Digital signage glossary
Digital signage software and screens have their own vocabulary, and providers do not always use the words the same way. These entries define the terms buyers actually search for, name the term people confuse each one with, and show how CloudyFy TV implements it.
All 12 terms
- Bezel compensationThe calculation that hides the physical frame between screens in a video wall.Read the definition
- DaypartingScheduling different content for different times of day on the same screen.Read the definition
- Digital signage CMSThe browser software where you build layouts, playlists and schedules.Read the definition
- DOOH (digital out-of-home)Digital screens in public places, as opposed to inside someone’s home.Read the definition
- Dwell timeHow long one piece of content stays on screen before the next plays.Read the definition
- Kiosk modeLocking a device to a single signage app so it can’t be tampered with.Read the definition
- LayoutOne designed screen composition, a canvas of blocks.Read the definition
- Media playerThe hardware and software that receives and plays a screen’s assigned content.Read the definition
- PlaylistAn ordered sequence of layouts, each with its own dwell time and transition.Read the definition
- Proof of playA verifiable record that specific content played, on a specific screen, at a specific time.Read the definition
- Video wallA grid of screens arranged to show one coordinated image.Read the definition
- ZoneThe generic industry term for one region of a screen; CloudyFy TV calls this a block.Read the definition
How these terms fit together
Read in this order, the twelve entries stop being a list and become one system: two layers, then what you build on them, then when it runs and how you prove it did.
Start with the two layers: the CMS and the media player
A digital signage CMS is the browser software where you design layouts, playlists and schedules. It never displays anything itself; it sends finished content out to players. A media player is the hardware and software that receives a screen’s assigned content and plays it, caching it locally so the screen keeps running. Some vendors sell that player as a separate box. CloudyFy TV ships it as an app you install on the screen, so a TV, a Fire TV stick or a tablet becomes the media player with nothing extra to plug in.
Then build downward: layout, zone, playlist, dwell time
A layout is one designed composition, a canvas of positioned blocks, and it is the base unit you build, publish and schedule. What the rest of the industry calls a zone, one region of a screen, CloudyFy TV calls a block: multi-region screens are built by splitting the canvas with split_x and split_y and placing blocks inside each pane. A playlist is an ordered sequence of layouts, and dwell time is how long each item holds the screen before the next one plays, set per item so a 15-second promo and a 45-second video can share one rotation.
Then decide when it runs, and prove that it did
Scheduling puts content on a screen at a given time. Dayparting is the specific case of a repeating schedule scoped to a window of the day, a breakfast menu that becomes lunch at 11 a.m. and dinner at 5 p.m., so one screen does the work of several. Proof of play is the record at the other end: verifiable evidence that a specific piece of content played, on a specific screen, at a specific time, which is what an advertiser or a franchise head office needs, and what an uptime report cannot give them.
Terms buyers most often get wrong
Each of these pairs looks like one idea and is really two. Getting them the wrong way round is how a shortlist ends up comparing the wrong feature.
Layout vs playlist
A layout is one composition, an arrangement of blocks on a canvas. A playlist is a sequence of layouts playing in order on a timer. If a screen only ever shows one thing, a layout is all you need. The moment it has to rotate through several, you need a playlist around them.
Read the playlist entryKiosk mode vs MDM
Kiosk mode locks one app to the foreground and disables the way out of it. MDM manages an entire fleet’s operating system, app installs and security policy. CloudyFy TV ships kiosk lock, not a general MDM, so device management beyond what plays on the screen is a separate tool running alongside it.
Read the kiosk mode entryDwell time vs audience attention
In a playlist, dwell time is the duration you set for an item. In out-of-home marketing the same phrase means how long a passerby lingers near a screen, measured with cameras. CloudyFy TV’s dwell time is the first one only: it does no camera-based audience measurement of any kind.
Read the dwell time entryProof of play vs uptime reporting
Uptime and device health tell you a screen was online and behaving normally. Proof of play tells you what actually played, where, and for how long. A vendor offering only device-health reporting has not answered the proof-of-play question, however similar the dashboard looks.
Read the proof of play entryVideo wall software vs a video wall processor
Searching for video wall software surfaces AV control-room hardware that locks several feeds into one frame. A signage video wall is software-coordinated instead: each ordinary player computes its own tile, and bezel compensation hides the frames between screens. CloudyFy TV’s wall is not frame-locked, and for lobby, retail and menu use it does not need to be.
Read the video wall entry