Digital Signage and Live TV
One of the most common questions we are asked is, “can I run live TV with signagelive?” The answer is yes, of course you can. However the flexibility of signagelive means you can bring live TV into signagelive in several different ways.
Listed below we explore the different ways in which this can be achieved:
- Live Stream – This simply involves entering the web address (URL) of the live stream that you wish to use. This is NOT recommended because you are relying on a permanent connection to the Internet and therefore if the web connection goes down, you lose your TV feed. The quality of the stream will be very poor too. So it is best to avoid this option.
- Capture Card – Within signagelive you will see there is a default asset in your media library aptly named “Capture Card”. What this method requires is that the PC being used as the player has a compatible TV capture card installed (tested cards can be viewed at Tested Capture Cards). You then connect your source e.g. Freeview, Satellite STB, Cable STB etc… to the Capture Card and simply build a playlist within signagelive that includes the “Capture Card” asset. Whilst this is a good low cost solution, it is important to make sure that your TV source has an output that matches the input capabilities of the capture card e.g. if your Cable STB has S-Video out, then ensure your Capture Card has S-Video in.
- Hardware Video Encoder – This option is fairly expensive as the encoders can cost anything from £650.00 up to £3,000.00 and that is standard definition only, but this is a great option when you have many screens on a Local Area Network (LAN) that can access the same TV feed. Similar to the capture card option, you would connect your source to the Encoder. The Encoder then takes that source and converts the signal into an IPTV feed that is broadcast across the LAN on the fly. From a signagelive perspective, you simply add the UDP address (IP Address) of the Encoder as an asset within signagelive which can then be added to a playlist. Once again make sure your TV source has the same output connector e.g. S-Video as the Encoder has input connector.
- Samsung XN Range of Commercial Displays – Providing the screens have not already been installed and are yet to be purchased as part of your project, then this option provides the best solution because you can connect your Live TV source directly into the supported Samsung screen and importantly this includes HD. With most Samsung models whose model numbers include an “XN” (implies the screen has a built in PC) we can control the PiP (Picture-in-Picture) function and define the source e.g. HDMI 1, HDMI 2, Component, S-Video etc… Furthermore within the signagelive layout creator, you can position the PiP window anywhere on the screen and create any size window too, but it is important to maintain the aspect ratio of your TV source e.g. 16:9 or 4:3. The example video below shows a Samsung SM460DXn running Live TV:
So there you have the 4 options for getting Live TV into signagelive.
There are a few things you need to be wary of;
- Most Satellite STB, Cable STB’s etc… that output in HD encrypt the signal. This is called HDCP encryption. It is therefore important to note that currently only option 4 above would support Live HD TV as the Samsung commercial displays are classed as a TV and the HDMI inputs on the XN product can decrypt the signal. As of yet, we are unaware of any capture cards or encoders that can decrypt from HDMI. There are some that can work with Component, but finding HD STB’s with Component these days is a huge challenge.
- Make sure you have paid appropriate licence fees or have permission to use Live TV!
- 46″ Samsung HD LCD Panel built into a Bespoke Stand
- Bluechip Vario L2 HD Player
- signagelive 1 year licence
- Wireless Lan
- Installation and setup
- 1/2 day on site signagelive training
- Individual Media Files (Images, Video, Flash, Web Pages, TV, IPTV) where each file can setup to come to life and stop playing within the playlist as required based on dates and times.
- A Flickr or Photobucket account can be added and everytime a photo or video is added to the account, the updated content will dynamically be shown on screen. This is great for taking photos or video on a mobile phone and publishing them to screen.
- Paid-for content feeds from Screenfeed or Sky can be added and just the simple task of adding the ‘Sky News’ media asset will ensure your screens will always show the very latest news items as images or video, within seconds of Sky publishing them.
- Interrupts can be added to switch automatically between layouts or to switch from a multi-zone layout to a full screen live TV picture.
- External programs (EXE files) can be scheduled to run at a specific date and time.
Inurface Media 46″ Freestanding Digital Signage solution for £2,950 until end of August
Inurface Media 46" Freestanding Digital Signage
signagelive partners Inurface Media are offering a complete 46″ Freestanding digital signage solution normally £5,000 but available for £2,950 until the end of August.
The solution comprises the following:
Inurface Media recently completed the installation of the same 46″ Freestanding Colston Hall in Bristol. See the press release and images here.
If you are interested in this special offer contact Inurface Media directly on 08453 032 844.
Say aloha to our partner Pacific Digital Signs today and tomorrow!
Our representative in Hawaii, Pacific Digital Signs have informed us that they will be exhibiting at the Hospitality, Hotel & Restaurant Show, 14th (today!) and 15th July 2010.
Vince Mitchell – President of Pacific Digital Signa said:
“Just wanted to give you a quick update that this week Weds and Thursday we’ll be at the big Hospitality, Hotel & Restaurant show at the Blaisdell. We’re going to have several cool new products that we’ll be previewing for the first time in Hawaii.
One of the coolest and most effective products to come out this year is the new multi-sensory kiosk below. Its indoor/outdoor and delivers via sight, interactivity, sound and even smell! Here’s a picture of one of the units we’ll have at the booth:
We’ll have other new products including a total digital sign solution (Hardware & Software) for under $300, so I hope you’ll have a chance to stop by. We’ll be in booth 653 which is in the Mountain/Ewa corner of the main exhibit hall…just look for all the screens! You can preregister here: http://www.douglastradeshows.com/lhf_att_reg.php or sign-up at the show.
Hope to see you there.
And if you want to keep up with our latest news, please ‘like’ our Facebook Fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/PacificDigitalSigns
Aloha,
Vince
vince mitchell :: president
808.523.2800
808.384.7161 direct
Out Of The Box Digital Signage for just £788.00!
If you are looking for an out of the box digital signage solution then the ARK-DS303 from Advantech is the perfect product. Shipped pre-loaded with signagelive you can have your digital signage network up and running within minutes.
The Advantech ARK-DS303 is not your average mini-PC. Instead, it’s a very compact (18.5cm x 11.8cm x 4.3cm), fanless, rugged, powerful and energy efficient player designed specifically for digital signage applications. Click for full specification.
signagelive has been enhanced to make use of the ARK-DS303’s Broadcomm “Crystal HD” High Definition hardware decoder supporting 1080p HD video content and enabling the ARK-DS303 to run at 10%!! processor load for maximum uptime and stability.
What does it cost?
Option 1: 1 year signagelive/1 year warranty = £788.00
Option 2: 3 year signagelive/3 year warranty = £969.00
The pricing includes return to base warranty on the hardware plus signagelive support, hosting and all software updates to ensure all signagelive customers benefit from all the new features at no additional cost.
Advantech have offices worldwide, pricing in Euro’s and $USD is available on request.
New auto-update of content turns screens into subscribers
The next release of signagelive scheduled for early August, will incorporate a new feature that sets signagelive even further apart from the rest of the digital signage software industry.
signagelive now includes the ability to automatically update content on 1,000′s of connected players from a single change to a playlist. The new feature intelligently knows which players are scheduled with the amended playlist and will update each player to reflect new content as it is added, amended or deleted.
This new feature is the final piece in the jigsaw turning screens into subscribers to content, removing the need for expensive and time consuming manual scheduling and publishing of playlists and content.
It is now possible to create a single playlist with multiple dynamic media assets ensuring your players and connected screens intelligently show the latest content to your audience.
Consider a playlist that you can build in signagelive where you can incorporate the following dynamic media:
With the new release of signagelive looping content is well and truly dead and with support for the widest range of player hardware and operating systems available in the digital signage industry, we look forward to enabling the world with dynamic and revelant digital signage content.
