Hardware for digital signage?

What hardware do you guys recommend for digital signage connected to a Raspberry Pi?

Hey @mpark I guess it depends on your use case? Hardware wise are you looking at the actual display part or additional sensor type hardware?

I’m looking for a reliable HDMI monitor, about 30"-50" to hang around a community house. I guess the hardware needs to be a bit specialized, so it can handle being turned on for long periods of time, as well as abrupt power cuts from a central power source.

Furthermore it could be awsome if it could somehow power the Raspberry Pi through the monitor, so I only needed a single power outlet, in case the Pi connects to the internet through wifi.

Hey @mpark! I’ve looked at this for some clients before, you’ll find in terms of value you won’t be able to do much better than a cheap 1080p (or perhaps 4K) TV. The increase in cost when you move to a unit designed for commercial or industrial digital signage would probably cover 5 (or more) cheap TVs. Consumer grade TVs won’t mind being left on for long periods or having the power cut; the main gains I’ve had experience of with the more commercial/industrial displays are performance in direct sunlight (both visibility and heat resistance) and automation options, which it sounds like you don’t need here. The only thing I can think of is that if you are having frequent power cuts, the TV will likely stay off when power returns, requiring you to manually turn it on again, but it would be possible to build something on your Pi that could turn the TV back on automatically.

The USB power built in would be really useful! From experience it’s really hard to tell looking at TV spec sheets if this is going to work. Honestly if I was in your position I would go to the nearest big electronics store with my Raspberry Pi in hand and find one that works. As long as you make sure the TV has a VESA mount (most do, but some need extra hardware), you can then use any bracket to mount it on the wall, too.

Hope this helps - post some photos when you’ve got it up and running! :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the help @chrisys! I think that makes very good sense. All the digital signage solutions I’ve found seems very out-of-the-odinary expensive. I’ll try to make a test with a cheap TV. Thanks for the support.