Planet eSign Content Blog
The new update to Planet eStream 6.38 includes a major update to Planet eSign, and this blog will go into more detail regarding the changes to the tools used to add content to Screen Designs and Content Loops. If the content you display on your screens is not listed here, you can expect the same options as seen in the previous version of Planet eSign.
Planet eStream Video Content
This content will be displayed using the Planet eSign Signage Client browser’s native HTML video playback. This allows for smoother playback and reduces the lag experienced when video plays back via the Planet eStream Flash Video Player. Please note: if you require Flash playback, the “enable flash in signage” option needs to be enabled by a Planet eSign administrator.
Tip: The move to HTML also means that the “stretch to fit” option is deprecated. It is recommended to size the panel to fit the aspect ratio of the video being displayed to avoid any black bars or letter boxing.
Labels
No changes have been made to this content type, but throughout Planet eSign you can now choose to use fonts available from Google Fonts on labels and other text-based content, such as RSS feeds and Twitter feeds.
Twitter
New to this content type is the option to show images, Tweets or both at the same time in a panel. These new options work in the same way as the legacy methods (which are still available) and use Twitter’s search API.
In response to our customers’ requests for a more dynamic and up to date live experience with Twitter, Planet eSign administrators can now take advantage of Live Twitter Feeds. These feeds provide a more live experience and Tweets can be shown on a signage display as they are Tweeted. No more waiting around!
Tip: When using live Twitter feeds, it is recommended to base the feed on the Twitter account used to authenticate the integration, or create a filtered feed and restrict Tweets shown by entering account IDs. This will help avoid any unwanted messages appearing on your screens.
Images, Photosets and PowerPoints
Planet eStream’s document handling feature is now implemented for managing assets such as images and PowerPoint presentations. Use the drag and drop feature to add Images and presentations to screen designs and content loops by dragging a file onto the canvas or content loop list respectively.
Message Pools
When editing messages in a Message Pool, there are now extended scheduling options for messages. Users can now choose when a message should commence and when it should expire as a member of a list.
Also included is the option to choose which days of the week the message should be shown on.
Live Streams
Users with the right to manage Signage Players can now assign a Planet eStream Live Encoder to a Signage Player. This means that as soon as a live broadcast is started that Signage Player will start displaying the live stream - great for live events!
Web Page Embeds
This tool was originally designed to allow users to embed a web page and position with offsets to display a section of the page.
Now users have the ‘Fit Panel’ option for this content. This will allow users to add content that is suitable for embedding, for example Adobe Spark or Google Slides Content.
Tip: When you want to add a Google Slide, go to File > Publish to Web and select “Embed”, then tick the options as per the example below. Then click on “Publish”; you can then copy the embed code and paste the code into the Web Page URL option (Planet eSign will automatically change the value for you making it ready to show on the screen).
MLS Eclipse/Junior Librarian
Users now have the option to specify a site name to further filter the books shown in the slideshows.
Calendar and Bulletins.
These content types now have the option to hide the title bars that are automatically rendered, and the daily calendar options (today and tomorrow) now display in a consistent manner.
Formatted Data Feeds
This brand new tool allows Planet eSign administrators to specify an XML source and use CSS and HTML to create custom templates to display the data in their own way. Included in the update are a couple of examples based on a sports fixture feed and a news feed.