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There are many types of content, or media, and a bewildering number of standards to ensure media players can cope with these types. At the risk of breaking our rule about avoiding acronyms, here are just a few – MPEG, WMV, BMP, JPEG, GIF, HTML, AVI, TIFF and RSS. Each, and more besides, have their place in signage.
Let’s have a brief look at the main types of content that we may encounter in signage systems. Rather than break this down by each standard, we’ll group similar types together:
When deciding which content types to use, we should think carefully about our intended audience. For simple, informational signage we may find that we can create the content in-house. More sophisticated messaging may require the services of a design house or other out-sourced service.
A word or two on copyright. It is important that content used in a signage system does not breach any copyright laws. Material created in-house specifically for Digital Signage will be fine, of course, but care must be taken when commissioning work from third parties. Ensure that the creator knows that the content will be used in a signage context and who the likely audience will be.
In the UK, we are fortunate that Freeview is not concerned with licences. The only stipulation is that there is a valid TV licence in force for the premises where the channels are to be displayed. If other TV feeds are used, especially those that require a subscription payment, advice must be sought regarding licensing.
RSS feeds may be supplied by an agency that has a policy that obliges you to show accreditation of the news source on the display. The terms of use for some organisations may be too restrictive to allow the use of their feed in Digital Signage.Again, check the small print.
If you intend to play audio such as a feed from a radio station or pre-recorded music, you may have to obtain a licence such as the PRS Music Licence or a Public Performance Licence. These UK schemes usually require the payment of an annual fee, which goes to the copyright owners of the audio. Similar schemes operate in other countries.
Type: Video
Characteristic:
Moving images, but excluding animation
Standards:
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV, Quicktime, AVI, Real, DVB.
It is important to ensure that the content is never stale and that the audience have a reason to look at the screens regularly. This is commonly achieved by making live TV one of the zones on the screen. In the UK, we have Freeview, which provides a number of non-subscription digital channels including BBC News24, Sky News and others. If the media player has a built-in TV Capture, then by feeding this from a TV aerial, we may arrange for live TV to be part of the signage system.
If it is inconvenient to connect the media player to an aerial, it may be possible to stream TV signals or other video sources direct to the media player. Streaming means that a central computer server transmits the video over the network to one or more media players. Streamed media is often used for live news broadcasts or for other messages that are urgent or time critical.
Streamed media must be used carefully, however, as it does require good network bandwidth. Most organisations will use their existing computer network to deliver video data to the PCs of their staff or others, such as customers or suppliers, who may also be linked to the network. It is important that the transmission of video does not reduce the network performance, so you have to make sure that the video data does not clog up or overload the network.
This will therefore influence your choice about how to transmit your videos. Put simply, if there is not much network bandwidth available for video, then the quality of that video will have to be low in order to prevent congestion. For video that is not ‘live’, for example an advertisement that plays on a scheduled basis, the video file is stored locally on the hard drive of the media player. The quality of this video is not dependant on the network and can therefore be higher than if streamed.
Type: Still images
Characteristic:
Pictures, diagrams, photographs, maps, plans
Standards:
JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, GIF.
Usually, all the still image content will be held on the player for display according to the scheduler. In this category, we include messages that are put on screen by a local operator. This is a special form of still image where text is displayed according to pre-defined templates. An example may be a receptionist who wishes to display a welcome message to an expected visitor on a specific part of the screen. They would merely type a few lines from their PC and the media player would take care of font sizes and styles so that the message conformed to the ‘house style’. Although we have grouped this type of message with still images, it can be possible to allow these messages to scroll on the screen. Movement on the screen should be encouraged where appropriate as it can catch the viewer’s attention.
Type: Ticker
Characteristic:
smoothly scrolling text usually associated with news feeds.
Standards:
RSS, XML
It is possible to ‘subscribe’ to newsfeeds that are provided via Internet sources. A newsfeed usually contains a summary of content from a particular website which is updated regularly. It is thus possible to keep up to date with particular websites automatically without having to keep checking back manually. There are a wealth of newsfeeds available and a good starting point is to look at what the BBC has to offer by searching their site with the term ‘RSS’. Other news agencies and industry bodies provide similar feeds.
It may be that an organisation’s own website has a newsfeed facility that could be displayed on their signage system. This brings very relevant information automatically to the screen.
Type: Audio
Characteristic:
Mono or stereo audio
Standards:
WMA, MPEG audio, MP3
The majority of Digital Signage systems are silent. Audio can be a contentious issue with respect to signage; it may be used provided that the audio is not distracting and has relevance to the audience. In a reception area, people may only linger briefly and so it may be tempting to allow audio to be played. But consider the receptionist who will have to listen to the audio all day long. You may like to use on-screen subtitling when TV channels are being displayed so that others in the area are not disturbed.
Type: HTML
Characteristic:
Web pages
Standards:
http, https, JavaScript
One or more zones of the signage system may be set up as a web page. The web page may come from an existing web server, for example on the customer’s intranet. Thus, information on the intranet may be visible to all without the need to revert to a computer. Another application is the display of weather information collected from a web page so that symbols and other icons may be automatically displayed without any operator intervention.
Type: Animation
Characteristic:
Animations often seen on websites, cartoon-like appearance.
Standards:
Flash, SWF
The term animation is often associated with cartoons, but many flash animations are to be seen on websites. Typical uses include the fading in and out of text bullet points, or to animate company logos. Flash animations are relatively small in file size but may require significant processing power for smooth motion effects. The fact that there is some movement on the screen is another benefit to signage in attracting eyes to the screen.
