One of the newest features in the WebSuite Digital Signage Platform is the ability to add  playlists within a project. What are playlists you ask?

Playlists are simply sub-groupings of content within a project consisting of Page content playlists and Crawl Region playlists. Each Playlist can be assigned to one or many players in your signage network.

Master playlists for page content and crawl region content will be the first playlists added when a user initially creates a project. That content will always play when the project is published to the media players. Let’s take a look at the diagram below and see just how using playlists can benefit your organization.

Diagram example of Playlists being used in a University setting.

The diagram above illustrates an example of a University using WebSuite software for creating and managing content with media players located in several different locations or departments throughout the campus.

Let’s say that Administration wants to have the same cohesive message displayed on all of its screens. They accomplish this by creating a project called “MainCampus“.  Next they’ll add a Master playlist with their message and send the project with that playlist to the server for all the media players to pull (the Pull Method of publishing is required for using the Playlist feature) into endpoint displays. Now all the media players across campus have the same uniformly branded Administration message playing on all the screens.

Library Page Playlist Shown In The Dropdown Section

This is great, but now the Library staff want to add their own content that will only play on the screens in the Library. They do this by creating their own playlist within the “MainCampus” project.

In the Library playlist, the staff can then create as much page content and crawl region content as necessary to target their specific audience of students and faculty. Content for a library could include hours of operation, holiday closings, upcoming events such as book author signings and book buy backs. It could be new book arrivals, special rewards programs, maps of the library as well as emergency information.

In this example, WebSuite users all over the University campus could log in and add custom playlists for their departments. This level of content creation and management give WebSuite the enterprise-class support that businesses and organizations are looking for.Playlists are a great feature to add custom content to specific screens across your digital signage network. Initial player set up is a breeze and once new content is created and approved, all you need to do is sit back and let the players and server do the work.

With so many possibilities of easy content management, WebSuite truly delivers the promise of Digital Signage Made Simple!

Let us know what applications can you think of where Playlists would come in handy and if you have any questions or would like more information, please give us a call at (541)752-5654 or send us an email to sales@magicboxinc.com.

Push vs. Pull Diagram

What is the “Pull” method of publishing and how will it benefit my organization?

Before we answer these questions, let’s first define what publishing is in the digital signage world.

Publishing: Transferring digital content from the creation software to the media player(s) which is typically sent over a local area network (LAN) and/or a wide area network (WAN).

The desktop version of our digital signage software called Composer used a method of publishing called the “Push” method or manual publishing. A user would hit the Publish button select a single media player or multiple players and then send project content directly to those devices at that moment.

The limitation of using the “Push” method  is that the PC that the software resides on needs to be in the same network (LAN) where the media players are located or at least have the media players assigned an external IP address that is reachable from the creation PC. This narrows the ability and reach of the digital signage network.

This is a great method for small digital signage networks where users publish infrequently and are always available to manage their content.

Enter the “Pull” method.

The new web based WebSuite Digital Signage Platform now introduces a second option of publishing called the “Pull” (also called Server Publish) method. This publishing option works by configuring the media players to make the inquiry or check into the server (Cloud or On-premise) to see if new content is available. If so, then that content will be pulled in and begin displaying it. The interval for how often the players check into the server can be set for every 5 minutes up to once a day.

Pull Publish Set Up

Since the media players are making the data request to the server for content, this allows player units to go out of a network’s firewall and pull in the new data without advanced network configuration. The media players don’t need to be located on the same network as the PC running the WebSuite software. In fact, they can be in different buildings, different cities or even different countries for that matter.

This opens up a world of possibilities for the organization. For example, a corporation may have five offices located across the United States. Marketing would create the signage information for each office and then approve the content (publish) and send it to the server for each media player at each office to check in and retrieve the new content. Instead of having people at each office manually send content directly to a player on the local network every time they have new content ready, all the players from multiple networks check into a single server. This reduces employee work load as well as overhead costs for the business.

Organizations can now manage a wide digital signage network from a central location. The “pull” method of publishing is just one of the new features in WebSuite making it an enterprise class signage solution. Stay tuned to the blog for overviews of other great WebSuite features that help businesses mange their content efficiently and effectively.

The “Push” and “Pull” methods of publishing are both available to use within the WebSuite software and users can choose which methods works best for them.

If you have any questions on the “Pull” method of publishing or would like further information on how the WebSuite Digital Signage Platform can help your company, please give us a call at (541)752-5654 or send us an email to sales@magicboxinc.com.

Looking for a digital signage solution for a corporate organization?

We’ve created a document that lists several options for digital signage to be used in a  corporate facility.

Read it through and find the solution that fits your needs.

If you have any questions about or products and services or would simply like to talk with us, give us a call at (541)752-5654 or send us an email to sales@magicboxinc.com

Don’t forget to check out the OppDoc for Corporate organizations.

OppDoc – A Day At The Office

Visit our Social sites and stay up to date with all things MagicBox.

It’s that time of year again.

This notice is to just remind Aavelin users who aren’t connected to a network that after the time change, be sure to go into the on-screen menu and set your time, then restart the unit to save the changes.

This ensures your Aavelin unit’s time will be correct and your schedule content will play when it’s supposed to.

Aavelin users who are connected online, please disregard this message. The Aavelin will sync with the Network Time Server and set your time correctly.

If you have any questions, please contact support at (541)752-5542 or email us at support@magicboxinc.com

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — January 24, 2013 — ClearOne (NASDAQ: CLRO) today announced a partnership with HospitalityVision to offer two different levels of turn-key digital signage background packages. This content creation service addresses the needs of smaller companies without internal design or marketing resources to create specialized digital signage content. Customers will order directly from HospitalityVision and engage with a designer to create their own customized content.

“You have only a few seconds to make a good first impression; but it takes forever to change a bad one,” said Tom Searcy, Vice President of ClearOne’s Signage Business. “ClearOne and HospitalityVision are working together to help organizations make a positive first impression by delivering branded, eye-catching, personalized content backgrounds for their digital signage products. The HospitalityVision content packages are like hiring a full-time marketer and salesperson at an unbelievably affordable rate; your high-quality digital signage content is always selling for you, without the cost of internal resources. ”

The HospitalityVision “starter” content packages offer users an affordable option with 5 digital signage backgrounds; including the ability to customize text and graphics. The custom backgrounds are created specifically for each business; incorporating colors, logos, and overall business messages, providing a solid foundation for businesses to easily create signage without using cookie-cutter solutions. Deluxe packages include more dynamic options, such as custom animation.

Custom Design Template Flyer – HospitalityVision

About HosptialityVision

HospitalityVision helps hotels and resorts become eco-friendly and green while providing their guests with the best possible service through a 24/7 in-room concierge. The company works with over 50 hotel and resort properties to design, update, and maintain digital hotel concierge content and presentation to best brand and showcase a property’s unique attributes and amenities. More information can be found at www.hospitalityvision.net.

About ClearOne

ClearOne is a global company that designs, develops and sells conferencing, collaboration, streaming and digital signage solutions for audio visual communications. The performance and simplicity of its advanced comprehensive solutions enhance the quality of life. ClearOne products offer unprecedented levels of functionality, reliability and scalability. More information about the company can be found at www.clearone.com.

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http://investors.clearone.com

Do you know the different between a Web Based SaaS Solution vs. an On Premise Server vs. a Desktop Application for Digital Signage?

Some businesses and government agencies need to know what time it is in other cites across the globe. We recently created a world clock for a client that allowed them to simultaneously display time from eight cities on a single screen.

Here’s what the World Clock layout looks like:

(Note: This example is displayed in Standard time version with out day of the week (Easily added). We can create one with Military time as well and modify the color scheme to match your branding.)

The end user can customize the cities they want to show through a simple and easy to use, custom user interface application. 

All the user needs to do is enter the city name, set it’s GMT offset and then check it’s Daylight Saving time settings.

This allowed the customer full control over the time information being displayed.

Let us know what you think and if you have any custom applications that we can help find a solution for.

If you’re interested in using a World Clock with your digital signage messaging, give us a call at (541)752-5654 or send us an email at sales@magicboxinc.com, we’d love to discuss this solution with you.

Please share this post with your Twitter and Facebook followers and leave us a comment on your thoughts and ideas regarding this project. Thanks again!

ClearOne releases new MagicBox Digital Signage Server

Also enhances MagicBox WebSuite, a web-based platform offering enterprise applications for digital signage

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (October 25, 2012) – ClearOne (NASDAQ: CLRO) today announced the release of the MagicBox on-premise Entry-Level Server (ELS) to extend its web-based, digital signage offering. The ELS runs MagicBox WebSuite software applications for digital signage, including content creation and asset management inside of a browser for a comprehensive content management experience — from design to verification. The ELS is available with upgradable licensing options to support 5, 15 or 25 media players.

Applications included in the ELS are:

• Composer – a flexible application to manage multimedia assets, custom-build layout, schedule & publish projects
• Ad Logger – for network verification of impression analytics
• Audio Manager – for audio playlist creation and management software

Additionally, the ELS offers enterprise-class user access controls for efficient planning and added security. These administrative applications include:

• Library – to upload content and manage content repository
• User Manager – for administering user roles and security levels
• Player Manager – to set up and organize signage players on the network
• Remote Update – for media player firmware updates

In addition to releasing the ELS, the existing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud-based MagicBox WebSuite is also enhanced with some new features:

• The MagicBox media players can now be configured either to pull or push content and schedule information from the server; allowing customers to manage and publish content from anywhere with an internet connection. Media players can be placed in multiple locations, behind firewalls with private IP addresses and managed both centrally and locally. The media players are not required to have public IP addresses.

• The MagicBox WebSuite software now also supports workgroup and playlist capabilities. Administration of national and local content is simplified by allowing a central administrator to control a common set of playlist content for multiple locations. Users can add unique, local content without impacting other locations.

“With the ELS, customers will greatly benefit from the ability to control and administer full digital signage solutions on their own private and secured networks. With a flexible and scalable architecture and no recurring fees, the total cost of a web-based signage solution is well within reach,” said Tom Searcy, Vice President of the ClearOne Digital Signage Business. “New features in the MagicBox WebSuite software improve the control of multiple media players at one or many locations and also provide flexibility and access for multiple users with different management rights in the system. By offering both the ELS and SaaS models, our digital signage customers now have the option of hosting with either an on-premise server or a cloud-based solution, according to their digital signage requirements and business models.”

The new ELS and the enhancements of MagicBox WebSuite SaaS will be available in November.

About ClearOne

ClearOne is a global company that designs, develops and sells conferencing, collaboration, streaming and digital signage solutions for audio, video and data multimedia communication. The performance and simplicity of its advanced comprehensive solutions enhance the quality of life. ClearOne products offer unprecedented levels of functionality, reliability and scalability. More information about the company can be found at www.clearone.com

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http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/fullpage.asp?BzID=509&to=cp&Nav=0&LangID=1&s=0&ID=14724

Social media is a powerful method for businesses to communicate to their customers. What if companies could leverage that communication channel and insert it into their digital signage networks?

With our RSStoCrawl MagicWidget, you can do just that. With this add-on for your Aavelin Composer digital signage software (desktop application – WebSuite v1.1 comes bundled with this feature), you can insert your company’s Twitter feed into one the Aavelin’s crawl regions.

Check out this example video:

If you already own the  RSStoCrawl widget, here’s the URL format to use:

https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=magicbox

 *To use your Twitter handle, change the “magicbox” after the equals sign in the above URL to your company’s Twitter user name.

Adding your Twitter feed to your project content has many benefits, most importantly it keeps your customers engaged with real time information and helps your business connect with your audience through dynamic social media channels.

Contact us now and add your Twitter feed to you Digital Signage project today!

Notes:

• Twitter’s name and logo are trademarks of Twitter
• Twitter may change the URL feed structure at anytime, so please refer to their developer’s api for additional information should your feed stop working.

This infographic from Digital Signage Today lists some excellent benefits for using Digital Menu Boards.

With the new labeling laws that are about to take effect, DMBs will help owners stay compliant, increase their revenues, and improve productivity.

Contact us today to see if we have a Digital Menu Board solution that’s right for your business.

Please let us know your thoughts and comments on Digital Menu Boards in today’s world.