In this blog we will be helping you set up your Android projector to create a presentation remotely via a digital signage application. We'll also look at how to do this without wi-fi in case you are in the middle of nowhere like we were.
Digital Signage Player Software is essentially a media player which can be controlled through an editor and allows you to add images, videos, powerpoints, live feeds, change the screen layout and more. You can see this software used on many screens places such as bars, hotels, restaurants and airports.
You can also add content while you are at the event and take photos of the event like we did here with the band playing and then project it onto the tent walls. So we had our basic sponsor messages and then we added live info such as photos and other content throughout the show.
After looking at many options for digital signage software we found a great solution called onsign.tv that works well with the Pico Genie M550 Plus although it should work on most Android projectors. It also has a 14 day free trial account!
Best Digital Signage App for Android projectors
You can download the Onsign app which acts a receiver of the content you have created on your laptop. The content is streamed from the onsign website to the projector so you can remotely display whatever you desire on the projector. You can also try Screen Cloud app.
If are projecting at an event and you don’t have access to Wi-Fi or a computer to access onsign.tv, there are workarounds that allow you to still be able to display your messages on a large projector screen.
Creating Digital Signage or Slideshows if if there is no wifi
A very simple solution to this is to use an SD card, USB or directly connect a mobile device or laptop to the projector (by wire or direct wireless connection for Android or Apple). Then goto the Gallery option which is already installed on the projector. To do this you can follow these steps:
- If using powerpoint save all the slides from your slideshow as Jpeg files and put them in a folder beforehand, name these according to which ones you would like to show first e.g A Slide 1 and A Slide 2 (put A before as it will out them to the top of the list).
- Copy onto SD, USB and the projector will recognise it for instant playback
- Click on the album, click the 3 buttons in the top right corner and click slideshow.
Using this method is very simple and effective however you cannot change how long the images are shown.
Changing the slide show timings
A better solution which allows you to have more control is to use an app called Random Slideshow (please don’t be discouraged by the name, you can set it so the images are sequential instead of random). To do this you can follow these steps:
- Download the app Random Slideshow.
- Save all the slides from your slideshow as Jpeg files and put them in a folder beforehand, name these according to which ones you would like to show first e.g A Slide 1 and A Slide 2 (put A before as it will out them to the top of the list).
- Copy onto SD, USB and the projector will recognise it for instant playback
- Go into the Random Slideshow App, select the album you want to use "with this app you are also able to use multiple albums from different sources such as USB, SD or the projectors own internal memory and have it go through them all"
- Scroll further down before clicking start slideshow to change the time length of each image and to turn the randomising off
Live Feeds from Social Media (Twitter, Facebook)
One great option you can use at a party or any event is social media pages. Simply access a browser such as Chrome on the projector and logon to your twitter page. This then displays all tweets displayed so if you ask everyone at the show via the projector to use your # or @ then you can see a live feed of everyone's comments, feedback and photos as the show rolls on. It can be a really powerful tool.