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FaultyMario
March 25th, 2014, 10:28 AM
Keyword: Easy


Woman's been commissioned to have a digital announcement board in her workplace's reception area.
It's a lot of work that's going to need constant updates, so she doesn't need to spend any more time preparing and testing... you get the idea.

I'm thinking AppleTV can hook up to the monitor and play a keynote presentation on a loop and the be uploaded a different one every other day?

Would that work? She doesn't want to have a dedicated computer doing only that one job, and need to have someone with some computer expertise go thru it everyday. It needs to be something as simple as "change the channel to Keynote".

Cam
March 25th, 2014, 10:36 AM
You got it. You can "share your screen" to an Apple TV from a Mac.

Oh wait, it has to run without a dedicated computer. Uh...

Kchrpm
March 25th, 2014, 10:38 AM
It looks like Keynote needs to be mirrored from a computer or phone, it can't be played natively on Apple TV: http://store.apple.com/us/question/answers/appletv/can-i-use-apple-tv-to-display-keynote-or-power-point-presentations/QKXHAHUUT4HATDHTP

You could export the sheets as images on a computer the Apple TV can read from (or a USB stick and one of the competitors that would support it) and do a repeating slideshow with it.

FaultyMario
March 25th, 2014, 10:44 AM
Ok, her MacBook is teh broke atm, suppose she prepares it on her iPad, emails it and saves it to a thumbdrive, can that be connected to an Apple TV?

thesameguy
March 25th, 2014, 10:49 AM
There are a few variables here.

Sounds like what you need is just a video that runs in a loop, correct? Is the display just a monitor, or is it a TV? What inputs does it have? Are there any other electronics nearby? Computer, tablets, cell phones, even a DVD player?

Lacking any infrastructure and the display being just a display, I think the cheapest course of action is probably something like a refurbed Western Digital Live! device. You can take a presentation converted to a video, put it on a USB drive, and plug it into the WD Live! device in a loop. That is probably a US$60 option. Another option would be to get one of the Android-on-a-stick doodads to perform the same function. If you don't need the thing immediately, Alibaba et al can hook you up with one of those device for about $50, but you'll need to have some technical expertise to put the video on the device (via MicroSD, probably) and then configure the device to loop it. You could accomplish the same using an Ouya (HA!), but the form factor kinda sucks for this application. If you want something a little more user friendly and have a little more to spend, you could use one of the "book PC" devices, install Windows, and use that... just like my bedroom HTPC was. That is a $150-$200 solution, just use double-sided tape to stick it to the back of the display.

If you have some sort of infrastructure nearby or the display is a smart TV, you have other options... like setting up a nearby PC to stream wirelessly (ChromeCast, MiraCast, AirPlay) or ripping the presentation to a DVD and using a DVD player. That latter situation could be quite cheap - use a travel-size DVD player, which I think are available for under $50 these days. Gotcha is that looping 8x5 will probably kill a cheap player in a month or less.

Another idea would be to tape an iPod or old iPhone with an HDMI cable to the back of the display, but I'm not sure if many media players on these devices support looping. You could do the same with an old Android phone, and then you have player options. You should be able to pick up a used iPhone 4 or Galaxy for US$100 or less.

I've done this sort of thing a few times - you have mountains of options. It's just a matter of price point and technical expertise on hand.

FaultyMario
March 25th, 2014, 10:53 AM
Sounds like save presentation to thumb drive in video format, get a Smart TV-type display, plug thumb drive in and run it in a loop.

amirite?

thesameguy
March 25th, 2014, 10:59 AM
If you have the option of buying the display, yes, definitely. Get a smart TV that support video playback and just plug in a flash drive. Keynote can save the preso as a video in a variety of formats. You just need to choose a display that supports video formats that Keynote can export, OR have some software on hand that can transcode. Related, check the owner's manual on the display as some support repeat and some don't.

Another option along the same lines, if you don't have animations or video in the Keynote, is to export each slide as a JPG and have the smart TV run a slideshow in perpetuity. :up:

FaultyMario
March 25th, 2014, 11:03 AM
Gotcha, thanks everybody!

Kchrpm
April 29th, 2014, 08:13 AM
You can now push Google Drive presentations to Chromecast: http://www.androidcentral.com/google-drive-now-supports-streaming-presentations-chromecast

FaultyMario
April 29th, 2014, 09:09 AM
care to explain, keef?

not very well versed on 'droidspeek.

Kchrpm
April 29th, 2014, 11:13 AM
- Create or upload/convert presentation to Google Drive
- Plug in and setup Chromecast on TV
- Install Chrome and Google Cast plug-in for Chrome on a computer on the same network as Chromecast
- Open presentation on computer in Chrome, click the arrow next to "Present" in the top right corner, choose the Chromecast from the items under "Present on other device"

My guess is that you'll have to keep that tab open in Chrome to keep it up, so it's not a completely self-contained solution, but it should be relatively easy to edit and control.

George
April 29th, 2014, 03:00 PM
Keyword: Easy

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Blank_whiteboard.JPG/800px-Blank_whiteboard.JPG

You're welcome.

Kchrpm
April 29th, 2014, 03:22 PM
You have an easy of doing looping presentations during the workday on a white board? Do tell!

*crosses fingers for a Rube Goldberg machine explanation*

George
April 29th, 2014, 03:28 PM
I'll need some Excel formula help to 'splain it all.

Kchrpm
April 30th, 2014, 04:25 AM
Just tried it out, and it doesn't automatically loop :down: