# Mac Digital Signage



## shevi

Any one know of a solution using mac minis for a digital signage project Im working

thanks


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## Guest

What kind of signage? More details would be helpful to point you in the right direction . . .


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## HowEver

mguertin said:


> What kind of signage? More details would be helpful to point you in the right direction . . .


Nice little inside joke there.


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## Guest

As the PC would say to the Mac .. Touché


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## HowEver

mguertin said:


> As the PC would say to the Mac .. Touché


Apologies for the thread derailment, but... it was lines like that that got Justin Long (the cool "Mac" guy in the ad) booted and John Hodgman (the nerdy "PC" guy everybody liked) retained, in that recent series of "'I'm a Mac,' and 'I'm a PC'" commercials. John Hodgman was also the actor who while admitting he was PC-'like' on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, reported on the U.S. Senator who compared the internet to a series of "tubes," "p-neumatic tubes." Famously funny.

Now back to Mac signage.


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## migei

*Signage with Keynote!*



shevi said:


> Any one know of a solution using mac minis for a digital signage project Im working
> 
> thanks


Mac mini & Keynote ( & Apple Remote Desktop)

migei


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## EvanPitts

iPhoto... With an older version of iPhoto, you could even use an old Lombard, or perhaps and even older Wallstreet, which would be very inexpensive and compact. I have seen projects for digital photoframes that use a variety of older hardware, which would work just fine, even some old canabalized Powerbooks from the OS8-9 days would do.

If it was for a permanent solution, I would tend to lean towards a single board computer in the PC/104 form factor, but you would more than likely have to cobble some software up, perhaps on the Linux platform. But for the price, a Mac Mini would do just fine, especially an older one without all of the options.


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## darkscot

I'm reviving this thread. Anyone know of a commercial solution?

One could use Apple TVs, but can you loop movies via Apple TV? And can you remotely access Apple TVs (not via the Apple Remote)?


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## CubaMark

HowEver said:


> ... it was lines like that that got Justin Long (the cool "Mac" guy in the ad) booted and John Hodgman (the nerdy "PC" guy everybody liked) retained



...and to keep the record straight  Justin seems to be doing just fine with the latest commercials.... 

M


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## CanadaRAM

darkscot said:


> I'm reviving this thread. Anyone know of a commercial solution?
> 
> One could use Apple TVs, but can you loop movies via Apple TV? And can you remotely access Apple TVs (not via the Apple Remote)?


The questions that have to be asked for signage -- what type of signage? Moving pictures or stills or LED panel? sound? Interactive or static? What will it be used for? What display mechanism (TV, dedicated digital panel, what resolution? How often is content updated? Is content wanted to be downloaded remotely, or is CD or USB stick an option? Are statistics on # of impressions needed?

For looping still photos on a TV or a display, non interactive with no sound, you can get flash media JPG or MPG players for about $50 - no moving parts. For non-interactive video with sound where the content is only updated periodically, it's hard to beat a DVD player.

It looks like you're wanting to show movies in a loop. When you say remotely access, does that mean you want to dump in new content from an out-of-house location via the network, or do you mean you want local access to start, stop and select what is playing?


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## darkscot

Type of signage: video, slideshows
Sound: optional
Interactive/static: static
Use: retail advertising/promotional
Display: LCD & projector
Content updates: as needed
Content storage: central server if possible, can download new content. No CD/USB stick.
Statistics: not necessary.

Thanks!


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## expergo

Maybe this is something that you're looking for?

Renewed Vision, LLC - Worship Software, Video Player, Church Presentation Software


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## guytoronto

OLD. THREADS. SHOULD. DIE.

And a Mac mini with Keynote + LCD screen is the best option.


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## darkscot

guytoronto said:


> OLD. THREADS. SHOULD. DIE.
> 
> And a Mac mini with Keynote + LCD screen is the best option.



That style of writing should die. It's obnoxious and overdone. 

A Mac Mini with Keynote doesn't seem to be the best solution to me. It seems to be too much for such a simple task as displaying movies, slideshows, etc. Apple TV, while limited in another ways, could ideally serve this much better. If I could have 3 LCDs with an Apple TV behind each, and they could loop movies I'd be set. Add programming functionality (remotely control/automate) from a central Mac Mini and it would be perfect.


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## Paradime

Interesting...I've also been looking for a Mac Digital Signage solution. Mac Minis are just too expensive and totally over kill, as already mentioned.

I was hoping that the video looping issue with AppleTV would have been solved with Take 2 because a refurb AppleTV @ $209 is perfect! Sadly, still no video looping option. I've been thinking about hacking an AppleTV and using some other player software.

There's also an interesting non-Mac solution:

Myka

...unfortunately, it's not available yet.

At the end of the day, I'm still undecided on what to use.

Comments? Suggestions?


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## Macified

If it's just looping video, wouldn't a DVD player be a cheaper solution? 

It seems many of us here don't really know what you are looking for. What do you mean by digital sign? Indoor? Outdoor? Where are they posted and how are they accessed? How frequently do you need to update the content? What kind of content? Too many questions are unanswered to give a real solution.


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## darkscot

For my needs, see post #11. Indoor LCD signage, mounted on walls.

As for an APple TV hack, there is castcluster - Google Code which doesn't require hacking  Not yet sure if it would allow looping, either. It seems like you can get it to pull content from a local source or online - so coding to loop should be possible, right?


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## Paradime

Macified said:


> If it's just looping video, wouldn't a DVD player be a cheaper solution?


Yes, except what I'm looking for is a HDTV solution and AppleTV is ideal since I can output the video in H.264. I don't want upconverting and I don't want to buy a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player to do this since authoring because an issue.



Macified said:


> It seems many of us here don't really know what you are looking for.


In my case, what I'm looking for is an indoor solution where I would have an AppleTV (or similar device) connected to a 32", 37" or 42" LCD monitor and have it infinitely loop dozens of video clips of varying lengths.

AppleTV would be ideal because a lot of Mac software supports direct exporting to AppleTV and, as I mentioned in my previous post, it's pretty cheap at $209 for a refurb. The problem is AppleTV will not loop videos. I'd like to have a playlist of 3 or 4 dozen videos and have them random played throughout the day.

What would be even better (although I haven't actually tired this) is to have a Mac computer stream the video to 3 or 4 AppleTVs and, again, having the video content played both randomly and infinitely looping.

Hacking the AppleTV is probably my best/only option at this point.


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## Guest

They both sound like interesting projects to hack on  Personally I would probably consider using VLC multicast streams running from a central machine (OSX does fine for this) and cheap small PC's running linux and a VLC network client, but that's probably just me. With a little simple network juggling it could be a powerful system that's very easy to expanded as required, add a new machine + monitor, get it on the right subnet and launch VLC client.


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## darkscot

expergo said:


> Maybe this is something that you're looking for?
> 
> Renewed Vision, LLC - Worship Software, Video Player, Church Presentation Software


Sorry, forgot to comment on this. Haven't looked at it extensively yet but it does seem like a possible solution, perhaps overkill. Nice to see a proper Mac package for digital signage.


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## whibal

*~sedna presenter, a Digital Signage Application for Mac OS X*

There is a new Digital Signage Application for Mac OS X: ~sedna presenter. It allows users to manage, schedule and deliver digital content to any display, from single-screen delivery to perfectly synchronized multichannel, multi-display video walls.

Here's their web site:
http://www.sedna-presenter.com


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## yvesmailhot

Give eCrisper (Kiosk software for Mac public access internet terminals - eCrisper for Mac) a try - it is a kiosk software but it can work for signage as well if you want to combine kiosk/digital signage into one.


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## broad

you know what you should give a try to?

frigging right off


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## yvesmailhot

Digital signage and kiosks can be merged into one powerful tool for high schools and colleges. Using a Mac mini with a large touch screen display (with either horizontal or vertical orientation), eCrisper (Kiosk software for Mac public access internet terminals - eCrisper for Mac) can be used to display news and information:

- Daily activities
- Calendar (for example using Google calendar)
- Sport schedules and recent results
- Campus news
- General announcements
- Campus map
- Weather forecast
- Birthdays

Since eCrisper can divide the screen into 5 areas, each with its own web display, some of the information can be visible all the time.
For example, you could use the left side to display the day’s activities, the right side for sports results, and the bottom portion for a scrolling banner displaying major news and announcements.

The main web browser (middle area) could be used to display a web page with large navigation buttons pointing to the school website, the campus map, etc… You can also combine buttons (up to 20 on each side) with web content. Or you can simply use eCrisper as one full screen web browser.


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## Vancelot

Definitely recommend checking out Media Sign Pro - Digital Signage Software for Mac. We've been using this for a few weeks and it really offers everything you would want from a DS solution. Plus, you can't go wrong with the price compared to Sedna and everyone else.

Has anyone else tried using Media Sign Pro?


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## broad

what is it with this thread and the douchebag spammers? **** off already


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## Vancelot

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am not a spammer. I've been looking for a Mac based digital signage product for my real estate office for a few months now and just found this company and am trying to get feedback.


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## CanadaRAM

Vancelot said:


> I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am not a spammer. I've been looking for a Mac based digital signage product for my real estate office for a few months now and just found this company and am trying to get feedback.


*broad* is reacting to the fact that the previous poster yvesmailhot resurrected a thread from > 2 years ago for the purpose of presumably plugging their own software (new user, 2 posts, both touting the one company)


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