The Case of the Phantom Voices

Strange voices were coming from a service closet. Were some employees locked in? And, if so, why did they have an orchestra in there with them? Solve the mystery!

Have you guessed?

Yes. It was the audio portion of a video that was part of the StrandVision Digital Signage mix. It’s important to remember, for your employees’ sanity, if for no other reason, that the local digital signage server will play back the audio track on its built-in speakers unless you turn them off or wire them to the display screen.

Of course, plugging in speakers will normally override the built-in speakers, but in this case the video (with audio) was distributed to digital signs across the company and this particular unit had never been wired for audio. No PC speaker plugged into the audio out jack equals active PC speaker equals phantoms in the closet. So, even if you don’t use audio with your StrandVision Digital Signage, you should think about it when you do your initial setup.

Audio setup

This (conveniently) raises the topic of audio (and video) for your digital signage system. Understandably, many of our customers concentrate on the visual (informational slides, weather, news and advertisements) when they first set up their systems. But there is the audio component too.

You can play background music through your digital signage monitor, assuming it has a speaker and it is properly wired in a couple of ways: For the first way visit http://www.strandvision.com/audio_loopthrough_setup.html where the steps for using an audio device in your digital signage setup are explained. This approach will require running an audio cable to the display.

A second way is to use a StrandVision PC-2-TV.net HD converter. See http://www.strandvision.com/pc-2-tv_introduction.html for information on that. The advantage of this approach is that a standard CAT-5 networking cable between the PC and the TV carries both the audio and the video signals and you have more control over the setup.

Either way, you can play your recorded promotions such as advertisements or on-hold messages, background music, CDs or other audio feeds. They will play right along with the regular digital signage slide mix.

Video setup

You can also play videos. StrandVision offers four packages that include video playback -- TV Playback, Streaming Video, Gold and Platinum. All of these accommodate videos with audio. We can help you decide which video package is right for you. Just call 715-235-SIGN (7446) or email sales. Don’t forget our Live Online Support Chat Line - just visit www.strandvision.com.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you silence all of the phantom voices in the closet by taking full advantage of audio and video in your signage.