How To Setup Outdoor Digital Signage Displays
Digital signage is an immediate upgrade in any outdoor space it is placed. With a screen that grabs attention quickly, businesses can improve the average customer experience and increase revenue.
While this is great, digital signs do not come customized and pre-installed for enterprises. As a business owner, you have to put in the work to set up your digital sign.
Knowing how to set up your digital sign is the key to fully optimizing your digital signage technology. To help, we have curated an article on how to set up outdoor digital signage.
Outdoor Digital Signage
Outdoor digital signage is quickly replacing static signs. Today, you are more likely to come across a large digital screen -like the Broadway Spectacular LED screen in New York- than you are to come across static billboards.
Outdoor digital signs are rapidly displacing the traditional static sign, and there is no better time to take advantage of this powerful technology than right now. Outdoor digital signs perform the job of traditional static signs but on a larger scale.
These signs are more attention-grabbing than their static counterparts, making them easier to notice and remember. After all, we are now in a society dominated by screens, and screens are more likely to catch attention than paper.
Although outdoor digital signage is widely welcome in many businesses, it can be an intimidating technology to implement. In fact, outdoor signage may be more challenging to implement than indoor signage.
This is because interior digital signs are more often done on a smaller scale. They feature smaller screens over a smaller area compared to outdoor digital signage. More importantly, indoor digital signs are used in different conditions (I.e., Absence of rainfall and sunlight) than outdoor digital signs.
Because outdoor digital signs are different from indoor signs, it is essential to know the best ways to install your outdoor sign. Installing your outdoor digital sign goes past simply purchasing any screen that looks like it can get the job done. It involves carefully considering screen types and options, space optimization, and an excellent plan, among others.
Outdoor digital signage is an investment which is why it requires so much attention for its first-time installation. A proper first-time setup is an excellent way to avoid expensive repairs over time.
Don't know how to begin? Here are instructions on how to set up outdoor digital signage displays.
Things You Should Know Before Setting Up Outdoor Digital Signage Displays
When planning to install outdoor digital signage displays, there are essential things that you need to note. One of them is that installing an outdoor digital sign goes beyond simply picking any screen and placing it anywhere outdoors. It requires careful planning to choose the perfect screen to relay information without problem.
The outdoor environment is especially challenging for just any type of digital sign. Unlike indoors, outdoors feature uncontrollable hot and cold temperatures that can often reach extreme numbers, sunlight stronger than interior LED lights, UV rays, and other outdoor elements that may pose a severe risk to the sign.
To tackle these challenges, you require the necessary hardware and software to help you create, display, and maintain your digital signage content. To set up your digital sign, you need a screen, protection or protective enclosure to protect the screen from external elements, and software.
The quality of all three contents will determine how successful your digital sign will be. However, most importantly is the quality of the screen. The screen determines how well your sign turns out. It does not matter how exciting or captivating your content is. Without an adequate screen to make your content visible and ‘legible’, your outdoor digital sign will not serve its purpose.
There are many different screen types in the market today, so it becomes understandably challenging to know which screen type is best for your outdoor digital sign.
Although all these different displays can be used, some are better than others. Knowing each screen type’s features and shortcomings will help you make the better choice.
LED Screens
Also called Light-Emitting Diode displays, LED screens are flat panels that use light-emitting diodes as pixels for a video display. These screens are known for their brightness, high-quality imagery, and high definition.
We are more familiar with LED screens than we know, as these screens exist as phones, TV screens, and computer screens. LED screens work by emitting a backlight that leads to clear image quality. Thanks to their design, LED screens are more long-lasting, have less power consumption, are more reliable, and are more environmentally friendly.
Because of their brightness, LED screens are excellent outdoor digital signage displays as they produce intense light that enables them to be seen during the day or when it gets dark. LED screens are great options for all outdoor digital signs, but they are preferably used for big signs seen from a distance.
However, they are more expensive than outdoor LCD screens, with a projected market size of $14,522.40 million by 2030.
LCD Screens
Liquid Crystal Display screens use liquid crystals in their primary form for the operation. In other words, LCD screens use light crystals rather than light-emitting diodes seen in LED screens. This means LCD screens are not as bright, long-lasting, or durable as LED screens are.
However, they produce higher-resolution images and can be purchased much cheaper than LED screens. Although they are great for small displays, LCD screens do not perform very well in sunlight.
Projectors
Although they are not commonly used by businesses looking to implement digital signage in their operations, projectors still make excellent digital signage display options.
However, they only work well in situations where the sign is temporary, there isn't lots of light, and the sign isn't designed to be intrusive. In other words, digital projector signs are a quick fix to a digital signage need. Projectors are best used on flat surfaces and in areas with little foot traffic.
Knowing the purpose of your digital sign is a significant first step to choosing the best display for you. To help you consider the best choices, here are some other things you should keep in mind:
Sunlight
Exposure to sunlight is one common problem that businesses face when installing digital signage outdoors. Have you ever walked outside under the high sun while texting on your phone?
Do you know how difficult it is to see the content on your phone properly because the screen is in a direct display of the sun? Wrongly positioning your outdoor digital signage can also make it difficult for people to read the content on your digital screen.
Just as turning the brightness of your phone up in this instance helps you to text better, a screen with better brightness will make contents more legible. Does that mean you should always have your display screen’s brightness on maximum? Not quite.
We recommend considering the position of the screen placement, choosing the right type of screen (LED works best for areas with lots of sunlight), and investing in light ambient sensors that automatically change the display’s screen brightness to suit the sunlight.
Rain
Water and electronic devices do not mix well. To ensure your digital sign is adequately protected from the rain, it is essential to offer the protection it needs. Building an enclosure is an excellent idea, but it is crucial to ensure the enclosure is well-ventilated.
Although many digital signs can operate in harsh weather conditions, many others are not as durable or resistant to weather conditions. Besides rainfall, you need to consider other elements like humidity and snow.
Security
Are you going to leave your digital sign lying around in a security risk? To protect your digital sign, you must adopt specific measures to ensure your digital sign is out of easy reach.
How To Install Your Outdoor Digital Signage
The outdoor signage installation process works just like any other indoor sign installation process but on a larger scale. To install your outdoor digital sign:
1. The Budget
Unless you have unlimited financial aid, you must create a budget for your digital out-of-home sign. Digital signage hardware comes in different types and brands. Work with a reliable supplier who can help you make the best digital signage hardware decisions for your budget and business needs.
Contrary to what many people think, digital out-of-home signs do not have to break the bank. You can always get digital screens and media or hardware players that suit your budget. The purchasing stage of the digital out-of-home is crucial as the quality of the products you buy makes all the difference in the quality of your digital signs.
2. The Purpose
What is your digital sign for? Your outdoor digital signage should be a means to an end, a way of solving a particular problem. Do you want to use your outdoor sign to draw attention to your brand through advertising? Is it a contribution to smart cities (like Singapore)?
What solution is the outdoor digital sign expected to proffer? Knowing what your digital sign is used for is the trick to ensuring you have purchased digital hardware to suit the problem. For example, if your digital out-of-home sign is for a large-scale outdoor advertisement, you will know it is better to purchase commercial LED screens than consumer LCD ones.
You will also be able to figure out the screen placement for your digital sign. The best part of using digital signage is that it is such a powerful and versatile tool. Gone are the days when digital signage was used soles for marketing campaigns. Now, you can find interactive outdoor digital signage, wayfinding signs, and other unique outdoor digital signage solutions.
3. Figuring Out The Placement
Your digital sign’s placement is as essential as the quality of the hardware. Without proper placement, you defeat the purpose of the digital sign.
Proper placement is not just about figuring out the best location for your digital sign or placing the screen at an angle that will make it easier for the audience to clearly see the content on display (which is human interaction). It also involves placing it so that weather conditions do not affect its functionality.
When figuring out placement and interactions, it is essential to consider things like:
- Climatic conditions
- Type of installation material used
- Size of the hardware
- Easy access to electricity and internet
- Easy cable entries
- Easy access to the equipment for possible future maintenance and repair services
- Design: Do you plan on using a single screen or building a video wall with several screens? Will the video wall be bolted to the wall, or will it be free-standing?
4. The Installation
After deciding the best placement for your screens, it is time to install it. However, unlike most indoor digital signs, outdoor signs are more challenging to install without proper expert help and advice.
Instead of tackling the problem on your own, we recommend getting professionals to do all the work for you. This will ensure the set-up is secure without any problem.
For the connection and set-up, you will need the appropriate media player or digital signage hardware, electrical power, equipment, and necessary connections. The installation process varies with the type of digital signage and the design of these signs.
5. Create Content
Installing your outdoor digital sign is not complete without displaying the necessary content. After setting up the display, hardware, and other essential components, you can begin the content creation process.
Creating content is done easily with the necessary digital software. To maximize your digital signage, you need to create high-quality content. When it comes to digital signage content that draws attention, you can trust Loop TV to offer nothing but high-quality content.
Loop TV is a business TV that offers free unlimited entertainment and digital signage solutions to businesses in all industries. With sophisticated, versatile digital signage solutions, businesses can create unique digital signs guaranteed to improve potential customer interaction, brand awareness, and, ultimately, sales.
The best part about using Loop TV for your outdoor digital signage is not the high-quality picture, video, and text content you can create but the fact that you can do this for free.
Yes, Loop TV requires no subscription or one-time fee to be integrated with outdoor digital signs. All you need to do is sign up for a free Loop TV media player, connect your media player to your digital signage set-up, and enjoy unlimited content creation and uploading opportunities.
Enjoying Outdoor Signage With Loop TV
Setting up your outdoor digital signage display may be challenging. However, when you are armed with knowledge of the process and experts who are dedicated to seeing your outdoor signage dream come to life, the process is easier than expected.
Installing your outdoor sign is one thing, and ensuring you have unlimited opportunities to create high-quality content for your audience is another. Loop TV allows you to create excellent content to wow passers-by and keep your signage relevant. From free digital signage features to equally free entertainment channels, Loop TV gives you all the digital signage solutions you need.
To enjoy free sophisticated signage and entertainment solutions, sign up for a free media player on the official Loop TV website.