I figured this might be a positive channel where I might be able to reach some Googlers that read HN, rather than simply submitting this to a Chromecast Google Group or other support channel that's out there.<p>The Chromecast is a really nice piece of inexpensive hardware and it has some built-in functionality that is almost perfect for the needs of a basic digital signage solution, but it is missing a few features that would make it VERY useful in this regard. Recently, the Chromecast has added some extra options that allow us to pull from Google Photos, Flickr, Facebook, etc.<p>This works well at home but it doesn't work as well in a business setting.<p>What I'm proposing is rather simple, but I believe coupled with the Chromecast ethernet adapter, it would make for a pretty powerful single-screen digital signage option for campuses.<p>This is all I'd want: the ability to specify in our Chromecast settings a URL to a JSON document which would describe the files we'd want to appear.<p>At a basic level this file would allow for specifying URLs to photos an organization might have on a web server, but additionally it would allow URLs to MP4 files too to allow for more complex displays. Optionally a text caption or .srt file could be specified for each file.<p>The Chromecast would be able to read this format and simply use that to start showing images/video on the screen it's connected to without any additional user intervention (every so often it should recheck the URL and scan for any changes so it can automatically pick those up to start showing updated content).<p>The benefit of this approach is it would be setup at the system level, so no manual "casting" would be required and would only need to be setup once in an area.<p>Anyhow, just an idea...but I really do hope there are some Googlers on here that could take the thought to heart and help make it a reality (for me and others :-)!<p>Thank you!
A couple years ago I built a digital signage application using the Chromecast. However, it was very apparent that it was a terrible platform for digital signage.
The Chromecast is designed from the ground up for sharing content on a TV. It is not designed for a 'kiosk' type of situation where the device always boots to your content.<p>With these limitations, I built a digital signage app based on Chromeboxes instead (<a href="http://metascreen.io" rel="nofollow">http://metascreen.io</a>). The Chromebox has a 'kiosk' mode which allows you to specify which app should run when the device boots up (very critical for business digital signage).<p>If you are looking for something super low cost, checkout digital signage solutions based on the Raspberry PI. Would fit your expectations nicely.