Repeat Signage licencing
You will need one licence for every computer that is playing Repeat Signage
presentations. For example, you have a computer in your reception area
attached to a large display screen and this is playing a Repeat Signage
presentation welcoming visitors. You will need one Repeat Signage
licence. You may be designing and updating the reception presentation from
another office computer via your network but you do NOT need a licence to do
this. On the updating computer, simply download the Repeat Signage
evaluation version and use that instead. The only difference between the
evaluation and a licenced version is that do not see a ghosted evaluation
image over your presentation after playing it for 10 minutes.
Take a look at the following PDF diagram to see how to use Repeat Signage
Standard (and above editions) over a network and at the bottom of this
diagram it showing you how many licences would be needed:
https://www.repeatsoftware.com/Help/RepeatSignageNetworkExample.pdf
Dual monitor and quad monitor support and licensing
The Standalone edition only supports 1 monitor.
The Standard edition allows the use of two monitors on one computer. Many
new graphics cards in computers have connections for two monitors. Repeat
Signage Standard allows you to display information across two machines, or
play different presentations on each screen. You only need one licence for
a computer with two monitors.
Dual monitor support is designed for when you have two monitors next to each
other, i.e. when you are making a small video wall, and spreading a
presentation across two or more monitors. If you have two screens in the
same room, you can also play one presentation on one screen and one on
another screen providing the graphics card in your machine provides dual
monitor support. The difficulty is that presentations have to be designed
very carefully, avoiding heavy use of video, as your computer will have a
lot of work to do displaying different presentations on different monitors.
In some cases, there are also issues with playing videos on second screens,
especially HD videos. It is best that you can see both screens at the same
time so that you can trouble shoot any problems.
Dual monitor playing presentations is NOT recommended when screens will be
in different rooms.
The Media Wall edition supports up to 4 monitors and is ideal for easily
creating videos walls.
Saving money on licencing and computers
In a hotel, for example, you may want to display the same presentation is
multiple locations, such as a bar, reception and function room. The point
here is the SAME presentation. Instead of having:
3 x Repeat Signage licences
3 x Windows computers for playing Repeat Signage on
3 x Large LCD monitors
you could use:
1 x Repeat Signage licence
1 x Windows computer for playing Repeat Signage on (you will need
a
monitor attached so you can see what is happening)
3 x Large LCD monitors
1 x 4 port video splitter
4 x cabling from computer to screens (10m limit for VGA cables or you can
use video signal extenders)
On a desktop computer, you connect the computer's monitor (or LCD monitor) through the monitor port on the back on the system. You can
purchase video splitters that connect to your computer's monitor port and
then split the signal so that multiple screens can be connected to the video
splitter so that the computer's image is displayed on multiple screens. Dual
splitters are available for as little as £25 plus VAT and 4 port splitters
from £35 (UK) plus VAT. Monitor cables have around a 10m limit, so you could
connect a 10m monitor cable from the computer to the splitter and then use
10m cables to place the screens in different areas. Using video signal
extenders, such as ones that use Cat5 cabling, can be used so that the
screens can be placed at much larger distances from the computer.
To display different presentations on 2, 3 or 4 display screens, either
across all screens or each screen showing a different presentation, then a
Repeat Signage Media Wall licence will allow you to connect 1 Windows PC to
2, 3 or 4 screen video wall.
So back to our hotel example, it is possible to display the same
presentation, without spending a lot of money on computers and licences, in
multiple rooms. In other organisations, playing the same presentation in
different places would not be appropriate in which case you will need a
computer, Repeat Signage licence and display screen in each place. However,
you can still consider using splitters in some areas. For example, in a
bar, you could have several screens around the bar area and it may well be
appropriate to have the same content on each, so you could use a video
splitter in just that location to save money. In bars, screens are often
used to display menu information and details of upcoming events.
Note - Most local electricians are fully trained in computer network cable
installation, or laying video cables, which is no more complicated that
dealing with electrical wires. Electricians will also install brackets for projectors and LCD monitors, etc.