Video or still images: what works on venue screens
· 5 min read
Use still images for anything people need to read, such as menus, prices and timetables, and short, silent video to catch the eye of people who aren't looking yet. Most venue screens work best as mostly stills with a few short clips mixed in. Movement draws attention, but words inside a video are hard to read, because they're moving or they've gone before anyone's finished.
What stills do well
A still gives people as long as they need. That's why menus, price lists, class timetables and opening hours belong on stills, or on live text in a layout, which reads the same way. Nobody has to wait for the price to come round again.
Stills are quick to make and quick to change. A good photo and a line of text in the layout editor is ten minutes' work, and when a price goes up you change the text without going anywhere near video editing. They're small files too, so they upload in seconds and every player downloads them without fuss.
What video does well
Movement catches the eye from the side, which is what you want from a window screen or a screen at the far end of a long bar. Someone walking past a cafe will notice steam rising off a flat white long before they'd notice a photo of one. Video also shows things a photo can't, like a pint being poured or a spin class in full swing.
The clips that work best in venues are short and simple. A few seconds of something good to look at, filmed steadily, often does more than a polished minute-long advert, and it doesn't need a crew. A phone on a small tripod in decent light gets you most of the way. Turn the phone sideways for a wide screen and keep it upright for a portrait one, so you're not cropping away half the shot later.
Words and video don't mix well
Text inside a video disappears when the video moves on, whether or not anyone has finished reading it. So keep the words outside the clip. A Casty layout can be split into areas, so a clip from the kitchen plays in one while the dish name and price sit in plain text beside it. The price stays put and readable, and the video does the eye-catching.
This saves you re-editing as well. If the price is baked into the video, a price rise means a new export and a new upload. If it's text in the layout, it's a ten second change. For prices that change often, a menu board holds them as data, so every screen showing that product updates at once.
Sound
Most venue screens run silent, and that's usually right. A pub already has music or the match on, and a looping soundtrack in a cafe will drive the staff mad by mid-morning. Make every clip work with the sound off, and if someone speaks in it, burn captions into the video.
If you do want sound, Casty can control volume on hardware that supports it. Before you turn it up, check your music licence covers any music on the soundtrack.
File sizes, formats and the internet
Upload video as MP4 using H.264, which plays most reliably across every kind of player, and make it the same size and shape as the screen (1920 x 1080 for a wide HD screen, for example). Pictures should be JPG or PNG. Image and video sizes for HD and 4K screens has the full list, and the help page on problems uploading media covers what to do if a file won't go in.
Video files are far bigger than images. Casty players download content ahead of time and play it from their own storage, so a video doesn't need a fast connection while it's playing. It does take longer to upload, and longer for each screen to download, and the screen shows Downloading in the Displays list until it has the file. Trimming a clip down to the part that matters makes all of that quicker.
Live video is different. A live stream (Casty supports HLS streams) needs the internet the whole time it's on, so it stops if the connection drops, while the clips you've uploaded carry on playing. What happens when the internet drops goes into this.
A mix that works
For most venues I'd start with menus, prices and anything informational on stills or live text that stays on screen. Promotions can run as a playlist of stills with one or two short clips among them. Save most of your video for the window and anywhere people walk past, where movement does the work of getting them to look up.
In the Casty demo, Harbour Cafe's brunch screen is a still layout with a heading, the serving times and a photo of pancakes with the price. Put a short clip of pancakes being stacked in an area next to it and you get movement without losing anything people need to read.
Keep an eye on how long the clips run, too. A playlist of short stills with a two minute video in the middle stalls for those two minutes, and anyone in a queue might see nothing else. How long each slide should stay on screen covers loop timing.
Questions people ask
Can I play videos with sound on my screens?
Yes, if the screen has speakers and the volume is up, but most venues keep screens silent. Make clips work with the sound off and add captions to anything with speech in it.
What video format should I use for digital signage?
MP4 using H.264, which plays most reliably across every kind of player. Make it the same pixel size and shape as the screen, for example 1920 x 1080.
Will videos keep playing if the internet goes down?
Videos you've uploaded will, once the player has downloaded them, because they play from the player's own storage. Live streams and web pages need the connection and won't show until it's back.
Is video worth it for a small cafe?
Often, in the window. A few seconds of something happening, such as coffee being made, catches people walking past. Inside, stills for the menu and a short clip or two among the promotions are plenty.