Android Software

TargetR requires DS Loader to be installed on Android devices. When installed, different player software can be selected and loaded remotely using our admin interface.

This page includes a summary of the player software available and differences to consider.

DS Loader

This application provides a management layer for loading digital signage player software. When DS Loader is installed on an Android device, player software can be remotely updated and monitored.

DS Loader will start a player when the device is turned on and restart the player if there is a player software failure. It can take screenshots and post logs back to the server.

Player Software

We have 3 primary player applications. The player chosen should be based on hardware specifications and digital signage requirements.

Standard Android Player

This player uses standard Android components to display multimedia. Videos are decoded using Android's built in video player. Images and web pages are drawn as part of Androids view hierarchy. 

• Works on all Android versions with good performance.
• Support for events and triggers for interactive content.
• Support for sequence frames (but not dynamic layers).
• There are no advanced transition animations.
• Videos must be fully downloaded before playing.
• Basic peer to peer file sharing.
• Basic VAST support. (See implementation details here)

SignageNode

This player uses OpenGL ES to render content to the screen. Videos are decoded using ExoPlayer and images and web pages are scaled and drawn to OpenGL textures.

• Requires a modern, high performance Android device.
• Includes over 50 advanced transition animations. 
• Support for multiple, independent dynamic layers of content (but not sequence frames).
• Advanced distributed caching proxy for peer to peer data sharing.
• Videos can be streamed immediately without full download.
• Support for HLS, DASH, SmoothStreaming, RTSP...
• Advanced VAST support.
• Built in management server that can be accessed via central admin interface.
• No support for events and triggers or interactive content.

More details about SignageNode

Standard Android Player with ExoPlayer

This player is similar to the standard player but uses ExoPlayer for decoding videos. If the standard player has problems playing videos and the device can not meet the requirements for running SignageNode, this player can be used.

4K (3840x2160) Support

Unfortunately, Android is usually limited to 1920x1080 for performance reasons even on hardware that claims to support 4K. This imposes limitations on our players. See here.