Managing screens remotely: status, screenshots and commands

You can look after every screen from a browser without going to the venue. In Casty, the Displays page shows whether each screen is checking in, when it last did, what it's playing and whether it has downloaded everything it needs. A screenshot shows you what's on it, and a few commands let you make a screen check in now or, where it's set up, restart the player.

Thirty seconds on your phone on a Friday afternoon tells you the window screen is still going, so you're not finding out on Sunday night when you walk past.

The Displays list

Click Displays in the menu, then Displays. Each row is one screen, and a handful of columns do most of the work.

Logged In is the one to watch. A tick means the player is checking in with the CMS as it should. A cross means it hasn't checked in for a while, and that's your first sign of trouble.

Last Accessed is the date and time of the last check-in. On a healthy screen it's recent. On a screen that's gone quiet it tells you when the problem started, which often points at the cause (the evening of a power cut, or the afternoon the broadband went down).

Status says whether the player has everything it needs. Up to date, in green, means it has downloaded all the files for what's scheduled. Downloading means it's still fetching them, which can take a while for big videos on a slow line. Out of date, in yellow, means something has changed since it last checked in and it hasn't caught up yet.

Current Layout is what the screen said it was playing at its last check-in, and Thumbnail is its most recent screenshot.

There are plenty more columns under Columns, such as orientation, resolution, time zone, tags and the player's version. Filters narrow the list down: set Logged In to No and you're looking at only the screens that aren't checking in. Once you have a few venues, that filter is the quickest health check there is.

Name each screen after where it is. "Harbour Cafe Window" is easy to find in a list of twenty, where "Display 7" means nothing at a glance. You can rename a screen from its settings, up to 50 characters.

Seeing what a screen is showing

Click a screen's thumbnail and the screenshot opens full size, with the date and time it was taken in the top left corner. The small i in the top right opens Display Details: whether the screen is online, its player, current layout, resolution, orientation, last check-in and tags.

For a fresh one, click the three dots on the screen's row, click Request Screenshot, wait a moment and click Refresh above the list. If the screen can't take instant requests, the screenshot is taken at its next check-in and appears after that.

A screenshot comes from the player, so it shows what the player is playing. It can't see the TV. If someone has flicked the bar TV over to the sports channel, or the TV is showing its own "no signal" message, the screenshot can look perfectly normal. When a screenshot and a customer's complaint disagree, ask whoever's on shift to send a photo from their phone.

Commands you can send from the browser

All of these start from the three dots at the end of a screen's row.

Collect Now asks the player to check in straight away, pick up any schedule changes and download anything new, so it doesn't wait for its next regular check-in. Use it when you've fixed a price and want it on screen now. To do every screen in a venue at once, go to Display Groups and use Collect Now on the group's row. If the window says the screen isn't ready to receive push commands, the request couldn't go straight away, and the screen will pick up your change at its next normal check-in.

Send Command sends one of the commands set up for your screens, such as rebooting the player. What's possible depends on the hardware. Samsung and LG displays have built-in commands such as reboot and screen power, commercial displays with a serial port can take RS232 commands, and Windows and Android players can run shell commands. If your Command list is empty, nothing has been set up for your account yet. Email us at hello@casty.co.uk and say what you'd like to be able to do.

Some items in that menu are best left alone. Unauthorise, Delete and Transfer to another CMS can take a screen off your account or stop it playing, so email us before touching any of them. Wake on LAN and Trigger a web hook are for special set-ups we configure with you.

The remote commands help page has the steps with screenshots, and the displays and commands sections of the features page list what the hardware side can do.

Patterns over time

The Displays list tells you how things are now. The reports under Reporting, then All Reports, tell you how they've been.

Time Connected shows how much of the time each screen was connected, with a bar for each day, so a screen that keeps dropping off stands out. Display Alerts lists each time a screen went offline and came back, and how long it was gone. Bandwidth shows how much data each screen has downloaded, which is worth a look if a screen runs on a mobile or metered connection.

Patterns tell you more than single drop-outs. A screen that goes offline at the same time every night is often someone switching it off at the wall when they lock up. One that drops out for a few minutes several times a day is more likely fighting a weak Wi-Fi signal (see Wi-Fi or wired for that one).

What still needs someone at the venue

The browser can't plug a lead back in. Power, the TV's input and the venue's internet are physical things, and they're behind most offline screens. When a screen does go offline, the offline checklist works through them in order.

Some jobs you don't need to do at all. Player software updates are pushed from the CMS, so nobody has to visit each screen with a USB stick, and we look after the player settings (how often a screen checks in, for example) for you.

A two-minute routine

If you look after more than a couple of screens, a short check every day or two catches most problems before customers do:

• Filter the Displays list to Logged In: No. Anything listed needs a look.
• Filter Status for Out of date. A screen still out of date hours after a change needs a Collect Now, or an email to us if it stays that way.
• Glance at the thumbnails of the screens that matter most to you, such as the window and the menu boards.
• After any change you care about, use Collect Now, then request a screenshot to confirm it landed.

The check on your screens help page explains every column. If you run more than one site, managing screens across several venues covers groups and folders.