Is there a free digital signage option?

[mjstrand]

Budgets are tight these days and digital signage can be costly.

Here is a free digital signage option you might consider. It takes a bit more work to do, but a lot of the screens of the past year or two have the ability to play a photo loop from a USB thumb drive. Unfortunately it is the same content all the time (no news or weather), but it is free and does not need a dedicated computer, so the price is right.

If you are good at desktop publishing, that is the best way to create the content (create it at 1920 x 1080 pixels of resolution). Since most people do not have that capability, probably the easiest way to do it is to create a powerpoint file and set the page size setup of 13.34 inches wide and 7.5 inches high. That allows the image to fill the screen. Create your content pages and use the file, save as menu option and save it as a jpeg image. That creates multiple jpeg images that can be copied onto the thumb drive that is connected to the screen.

Unfortunately that is a low resolution image, so if you want, you can use our powerpoint conversion system that creates a .zip file with higher resolution images. If you have not already done so, create a free digital signage test drive account by completing all 5 steps at http://www.strandvision.com/free_digita ... drive.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Once you have done that, you can convert powerpoints for free as long as you want to. Just log in, click on the Signage Pages tab, then Video/Powerpoint (or click on http://www.strandvision.com/?powerpoint&e=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Set the Type of Conversion to "Packaged Download File (for use with other software)" and upload your powerpoint file. Within a couple minutes you will get an email with the high resolution images on there.

If you would like more details about this, let me know and I will do what I can. Obviously we have to limit our time since this is totally free, but we help everyone learn about digital signage for free and get them started .