r/digitalsignage

Hey all,

We got an email the other day letting us know our digital signage app was suppressed on amazons fireTV App Store due to not using their in-app-payments api for payments. It’s not easy for us to do that since we support multiple platforms like android and web, etc. we’d have to allow purchasing subscriptions specifically for fireTV displays.

Our signage app had a link back to the dashboard where users could purchase subscriptions, so we removed the link from our player app and resubmitted last night. Waiting for approval so it may be resolved if that’s all they cared about, but have other vendors had to deal with this before? We’ve been on amazons store for quite a while now, so it’s odd that this is just now becoming an issue.

Additional question, we’re looking at trying to get onboarded to the signage stick ecosystem. For those of you who have onboarded already, what’s that experience been like for you?

There are 600+ signage vendors out there, and they all do the same base thing: push content to a screen on a schedule. The features on top change from vendor to vendor, but the core is identical. So the real question isn't features, it's whether the vendor built things properly. A lot of them haven't: old stacks, dependencies untouched for years, security as an afterthought.

I'd filter on tech and security first.

Android is the most common platform, and it shows the tech problem well. Many vendors just give you an APK to sideload onto a smart TV, which is fine until you need to update it, because there's no way to push updates remotely. Then you're reinstalling by hand on every screen (if the vendor actually even updates it). The setups that hold up either use a proper store or a device in device-owner mode (which isn't the case on Android TV) with built-in OTA updates, which is rare.

Past that, the things worth comparing: how often it actually updates (new versions, patches, bug fixes, or frozen the day you bought it), how well it runs on your hardware, and whether it's a marketing company with tech bolted on or a real tech team building what they're good at. That last one usually predicts the rest.

This is also why I wouldn't dismiss the newer "vibe coded" apps. Something built quickly on a modern stack can easily beat an old product that gives you an app bundling an outdated version of Chromium to run on your Windows mini PC. Brand age isn't the same as being well built.

So for a simple setup: don't compare feature lists, compare how it updates, what it runs on, and who's behind it.

For anyone managing scrns across several retail locations, what does your setup look like?

I’m less curious abt the screens themselves and more about how you manage everything once the number of displays starts growing.

Do you normally control content centrally and push updates to each store, or does each location handle some of its own content?

Promotions, pricing, seasonal campaigns and removing expired content all seem like they could get messy pretty quickly.

Curious what actually works once you’re managing dozens of screens instead of just a few

Went through the actual post and comment history here instead of just going on a feeling.

Almost every thread gets answered mostly by the same handful of vendor accounts pushing their own product, thread after thread, and none of it actually helps.

I've been kicking around an idea and want to hear what you all think before doing anything with it.

Make this more of a knowledge-sharing place: for people who work in the industry, sure, but just as much for people who are curious, running their own screens and want advice on content or use cases, or just want to know how something works. Steer it away from being a place vendors sell into.

Concretely:

• No recommendation threads for commercial products, and no "how do I do this in [product]" questions either, those belong in a support ticket with the vendor, not here. Open source stays fair game for both, since anyone here can actually help with that.
• No product pitches, from anyone. Share how you'd approach something, not "At X we do it this way," the company doesn't need to be in the comment.
• No repeating "Disclosure: I work at X" either. Most of the time that's really just an ad with a disclaimer stapled on, not much real value in it. Want people to know where you work? Get the flair, that's what it's for. The one exception is vendor-to-vendor threads, or situations where who you work for actually changes what you're saying and it's worth mentioning.
• Hardware discussion stays welcome, especially players that work across CMS platforms rather than locking you into one, like BrightSign or Amazon Signage Stick. A hardware bundle that only works with one company's software is a different case.
• Open-source releases, free materials like books and guides, and community directories are all still welcome. A free tier on a commercial product isn't the same thing though, that gets treated as promotion.
• More room for photos and videos of your own installs, interesting setups you spotted in the wild or at an expo, new hardware and tech worth knowing about, market and industry talk, educational content. And the everyday stuff too, like a photo of your cafe asking where to mount a screen or what would actually work there.

>

Samsung LH55QMCEBGCLXL / QM55C issues

I got this display for about ¼ of its original price because the shop didn’t need it. It’s relatively new, but I don’t have much documentation/history for it.

I’m having a few weird issues:

- Wrong time: NTP server and timezone are configured correctly by me, but it still shows the wrong time.

- Wi-Fi: It connects to my mobile hotspot, but refuses to connect to my home Wi-Fi also doesn't show up completely.

- Firmware: Updated from around 104X to 16XX (don’t remember the exact version), but nothing obvious changed.

- Apps: Smart Hub only shows ONE app, and searching for other apps returns nothing.

Is this normal for the QMC commercial/Tizen models, or is something wrong with my setup?

Anyone with the same model who can confirm what their Wi-Fi, NTP and Smart Hub/apps look like?

It has Tizen 7.0. Much appreciated

Curious if anyone is aware of a good solution that would allow me to display RTSP feeds from 2 local unifi cameras and also build a dashboard of some sort with announcements or other configurable text/graphics. I've looked into a couple digital signage solutions but haven't tried anything other than Anthias, and I haven't done much with it yet.

Open source would be ideal, but willing to pay for something that would require less engineering on my part.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently getting quotes for commercial displays, and I'm trying to figure out how many nits are sufficient for screens installed behind the front window of a restaurant or café.

What brightness level would you recommend for this type of installation?

One of my clients has several gyms across town. Each gym has anywhere from 2 to 12 displays.

Each has a FireStick with a side-loaded custom android app. Essentially, the app pings a URL, gets a JSON payload, and rotates each image in a crossfade carousel. The backend which produces the payload (duration, file, location, etc) resides on their website. We want to keep it.

They recently asked if they could add a few 30-second 4K videos (no audio), so I tested it and ran into some hardware/performance issues.

I'm thinking I should steer them toward Raspberry Pi 4, however I'm not a python developer. I'm sure I could make something work if I were set in the right direction. Any hardware/software suggestions would be appreciated. I feel like every rabbit hole I go down leads me to more paid subscriptions and abandonware.

If you do, I'd love your thoughts...

I run a digital signage platform, and we're exploring adding ad management features.

1. What platform are you using, and are you white-labelling it as your own?
2. Do your advertisers get any self-serve access, or does your team manage everything?
3. What's the 'deal'? Do they get X hours of playback in a month? Is it tiered?
4. How do you handle proof of play/reporting for advertisers?
5. What's the most painful part of your current workflow?

Or am I wasting my time building this?!