Key Considerations When Choosing an Outdoor Digital Signage Screen

An outdoor digital signage screen offers a level of visibility and aesthetics that isn’t possible with traditional print signage or billboards. Outdoor signage has a number of different applications, from wayfinding and branding, to featuring current promotions.

Even better, outdoor digital signage allows you to continually change the content displayed for an ultra-dynamic viewer experience. Thinking about deploying outdoor digital signage at one or more of your locations? Here are a few specific considerations when choosing an outdoor digital signage screen to get the most from your investment.

1. Commercial-grade vs. Consumer-grade

Key Considerations When Choosing an Outdoor Digital Signage Screen 1

The first question you may be considering is whether to go with a professional commercial-grade screen or a more basic consumer-grade one. While you may be tempted to cut some initial costs by choosing a consumer-grade product, these screens are not suited for outdoor use.

Commercial-grade LED signage, for example, offers a brilliant colour and striking brightness that’s necessary when competing with natural light. Commercial-grade LED screens also offer up to 100,000 hours of life and up to 11 years of service. Most come with extensive warranties, which are critical when the demands of prolonged outdoor usage are taken into account.

If you aren’t sure which screen to select, Engagis can make recommendations to the optimal outdoor signage and high-quality manufacturers, based on the unique needs of your organisation. Not only do we test every screen to ensure complete reliability, our contracts can also include maintenance and support SLAs that mitigate downtime through proactive maintenance and speedy resolution.

2. Visibility in direct sunlight

It’s hardly news that Australia receives plenty of sunshine. Canberra, for instance, gets 246 total days of sun per year, while Perth gets 265. Whilst that’s great for a day at the beach, that much direct sunlight can wash out some digital screens.

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Choosing a high brightness commercial-grade LCD or LED screen makes a difference, but you may also want to look into features like reflective displays and polarisers that assist in redirecting the sun’s light away from your signage. Again, Engagis can help you choose the best outdoor digital signage screen for even the sunniest of days – without having to worry about overheating or excessive operating costs.

Becoming increasingly popular for billboards, informational signage and attracting customers, LED displays are an effective communication channel for all outdoor locations. LED displays produce a high-resolution, high-brightness picture that can be viewed from any distance or angle and in any lighting conditions, depending on the pixel pitch and size. LED displays from Engagis also have an IP65 waterproof rating making them suitable for all outdoor conditions.

3. Screen Protection

Any time you place a screen in the outdoors for an extended period of time, it needs to be capable of withstanding some abuse. Of course, there’s the everyday wear and tear from the elements, but you also have to take into account more severe weather, like hail storms and extreme wind. Besides that, vandalism may be a concern for many companies.

That’s why it’s important to choose an outdoor screen that’s highly durable. Some products, for instance, are UV-resistant, which is important for high temperatures and sun exposure. Others come with protective cover lenses, making them virtually impervious to impact.

Note as well that many outdoor screens are built to endure extreme weather conditions on their own and don’t require a secondary protective enclosure. Engagis can help you understand the specific measures you’ll want to take to protect your outdoor screens.

4. Content Management System (CMS)

One final area of consideration is the software that powers your outdoor digital signage screen.

As mentioned before, outdoor screens feature dynamic displays that can be changed to messaging that grabs the attention of passersby, provides information, or features promotions.

But because outdoor screens may be in high, out-of-the-way locations that are difficult to access, it’s important to choose a CMS that’ll allow you to easily make changes without having to access the screen and its media player directly.

Using a cloud-based CMS makes it easy to access and manage your content through any Internet-connected device. Impress by Engagis, for example, is completely cloud-based and offers features like drag-and-drop asset management (through which you can instantly add images, sounds, and videos), playlist management and simple scheduling.

You can even use it to create localised content for individual business locations, such as addresses, phone numbers, team member names, and store hours.

Want to learn more about your options for an outdoor digital signage screen and get expert advice based on your organisation’s specific needs? Reach out to Engagis today.

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