A "Smart TV" for displaying company information
December 15, 2015 3:43 PM Subscribe
My company is looking to deploy flat screen TVs in all our branches. We have 15 branches in 5 states with no IT staff at any but 2 of them.
Ideally, we'd love to have a system that could be updated with fresh content, but the systems I've seen require a fair amount of investment and time.
I'd be willing to settle for a TV that could play local content via a thumb drive I'll send the managers every six weeks or so, but that is very much my least favorite idea.
There are a TON of different Smart options available, and I only have experience with LG's WebOS, which left me underwhelmed (slow, confusing) and had compatibility issues with video files.
I know a mini-PC connected to the TV is the most logical way to do this, but the idea of having 15 additional machines on our network to essentially play slideshows and videos seems silly with basically every TV having a linux media player embedded.
Any help or tips appreciated, I'm very open to whatever.
PS we're a M$ shop, so Windows-centric preferred, though we can spin up whatever as long as it won't entail a bunch of laborious admin work.
Ideally, we'd love to have a system that could be updated with fresh content, but the systems I've seen require a fair amount of investment and time.
I'd be willing to settle for a TV that could play local content via a thumb drive I'll send the managers every six weeks or so, but that is very much my least favorite idea.
There are a TON of different Smart options available, and I only have experience with LG's WebOS, which left me underwhelmed (slow, confusing) and had compatibility issues with video files.
I know a mini-PC connected to the TV is the most logical way to do this, but the idea of having 15 additional machines on our network to essentially play slideshows and videos seems silly with basically every TV having a linux media player embedded.
Any help or tips appreciated, I'm very open to whatever.
PS we're a M$ shop, so Windows-centric preferred, though we can spin up whatever as long as it won't entail a bunch of laborious admin work.
I would look at purchasing non-smart TVs and getting something like the Intel Compute Stick (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html)
Smart TVs are usually locked down systems with limited CPU. Since the stick is running Windows, you'll have lots of options to customize how you want.
I'd probably approach the problem by having a browser run in full screen mode on startup. Then you can update a website with the info you require. Ultimately it seems like a more versatile solution.
posted by ambirex at 4:07 PM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
Smart TVs are usually locked down systems with limited CPU. Since the stick is running Windows, you'll have lots of options to customize how you want.
I'd probably approach the problem by having a browser run in full screen mode on startup. Then you can update a website with the info you require. Ultimately it seems like a more versatile solution.
posted by ambirex at 4:07 PM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
Chromebit (or Chromebox) devices managed via Google for Work (note you don't have to sign up to go all in on google apps as far as I know, you can just manage all the chromeos devices centrally)
posted by GuyZero at 4:07 PM on December 15, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 4:07 PM on December 15, 2015 [6 favorites]
I've set up multi-site digital signage for a local school and I heartily recommend RiseVision, a free signage management and display stack. Fairly gentle learning curve, powerful and the option to pay if you want assistance.
posted by NordyneDefenceDynamics at 4:12 PM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by NordyneDefenceDynamics at 4:12 PM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
the idea of having 15 additional machines on our network to essentially play slideshows and videos seems silly with basically every TV having a linux media player embedded.
If security is anything of a concern, dumb TVs (as in not on the network at all) with smart little devices attached is a good idea. The smart TVs are not unlikely to be vulnerable to attacks that the vendors are slow to patch and they don't integrate into your patch/vulnerability management systems.
posted by Candleman at 10:07 PM on December 15, 2015
If security is anything of a concern, dumb TVs (as in not on the network at all) with smart little devices attached is a good idea. The smart TVs are not unlikely to be vulnerable to attacks that the vendors are slow to patch and they don't integrate into your patch/vulnerability management systems.
posted by Candleman at 10:07 PM on December 15, 2015
If it is a simple slideshow you're wanting to do then I would just get dumb TV's and then get a raspberryPi for each one. That way you would have a complete computer running behind each TV, which you could ssh into to update and control and then it becomes quite easy to just send updates via a script. It would add on about $30 per TV which would be a cost savings over buying a smart TV.
posted by koolkat at 2:03 AM on December 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by koolkat at 2:03 AM on December 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by lattiboy at 3:46 PM on December 15, 2015