Saving energy with screen operating hours
· 6 min read
The easiest energy saving with signage is switching screens off when nobody is there to see them. Casty can control operating hours and screen power on hardware that supports it, and Samsung and LG signage displays take power commands from the CMS that can run on a schedule, so a screen can follow your opening hours without anyone pressing a button. With an ordinary TV and a stick behind it, the TV's own settings often do the job instead. Turning the brightness down to suit the room saves a bit more on top.
Start with when each screen is seen
Walk round the venue and ask, for each screen, who looks at it and when. The answers are usually more varied than "opening hours".
A bar screen is seen while the bar is open and wasted after last orders. A gym reception screen might be needed from six in the morning, and an office screen only matters on weekdays. The window screen is the tricky one. A lit window can still catch people walking past on a busy evening after you've closed, so you might want it on until ten and off overnight. And a screen in a back corridor that nobody really looks at raises a different question (should it be there at all?).
Write the hours down for each screen. That list is what gets set up.
Commercial displays: power from the CMS
Displays with the player built in are the easy case. Samsung and LG signage displays have built-in commands, such as screen power and reboot, that the CMS can send, and commercial displays with a serial port can take RS232 commands. Commands can go into the schedule like any other content, so "screen off at 23:30, on at 07:00" becomes a pair of repeating events. Some displays take other commands as well, such as backlight control on Philips professional displays, and Wake on LAN works where the player hardware supports it.
Commands are a special set-up, so we configure them with you. Email us with the screens and the hours and we'll get them in place. Once a command exists, it also appears under Send Command on the screen's menu in the Displays list, for the odd night you want a screen off early. The remote commands help page shows where that lives.
Operating hours as a player setting
Casty's player settings include operating hours, along with screen power, volume and brightness control on hardware that supports them. We look after player settings for you. Display profiles apply the same settings to many screens at once, so one set of hours can cover every bar screen across your venues. As with commands, your part of the job is telling us the hours. The displays section of the features page lists the rest of what player settings cover.
A TV with a stick or box behind it
Consumer TVs vary a lot, and whether the CMS can switch one off depends on the TV and the player. Often the simplest answer is in the TV's own menu.
Plenty of TVs have an on and off timer in their settings. If yours does, set it to your hours and the screen follows them, while the player behind it carries on in the background. Failing that, switching the TV off with the remote at closing works fine, as long as it's on the closing checklist.
Two settings catch people out:
- If you cut the power at the wall on a timer, check the TV comes back on by itself when the power returns. Many consumer TVs come back in standby and wait for the remote, which leaves you with a black screen at opening time. The player isn't the problem here, as players start on their own after a power cut with no login needed.
- Many consumer TVs also have an energy saving setting that switches the set off after a few hours with no button pressed on the remote. On a screen meant to run all day, that's often why a TV goes mysteriously dark mid-afternoon. Switch it off in the TV's settings.
If a stick is powered from the TV's USB port, it goes off whenever the TV does. That saves a little more, but the screen will then show as offline in the Displays list every night, which is worth knowing before you start chasing it. A stick running from its own mains adapter keeps checking in overnight.
What "off" looks like in the CMS
Depending on how a screen is switched off, it may show as offline in the Displays list outside its hours, and the Time Connected report will show a gap every night. That's the hours doing their job. What matters is that the screen is back by opening time, and a glance at the Logged In column in the morning tells you.
Content isn't affected. Players download content ahead of time (two days ahead by default) and store it, so a screen switched off overnight starts the morning with the breakfast menu ready. Any change you made while it was off gets picked up at its first check-in.
Brightness
Most signage screens are LCDs, and on an LCD the backlight uses most of the power. Turning the brightness down is the other real saving, and indoors it usually looks better too. A screen at full brightness is glaring in a dim bar at nine in the evening, and the store or shop picture mode on many consumer TVs runs at full brightness.
Window screens are the exception. They compete with daylight and need to be bright through the day, which is why displays sold for windows are built much brighter than a normal TV. For indoor screens, set the brightness in the evening to what's comfortable in the room, then leave it.
Where the hardware supports it, brightness can also be set from Casty (backlight control on Philips professional displays is one example). Ask us what your screens can do.
Does dark content save power?
On an OLED screen, black parts of the picture use almost no power, so dark designs do save something. On an LCD the backlight is lit behind the whole picture whatever you show, so a dark design makes little difference. Pick your colours for readability and your brand, and get the savings from hours and brightness.
Buying with running costs in mind
If you're choosing new screens, compare the power figures on the spec sheets as well as the price. A display with the player built in also does away with a separate stick or box and its power supply. Consumer TV or commercial display goes through the trade-offs, and the devices page lists everything Casty runs on.
Questions people ask
Will the screen show the right thing when it comes back on in the morning?
Yes. Players keep a copy of their content and download what's scheduled ahead of time, so the screen starts with whatever is due at that hour. It checks in once it's back online and picks up any changes you made while it was off.
Can I switch a screen off from my phone?
If it's a display with a power command set up, yes. Open the Displays page in your phone's browser, use Send Command on the screen's menu and pick the power command. For a TV with a stick behind it, it depends on the TV and the player, so ask us.
Should the window screen stay on after we close?
That's your call. A lit window on a street with people about in the evening keeps reminding them you're there, while a screen glowing at three in the morning is mostly lighting an empty pavement. Switching it off an hour or two after closing, once the street goes quiet, is a reasonable middle ground. Using a window screen has more on window screens.
Do I need to change my schedule if the screen is off overnight?
No. The schedule can stay as it is, and the screen simply plays whatever is due once it's back on. If you use dayparts, keeping them in line with your opening hours makes the calendar easier to read, but nothing breaks if an event runs while a screen is off.