Moon SuiteSignage, plainly
Why TV makers sell a separate line of signage screens
The same brand sells a 55-inch TV and a 55-inch signage display, and the display costs more. The difference is hours, brightness and the warranty. Here is how to tell which one your place needs.
Two products from one brand
Samsung and LG each sell two kinds of screen. Their TVs are made for living rooms. Their commercial displays, sold through business channels, are made for shops, lobbies and offices, and run their own software: LG’s signage displays use a separate edition of webOS, for example.
Side by side in a catalogue they look alike. Underneath, they’re built for different days.
What the commercial display adds
- Hours. Commercial displays are rated to run for long stretches, often 16 hours a day or around the clock, and are built to handle the heat that comes with it. A home TV is designed for an evening’s viewing.
- Brightness. Window and sunny-room displays are much brighter than a TV, so they stay readable against daylight.
- A business warranty. This is the one that matters most. Commercial displays come with a warranty written for business use, often for longer and sometimes with on-site service. Many consumer TV warranties are written for home use only.
- Management. Commercial displays can be switched on and off on a schedule, locked so passers-by can’t change the input, and often come with a player built in.
Samsung explains its own view of the trade-off on its business blog: can you use consumer TVs for commercial digital signage?
When a regular TV is enough
Nadia’s clinic TV is on from eight to six, indoors, away from the windows. Marisol’s cafe TV is on while the cafe is open. Both run moons in the TV’s web browser. For screens like these, a regular TV is a reasonable choice, as long as you know what you’re giving up.
- Read the warranty first. If it says it doesn’t cover commercial use, assume it won’t, and budget for replacing the TV yourself.
- Turn it off at night. Most of the wear on a TV comes from hours on. Use the TV’s sleep or off timer if it has one.
- Keep it out of the sun. A TV in a window fights the daylight and loses.
- Change what’s on screen. A picture that never moves can leave a faint ghost on some panels. A moon with a clock, a rotating banner or a slideshow changes on its own.
When to spend more
Choose a commercial display when the screen is on more than about 16 hours a day, faces a window or the street, is somewhere it could be knocked or tampered with, or when a dead screen would cost you more than the difference in price. A store-front screen that runs all night is the clearest case.
About the story. The people and businesses in these guides are made up. They show how we expect a moon to be used, not the experience of real customers.
