Forum Discussion

jamesc69's avatar
jamesc69
New Member
10 years ago

Power BI in digital signage

We have a need to display Power BI dashboards within a business that can cycle through different reports.  We have looked at various digital signage solutions but each one of them falls down with not...
Need Help
elliotdixon's avatar
elliotdixon
Icon for Responsive Resident rankResponsive Resident
9 years ago

Hi jameslo30 Thanks for the tips around displaying PowerBI on screens in the office. I am trying to source a solution for this issue right now.

 

I tried the Windows 10 Application but it doesnt auto refresh.

Tried chrome with Super Auto Refresh addin but that just sucks up all the memory of the PC. Does AutoIT AutoTab use much memory? Is it something you can just leave running for weeks without any interaction? 24/7.

 

Cheers

jameslo30's avatar
jameslo30
Icon for Advocate III rankAdvocate III
9 years ago

Hi,elliotdixon

 

The only thing I would recommend is to try and minimise all system resources on the PC you are displaying on the monitors (i.e. turn off transparancy effects / anti virus scans).


I have a HP PC that is low spec (AMD Athlon) that has about 7 reports on Chrome (with auto refresh add-in) and the AutoTab program (I mistyped the name of the program, it's actually AnalogX AutoTab - http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/System/autotab/Freeware.htm)

 

It uses very little memory (about 1mb).

 

If your reports are using up memory on your PC, try and set the Chrome add-in auto refresh rate to something quicker (i.e. every 5-10 minutes).

 

Mine runs for months with no problem (until I have a powercut!).

 

Thanks!

 

  • sieed's avatar
    sieed
    Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
    9 years ago

    jameslo30, what happens when power bi refreshes the reports while the auto tab is running? Do the rpeorts get updated or do you have to maually refresh the tiles? 

    • jameslo30's avatar
      jameslo30
      Icon for Advocate III rankAdvocate III
      9 years ago

      sieed I've been told any updates to reports are refreshed instantly. But I've found that not to be true and so therefore I've had to use AutoRefresh plugin's to force the browser to refresh.

       

      Thanks,

      James

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    9 years ago

    Just wanted to say that after looking at a number of paid and free solutions, we've found the open source DisplayMonkey to be the best choice.  It takes a little to set up the server (SQL Server, .NET app, and IIS), but the installation documentation is pretty good. It's very customizable, delivers smoothly to any HTML5 browser, and nothing else handles Power BI reports as well.

    • sieed's avatar
      sieed
      Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
      9 years ago

      Anonymous,  how often do you have to sign in to show your reports? Does it ever crash or logout for some reason? 

      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        Not applicable
        9 years ago

        sieed We're running a POC at the moment and will start rollout soon, but we haven't had any logouts or crashes, and data is refreshed every time a report rotates in.  We don't have to go back in and sign in - you set up an application registration via the Azure portal and it uses that.  All reports in the 'My Workspace' section of the user you set it up with can be used in DisplayMonkey. We created a service account user in Power BI and use content packs to publish existing reports to that user's workspace.  You could also just publish reports to that user directly.