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2.2 Display Management: Devices
Basics
Getting Started With Digital Signage Players
Getting Started With Digital Signage Players

How to get started with selecting a digital signage player

Gersham Meharg avatar
Written by Gersham Meharg
Updated over a week ago

Demo and Testing

If you're looking to demo TelemetryTV you likely don't yet have a dedicated digital signage hardware device and TV in order to deploy on. The easiest way to demo what a device is like with TelemetryTV is to use the Progressive Web Application (PWA) by visiting it in a compatible browser (you must use the latest Firefox, Chrome or Edge -- Safari or other browsers are not supported):

From there, you'll be presented with a pairing code and will be able to enter this code on the TelemetryTV "Devices" page to pair the browser with TelemetryTV. 

  • Click the blue "PAIR" button and enter the code you see in the PWA player.

From then on you'll be able to control what the browser displays just as if it were a physical device attached to a TV. When you revisit the URL, it will continue to display this playlist. There is no need to re-pair.

You can also use this URL to test your playlists as you work with TelemetryTV in the future. Please note, this method is not recommended for long-term use. 

Deploying your First Digital Signage Player

Once you've decided to adopt TelemetryTV and wish to deploy it on TV's through out your organization, you'll need to acquire digital signage hardware to deploy it on. Specifically what hardware you should acquire will depend on the platform you decide to use for deployment. TelemetryTV supports several hardware platforms. There are tradeoffs associated with each platform and which one is appropriate for you depends on your particular environment. Check out our list of recommended devices here.

Automatic Provisioning vs Pairing

TelemetryTV can be deployed at scale on hundreds or thousands of digital signage players. Manually pairing devices can be cumbersome if you're doing many devices. However, setting up automatic provisioning takes some significant knowledge and work so there's a balance between ease of use and automation. 


TelemetryOS

Pros

  • Purpose built TelemetryTV platform

  • Secure, stable and highly integrated

  • Heavily optimized for best performance

  • Easy to use

  • Supports all TelemetryTV features

Cons

  • OS Locked to TelemetryTV, can not have third party management

We've built our own Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 20 LTS and customized it to run TelemetryTV and further integrated our TelemetryTV player with the distribution. We've tested extensively on our popular platforms: Mele Quieter 3, Intel NUC and Raspberry Pi for maximum coverage. Easy to use, stable and secure.


Android

Pros

  • Inexpensive

  • Supports custom devices and System on Chip (SOC) based devices for fully integrated solutions

Cons

  • You must use Android Open Source Project (AOSP) based devices to deploy at scale. Google Play Store isn't sufficient. This limits your device selection greatly

  • Reliability and quality can vary widely. Many cheap devices that will lock up over time or have issues with their disk storage.

  • You get what you pay for

We recommend Android boxes for very price-sensitive users who will be deploying only a few screens and will be able to manually managed TelemetryTV. For more information please see our Android device deployment guide.


Linux

Pros

  • Nearly as widely available and customizable as Windows devices, without the added cost of a Windows license

  • Heavily customize your deployment

Cons

  • Requires great technical expertise

  • You'll be on your own for many classes of issues, TelemetryTV cannot support the infinite variability of such installs

We recommend Linux for users who are highly technical and able to solve issues on their own. Please see our linux deployment guide.


ChromeOS

Pros

  • Inexpensive to deploy at scale

  • Once automatic provisioning is set up, it's easy to add devices and manage them remotely

Cons

  • Google can change direction without regard to your needs

  • Devices will have a short end of life date measured in several years depending on device. Hardware costs thus look inexpensive in the short term but can be significant over the longer term.

  • Initial device management set up is complicated (check out our helpful step-by-step guide)

  • They cannot handle video walls larger than two screens.

We therefore recommend ChromeOS only if you are an existing Google device user.

For more information on ChromeOS devices please see our ChromeOS device deployment guide.


Microsoft Windows

Pros

  • Easy to set up

  • Using supported hardware and display-stitching software with Nvidia, AMD or Intel drivers, you can create video walls of unlimited size.

  • Plugs in to an existing enterprise infrastructure based on Microsoft

Cons

  • Can have more security issues than other options

  • Expensive to manage

We recommend Windows for users who are already invested in a large Microsoft ecosystem and are able to manage that at scale.


For more information on deploying on Windows please see our Windows device deployment guide.


MacOS

Pros

  • Works on MacOS

Cons

  • Expensive route to take

  • Not designed for kiosk like use cases

  • Not as stable, secure or manageable as other solutions

We recommend MacoS to those who are already heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem and want to deploy more.


If you have any further questions regarding devices, please reach out to us at support@telemetrytv.com or by using the blue chat icon within the app.

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