Advice: How can I deploy and manage content to a screen/TV from another location?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Advice: How can I deploy and manage content to a screen/TV from another location?

sportsthought

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#192254 3-Mar-2016 12:17

The business I work for runs a backpackers.

We want to put up a big screen around the reception area to show content (offers etc).

We want to be able to change the content from another location via PC.

What's the best way to do this?

The advice we've been given is currently to build a simple word press website, then use chrome cast to somehow display the site on the screen. We could login to the wordpress and change stuff when we need to.

Content is made up of words, images and some video.

This would mean having a dedicated PC at the backpackers (apparently)

Anyone got any thoughts etc?

I know there are companies that do this sort of thing, but this is a trial . . ..

Cheers

nzkc

1634 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1041

#1505473 3-Mar-2016 12:35

I'd go the route of having it load a web page (Wordpress or not). Then you can simply control whats on that webpage (or site if you want).

As for getting the content on to the TV you could use a Chromecast and cast a chrome tab to it from a phone or tablet. If the TV (and chromecast) was turned off you'd have to recast it every time. Another option (for a non-smart TV) would be a Raspberry PI that boots straight into the desktop with the webpage open. Pretty cheap and easy to do. New Raspberry Pi has Wifi so you'd have to do very little with it!

tripp

3848 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1220

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1505480 3-Mar-2016 12:47

way i would do it

get one of these or something like it. Double side tape and stick it to the back of the tv :)

Plug the HDMI into the machine, then you could use powerpoint or a webpage to display content

If you need access to it then just remote desktop or use teamviewer etc.

sportsthought

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1505499 3-Mar-2016 13:06

Thanks guys, much appreciated :)

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1505507 3-Mar-2016 13:35

Wifi on the vensmile PC i trash, its some SDIO device that has buggy drivers.

If you go that route, add a USB ethernet or wifi device to preserve sanity.

What you are looking for is digital signage. There are dedicated players with software to manage it around, but the 2 I had a play with had software that was terrible and expensive, but it had options to schedule stuff and pull in rates from a http request to show things like prices and headlines on a ticker at the bottom if you configured that. One of them had a HDMI input and you could put that in the corner if you wanted to show live TV at the same time on the same screen.

Richard rich.ms

wellygary

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#1505509 3-Mar-2016 13:38

tripp:

get one of these or something like it.

A raspberry Pi, Compute Stick, or anyother HDMI based computer would certainlyfit the bill,

Although if you have decent networking infrastructure, you could get a display with an ethernet conenction and simply push/pull content directly to it from where ever you are based.

Also something to think about is the quality (MTBF-wise) of the display you are going using,

If this thing is going to be running full time I would not use a regular TV, but look at getting a specialist display panel,

gzt

18678 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#1505514 3-Mar-2016 13:44

There are digital signage apps for many devices. My feeling is you can skimp on the display for a while but you will need something slightly more robust than Chromecast for the driver.

Edit: unless you have an android TV can load apps.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

sportsthought

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1505516 3-Mar-2016 13:50

It will be running for around 14 hours per day.

wellygary:

A raspberry Pi, Compute Stick, or anyother HDMI based computer would certainlyfit the bill,

Although if you have decent networking infrastructure, you could get a display with an ethernet conenction and simply push/pull content directly to it from where ever you are based.

Also something to think about is the quality (MTBF-wise) of the display you are going using,

If this thing is going to be running full time I would not use a regular TV, but look at getting a specialist display panel,

Killerkiwi2005

374 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 85

Trusted

#1505525 3-Mar-2016 14:25

RaspberryPI with a fullscreen web browser and your done

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1505533 3-Mar-2016 14:34

Killerkiwi2005:

RaspberryPI with a fullscreen web browser and your done

Still have to sort the content for that browser out, which is the biggest hurdle.

The issue with any digital signage is that you need to update the content on it. Few places will have people on staff that can handle that and end up with a presentable display.

Richard rich.ms

Dabble

31 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#1505534 3-Mar-2016 14:47

I use a plugin for chrome called Revolver Tabs: Revolver

You can use it to toggle through open tabs at a set interval.

This way you can set up a few pages showing different without expensive signage software.

tripp

3848 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1220

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1505536 3-Mar-2016 14:56

richms:
Wifi on the vensmile PC i trash, its some SDIO device that has buggy drivers.

If you go that route, add a USB ethernet or wifi device to preserve sanity.

What you are looking for is digital signage. There are dedicated players with software to manage it around, but the 2 I had a play with had software that was terrible and expensive, but it had options to schedule stuff and pull in rates from a http request to show things like prices and headlines on a ticker at the bottom if you configured that. One of them had a HDMI input and you could put that in the corner if you wanted to show live TV at the same time on the same screen.

Never had a issue on 5g wireless
I use one for media streaming from my downstairs machine via wireless i also use steam gaming stream on it to play games on my tv :)

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

CYaBro

4708 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1182

ID Verified

Trusted

#1505570 3-Mar-2016 15:51

Here's some nice free digital signage software that will do what you want, you just need a device to run the display.

http://www.digitalsignage.com/

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

teamsteve

59 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#1507960 8-Mar-2016 10:33

The company that I work for has a really good digital signage product

PM me if you're interested and I'll send some details through :)

drumsticknz

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#1508265 8-Mar-2016 16:06

Check out www.risevision.com.

It runs on Raspberry Pi or any other device that has a chrome browser. I've used it quite a few times, it's pretty easy to design and it's all web hosted so as soon as you make a change to your presentation it'll change over automatically on your signage (provided they have internet access).

It's all free as well (or at least it was when I last used it)

So it only really costs you a Raspberry Pi/SD card and wifi adapter if necessary.

You can login to your presentations from anywhere and make changes.