Using a monitor to advertise
April 4, 2008 8:22 AM
We are looking to purchase a flat screen monitor or television that can cycle through files so we can advertise programs at a library. We want to be able to hook a flash drive up to it and use word documents. Any suggestions? Essentially we want to do this without having to ask our IT guys to hook up another PC for us.
Well, we can go smaller if need be. Size isn't everything.
posted by zzazazz at 8:44 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by zzazazz at 8:44 AM on April 4, 2008
A lot of large TVs have a slot for an SD memory card and can display images in a slideshow. Some also have a USB port for the same purpose with flash drives, but SD is more common.
If you want to use word documents, you've got a problem; I've never seen a monitor or TV that can directly handle word docs - that'd require a lot more processing power. (Also, unless it's actually running MS Word, which requires that it be a full-fledged PC, you'd be running the risk of things not rendering quite right.) But if you can just have your ads be in jpeg form, this is really easy to do.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2008
If you want to use word documents, you've got a problem; I've never seen a monitor or TV that can directly handle word docs - that'd require a lot more processing power. (Also, unless it's actually running MS Word, which requires that it be a full-fledged PC, you'd be running the risk of things not rendering quite right.) But if you can just have your ads be in jpeg form, this is really easy to do.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2008
Surely you can find $400 out of the the several thousand that you're going to spend on a screen that size to hook up a simple PC to display Word documents.
Alternately, Smartparts make a 32" digital picture frame. Sorry, Flash site. Click on Digital Picture Frames and scroll alllll the way to the right. I don't know if it would display word documents natively though.
posted by Magnakai at 8:47 AM on April 4, 2008
Alternately, Smartparts make a 32" digital picture frame. Sorry, Flash site. Click on Digital Picture Frames and scroll alllll the way to the right. I don't know if it would display word documents natively though.
posted by Magnakai at 8:47 AM on April 4, 2008
We can use jpg's. Trying to use Word documents was unpossible from the getgo.
posted by zzazazz at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by zzazazz at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2008
Surely you can find $400 out of the the several thousand that you're going to spend on a screen that size to hook up a simple PC to display Word documents.
The OP's looking for a 36"+ set - I spent $900 on a 37" LCD, and that was six months ago. Especially since this isn't a movie-display set but a glorified bulletin board, the cost of a PC would probably be a significant percentage of the cost of the set. Also, most similar setups I've seen really don't have a good place to place and secure a desktop.
...and upon refresh, looks like jpgs are fine. Provided that you're not planning on using this set for anything other than program advertisements, I suspect the cheapest thing available with an SD card reader would be just fine for you. (Obviously, check reviews beforehand, etc.) Issues with colors or rendering that would make a set horrible for TV/movie viewing are probably irrelevant to display some clip art or a snapshot and "Hey, check out read-with-your-toddler on saturdays!"
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:57 AM on April 4, 2008
The OP's looking for a 36"+ set - I spent $900 on a 37" LCD, and that was six months ago. Especially since this isn't a movie-display set but a glorified bulletin board, the cost of a PC would probably be a significant percentage of the cost of the set. Also, most similar setups I've seen really don't have a good place to place and secure a desktop.
...and upon refresh, looks like jpgs are fine. Provided that you're not planning on using this set for anything other than program advertisements, I suspect the cheapest thing available with an SD card reader would be just fine for you. (Obviously, check reviews beforehand, etc.) Issues with colors or rendering that would make a set horrible for TV/movie viewing are probably irrelevant to display some clip art or a snapshot and "Hey, check out read-with-your-toddler on saturdays!"
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:57 AM on April 4, 2008
Wow, they're really that cheap? Apologies, I was definitely mistaken. Tomorrowful has the answer.
posted by Magnakai at 9:03 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by Magnakai at 9:03 AM on April 4, 2008
I did this, only I worked for a music venue and we did to advertise our upcoming shows. I hooked up a DVD player that would play VCDs, then used Photo2DVD to burn discs with the images on it. You can set times, transitions, loop it forever, and all sorts of other things. I burned a new DVD each week with new shows.
posted by nitsuj at 9:19 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by nitsuj at 9:19 AM on April 4, 2008
These guys offer ready-made hardware, but also offer open-source (FREE!) software for DIY. Then you'd only need to ask the IT guys once.
I think the input is .jpgs though, not word docs.
posted by so at 9:35 AM on April 4, 2008
I think the input is .jpgs though, not word docs.
posted by so at 9:35 AM on April 4, 2008
Yeah, my 42" Philips plasma has a USB port and takes a thumb drive. (Or a memory card plugged into a USB reader. Or, probably, a hard disk.) I paid $1000 for it. It was refurbished, but still. I have already used the USB port to upgrade the firmware, which is something I never thought I'd be doing on a TV...
posted by kindall at 9:38 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by kindall at 9:38 AM on April 4, 2008
Get a few $40-90 photo frames, put them on counters and inside display cases, and run JPGs through those. I cry whenever I see people mounting huge LCD/Plasmas on walls solely for the purpose of flipping through pictures. What a waste. :(
posted by catkins at 9:51 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by catkins at 9:51 AM on April 4, 2008
Consider a projector set. Panasonic has one that takes an SD card and projects from 38"-300". The image quality will depend on the amount of ambient light you're projecting in, though the Panasonic touts something called Daylight View image enhancing technology.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:57 AM on April 4, 2008
posted by cocoagirl at 10:57 AM on April 4, 2008
As an addition/alternative, can you use the photos as screensavers on all the computers?
I'm not sure how often you'd be changing out the jpegs, but I think on Windows when you set a "my pictures" screensaver, when you tell it which folder to pull photos from, you can choose a network folder. That way you would only have to handle one set of files.
posted by radioamy at 6:43 PM on April 5, 2008
I'm not sure how often you'd be changing out the jpegs, but I think on Windows when you set a "my pictures" screensaver, when you tell it which folder to pull photos from, you can choose a network folder. That way you would only have to handle one set of files.
posted by radioamy at 6:43 PM on April 5, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:34 AM on April 4, 2008