OT: the "perfect" lobby / waiting room TV

dibbkd wrote on 8/29/2010, 9:01 PM
You may have seen my other post talking about the lobby / waiting room video I'm working on.

Well the other half of that project was figuring out the best way to get my video on the TV, and what may sound like a simple question wasn't so simple.

So, I have a flat-panel LCD mounted on the wall, how do I get my video to it? Keep in mind this is a video I plan on "updating" every week or so.

Several "bad" solutions:
o DVD player in another room with a long coax cable running to the TV
o PC in another room with long VGA and audio cables running to the TV

Not-so-bad solution:
o LCD TV with built-in DVD player

Pretty good solution:
o LCD TV with USB port that plays video files (hard to find TV's that play videos this way)

Perfect solution:
o LCD TV with Ethernet port that allows you to play video files from a PC on your LAN (VERY hard to find a TV that does this)

So, which TV did I find for my perfect solution? There may be others, but for me it was the
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/tv-video/televisions/lcd-tv/LN32C550J1FXZA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail[b]Samsung LN32C550.[b][/link]

It can also play videos via the USB port in a continuous loop (necessary for my needs too).

And keep in mind when looking at these TV that just because it may have a USB and/or an Ethernet port doesn't mean it can play videos either via USB or on your networked PC. Most of the USB ports on TV only show JPG photos and most of the Ethernet ports only hook up the TV to stuff like Netflix or Yahoo widgets.

If anyone else out there has a better solution, let me know, but I'm *pretty sure* I found the best answer.

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 8/29/2010, 9:12 PM
A WDTV Live ($119) can be set to loop your video indefinitely. Handles full HD and you can plug in two thumb/hard drives.
Get a cheap flat panel so you won't cry if it gets ripped off.
Rory Cooper wrote on 8/30/2010, 12:46 AM
I do a lot of this type of thing, from restaurant waiting areas with live cams so you can see the chefs doing their thing , to hotels with content ranging from tours to events, you don’t no hell no, want to be cutting dvd,s it is a waste of your production time and it will not generate income, especially if you have to feed 20 different clients …

go with a media player
plays most codecs and media, mixed media as well
no dvd production time
= full HD
no glitch, stick, irritating phone calls from clients
you can shuffle the content on the player, set to loop etc
create the content 1024 x 598 or any size.
it cost the same as a dvd player
you can upload from a flash drive to the players.

One of my clients has a few Comedy venues so I create the content for the upcoming month and they upload it themselves. Train your clients to get involved ,it is their business after all.
dibbkd wrote on 8/30/2010, 4:08 AM
The thing is with this Samsung TV I mentioned, the TV IS the media player.

@musicvid - The WDTV Live thing looks cool, but you still have to have that AND USB drive or USB hard drive connected to it. So now you have to get those mounted or run long composite cables from that to the TV.

@Rory Cooper - Even if I had 100 TV's that needed this video I'd go with the Samsung TV solution above. All I'd need at the very most would be an Ethernet cable run to the back of them. Again, the TV is the media player, plays full HD from a networked PC, any PC anywhere on your LAN.

Maybe I'm not understanding something, but I'm still thinking the networked-TV-is-the-media-player is the best option.

And the TV was $535.00, 32". A little more expensive than other 32" TV's, but worth it because of the built-in media player I think.
Rory Cooper wrote on 8/30/2010, 5:40 AM
ok Is that all you would need? Tv ,PC and cables.

What’s the point of the Samsung screen if you still need the otherstuff???????
dibbkd wrote on 8/30/2010, 6:08 AM
The TV is mounted on the lobby wall of a building that is full of computers already, there's not a "dedicated" PC for the TV video.

The video file is "wherever" on PC on the LAN, and the TV just has a simple Ethernet cable plugged into the back of it like every other device on the network.

I'd agree if it were going into a place where there wasn't already a LAN with computers that your choice would be better.

But even then you could just plug a little USB thumb stick into the back of the TV (no cables required) and the TV is still the media player.
Rory Cooper wrote on 8/30/2010, 6:33 AM
Are you 100's sure about the Screen having a built in media driver?
Former user wrote on 8/30/2010, 6:35 AM
I would advise against a unit that is the TV and player. If either fails, you have to replace it all. With a seperate media player, if it fails, you just replace the media player.

There are MANY commercial media player units out there with variations on outputs. (HDMI, Component, VGA, etc).

This is one we have used a lot. Uses Compact Flash media.

http://www.teamkingsley.com/


Dave T2
Rory Cooper wrote on 8/30/2010, 6:46 AM
Check out Syvio M3. very small, plays MKV. Also WLAN

http://szprice.blogspot.com/2010/04/syvio-m1-review-worlds-smallest-hdmi.html