When choosing the right hardware for your digital signage deployment, a number of factors need to be considered to ensure a smooth roll out and adoption. We talked to our Product team to get their techy perspective and top tips on the best hardware options for TrilbyTV and digital signage in general.
Things to consider before you buy anything
What OS/platform are you already working with?
If you are a mostly Apple, Microsoft or Google installation then you’re usually best set to pick hardware that will work alongside your other kit. This means you won’t be investing in time to learn another admin console or another device management tool. In your directory, you can probably set up another Organisation Unit or Device Group for the signage hardware for applying configuration and you’ll be familiar with the permissions and access controls that you need to add.
Some segregation on your network can also be a good idea, keeping the signage screens separate from other networks that staff and students may have access to. Consider using a separate SSID or VLAN for your signage hardware.
How will it be safely installed and where?
Typically signage screens are installed high up on a wall, or mounted in a slick looking reception area with hidden cables. The last thing you want in these places is a bulky box or laptop that needs to be awkwardly hidden above a roof tile or wedged behind a screen. We’ve seen some schools with screens in great locations, but only accessible with ladders and special working at heights equipment, not ideal for when you need to access a device.
If you can place it at ground level, or locked away in a cupboard, then that’s a good choice. Ideally, you want the hardware to be tamper free too. Look for a box with minimal buttons and certainly not one that sticks out of the back or side of the screen where it can easily be grabbed or removed.
Five considerations for digital signage
Download free PDFThink about power as well, most hardware will require its own plug and some will come with a power brick that needs to be hidden or squashed in with the device behind a screen. You also want reasonable on and off power settings too, helping to save electricity overnight.
Who will be maintaining the hardware and updating the content?
Hardware maintenance is something you really want to avoid, and picking the right hardware can help with this. Remember if you are mounting the hardware high up or hidden then the less you need to physically touch the device the better. A dedicated signal solution, rather than a regular PC/Mac behind a screen, will make sense in the long run. Dedicated hardware for screens is designed to run either 24/7 or be scheduled to switch on and off to suit your opening hours. Typically signage hardware will be fanless, a small form factor and low on power usage.
With TrilbyTV, the staff involved in adding and managing content often aren’t involved in the hardware side of things. In fact, they don’t really need to know what hardware is running the screens. However, certain types of content will only work on some player hardware and this is something that may impact how your users use the signage. The best example of this is Web-based content on Apple TV. As Apple TV doesn’t have a web browser built-in, raw HTML accessed via HTTPS cannot be shown, at least not in the same form as you see on the web.
With TrilbyTV certain web-based content will show as we have developed the Apple TV app to interpret the content and beautifully render it to the screen. Google Slides can be added and these are converted to graphics for Apple TV to display. RSS feeds can be subscribed to and auto-update, these show their text content along with images. ICS URLs can be subscribed to and will show as full-screen Calendars.
Our top 5 hardware choices
With all that considered, what are the top 5 hardware options we see schools using for digital signage
1. Smart TV with Android
A great choice and our number one as it’s so simple. A dedicated signage TV screen with a recent Android OS is a great choice as it’s typically one plug, has some timing controls and ethernet for a solid network connection. It doesn’t have to be an Android based screen. Any signage TV with a web browser that can be set to launch on boot will be a reasonable player using the TrilbyTV Player PWA. That’s just one URL to add, player.trilbytv.co.uk and you’ve got a signage display up and running.
We like the displays from Newline and Promethean. The ActivePanel D-Series (around £500 inc 3 yr warranty) is one such unit that we have here for testing and it’s a solid performer with our APK. We have it scheduled to boot up at 8am and turn off at 6pm. The TrilbyTV Player app is set to auto launch when it boots too, so there is no need for someone to remember to open the app. Being a recent Android OS, the built-in browser supports modern web code and with a zippy CPU/GPU it displays animated content smoothly. The screen also has a decent warranty too, so you are nicely covered if things go wrong.
2. Apple TV
A close second on our top 5 list. The Apple TV is a solid signage player when combined with a suitable device management tool like JAMF. Using JAMF you can set the Apple TV to boot in Single App Mode which means TrilbyTV Player will be the only app to load on the device and it will do this each time the unit is powered on. It’s only the lack of access to some web content that pushed Apple TV to the number 2 spot. All of our Smart Content and most of our Content Catalogue will work on Apple TV, as we’ve built the display of those into the app.
Apple TV is small and includes the power supply inside the one sealed unit, so it’s a single regular 3 pin plug and one cable for power (no brick). Ethernet and wifi are supported and we’d always suggest ethernet for a reliable connection if possible. An HDMI connection to the TV will see 4k content displayed on the screen and it’s super slick with animations and video playback. With Apple TV 4K Wi‑Fi + Ethernet with 128GB storage coming in at £169 it’s a reasonably priced and extremely powerful player.
As a bonus you can also turn on Conference Room mode, which means your users can also stream to the Apple TV from their iPad. Great if you are a 1:1 setting and have screens in conference rooms and teaching spaces with Apple TV. While they need to show your iPad screen they will, and then when you disconnect they resume playing content from TrilbyTV.
3. Chromebox Micro
This small unit (we have the Lenovo Chromebox Micro on test) is not much larger than a small paperback and it’s thin enough to fit nicely behind a wall-mounted TV, although you do also need room for the power brick. It has ethernet and wifi, as always ethernet is recommended. The Lenovo Chromebox Micro is dustproof too, so it works well in spaces where cleaning is trickier, like above a roof tile or high up on a wall.
Management of the device is via the Google Admin console, where you can specify how the unit behaves when it powers on. You’ll need a Google Management license per device, which for education is only a few pounds and lasts for the lifetime of the device.
The Lenovo Chromebox Micro with education licence costs around £200. In the Google Admin console, we suggest setting it to Kiosk mode and loading the TrilbyTV PWA, this is how we run our test unit. You can also specify sleep and wake times, and if your TV screen supports CEC, it will power off and on in response to the Chromebox Micro.
4. Windows PC
If you are running a Microsoft environment for desktop and laptop computers, then it makes sense to stick with that for your signage. You’ll use the same management tools for the digital signage screens and you’ll be familiar with how the devices need to be configured.
There is a wealth of choices out there to suit most budgets, make sure you evaluate before you buy as some lower-power units won’t perform as well with video or animation. We like the small fanless units from VeryPC, in particular the H085 which is around £215 and comes with 4GB memory and 128GB of storage. We’ve got one on test and it performs well.
It’s a regular PC so plug it in, link it to your directory, download our app from the Windows Store or install the MSI and you are ready to go. You can set up kiosk mode so our TrilbyTV Player app loads on startup and of course you can push updates to the OS and the app through your regular admin tools.
5. Amazon Fire TV Stick / Signage Stick
The most affordable player we use and test is a regular Amazon Fire TV Stick running the Androids operating system. It’s also the smallest of the external players, not much bigger than a KitKat (2 fingers). It does need power to run well, so an extra socket is needed for the USB type charging setup. You can also add on extras like Ethernet adapter which will give you a much more stable connection than the built-in wifi.
We would always suggest the Fire TV Stick 4K Max which is the most powerful of the sticks, as it has more memory and processing power which some signage content needs. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is £70, but is often on offer and the ethernet adapter adds on £16. Be aware that Amazon has started to ship Fire TV Sticks based on the Vega OS which is not currently supported by TrilbyTV. Stay away from the Fire TV Stick 4K Select and Fire TV Stick HD released in 2026.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max plays content well and can be managed via the Alexa dashboard in your Amazon account. Just be aware that it is a consumer device, and Amazon will push updates automatically. These can change how the stick works and how you need to configure it.
Amazon has recognised the number of Fire TV Stick devices being used for signage and have introduced the Amazon Signage Stick, however this is not yet available in the UK. It’s a $99 device that includes some management tools accessible via the web and removes all the regular Fire TV apps to make the stick dedicated to signage. Amazon please tell us it’s coming soon!
The others
The above are players we see being used the most, however there are many ways you can bring TrilbyTV to your school.
There are other options for signage hardware and we’ve seen so much variation across TrilbyTV users. Some folks are using the Raspberry Pi units which work great, they just need some configuration understanding and regular monitoring for updates. Our Progressive Web App (PWA) player app works well on the Pi and Chrome can be set to auto-launch straight from boot which is fast.
Remember, any Android-based TV or classroom interactive panel can run TrilbyTV too. So, Allsee, NewLine, Viewsonic, LG, Promethean, Smart, i3Connect, Clevertouch and more can run the app like any other. We love how schools convert classroom screens to signage screens for parents’ evenings and open events. This is something our Unlimited subscription was designed for.
There are also some classroom screen sharing devices like AirServer Connect and AirTame which spend their days showing iPad or laptop screens. When they are not doing this they can easily load up the TrilbyTV Player PWA and be signage screens while not sharing.
By carefully evaluating these hardware options and considering your school’s specific needs, you can select the ideal setup that works for you. If you’re just getting started with TrilbyTV and need more advice, get in touch with the team. You can also sign up for a 30 day trial or find out even more by booking in for a free demo.