Commit to an on-premise signage server past about five screens in one building, or when a network with no internet path still needs desk-side updates. Below that, a card or USB stick in each player runs the same show with no server to patch, back up or watch.
An on-premise digital signage setup keeps the server that stores and pushes your shows inside your building, on your own network, with no cloud account. Commit to one in two cases: more than about five screens in one building, or a network with no internet path where updates still have to happen from a desk. For every other corporate job, a card or USB stick in each player runs the same show with no server to patch, back up or watch. This page is the checklist for both paths: what to count, what to price, what to test on the network, and what to send with a quote.
When an on-premise server earns its keep
Two conditions justify the server.
More than about five screens in one building. The arithmetic: a card round takes 10 minutes per screen when the screens sit across more than one floor, and a small server asks about one hour a month for patches, backup checks and a reboot. At monthly changes, five screens take 5 x 10 = 50 minutes of walking against the server's 60, six screens are a wash at 60 against 60, and past six the server wins. The status page pulls the practical line down to about five, because from five screens up nobody notices the one that died on the far floor. Central control fixes the noticing and kills the walk: one push reaches every screen, and a health page names the one that went dark. The three ways to push to several screens at once are compared in update multiple digital signage screens remotely: 3 ways.
A closed network where updates must happen from a desk. If the LAN the screens sit on has no route to the internet, a cloud CMS is out, and the choice is a card walk or a server on your own network. A person on foot once a month keeps the walk winning. The moment updates have to happen from a chair, the on-premise server earns its place at any screen count.
Below about five screens with monthly changes, stay offline. Several buildings change the picture again, and the multi-site version is worked through in self-hosted signage for multiple locations with offline playback.
What still works with no internet on the screen
Our player is built for this half of the job. It plays images and video from microSD or USB, and a copy of the show sits in internal memory, so playback carries on when the card comes out. Set up as the home app, it brings the show up full screen at power-on, with no launcher and no keyboard. If the app stops, it is designed to start again within seconds and go back to playing.
Set the player's daily on and off times to the building's hours. There is no dayparting, so a show that must change by time of day is server territory.
What a cached schedule does over weeks without a connection is its own arithmetic; offline signage schedule caching: how long playback lasts works it through.
Checklist before you sign for a server
Count and price
- Screens now and screens planned within 12 months, per building.
- Minutes per screen per update round: the walk across floors, the swap, the check that the show came up. Use one honest figure for every screen, stairs included.
- Rounds per month. Screens x minutes x rounds is the monthly walking time; set it against the server's monthly care hour.
- One named owner for that care hour, and a deputy for leave weeks.
Network
- Draw the network first: is there a LAN to each screen, and does that LAN have any route to the internet?
- Power at each mount. Our units run from a wired DC feed and there is no PoE, so every screen position needs an outlet or a drop.
- Whether the server software needs the internet, even once, for licensing or support is its own question: does an on-premise signage CMS server need internet answers it.
Care
- Do one restore test before go-live: take the backup file, rebuild it on a spare machine, confirm the screens come back. A backup that has never been restored is a hope.
- Put the server OS and the CMS updates on a schedule one person owns.
- Inheriting a server somebody else set up? Audit it before you rely on it: take over a digital signage setup you inherited is the checklist for that job.
Checklist for running each screen offline
None of this needs new software: the player is included with no subscription.
Media
- Files: JPG, PNG or WebP images; MP4, M4V or WebM video, with H.264 MP4 the format to aim for, since H.265 and VP9 depend on the unit. PowerPoint, PDF, HEIC and GIF do not play, so export slides to images or MP4 first. What program makes content for a USB offline sign covers the making side.
- Sound: videos play muted unless you turn sound on in the settings.
- Transitions: slides crossfade by default, the fade runs up to 5 seconds, or set a hard cut.
- Orientation: rotation is one setting, so the same player hangs portrait or landscape.
Schedule and spares
- Set the daily on and off times to the building's hours, then check one evening that the screen actually goes dark at the off time.
- Keep a spare card with the current show, labeled, at the front desk. When a card fails, the spare turns a rebuild into a five-minute job.
The update walk
- Power the player down, swap the card or stick, power back up, and confirm the show plays. Treat the card as removable only while the power is off.
- Note the date and what changed on each card label. Six months on, nobody remembers which corridor got which version.
Scenario: four screens, one building, no internet path
A corporate office wants four screens on three floors: the lobby, two corridors and one by the canteen. That LAN has no route to the internet, and facilities has no appetite for a server. Corporate comms issue new notices about once a month.
Walking: 10 minutes per screen for the round, the swap and the check. 4 screens x 10 minutes = 40 minutes per monthly round, and 40 x 12 = 480 minutes a year, call it 8 hours.
Server: a machine on that LAN, patched and backed up, asks about one hour a month. Over a year that is 60 x 12 = 720 minutes, 12 hours, before the machine and the license.
40 minutes a month against 60: the walk wins. Decision: four screens, monthly changes, no server; the cards do the job.
The same arithmetic moves both ways. Add five screens in an annex and the round is 9 x 10 = 90 minutes a month, half again past the server's hour, while the far corridor screen can sit black for days before anyone walks by: time for the on-premise server. Move updates to weekly and even four screens take 4 x 10 x 4 = 160 minutes a month, close to three times the server's hour: the server wins at four screens. Frequency moves the line as hard as screen count does.
What to send with a quote
Whichever path you pick, this list gets a quote answered in one pass:
- Screen count per building, with size, orientation and mounting per position.
- How many hours a day each screen is on.
- Update frequency, who does it, and whether the network reaches each screen.
- The content files you already have, and who makes new ones.
- If a server is in the picture: who owns the machine, the backup schedule, and the date of the last restore test.
Spec-sheet language is decoded in digital signage displays: what the spec sheet tells you. For a lobby screen that plays with no signal and no account, start at lobby displays that look built in; the card-and-USB player itself lives under the offline player. Send the list through the contact page and we will come back with a quote.
Recommendation: keep every screen on its own card or USB show while the count is at or under about five screens in one building with monthly changes, and buy no server. Move to an on-premise CMS on your LAN when any one of these lands: the count passes six, updates go weekly, a second building joins, or a network with no internet path has to take updates from a desk. Then put one name against the server's monthly care hour, and run the restore test before the first screen goes live.
Questions
Can an on-premise signage CMS run on a network with no internet?
That is what on-premise means: the server and the screens talk over your own network with no path out. Before you buy, get two answers from the vendor: how player licenses are delivered when the server is isolated, and how support is reached if that server misbehaves. Both are paperwork questions, and both are cheaper to ask before the purchase than after.
Does the player need the internet to play a show?
No. It plays images and video straight from a microSD card or USB stick, keeps a copy of the show in internal memory, and brings the show up full screen at power-on when it is set as the home app. For service visits, a hidden, PIN-protected menu lets your team reload a card or check the screen without opening the case. New shows arrive by swapping the card with the power off.
How many hours a day can the screens run?
We publish no duty-cycle rating for these units. Plan the hours with the player's daily on and off times: outside them the screen shows black at minimum brightness, because the app cannot switch the backlight off. For panel life, work from the panel's rated life in hours on the spec sheet of whatever display you buy.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.