Overview
VIDERO has been conceptualized and designed to support installations with plenty of players. These have to be controlled, monitored and administered, and this is where the VIDERO Server comes in.
The VIDERO Server is the central hub for every system in the given VIDERO installation. It gathers statistical data about the players, sends out warnings (if there seems to be a problem), and serves as the central content distribution facility.
The Server enables customers to overview, administer and control the VIDERO Players. One can easily spot underperforming or problematical systems, control remote systems, and distribute content to groups of players.
Content Distribution: Since every player is connected to the VIDERO Server, it manifests itself as the premiere starting point for content distribution. This process works as follows. Content is created with the VIDERO Composer. This content is then being assigned to a specific player group. These groups can be edited and created in the VIDERO Server. The VIDERO Composer then sends the content to the VIDERO Server and reminds it, that this content is only valid for a specific group of players. Next, the content has to be approved in the VIDERO Server. This is important to establish a simple moderation process in order to prevent the distribution of faulty content. Finally, as soon as any player of the given group are active and online, the approved content is being distributed. The server always offers statistics, to see the status of the distribution, and also sends an email when the distribution is done.
We implemented P2P technologies to enhance the distribution of content. This means, that our distribution puts less strain on the bandwidth of connected players, than with traditional (i.e. FTP) transfer mechanisms. It allows players to receive large amounts of data without putting the level of strain on their computers that would be needed for standard Internet hosting. A standard host's servers can easily be brought to a halt if extreme levels of simultaneous data flow are reached. This is especially important, if there‘re multiple VIDERO Players (in example) connected via one small DSL line. Instead of distributing the content multiple times, we‘re only distributing it once, and the players share it themselves.
Monitoring: The more VIDERO Players, the more difficult it gets to see problems and react accordingly. That‘s why the VIDERO Server contains helpful monitoring facilities to supplement this important task.
We display important status information, show over-time graphs, and utilize different ways of alerting whenever an unusual situation occurs.
Administration: VIDERO Players can be sorted into distribution groups (like, all the vitrine displays) and location groups (all the players in L.A). In addition to that, the interface displays the current location (via Google Maps), current IP Adress, and allows to enter additional meta information like important contact data in case of problems (i.e. the janitors number).
Direct Composer Access: The VIDERO Server also offers direct access to any system, wherever it is. Change playlists, add content, change the displayed prices or trim videos. It can all be done through the VIDERO Server. That‘s because the server encapsulates a complete VIDERO Composer installation. So wherever your designated system is: You can simply log into the VIDERO Server and modify the content, as if you were standing right next to it.
User Management: Since the VIDERO Server incorporates many a function, it is also necessary to implement user roles, so there can be specific persons for specific tasks. Every administrator can create and modify new users for separate tasks, like reporting or monitoring.
Metrics & Analytics: Oftentimes, Digital Signage is all about selling content space. That‘s why we offer an extensive reporting solution out of the box. VIDERO saves all playback information, like what, when, how long and where, and regularly sends it to the VIDERO Server for evaluation. Even more, one can define (and query) specific customer id‘s or content id‘s and even maximum playback numbers. This leads to manifold ways of calculating and attesting playback time and payment as the basis for revenue.
In VIDERO, the basic entity of any presentation on screen is a 'component' (Video, Website, Marquee, Image, etc). We collect play statistics for every component that is visible. Apart from that, higher layers like playlists or playlist-groups are also tracked. Every entry can be given an ID in order give mark content as belonging to a specific customer. Apart from that, we also track the state of the Screen/Display: If the actual screen is connected via serial cable we can track if the screen was working / on when the content should have been displayed. And, of course, we track which video / website / etc, was shown for how long.
A special function we implemented due to high customer demand is a so called max play count. Every element in a VIDERO presentation can be given a maximum play number. Each time the content is displayed, this number will be decreased. If the number is zero, the content won't be displayed anymore, even if it is still scheduled for display. This guarantees, that (for example) a movie that has been booked to play 1250 times will definitely play 1250 times; regardless of power outage or other possible problems.
This data is collected on the playback device and sent from there via an internet connection to the central server, so that - even if a hardware failure occurs - the data is always readily available.
Our analytics system works as follows: The above data is collected in a database on the server and can be accessed from there. We offer several custom reports for different usage scenarios. In addition to that we also offer the programming of custom, special reports or even direct SQL access to the database if necessary.