How To Turn A TV Into Digital Signage
If you own a business and are still using print media like signs and posters to announce your offerings, you may miss out on potential opportunities.
Digital signage is a very economical way to show in-store advertisements and entertainment on a regular TV screen. Screens are the easiest way to get in the face of many people nowadays. That is why businesses spend more money on digital signage technology. But what if you have a TV?
In this article, we'll look at how you can turn your TV to display multimedia digital signage with a big impact.
What Counts as Digital Signage?
Digital signage can refer to any electronic display used to convey information to an audience. Some common examples of digital signage include LCD and LED screens, interactive kiosks, projection displays, and e-paper displays.
Digital signage displays images, videos, webpages, or other multimedia content to inform or entertain an audience. Digital signage is often used in public spaces, such as retail stores, restaurants, and other venues.
Furthermore, digital signage is rapidly becoming the go-to communication method for customers and the public. Today, it has several advantages over traditional methods, including quickly updating content, creating interactive experiences, and measuring customer engagement.
Digital signage can display relevant, up-to-date information, such as news and weather, which can help keep customers informed and engaged. With digital signage, businesses can easily create and manage dynamic and interactive content to improve customer engagement and increase their bottom line.
In today's world, capturing your audience's attention with visually appealing content is essential. People no longer want to wait in line or sit in a waiting room without something to entertain them – digital signage is the perfect solution to make your business more memorable in the 21st century.
Setting up digital signage is easier than ever, and it doesn't have to break the bank either. Professional and attractive displays will help to build trust in your brand and make your job much easier in the long run. With digital signage, you can ensure that your audience is engaged and entertained.
Can you use a TV for digital signage?
Digital signage offers many advantages, one being that TV ad displays are software-driven. This means you can control which ad is displayed on a TV screen and when it is displayed.
For example, a restaurant owner can easily display separate breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus at appropriate times. Or, a retailer can use digital signage to display promotional ads during their Black Friday sales days.
Similarly, a local bar can promote special Thursday happy-hour drinks. With digital signage, the possibilities for TV ad displays are endless.
Televisions are primarily designed for home use and, as such, have certain limitations when compared to commercial displays. Commercial displays feature higher resolution and better durability, as they are designed to withstand harsh weather conditions and public interaction.
Using a TV for digital signage makes perfect sense in some situations, even though it can't compete with the slick displays or the alluring video walls. For example, if
- You run a small business like a neighborhood cafe, QSR, gym, storefront, etc.
- Your business doesn't need to keep your digital signage on all day
- You just want to see how digital signage can improve your business,
Then you can use TV as digital signage. You can effectively communicate with your audience using just your television.
But in some circumstances, like if you intend to install the TV as outdoor digital signage, it might not be a good idea to use it for digital signage. The brightness of outdoor displays must be sufficient for visibility in direct sunlight.
Regular TVs don’t work like that. However, whether you use your TV for personal entertainment or to watch public or commercial content doesn't matter as long as you are doing so indoors.
While television may not match the performance of commercial displays or video walls, it can still be used effectively for digital signage in specific scenarios, such as for small businesses, organizations, or initial tests.
However, televisions are not ideal for outdoor digital signage, as they are not bright enough to be visible in direct sunlight.
Necessary Equipment and Materials to Use TV for Digital Signage
Business communications have traditionally been chaotic, with sticky notes, unnecessary meetings, and long email threads.
However, with the advancement of technology, businesses are moving away from this inefficient model and embracing more centralized digital message boards that integrate with televisions. This allows for streamlined communication and more efficient collaboration.
There are at least four components of a complete digital signage system:
- Digital signage display
- The digital signage content management system (cms)
- Digital signage media player
- Mount
You need these 4 to set up digital signage.
How to use a TV for digital signage
There are various sizes and shapes of televisions. However, whether your TV is a smart TV or not will largely determine how you use it as digital signage, along with the digital signage player's operating system.
A smart TV has a media player built right into the TV set. Your TV can be connected to the internet using the media player, the same as the player used for digital signage. You won't need to plug an external player device into a smart TV.
To put it another way, a non-smart TV can't be set up with an internet source without an external digital signage player (or media player) connected to it.
The digital signage setup procedure will therefore vary depending on the type of television you have.
The Display
When looking for a suitable TV for a business message board, consider the technical specifications, size, and compatibility with your digital signage software. Smart TVs will allow the direct installation of a media player or digital signage player.
In contrast, standard (non-smart) TVs will require an external digital media player such as Revel Media Player, Groove Digital Signage, Google Chromecast, Chromebox, Chromebit, Amazon Fire Stick, etc.
The TV's size should also be considered, as it should be large enough for people to see the messages displayed at a glance. The size should be based on the distance between the TV and those in the room; for example, if the distance is 6 feet (1.82 m), the TV should be at least 43 inches (109 cm), and if the distance is 10-12 feet (3-3.65 m), the TV should be around 70-85 inches (177-215 cm).
However, if you don’t have a smart TV, you can still convert that screen to an entertainment and communication box in your office space. Regular LED or LCD TVs and Smart TVs are both suitable for use as digital signage screens, as they both have HDMI ports.
However, Smart TVs have an additional advantage, as they are equipped with an integrated OS, typically Android, that allows you to connect the TV to an internet source and use it to browse the internet and stream videos and music. This makes Smart TVs more versatile than regular LED TVs.
Setting Up TV For Digital Signage
Generally, no matter what kind of TV you have in your business space, the following process is a guide to setting it up for use as digital signage:
1. Hardware setup
The first thing to do with a non-smart TV is to connect the digital signage media player to the TV.
The media player can be like an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a Chromebox, a Chromebit, or even a Kitcast with HDMI input. Then you need to power up the TV and the player device. The media player will handle the content.
Depending on the type of media player, you may also need additional cables and accessories to complete the setup.
For smart TVs, you would only need to turn on the TV to get here. After turning it on, connect it to the internet with a high-speed internet source like Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
You only need to download and install your digital signage software once the TV is connected to the internet.
2. Software setup
Pick a reliable digital signage program for your TV first. Make sure the software licence is compatible with the operating system of your smart TV or signage player before you buy it. Different operating systems (OS) are used by various smart TVs and media players.
For instance, Samsung Smart TVs run on Samsung Tizen, Apple TVs run on MacOS, LG Smart TVs run on LG WebOS, and so on. Android Smart TVs run on the Android operating system.
Because of this, it is always best to choose digital signage software that is hardware-neutral and designed to work with various smart TV brands and media player platforms.
3. Pairing your TV with the content management system (CMS)
The software practically turns the TV into digital signage once it is installed on the TV. But how will you distribute the content if you don't connect your TV to the content management system?
The content management system is a dashboard you can use to publish content on your TV screens. The content management system is typically hosted on the cloud by digital signage software providers.
You can connect your TV screen to your CMS dashboard once you've logged in (only once during the initial setup). You can now begin uploading content to your TV that has been converted to digital signage.
Software for Non-Smart TVs
For a non-smart TV, you can control everything from the media player or a PC. The PC will be connected to the network of TVs you want to use as digital signage. Now, you can play anything with any media player, and it will be displayed on the screens all at once.
Creating Digital Signage Multimedia
There are many different software you can use to display content on your business TV as digital signage. One of them is PowerPoint.
When you stop to think about it, a digital signage advertisement is a multimedia presentation shown on TV. So why not think about using PowerPoint, one of the top content creation tools utilized by companies of all sizes?
The ideal tool for producing beautiful digital signage TV ads is PowerPoint. You can create multimedia advertisements that effectively present your goods and services by combining text fonts, color schemes, full motion video, images, photos, graphics, and a wide range of animation effects.
Most businesses don't have the resources to hire an in-house graphic designer or create professional customer ads. Fortunately, PowerPoint design templates can help you easily create professional-looking digital signage ads and whatever content you would like to display.
All you need to do is add your ad content to the template, and you're good to go!
If you want to take things a step further, you can hire a freelance graphic designer from a platform like Fiverr to create custom ads. For just $5, you can get a custom-made PowerPoint ad that looks amazing. It's an incredibly affordable solution for businesses that want to create eye-catching digital ads.
Turn Your TV into Digital Signage With Loop
Signage marketing is an effective way to connect with customers and increase business revenue. You need an efficient digital signage solution to get the most out of your signage marketing.
Loop TV is the perfect choice for businesses looking to create digital signage marketing content. It offers free digital signage solutions, features, and a free media player to help you maximize your signage marketing efforts.
To get your free media player, simply sign up on the Loop TV website—it's free and easy to do. Many businesses make more money using Loop Rewards and their TV as digital signage. Loop pays businesses that have digital signage to display ads from other businesses.
In this age of smart technology, more businesses are using innovative ways to make more sales. While televisions have traditionally been used to provide domestic entertainment, businesses have begun recognizing their potential as digital signage displays to show consumer-targeted content.
It is important to note that although TVs may look similar to digital signage screens, they are not the same. TVs are not designed to run for long periods of time, whereas digital signage displays are designed to operate 24/7.
Additionally, commercial signage screens have a much brighter display than a regular TV, allowing them to be easily visible even in bright daylight.
Your TV may be your cheapest option for digital signage if your business is indoors and you will not have the display on for the entire day.