What is the best solution for streaming ot multiple TVs

[taghack]

Hi guys, long time fan of the show and the community. Threads here have already helped me sort out quite a few hairy things, so much obliged! However, this the first time I an actually posting, so a sorry up front for any mistakes.

 

The task at hand is simply put, finding the best way to serve or stream or distribute content to multiple TVs around out company's new office. The content in question will range from likely a custom web page with stats and various things that I will be putting together and will likely be displayed most of the time on all monitors. However, every TV needs to have the freedom to display its own independent thing. For example, we often need to follow a few different video streams and having them up on the big screens is essential. Also, another thing that would be great is having the ability to cast a screen from Windows, Android or iOS.

 

This is slightly out of my comfort zone and I don't really know how to approach it. Streaming the content from a centralized location seems to be feasible, but also potentially laggy, especially if I opt for some cheap wireless Miracast, Wi-Di dongles (you know, the AllCast things). The more I think about it, the more i am leaning towards single board computers, likely the ultra inexpensive OrangePi One/PC or a Raspberry Pi. This will allow me to keep things cheap (also a major point of interest in the project) and also have the power to render content locally, instead of streaming it. However, I have no idea as to how such a thing would be setup. Do I go for Android on the boards or some Linus distro? Also, ideally, there should be a way to command all the boards not only individually, but also as a group. For instance, just tell them all to play a .m3u stream or load a page at once.

 

I hope this is the right place to as this and highly doubt there will be a ready-made solution out there. But any lead would be greatly appreciated. Thanks A LOT!

[NinjaJc01]

1 minute ago, taghack said:

Hi guys, long time fan of the show and the community. Threads here have already helped me sort out quite a few hairy things, so much obliged! However, this the first time I an actually posting, so a sorry up front for any mistakes.

 

The task at hand is simply put, finding the best way to serve or stream or distribute content to multiple TVs around out company's new office. The content in question will range from likely a custom web page with stats and various things that I will be putting together and will likely be displayed most of the time on all monitors. However, every TV needs to have the freedom to display its own independent thing. For example, we often need to follow a few different video streams and having them up on the big screens is essential. Also, another thing that would be great is having the ability to cast a screen from Windows, Android or iOS.

 

This is slightly out of my comfort zone and I don't really know how to approach it. Streaming the content from a centralized location seems to be feasible, but also potentially laggy, especially if I opt for some cheap wireless Miracast, Wi-Di dongles (you know, the AllCast things). The more I think about it, the more i am leaning towards single board computers, likely the ultra inexpensive OrangePi One/PC or a Raspberry Pi. This will allow me to keep things cheap (also a major point of interest in the project) and also have the power to render content locally, instead of streaming it. However, I have no idea as to how such a thing would be setup. Do I go for Android on the boards or some Linus distro? Also, ideally, there should be a way to command all the boards not only individually, but also as a group. For instance, just tell them all to play a .m3u stream or load a page at once.

 

I hope this is the right place to as this and highly doubt there will be a ready-made solution out there. But any lead would be greatly appreciated. Thanks A LOT!

Chromecasts.

[taghack]

Just now, NinjaJc01 said:

Chromecasts.

Yeah, that is sort of a variant of the AllCast dongle approach. But does Chromecast offer some sort of multicast with a few devices? And what is the situation regarding iOS support, also media-rich web pages and things like custom video streams (m3u)? Otherwise, the cost thing is definitely covered

[NinjaJc01]

1 minute ago, taghack said:

Yeah, that is sort of a variant of the AllCast dongle approach. But does Chromecast offer some sort of multicast with a few devices? And what is the situation regarding iOS support, also media-rich web pages and things like custom video streams (m3u)? Otherwise, the cost thing is definitely covered

Multicast with a few devices? What do you mean? And as long as you can get whatever content it is on a chrome page, a chromecast can display it. You would likely need a PC for each though. And it does work with iOS.

[taghack]

1 minute ago, NinjaJc01 said:

Multicast with a few devices? What do you mean? And as long as you can get whatever content it is on a chrome page, a chromecast can display it. You would likely need a PC for each though. And it does work with iOS.

I mean, is it possible to use a single device to command lets say 5 Chromecasts and tell them all at once to display the same video or play the same stream. Doing it five times is just a pain...

[NinjaJc01]

1 minute ago, taghack said:

I mean, is it possible to use a single device to command lets say 5 Chromecasts and tell them all at once to display the same video or play the same stream. Doing it five times is just a pain...

I'm sure you can. I don't have the money to test it though.

[taghack]

Just now, NinjaJc01 said:

I'm sure you can. I don't have the money to test it though.

Interesting, looking into it now. Thanks!

[TheNuzziNuzz]

Closed Circuit TV system?

 

Output to coaxial, and run that to the TV's.

[taghack]

1 minute ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Closed Circuit TV system?

 

Output to coaxial, and run that to the TV's.

But can I get different content per TV like that ?

[NinjaJc01]

1 minute ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Closed Circuit TV system?

 

Output to coaxial, and run that to the TV's.

This might be better, and would certainly place less strain on the office wifi.

[taghack]

1 minute ago, NinjaJc01 said:

This might be better, and would certainly place less strain on the office wifi.

Yeah, but that sound really outside my comfort zone. I would love to look into it though. I presume i need some sort of hardware to serve what is essentially the analog coaxial signal? Any starting points?

 

Also, the Chromecast approach might actually be feasible. https://github.com/groupon/greenscreen

[NinjaJc01]

1 minute ago, taghack said:

Yeah, but that sound really outside my comfort zone. I would love to look into it though. I presume i need some sort of hardware to serve what is essentially the analog coaxial signal? Any starting points?

 

Also, the Chromecast approach might actually be feasible. https://github.com/groupon/greenscreen

I'm not an AV engineer, but I'm sure it's not too difficult.