©2011 MultiQ are registered trademarks or trademark applications of MultiQ International AB in various jurisdictions. All
other company names and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. We reserve
the right to change the specifications without prior notice.
MultiQ DSMS 3.6 User Guide, Media players operated in standalone mode, Version 2, 18/08/2011
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6
Handling content
Content management in digital signage is very much based on repetition of messages. This is due
to the simple fact that there are new people coming to the location of the signs all the time. Digital
signage and kiosks share the challenge of providing the right information to the right person at the
right time. To achieve this we need to arrange our messages in a suitable way.
6.1
What is content?
Content can be many different things. The most common kinds of content are video clips and
images. However content comprise several other things such as web pages or entire websites,
signals from video streamers containing live TV and streams from surveillance cameras. Other
media formats such as Flash animation files and PDF documents can also be used as content in
this kind of systems. The basic component in any digital signage application is a media spot.
6.2
How to obtain content?
Media content once used to be quite hard and expensive to produce. However in today’s world of
modern media it is quite easy for anyone to produce media content at a low cost. Most companies
already produce a large amount of media content that can be reused for digital signage and kiosks.
And if adapted properly, existing media files can be converted into successful digital signage and
kiosk applications.
There are of course lots of sources for content. Video clips originate from video cameras that today
support HD formats up to 1080p at a very low cost. Video editing can be done using inexpensive
software available for less than 100 pounds and up. Images are produced using digital cameras
available at low prices and still providing excellent quality far exceeding the demands of digital
signage. Animations and drawings are created using inexpensive software that is easy to use.
By exploring what kind of media is already available in the company media archive you will probably
find lots of content that can be adapted and used in a digital signage or kiosk system after some
simple conversion. Digital signage and kiosks can soon be an additional publishing channel within
your company or organization.
6.3
Preparing content
The MultiQ system supports a wide range of media formats. However in order to get optimum
performance we strongly recommend the following choice of formats.
6.3.1
Preparing images
Images should be JPG or PNG. PNG give better performance. Image size must not exceed
1920x1080 pixels. Preparing images is easily done in Photoshop or other image processing
software. For batch conversion of image files into desired resolution you can try the free version of
“Fotosizer” (
http://www.fotosizer.com
).
If you need text to be put on top of your images (that is very much what digital signage is about),
you can do so in software as Photoshop or any other image editing software.
