Digital Signage with DisplayIt!Xpress

This blog post will provide some information about DisplayIt!Xpress from BestWave which is a digital signage turnkey solution.

This solution is yet another example of what our platforms can offer. It also shows that our partners offer solutions that can provide exactly what is needed for your project.

Highlights

This solution offers the following:

• Easily manage one or several displays from your desktop
• Intuitive management console software
• Advanced technical skills not required
• Supports common media formats
  
  • Video
  • Images
  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • Web pages
• Drag & Drop interface for custom designs
• Easy-to-use scheduling system

Here is a presentation video that can help understand the full solution

[embed]https://www.bestwave.com/ViewSonic_DisplayItXpress.mp4[/embed]

Prerequisites

In order to get started, you need the following:

• Any Boundary Devices i.MX6 platform
• Any HDMI or Boundary Devices LVDS/LCD display
• Any Android release (latest is Marshmallow 6.0.1 at the time of this writing)
• A Windows PC for the Management Console

That's it, with the above, you can then download the DisplayIt!Xpress components:

• Android application to install on the Boundary target
  • DisplayItXInstaller.apk
• Windows Management Console
  • DisplayItXMgmtConsoleInstaller.exe

Installation

Android Installer Application

The easiest way to install an Android application is to use ADB, please see our Android Getting Started blog post if you are not sure of what it means.

$ adb install DisplayItXInstaller.apk

Otherwise, another option is to copy the apk file to a USB drive and plug it to the platform. Then you should be able to install it with the File Manager application present in our releases.

It might require you to change the Settings > Security > Unknown sources option so the app can be installed.

Make sure you are connected to the internet, either via Ethernet or WiFi, before starting the app the first time. It will install all the components needed on the target.

Then you can either start the Launcher app manually or restart since it will now automatically be launched at bootup.

Finally, you'll be prompted to enter your e-mail address so the trial (or license) duration can start.

Management Console

On your Windows PC, execute the Management Console file downloaded above and go through the intallation (Next, Next...)

That's it, the Management Console icon should now be present on your Desktop.

Quick example

This section will describe how we displayed our company presentation slide deck in a couple of clicks.

First add (or find) the platform.

Once the platform is detected properly, you can switch to the content tab.

Click on "Add Item" here to add all the image/video/webpage/widgets you need. In our case we select our PowerPoint presentation.

You now just need to deploy it on the target, clicking on the arrow next to your platform name. Note that you can distribute to several platforms at once with the full license.

Here is a recording of what our platform now displays at bootup automatically.

[video width="1024" height="768" mp4="https://boundarydevices.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/digitalsignagedemo.mp4"][/video]

That's it! You should now be able to use any of our platforms as a digital signage in no time.