Digital Signage on Solstice

Solstice displays can be configured to show company branding and communications when not in use for meetings and collaboration sessions. Most digital signage feeds that are accessible using a web-based URL can be shown on one or more Solstice instances, allowing displays that would otherwise be idle to instead increase brand knowledge, inform employees and visitors, and facilitate important messaging. In this topic, you find technical information about using digital signage features in Solstice and directions for how it can be configured for a variety of digital signage feeds.

When enabled, Digital Signage in Solstice defaults to Mersive's Solstice Pod information feed at https://digitalsignage.mersive.com. URL-based digital signage feeds such as Tripleplay, Appspace, and Carousel, as well as Google Slides and YouTube feeds, are supported. Solstice digital signage also supports custom static welcome screens at a web URL.

Note

Certain individual feeds, even from supported sources, may not work with Solstice. If the URL you are attempting to run is resource intensive, stability and performance can be negatively affected. Solstice version 5.5.2 and later will cache up to 2 GB of content. (Solstice versions 4.4 to 5.5.1 cache up to 1 GB of content.)

Requirements

Solstice Pods with Enterprise Edition Licenses
Solstice version 4.0 or later, with Solstice 5.5.2 strongly recommended
Source URL content must be compatible with Android’s Chromium-based WebView (Chromium version 94.0.4606.71).
- Test your URL in Solstice and verify that it is playing well on a single display before rolling out to other Solstice Pods and/or leaving signage enabled on the Pod.

Layout Options

Solstice digital signage provides three layout modes: Full Screen, Footer Only, and Footer + Overlay. Footer Only and Footer + Overlay modes render the source content in an HTML iFrame. Many content sources work in all modes without an issue. However, an embedded URL must be generated for use in an iFrame to use sources such as Google Slides and YouTube for digital signage in Footer Only and Footer + Overlay modes.

Try Full Screen mode if you are having issues in Footer Only and Footer + Overlay modes. See how to set digital signage configuration options in Solstice Cloud and Solstice Dashboard.

How to find the embedded URL that appears successfully in an iFrame for Solstice digital signage in footer/overlay modes from common sources:

Google Slides - When publishing the Google Slides presentation to the web, select the Embed option. This creates HTML code with the presentation URL within an iFrame. Copy the URL from this code to enter in the Solstice digital signage configuration.
YouTube - View the Embed code for a video from sharing options. Copy the embed URL from the "src" attribute to enter in the Solstice digital signage configuration. Add URL parameters as needed. Turning on autoplay and loop options and turning off controls is recommended for digital signage. Find more parameters details in Google documentation.
The following URL shows an embed link with the parameters noted above, as well as an optional playlist parameter to play more than one YouTube video:
```
https://www.youtube.com/embed/<VIDEO_ID>?playlist=<VIDEO_ID>,
<Additional_VIDEO_IDs>&loop=1&autoplay=1&controls=0
```

Supported Authentication Methods

Some signage systems provide mechanisms to identify the device with which it is communicating. This can be helpful to tailor content to groups of devices, to prevent unauthorized access to the feed content, and for analytics.

The Solstice digital signage playback supports the following authentication methods:

Scheme	Description
Open	The signage URL is not protected by an authentication scheme. The content will load in any network-connected browser for any user.
URL-Based	The signage URL is protected by a URL-based parameter. In this case, the content will only load when the URL parameter is provided.
Cookie or Local Storage	The signage URL loads an initial page that presents a unique identifier for the Pod. The signage administrator will record the code and enter it into the signage provider's device-management console. After this process is complete, a cookie or other browser-based persistent mechanism, like local storage, is used to store the identification information.
MAC Address	Primarily relevant to an on-premises signage system, the administratorcan configure the Pod MAC address as part of the device configuration in the management console. This process may be automated by the signage system; however, the signage server and Solstice Pod must typically be on the same VLAN.

How To

Log in to Solstice Cloud.
Go to Manage > Pods and click the name of the Pod you want to show digital signage content on.
Scroll down and click the down arrow to expand the Digital Signage settings.
Check Enable Digital Signage and select a display mode:
- Full Screen: Signage content is displayed full screen on the Solstice display. No Solstice connection information is shown — users must know Solstice display name or IP address to connect.
- Footer Only: Only the Solstice welcome screen footer is shown over the signage content. Users familiar with Solstice can see the Solstice display name and/or IP address in the footer area to connect and share content. The source URL must be viewable within an IFrame.
- Footer + Overlay: The Solstice welcome screen footer and sidebar overlay are shown on top of digital signage to provide users with full connection instructions and/or room calendar information. The source URL must be viewable within an IFrame.
In Source URL, enter the URL for the digital signage feed to be displayed.
In Start After, select the amount of time after which you want the digital signage feed to start playing.
Click Save as Unassigned, or you can Save as New Template to create a digital signage template you can apply to multiple Pods.

Note

Some signage providers require you to use a unique code to register your signage endpoints. Refer to your signage content provider's instructions to complete this process as needed.

In Solstice Dashboard, select the Pod(s) you want to show digital signage on from the list of Your Solstice Instances.
Go to the Digital Signage tab.
Check Enable to interact with the digital signage settings.
Choose a digital signage display mode from the list of options:
- Full Screen: Signage content is displayed full screen on the Solstice display. No Solstice connection information is shown — users must know Solstice display name or IP address to connect.
- Footer Only: Only the Solstice welcome screen footer is shown over the signage content. Users familiar with Solstice can see the Solstice display name and/or IP address in the footer area to connect and share content. The source URL must be viewable within an IFrame.
- Footer + Overlay: The Solstice welcome screen footer and sidebar overlay are shown on top of digital signage to provide users with full connection instructions and/or room calendar information. The source URL must be viewable within an IFrame.
In the Source URL field, enter the URL of the digital signage feed or web content to be displayed between Solstice sessions.
In the Start After menu, select the amount of time after which you want the digital signage feed to start playing.
Click Apply.

Note

Some signage providers require you to use a unique code to register your signage endpoints. Refer to your signage content provider's instructions to complete this process as needed.

Video Formats for Signage Providers

Video content is supported if it is in one of the following formats and configured to auto-start. The maximum video quality is 1080p at 60 frames per second and up to 20 Mbps.

H.264 Baseline Profile Level 3
VP8
VP9

In this section:

Digital Signage on Solstice

Note

Requirements

Layout Options

Supported Authentication Methods

How To

Note

Note

Video Formats for Signage Providers

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