with Mario @ Neo Media (Neo Media)

 

It's a really nice simple solution with little Android based players that plug into the TV via HDMI & powered by the USB on the TV. They also have PC based players.

 

The cost is really good as well :-)

[hyb80]

I think I am going to revisit this in the summer but for now on the screens we have which are LG "Super"Sign which is truly awful and even powerpoint support is limited.

 

For now I have installed ubuntu on the builtin PC, set it to boot straight into a kiosk mode (full screen) in chrome and load a Google Slides presentation that can be edited anywhere at anytime and I have set it to refresh the presentation every 30 mins. It doesnt provide weather updates or twitter feeds but happy with it for now. Given a bit more time you could create much better professional looking layouts than a lot of the naff Digital Signage solutions I have seen in this search

Edited February 21, 2014 by hyb80
extra

[synaesthesia]

The difficulty in getting Powerpoint working isn't Xibo, it's Powerpoint. It's utterly rubbish and as a result it's a bit crashy regardless what platform you run it on. As you can export from powerpoint to anything else you like such as a video file, that's just as simple and won't cause any problems. We're starting to find it's running slower than usual however, even the linux client is starting to drag a bit. Might be something I'm doing wrong!

[JimmyTown]

I do think it is a shame that PowerPoint is used so heavily and in turn a lot of signage content relies on it.

 

In today's world its a dinosaur and just isnt flexible enough across platforms. Sadly I think it will be a while before PP is phased away from being used so often in the education world.

 

There are some terrible solutions out there that will never cater for the needs of a college, but there are some out there that do. Its just finding the right one for your needs, our system lets us put together our PPs, feeds from the internet, weather from the Met Office etc. Its main restriction is being Windows based as far as the signage players go, but its not a major bind.

[featured_spectre]

Give @VeryPC a shout or Colin french from there if possible. Good man with good quotes and suggestions. Not afraid to tell you what is what either.

[Townsend]

Nice new single screen option from LG - basically a TV with an integrated Hard Drive that comes with a number of pre-designed Digital Signage templates. Ideal if you only need the one screen and would certainly fit within the budget. Edited March 9, 2014 by vikpaw
commercial