HACKER Q&A
📣 julesie

Best approach for always on TV dashboard


We would like to set up some displays in our office to constantly display some performance dashboards. The dashboards are custom built but accessible via the web.

We'd like to set up about 6 of these devices and want to keep them as low maintenance as possible.

It feels like overkill to setup a laptop for each screen just for this purpose but we weren't sure in 2022 what the best approach from a cost and reliability perspective would be.

Some routes we have considered:

  - Use 'Smart TVs' and rely on the built-in browser (can be janky to use)
  - Use a Raspberry Pi connected to a monitor (hard to source new Pi's at the moment)
  - Use an Amazon Fire Stick (they have an auto-sleep that can't seem to be disabled)
  - Use an no-name Raspberry Pi-esque mini USB-C PC (dubious quality)
Do any of those seem like the obvious choice or are we missing something even more straightforward?

  👤 daheat Accepted Answer ✓
Absolutely do not cheap out on this, this will have to run for some time without hiccups. Make sure you've got a digital signage supported TV such as NEC or Samsung that supports 24/7 operations. NEC even offers a built-in Raspberry Pi which is awesome. I've implemented over 400 NEC monitors for 24/7 ops and it will stand the test of time most cases even for 10 years. These kind of TVs have low-glare and the picture will not burn into the monitor while providing enterprise security. Samsung do offer digital signage approved TVs as well.

If you choose RaspberryPi just know that it usually uses an older version of Chromium. Other devices might not have a modern browser so all of your fancy code wouldn't work.

I've got some good experience with Yodeck and Screenly. Dakboard is also pretty cool as it offers you to directly fetch data via REST API calls.

I've used Dakboard and Yodeck together to be able to quickly implement custom dashboards to dozens of TVs

👤 MattGrommes
I use a Pi 4 connected to a cheap 4k TV from Target. I started out using Dakboard for ease-of-use but recently switched to MagicMirror, an open source dashboard framework, and am loving it. Super easy to set up and I can write my own modules for it and customize the CSS (since I'm not using it behind a mirror I want it to be colorful).
👤 throwaway158497
Great question. But related to this, what is the best "always" ON digital Photo frame with an API/wifi connectivity?

I want to make a screen which my kids can see every morning. It will pull interesting pics from reddit or from NASA, for example.

👤 purgedreality
I love OptiSigns. I used it when I was a sysadmin and still use it at home for my homelab. Support has been great, they do a monthly newsletter and constantly add features. More importantly I've never had any weird downtime or deauth issues over a year since I've started using it. They handle mixing local and internet assets very well which allows me to make changes with PRTG dashboards and random >file.html scripts I run. They even have emergency/flash messaging for quick communication and a home app for employees who are remote.

I am not a paid endorser, just love the software.

👤 hoofhearted
Pi Signage.. Pay the small one time lifetime license fee for each player, and let them host the controller.