What can I do with a flatscreen TV in our reception area?
March 15, 2011 10:55 AM Subscribe
At my work we have a 57" flat panel TV in the reception area. What are some interesting things we could do with that?
We already use it to "welcome" by name any clients, etc. who are visiting that day. Other than that we just have static slides with images and facts about the company. It's a conservative company in a conservative industry.
What interesting things have you seen in reception areas with flat screen TVs?
We already use it to "welcome" by name any clients, etc. who are visiting that day. Other than that we just have static slides with images and facts about the company. It's a conservative company in a conservative industry.
What interesting things have you seen in reception areas with flat screen TVs?
Hm. In hindsight, I think my recommendations might not fly. I had totally forgotten about Panic's screen, and I second the whole lunch recommendations/weird stats. I'll be curious to hear what you end up doing with the flat screen...
posted by avoision at 11:30 AM on March 15, 2011
posted by avoision at 11:30 AM on March 15, 2011
In addition to Panic's awesome wallboard which I covet, there are other examples at last year's Ultimate Wallboard contest.
My bank has some service that presents weather and sports data on TVs above the tellers. It's like headline news lite, almost a Muzak of TV new--designed to be as inoffensive as possible. Not sure where they get the feed from, though.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:55 AM on March 15, 2011
My bank has some service that presents weather and sports data on TVs above the tellers. It's like headline news lite, almost a Muzak of TV new--designed to be as inoffensive as possible. Not sure where they get the feed from, though.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:55 AM on March 15, 2011
Response by poster: It's networked, so a headline/newsfeed would be great. Could you configure an RSS feed into a scrolling feed that way? Using Powerpoint, maybe?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:06 PM on March 15, 2011
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:06 PM on March 15, 2011
Best answer: I was literally just now checking out Geckoboard for a similar solution in our reception area. It seems like it has merits - it can load from a number of built-in sources plus arbitrary RSS feeds and other custom resources.
posted by lantius at 12:19 PM on March 15, 2011
posted by lantius at 12:19 PM on March 15, 2011
Second on the Pixelator. You can just play regular TV and stick a foam-core grid and diffuser over the TV to abstract it into interesting shapes. Just fantastic.
Also, Electric Sheep by Scott Draves is gorgeous abstraction: http://scottdraves.com/dreams-forsale.html
posted by BigJen at 12:42 PM on March 15, 2011
Also, Electric Sheep by Scott Draves is gorgeous abstraction: http://scottdraves.com/dreams-forsale.html
posted by BigJen at 12:42 PM on March 15, 2011
You might consider using a Roku box (the one that does netflix) as the brain behind an rss or news scroller. They're wi-fi, under $100, and there's at least 1 channel available that does a news scroller. It's also pretty easy to develop for if you want to do a custom feed.
posted by putzface_dickman at 1:01 PM on March 15, 2011
posted by putzface_dickman at 1:01 PM on March 15, 2011
A word of caution: The more interesting and topical your display is, the more "care and feeding" it will need to keep it current. This will have to be a part of someone's job. My academic department has a TV in the foyer, and it cycles between displaying upcoming events (visiting speakers, etc), and showing little video clips of projects done in the department. Those video clips were cool at first, but nobody has changed them in three years and they're getting very stale.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:52 PM on March 15, 2011
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:52 PM on March 15, 2011
I was going to suggest leaving the 20GB Bergensbanen video running in a loop on your giant screen in the lobby until I read the part about it being a "very conservative" company. Answering questions like "What's that? Oh, it's a 7 hour Norwegian train ride..." probably wouldn't fly.
posted by thewalrus at 2:11 PM on March 15, 2011
posted by thewalrus at 2:11 PM on March 15, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Pixelator - blurs area into a large pixel of color.
Abstractor - only displays a thin, horizontal line of changing color.
I tried out the Abstractor a while ago (note: self-link), and it was pretty straight-forward and fun. Given the size of your TV there... this project seems a bit too minimal/stark. But maybe you could try multiple lines?
posted by avoision at 11:19 AM on March 15, 2011