Roku has announced that it is bundling network solutions as a standard feature of its BrightSign HD2000 digital sign controller hardware. Now a BrightSign HD2000 is all you need for networking and there is no subscription charge for customers hosting their own applications. BrightSign non-PC hardware includes all the software a customer needs to perform not only remote content delivery with networking, but also looping video playback, multimedia playlists, time scheduled playlists, multiple zones, interactive demos with buttons or touch screens, and much more.
Roku now offers two options for customers wishing to network their BrightSign plug-and-play digital sign and kiosk solutions. The recently announced BrightSign Network Manager is a secure Web-based application available free of charge to customers installing it on their own servers, with an all-in-one hosted service also available as an option through a low-cost subscription. A second networking option is also available and called BrightSign Simple Networking, which offers customers a less feature rich but simpler solution.
“We’ve dramatically lowered the cost of running networked remote digital signage applications”, said Roku CEO Anthony Wood. “Our sophisticated network options are included in our hardware price, and don’t require an extra software purchase. These network management solutions show no compromise in capabilities, performance or ease-of-use.”
BrightSign achieves the best price-performance levels in the industry, by combining innovative solid-state media players, standard Web technologies, and the BrightSign Network Manager software into a single integrated solution. It delivers unmatched reliability and robustness without complicated PCs. BrightSign digital sign performance is maximized easily and inexpensively, with networked content delivery to remote BrightSign units from a central, secure web server.
Based on standard Web technology, BrightSign Network Manager makes it inexpensive and simple to manage the network. Scalable from a few remote units to several thousand, the application allows content updates to be sent remotely to distributed media players without ever leaving the office. The software makes it easy to add and manage content, whether video, still images or audio - and to send playlists, scripts, software updates and scheduling files to players.
Users can create and design signage presentations including in-screen zones and loops, via the graphical playlist creator. They can manage projects and updates, add and remove units to/from the network, and organize units into groups. Comprehensive reporting is also available online, providing users with information including real-time network status, alerts of pending content updates, and the proof-of-content-delivery reports so vital to advertisers.
Self-hosting is the ideal solution for customers wishing to gain all the benefits of the network management software, while maintaining control of their own server infrastructure. There is no licence fee and no hidden costs.
If a customer wishes Roku to host their content, a subscription based service is available. Roku takes complete responsibility for the network server, backups and scalability, while customers manage their content and signs through the Web-based application.
Whether subscription-based or customer-installed, the solution is highly secure, utilizing industry standard encryption and authentication protocols like SSL, certificates and HTTPS. Built on the sound experience acquired in developing Roku’s Netflix and Soundbridge products, it is a robust and scalable solution with integral auto-recovery features to deal with unlikely failure situations, and proven network architectures that support large numbers of users and devices.
For users who have smaller and less complex signage deployments, and want to run their own servers, BrightSign Simple Networking offers a truly easy-to-use networking solution based on free-of-charge software. Through the software application, users can point to their network location then create an update file that tells the remote BrightSign unit or units what content files to update.
Straightforward modifications to the playlist file on the remote media player amend the schedule telling it when to query the network to download updates. This can be daily, weekly or at any time specified. At the appointed date and time, the remote BrightSign unit connects to the network location, downloads updated content, and then automatically reboots itself and starts to play the new content upon boot up.
- For more information on Roku products/services, visit www.roku.com.
