What you need
Any screen that can open a web page: a TV with a web browser, or a TV with a small computer or streaming stick plugged into it that has one. Nothing has to be installed, though on a Google TV one free app does the job best (below). The screen needs the internet to connect and to get changes, but keeps showing its board if the connection drops (see When the internet drops).
The best way so far: Google TV and Fully Kiosk Browser
So far the screens that run best are a Google TV (a TV with Google TV built in, or a Chromecast with Google TV or Google TV Streamer plugged into any TV) with a free app called Fully Kiosk Browser. It shows the board on the whole screen, keeps the picture on, and opens the board again by itself after a power cut.
Fully Kiosk Browser & Lockdown
By Fully Factory Kiosk Solutions. That's its name and icon in the Play Store.
Install it
- On the TV, go to Apps and search for Fully Kiosk Browser.
- Choose Fully Kiosk Browser & Lockdown, by Fully Factory Kiosk Solutions, and press Install. It's free.
- If the TV doesn't find it, install it from a phone or computer instead: open play.google.com, signed in with the same Google account as the TV, find Fully Kiosk Browser & Lockdown, press Install and choose the TV.
Set it up
Open Fully Kiosk Browser. Its menu opens when you hold down the Back button on the remote; choose Settings there. Change these once:
- Web Content Settings, then Start URL: type https://shulboard.app/tv.
- Device Management: turn on Keep Screen On and Launch on Boot. If the TV asks to allow something, allow it.
- Web Auto Reload, then Auto Reload after Page Error: type 30. A TV that starts up before the internet is back then tries again every 30 seconds.
- Web Browsing Settings: turn off Enable Back Button, so a press of Back doesn't step off the board.
- Toolbars and Appearance: check that Show Status Bar, Show Navigation Bar, Show Action Bar and Show Address Bar are off, so the board fills the screen. They're off to start with.
Press Back to leave Settings. The TV opens shulboard.app/tv and shows a code: connect it as in Connect it, below. Then set the TV itself to stay on, as in Keep it on all day.
After a power cut the TV starts Fully Kiosk Browser, which opens the board on its own. To change a setting later, hold down Back again.
What the free version doesn't do
Everything above is free. Fully's Kiosk Mode, which blocks the remote's Home button, is part of its paid PLUS licence, so leave it off: turned on without a licence, it puts a reminder on the screen.
So someone who presses Home on the remote can still leave the board for the TV's home screen. Fully keeps running: open Fully Kiosk Browser from Apps and the board is back. If the TV comes back on at its home screen rather than the board, do the same. Keeping the remote put away stops most of it.
Connect it
- In Shulboard, go to Screens and press Add screen (or open a screen that's already there).
- On the TV, open its web browser and go to shulboard.app/tv.
- The TV shows a six-digit code and a QR code: "To show a board on this TV, enter this code". A new code appears every 10 minutes until the TV is connected.
- Either scan the QR code with your phone, or type the code on the screen's page under Or type the code on the TV, and press Connect TV.
- Choose which board the screen shows. The TV switches a few seconds later.
Only an owner can connect a TV. Leave the browser open on that page, full screen if the TV allows it. After a power cut, open the same address again; the TV remembers which screen it is.
Keep it on all day
A TV turns its picture off by itself unless it's told not to. Shulboard asks the TV's browser to keep the screen on, which stops a screensaver, but these settings belong to the TV. Change them once, with its remote. The names vary a little by model and year.
- Google TV and Android TV, including a Chromecast with Google TV: Settings, System, Power and energy, Energy saver: set Turn off display to Never, or the longest it offers. Then Settings, System, Ambient mode: turn it off.
- The TV's own timer. Many TVs switch off after 4 hours without a remote press. On a Samsung it's Auto Power Off (under Settings, General, Power and Energy Saving, or Eco Solution on older ones). On an LG, Settings, General, System, Time and Timer, Timers: turn off 4 hours Auto Power Off. On a Sony, Settings, Power and energy: set Idle TV standby to Never. Turn off any Sleep timer too.
- When it comes back on. On a TV with Google TV built in, set Power on behaviour (under Settings, System, Power and energy) to Last used input, so it comes back on the browser rather than the home screen.
- In Fully Kiosk Browser, turn on Keep Screen On under Device Management (see Set it up). In TV Bro, another browser shuls use on Google TV, turn on Keep screen on in its settings.
If a screen still goes dark, its page in Shulboard says when it Last checked in: a TV that kept checking in while it looked dark turned its own picture off.
One TV per screen
Each screen is shown on one TV. To move a screen to a new TV, open the screen and press Disconnect TV, then connect the new one. A TV that tries to show a screen connected elsewhere says "That screen is connected to a different TV."
Connect with a link instead
On the screen's page, Connect with a link instead gives the screen's own address to open on the TV. Make a new link stops the old one working; use it if a link was shared by mistake.
Is it working?
The Screens page says when each screen last checked in. A working screen checks in every few minutes and shows "now". A screen that hasn't checked in for a while is marked, so a TV that was switched off shows up before anyone calls. See Troubleshooting.
When the internet drops
Each TV keeps its board, its photos and about a month of zmanim, and works out the clock, the Hebrew date and the parsha itself. It keeps showing the board with no connection, and picks up any changes when the connection is back. It also reloads itself once a night.