Digital signage is the term used to
describe the display of content on televisions, preferably LCD or
Plasma screens. This can be as simple as a DVD player with a
commercial on a loop playing on a tv, or as complex as a network of
computers controlling multiple screens managing multiple live feeds
and pre-made content. There are two basic components to every
digital signage system. They are the controller and the screen. The
screen can be any standard television, LCD screen, or Plasma screen.
The controller is what powers the content. This can be a DVD player,
a computer, and memory card reader, even a digital camera. All of
these systems operate under one of three standards:
Direct Play: This is a
system where there is a controller for each screen. For example, if
you have 5 screens, you have 5 DVD players powering those 5 screens.
Single Play: This is
a system in which there is one controller for many screens. For
example, if you have 5 screens, you have 1 DVD player with the
signal split and sent to all 5 screens.
Multi Play: This is the most
common type of system for retail, restaurant, and hospitality use.
This is also a mix between Single Play and Direct Play. This system
has multiple controllers powering multiple screens. For example, if
you have 10 screens, you have 5 controllers: one controller for
every two screens, or 2 controllers, one for 5 screens. This method
allows the most robust system with the least amount of overhead.
Computer based digital
signage systems add more diversity and more features to any digital
signage system. With computer based controllers, you add the ability
to update content via the internet at any time and from anywhere in
the world. You also allow the ability to display any format. These
include live TV feeds, camera systems, flash files, web files, live
websites, HDTV, HD video files, and virtually all video and graphic
computer files. You also add the ability to integrate a ticker and
live content via RSS feeds or from databases allowing your screen to
display dynamic content from your own servers and databases.
With computer based systems, there
are many ways to operate the controller. One way is to setup and run
the content all one the same machine. This is the most inefficient
way to operate a computer based system. The most basic way is to
operate a controller only computer and update its content from
another machine. 303 Design utilizes a software package that allows
us to update our controllers from anywhere in the world. Unlike many
other computer based systems, our software is designed to have the
controller call up our network every few minutes for update as
opposed to us having to login to your network to post updates. This
eliminates the need for our clients to have to open ports on their
network for us to update their content.
Plasma screens. This can be as simple as a DVD player with a
commercial on a loop playing on a tv, or as complex as a network of
computers controlling multiple screens managing multiple live feeds
and pre-made content. There are two basic components to every
digital signage system. They are the controller and the screen. The
screen can be any standard television, LCD screen, or Plasma screen.
The controller is what powers the content. This can be a DVD player,
a computer, and memory card reader, even a digital camera. All of
these systems operate under one of three standards: