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Live Streaming Digital signage - RTMP or NDI etc


TomHoward

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So we have some digital signage around a college site, about 8-10 TVs distributed all over a local network. Currently they show a mess of different stuff, have a mess of different signage players / devices running on them - some are USB presentations locally, some are on powerpoint with machines behind them and are remote'd into, some are dead as they were on a signage solution that it was decided not to renew the license for.

 

If I were to try tidy these up, I've had the idea that rather than trying to install a complete signage solution, with a PC behind each TV, and some fancy software with screens etc, it would be easier if I just showed the same thing on every TV. Or maybe jut had a choice of 2 streams or something. It's not ideal, but for simplicity it's better than what's going on at the moment.

 

My idea is that I encode a stream somehow, either via OBS, or streaming from a VLC playlist, or other software, into either an RTMP, NDI or other stream, and I put hardware on each TV to decode this stream. NDI could have hardware players at about £150/piece, if I encode to RTMP / UDP I can use an Amazon Firestick with VLC app on and have each TV working for about £30 each.

 

The encoding PC will most likely be a virtual machine on a server, I guess I will have to run an RTMP server on there too.

I have no idea how regularly I'd update the content, but it'd be great if it pulled some Twitter feeds etc in to keep it up to date.

 

I don't think I've seen signage done like this, is it common? Is there any real reason this wouldn't work? I can build the scenes I'd need in OBS but doesn't seem to have any obvious way to schedule changing scenes, or looping through a playlist, is there any better software for using to encode a stream?

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You could encode the programme /stream from an hdmi output to one of these?https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2672515.pdf

 

Then tune each TV (assuming that you have dtv tuners and they aren't monitors?

It basically becomes a digital tv channelIt relies on a simple coax.

Or maybe a load of hdmi to cat6 back to hdmi and an hdmi distributor amp

Edited by Dave m
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Working backwards - depending on the tv's there might be some signage system - which im sure you will know. Samsung has one.

 

We run Blocks which for simple signage is fairly custom. old laptops are more than enough. You can schedule, a touch configuration, but once running its pretty easy.

 

And if you run google enterprise (not sure on that as it looks like its become more open) there is a system that uses chromecast.

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We have tried a few signage systems and to be honest at the moment our main concern is getting something up & running quickly and making something that’s very cheaply expandable. I think we have given up on putting machines behind every TV as there is just too much administration in keeping them all working.

 

If I could find a way to rip a PowerPoint off Onedrive and stream that PowerPoint to RTMP I’d be away. Currently my best option is to bounce the PP to video every time it’s updated and use OBS on a virtual machine to stream. Generating a stream is proving more complex than the players.

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I mean I’m relatively open but we’ve tried a few signage players and basically keeping the hardware running and updating the content on each one is becoming a real resource drag. It’s not something that I think we’ll spend proper money on as it isn’t essential but if we could rig something up same on all machines it could look much smarter than it currently does.

 

I’m wondering if anyone’s tried that approach or if there’s any real reason like data rates that it wouldn’t work. We do however have virtual machines etc available or could spend some money on a proper centralised machine with a decent GPU for encoding a few streams and then throw a cheap player behind each TV.

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So we have some digital signage around a college site, about 8-10 TVs distributed all over a local network. Currently they show a mess of different stuff, have a mess of different signage players / devices running on them - some are USB presentations locally, some are on powerpoint with machines behind them and are remote'd into, some are dead as they were on a signage solution that it was decided not to renew the license for.

 

If I were to try tidy these up, I've had the idea that rather than trying to install a complete signage solution, with a PC behind each TV, and some fancy software with screens etc, it would be easier if I just showed the same thing on every TV. Or maybe jut had a choice of 2 streams or something. It's not ideal, but for simplicity it's better than what's going on at the moment.

 

My idea is that I encode a stream somehow, either via OBS, or streaming from a VLC playlist, or other software, into either an RTMP, NDI or other stream, and I put hardware on each TV to decode this stream. NDI could have hardware players at about £150/piece, if I encode to RTMP / UDP I can use an Amazon Firestick with VLC app on and have each TV working for about £30 each.

 

The encoding PC will most likely be a virtual machine on a server, I guess I will have to run an RTMP server on there too.

I have no idea how regularly I'd update the content, but it'd be great if it pulled some Twitter feeds etc in to keep it up to date.

 

I don't think I've seen signage done like this, is it common? Is there any real reason this wouldn't work? I can build the scenes I'd need in OBS but doesn't seem to have any obvious way to schedule changing scenes, or looping through a playlist, is there any better software for using to encode a stream?

In my experience, which is based entirely on short term/temporary presentation systems the last thing we attempt is networking to a PC at each display. Historically we have used distribution amp and VGA inclucing CAT5 adapters for longer runs, TBH we still find VGA is less troublesome than HDMI but some of that may be due to cheaper kit. Originally we used analogue RF TV distro (with 21" tube TV's!) which was fine in it's day... If I was starting from scratch I'd seriously consider DaveM's suggestion of DTV. I've seen it done with Firestick type devices on a wired LAN.
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Dare I suggest a cyclone 2+ media player running the PP as a movie? They are dirt cheap and run for weeks.Cheap enough for redundancy or several connected by a simple changeover switch while cattying playlists on USB/SD card.They output HDMI.
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I know you say you don't want a box behind every TV, but I suspect the issue is due to using a mix of different boxes. We find the Brightsign stuff is very robust and easy enough to manage for simple distributions. The LS424 is pretty cheap, too: https://www.brightsign.biz/digital-signage-products/LS-Product-Line/LS424

How do you manage the content onto them? A web-based system with administration for each TV we've used in the past but to be honest it's more work than needed as you end up creating content for each TV.

Dedicated boxes would be nice, but to be honest the enthusiasm isn't there for investing proper money in making this system work, which is why we are looking at doing it on the cheap.

 

I've seen it done with Firestick type devices on a wired LAN.

Firestick type devices on a wired LAN is the route I'm looking at. However what I'm struggling with most is the cleanest way to create the RTMP stream that needs to be pushed to all sticks. Maybe one or two feeds for all sticks and encode a couple of different streams made up of local playlists.

 

Dare I suggest a cyclone 2+ media player running the PP as a movie? They are dirt cheap and run for weeks.Cheap enough for redundancy or several connected by a simple changeover switch while cattying playlists on USB/SD card.They output HDMI.

We do use those for temporary setups and art exhibitions etc when we showcase work, and for displays, but for the signage use I think there's too many TVs to make it viable and the content really needs to be updatable from sitting at a desk. These 10 or so TVs are distributed between buildings, some are at height, some are across the road etc. It'd probably take someone over an hour to go around and swap the media on them (and the time beforehand to write that media to 10 usb sticks)

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to be honest it's more work than needed as you end up creating content for each TV.

 

We use YoDeck running on Raspberry Pi's which has worked well for us, although there is a cost depending on how many screens you have. It allows you to push content to all the screens at once or manage them individually.

Edited by richard_cooper
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re the cyclone 's -

 

I wasn't aware that the buildings were separate.

I was envisioning a cabled single building fed by a single player.

(ie all the same content)

even so, each building could have a single player (better two strapped together for redundancy)

 

Looks like you need an internet based solution

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I have used Raspberry PIs loaded with software from the site below and I have some of them mapped to a network share or a folder on a web storage for updating them. I have had very little problems with it.

https://www.binaryemotions.com/digital-signage-systems/raspberry-slideshow/

This will play photos or videos no problem.

you can do Donation to him of about 30 euro and then you can put it on as many as you like. He is also very helpful and will reply to emails quit quickly.

 

 

 

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