Getting Started With Digital Signage
What is digital signage?
The Basics
Digital signage - is the term used for any form of sign or signage - that happens to be digital.
When we’re talking about digital signage, we’re referring to displays (TVs, monitors, tablets, LED panels, video walls) in businesses, public spaces, offices, restaurants, retail stores, etc. showing some type of informational or advertising content.
Digital signage can also be LED totem signs or marquees (like outside a school or bank).
Digital signage comes in all shapes and sizes from small digital price tags, to massive 100 ft. LED walls.
How Does it Work?
Well… it depends.
Digital signage takes many forms. It can be as simple as an iPad showing a static image, a USB stick plugged into a TV, a laptop or other computer playing a Power Point presentation, or a 200 screens running specialized digital signage software.
Digital signage comes in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of complexity.
Typically, you will have a ‘media player’. This is the device responsible for playing the ‘content’. It’s usually plugged into a display (or many displays). Sometimes, the media player can be built into the display or it can be an external device. The media player is usually connected to a CMS, where it retrieves content. When you update content in the CMS, the media player will download its new configuration and content - and play it.
Media players come in all shapes and sizes. They can be rack mounted enterprise grade hardware (that costs an arm and a leg), inexpensive consumer grade devices, and everything in between.
Glossary
Content
- What you see being played on digital signage displays. Can be any form of digital content: images, videos, documents, web apps, video streams, etc. - In the industry, we always say: “Content is king.”
CMS (Content Management System)
- CMS or Content Management System, is what you use to store, schedule, and manage the content for your digital signage deployment. Typically it is a website or application that is cloud based. This allows you to manage your content from anywhere in the world. The core function of a CMS is to allow you to ‘put’ or ‘assign’ content to a media player(s).
DMS (Device Management System)
- DMS or Device Management System, is a website or application that is used to manage the hardware of your digital signage deployments. Typically, it will allow you to reboot, refresh, change the volume of, get the online status of, and other information/functions for the media players and connected devices of your digital signage deployment.
Display
- What you see the digital signage content on. Most digital signage is displayed on commercial displays. They differ from a consumer ‘TV’ that you would purchase for your home. They’re designed to be on all day, have settings and features not available on consumer grade displays - and they typically lack a television ‘tuner’. They look like TV’s - but they’re displays engineered to be used in a business or commercial setting. Typically, a commercial display will have a 3 year warranty.
Player/Media Player
- A player or media player, is a term used in the industry for the devices that actually ‘play’ your digital signage content. Typically, it’s a small computer with specialized software. Although, we often use what’s known as a SoC (System on Chip) player - that is built-in to the display itself. This helps eliminate failure points and provides you with an all-in-one solution. Samsung has their Tizen based Smart Signage Platform, while LG has their webOS platform. There are others, but they are the most popular in the industry.
Video Wall
- A term used for when you take 2 or more displays to make a larger ‘screen’ - where the content can be played across multiple displays that act like a single screen. Sometimes, you may see different content played on each of the screens. A video wall usually refers to when there are multiple displays installed immediately next to each other to give the impression of one larger screen.