How to choose a screen and player for digital signage

Start with the place, not the catalogue

Most screen purchases go wrong in the same way: someone picks a model from a catalogue, then looks for a wall to hang it on. It works far better the other way round. Before you compare a single spec, answer four questions about the place itself.

• How much light falls on the screen? A dim corner of a restaurant and a south-facing shop window are different worlds.
• How far away are the people reading it, and are they standing still or walking past?
• How many hours a day will it be on? Opening hours, or around the clock?
• Who is nearby if something needs a hand: staff all day, or nobody until the next visit?

The answers narrow the choice more than any brand comparison will. The rest of this post goes through each decision in turn, with what usually works in cafés, shops, clinics, offices and public buildings.

TV or commercial display?

A consumer TV is built to be watched for a few hours in a living room. A commercial display is built to run long days, often in brighter places, and usually comes with a longer warranty for that kind of use. Both can show the same content; the difference is in how they cope with the hours and the setting.

A good rule of thumb is to look at the hours first:

• A screen that runs during opening hours in a sheltered indoor spot, such as a café menu or an office lobby, is often fine as a decent consumer TV.
• A screen that runs most of the day and night, faces a window or hangs where staff can't easily reach it is where a commercial display earns its price.
• Read the warranty terms before you buy. Some consumer TV warranties don't cover commercial use, and that's worth knowing before the screen goes on the wall, not after.

Brightness: the window problem

Indoors, almost any modern screen is bright enough. Facing the street, it isn't. Daylight through glass washes out an ordinary TV until the picture looks grey, and the screen ends up working against the shop instead of for it.

Brightness is usually listed in nits (candela per square metre). Rather than chasing a number, compare models side by side in conditions like yours, or ask the seller for a model sold specifically for windows. Displays made for shop windows are much brighter than living-room TVs, and they're made to cope with the heat that builds up behind glass.

Two practical points for windows: leave a gap between the screen and the glass so warm air can move, and think about what a passer-by sees at night, when a very bright screen can be too much for a quiet street.

Size: test it with paper first

The easiest way to choose a size is not a formula but a sheet of paper. Print the biggest and smallest text you plan to show, tape it where the screen will go, and read it from where your customers actually stand. If the prices are hard to read from the back of the queue, you need either a bigger screen or bigger text, usually both.

Some patterns that hold up in practice:

• Above a counter, people read from a few steps away and have time to look. Medium screens work, and two or three side by side give a menu room to breathe.
• In a window, people read from the pavement while walking. Bigger is better, with very little text on it.
• In a waiting room, people sit for a while at different distances. A larger screen placed where most seats can see it beats two small ones.
• In a corridor or by a lift, people glance for a second or two. The size matters less than keeping the message short.

Portrait or landscape?

Landscape is the default because that's how TVs arrive, but it isn't always the right shape. Portrait screens suit menus with a long list, door and corridor signs, and window displays where a standing figure or a tall product fills the frame. Landscape suits video, wide photos and lobby screens that mix several pieces of information.

Before you turn a screen on its side, check that the model is allowed to run in portrait. Some screens are designed for it and some aren't, and running one the wrong way can affect cooling and the warranty. Your signage software also needs to handle portrait properly, so content is designed for the tall shape rather than squeezed into it.

Built-in system or a separate player?

Many smart TVs and commercial displays have an operating system inside, such as Samsung Tizen, LG webOS or Android. If your signage software runs on that system, the screen is the player and you have one box less to manage. If it doesn't, or if you want to keep using an older screen, a small separate player plugged into the screen does the same job.

• Built-in: fewer cables, fewer parts, one power socket. Good for new screens in tidy places.
• Separate player: keeps older screens useful, and lets you change the player later without changing the screen. Good when the screens you already have are fine.
• Mixed: perfectly normal. A chain might run newer branches on built-in systems and older ones on small players, all managed from the same place.

The Jonza player runs on Linux, Windows, Android, Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, LG webOS, Raspberry Pi and Samsung Tizen, so the choice usually comes down to what's already on your walls and what's easiest to look after.

Power, network and mounting

The unglamorous parts cause most of the trouble. Check them before the screen arrives.

• A power socket behind or right next to the screen, so cables don't hang down the wall.
• A network the player can rely on. Cable is the safest where you can run it; Wi-Fi works if the signal is strong at the screen's position, not just at the counter.
• A wall or bracket rated for the screen's weight, at a height people can read without craning their necks.
• Room to reach the back of the screen, for the day someone needs to unplug and replug it.

What to ask a seller

• Is it meant to run for as many hours a day as we need, and does the warranty cover business use?
• How bright is it, and is it made for use behind a window?
• Can it run in portrait?
• Which operating system does it run, and does our signage software support it?
• How do we get it repaired or replaced if it fails, and how long does that take?

In short

Choose by the place: the light, the distance, the hours and who is nearby. Spend on commercial displays where the hours are long or the sun is strong, and save where a good TV will do. Test sizes with paper before you buy, check portrait support before you turn a screen on its side, and sort out power and network before the screen arrives.

If you'd rather not work it out alone, tell us about your venue. We can ship Tochi screens, Erpa's own brand made in Türkiye, with Jonza already set up, or connect to the screens you already have and set them up remotely, so you only have to switch them on.