Players / Screens / Connectivity

Frequently asked questions about players and screens

Which Apple TV players do you support?

We support Apple TV 3rd Generation and later. We have tested 720p, 1080p and 4K.

Our TV app supports tvOS 9.0 or later.

We are investigating support for older Apple TV devices, there is no real reason why any app-capable Apple TV should not work.

Which Android TV players do you support?

We have partnered with Amino to provide a rock-solid official Platopus Player.

In addition, we support official Android TV players which have a 'leanback' interface - i.e. they have a controller/remote rather than a touch interface.

We are compiling a list of officially supported players - if you have any information on a player you have tried we would love to hear from you!

Why are you so picky about the devices you support?

We started this project after years of seeing displays in beautiful shops and locations and wondering why so many of them were awful. We set out to delivery a display experience which would be worthy of your precious brand and the thousands (sometimes millions) of pounds you spent building your site.

WE REALLY DISLIKE DISPLAYS WHICH DO NOT DO JUSTICE TO YOUR BRAND.

We believe that when you place a display in your window your customer experience, brand and ethos will be judged by it's quality - it's human nature, you cannot control it.

You will likely pay a few hundred pounds to a few thousand for the screen itself, and no doubt your site will have cost a lot more to build. We think £150 - £250 for a player is not a big deal - you wont be changing it very often and even having to go back and visit a player once to fix something will negate the cost.

Can I hook up multiple screens to one player?

If you want to use some kind of fancy HDMI splitter or cascade device to attach a dozen screens to one Apple TV or Android TV device, go ahead - knock yourself out!

In this case the same content will be displayed on all of your screens, but if you are doing this we guess that is exactly what you want to happen!

Our sales team would of course want us to remind you of the beauty and appeal of lots of lovely screens at your locations and you are free to bless each screen with its own player at any time!

Do I need an internet connection?

Yes. Our platform is modelled on an 'always connected' principal. The player will check in every 10 seconds and report that it is alive and healthy and also see whether what it needs to display has changed.

We are all about being sure that your screens are showing the right content 100% of the time.

Should / can I use WiFi or wired ethernet

Apple TV and most Android TV devices support both wired ethernet and wireless internet.

We STRONGLY suggest that you use a wired internet connection, so much so that we are placing this advice in a box with a red warning triangle!

Your devices can be configured to fall-back to wifi if the wired connection breaks but we would always suggest that you connect to the internet via a cable - even a homeplug would be better as a main connection than Wifi only.

Having said all that our software / platform will happily work any kind of connection - just don't say we did not warn you when you are heading out with a ladder to try and re-connect that display in the top corner of your most remote store ...!

There is no wired ethernet available near my screen, is there anything I can do?

Not having a wired connection near a screen can be challenging. If it is impossible to run an ethernet cable to the screen or you need a temporary connection we would recommend investigating Powerline Adaptors (sometimes called Homeplugs) as a means of getting an wired ethernet to a screen. This allows you to send ethernet down the mains to a remote location and usually involves placing one Powerline adaptor near your router or your ethernet switch and then another near the display. We would recommend using AV1200 adaptors (or faster).

What happens if the Internet Connection is lost?

If the internet connection is lost, your player will continue to play the content/sequence it was playing at the time the connection was lost.

You will see that the connection has been lost in the web application and the display will show a tiny discreet lost connection icon in the lower corner of the screen.

How much bandwidth does each player need?

Each player sends back a small packet of information every 10 seconds. We estimate that for a screen playing a simple sequence you will use around 10Mb per month.

The content you play is downloaded and cached on the player the first time you play it so you will use the amount of bandwidth required to download any movies or images you show. Generally, once a movie or image is locally cached it will not need to be downloaded again unless you change it however both the TvOS and Android platforms we use may ask for space back at any given time (depending on what else the device is used for) and cause your player to re-download a piece of content.

Can I cut the power to the player, or put the player and screen on a timer to power it off out of hours?

Apple TV

If you are using an Apple TV as your player and your Apple TV is in Kiosk Mode (enrolled in an MDM platform and set to run only the Platopus Display app), you may cut the power to the player safe in the knowledge that as soon as the power is re-applied, the Apple TV will turn back on and after a minute or so will relaunch the Platopus Display app and follow its programmed content.

When your player is powered off, it will not consume any connected hours and you will not be charged for the time the player is not running.

If your Apple TV is NOT in Kiosk Mode or not enrolled in an MDM platform, when your Apple TV is powered on, you will need to use the remote to activate the Platopus Display app. Generally this is not a good situation within a store or location!