What way to display an occasionally-updated video file on a new TV

[5tephen]

I have been asked to look into options for someone who wants to have a TV out the front of their building that will have a link back to their network. Once every day or two, they want the ability for someone with basic I.T. knowledge to be able to update the image displayed on the TV with directions, special offers etc.
They tell me they have all the kit to appropriately seal the TV etc. and not to worry about that. Also the TV will be sealed so it's not an option for someone to stick a file onto a USB drive every now and then and display the new video from that.

I'd like to make it as easy as possible for them to do, ideally without having to go near the TV itself. I was able to quickly put together a WMV file from Powerpoint so I can show them how to modify that and create new slideshows themselves, but how, on a new smart TV, could I get this to display the newly-created files? Either upload to the TV itself if it has such a function, or tell it to browse a network share? I've worked with a couple of recent Samsung units but don't have one personally to work at and try this out. They want to buy a 42-50in version on my recommendation, so it would need to be right

 

[Confused]

You could possibly use something like a Raspberry Pi attached to it, running something like XBMC, and you can then use the web interface or a host of various remote control applications to select something new to play.

 

[Haggisman]

If it's a smart TV with a web browser, then you wouldn't even need the RPi - just host the page on an internal web server and point the browser to that, with a script in the page to refresh every hour or so.

 

[5tephen]

Ok Haggisman that's a thought - will the browsers built into these TV's be able to handle web pages with embedded WMV files OK?

 

[Syph]

We have Samsung Digital Signage here at school. It's basically an LCD TV with a PC embedded, operating on Windows XP Embedded. It then uses Samsung software to publish 'screens' to it, that have customised content such as scrolling text, web content, videos, pictures etc. You then set up a schedule to remotely control the screens.

However, we have 5 of these screens, so I don't think you'd need a solution quite as complex. I would always favour a SFF PC connected to the TV.

 

[5tephen]

Well they've just indicated they would like to have a second screen set up indoors in a similar way. I think an auto-refreshing page would be a good approach, provided the browser built into the TV can handle WMV files.
Syph - was this a solution you put together yourselves, or something recommended/provided by Samsung? Is the proprietary Samsung software used for designing the content as well as actually feeding it to the TV?

 

[Syph]

The solution was purchased through a local IT firm.

It's called MagicInfo. You set up a PC as a content server (ours is a regular PC) and then you 'push' the content files to the screens based on a schedule. Each screen can operate independently of one another etc. You create the content via the MagicInfo software, which uses containers for different content. It's not flawless, but it is useful because of where we have our screens in school and the times we need various content displayed.

 

[Puzzled]

Was thinking of doing something similar for a shop display but wasn't required in the end.

If using the smart TV functions, you'll have to think about how the TV is run. Will it be left on 24/7?

If its on a timer how will it reload the content.

Also one thing I looked into but never found a concrete answer is whether or not these displays fall under illuminated advertisement regulations, which require consent from the council.

I assumed they don't but never actually asked as the display was no longer required.