Turn a smart TV into digital signage without a media player

You do not need a media player to turn a smart TV into digital signage. Open the sign in the TV's own browser, connect a laptop with an HDMI cable, or plug in a streaming device that can browse the web and open the sign there. All three work with an ordinary display link, and the difference between them is what happens when nobody has touched the TV for a few hours.

Start with the TV's browser

Most smart TVs have a web browser in their app list. Open it, go to Pair a TV and enter the six-digit code on your phone. Typing a long display link with a remote is slow and easy to get wrong, and pairing avoids it for a screen you keep live.

If your TV has no browser, it may still show a web page through a streaming stick or a small computer. Check the device before you buy it: a streaming stick that only opens the apps in its store cannot show your own link.

A laptop over HDMI

A laptop is the least clever option and the most reliable one. Connect it to the TV with an HDMI cable, open the display link in the browser, and press the browser's fullscreen key. Turn off the laptop's sleep timer and its screen saver, or it will blank the TV partway through the afternoon.

This is also the fastest way to find out whether the sign works in the room. Read the message from the far side of the space before you buy anything else.

A streaming device with a browser

A stick or a box that has a web browser works like the TV's own browser. Before buying, confirm that the device can open an arbitrary web address, not only the apps in its store. We do not claim any particular model, because the same brand ships different software in different years.

Test sleep, auto-off and restarts

These three tests matter more than the picture quality.

1. Leave the sign up for four hours without touching the remote. Does the TV dim, start a slide show or close the browser?
2. Turn the TV off and on at the wall. Does the sign come back on its own, or does someone have to reopen the browser and the link?
3. If the TV is paired to a live screen, check that the pairing survives a restart. The TV generally remembers it in the browser's storage, though you may still have to reopen the browser.

OwnScreen asks the browser to keep the screen awake by default. That is a request, not a guarantee, and TVs have their own energy-saving settings. If the TV sleeps anyway, look for an "auto power off" or "screen off" timer in its settings and switch it off, or look for a shop or store mode.

Keep the sign simple and stable

A TV browser is not a laptop browser. Animation is heavier, typing is painful and reloads are slow. Use a short message with large text, which is what a TV shows best. Large text display and Digital notice board both open as a link you can bookmark on the TV.

Bookmark the page once it works, so a member of staff who has to recover it after a power cut has one obvious place to press.

Where OwnScreen fits

The editor and every display link are free and need no account. A display link holds the whole sign, so nothing about it is stored on our side. When you want to change the message without touching the TV, save the sign and choose Go live: a visible, connected live screen checks for changes every three seconds. Starter is US$4.99 a month or US$49.90 a year for one live screen, which suits one TV in a waiting area or a window. Every plan starts with a 2-day free trial.

Screen testIf you can read this, the TV works

Make a sign free

Decide after the test, not before

Run the three tests on the TV you already have. If the sign comes back after a restart and stays up for a full afternoon, you have your signage today, with no player and no new hardware. If the TV sleeps or returns to its home screen, the fix is usually a setting, not a purchase. Spend the money only when the screen cannot be tamed.