Android RS232 to Power On an Off Monitor/TV

[paulie]

Is it possible to use a USB to RS232 on the Android OS to send the command to switch our LCD screens off and on from the power saving options in signage studio?

[warwickwater]

we still use ethernet connected 'brute force' power switches on ours - not elegant, but it still works!

[criley]

@warwickwater... That is a great idea , especially until RS232 is fully supported within MS and when the consumer TV's are being used as they usually do not have RS232 capabilities. The only issue the OP may have is that they are asking about Android devices which to my knowledge do not have ethernet capabilities.

[warwickwater]

We have Android boxes with Ethernet - never very trusting of wifi and IT people changing passwords. I guess our Ethernet boxes could equally be wifi with an access point, but that starts getting quite messy in terms of cables, power bricks etc.

[criley]

yeah, I guess your right. I forgot I have the usb dongle for it as well. Have you been able to control the power switches with the Android units?

[warwickwater]

We haven't tried to integrate the Androids units to control power. We have an existing older system that power cycles and monitors all sorts of stuff (some nothing to do with signage) so we just use that. Iguess you could include a web asset that called a particular URL at switch off time - then our control server would see that incoming call and respond, but we havent really needed that integration just yet.

[paulie]

What we are basically trying to achieve is not to have any interaction from the staff at several locations, to turn the screens on and off. We want to have a least a 7-30 days programming schedule just for the screens to turn off and on.
We have got our heads around scheduling the signage content by using timelines, we are just stuck at programming a timer schedule  to power off and on the screens.
We would also want to be able to vary the times to accommodate holidays,i.e XMAS, News year day etc.
 

[dariussquared]

Paulie, Im looking for the same thing.  Reply if you find one.  I'll do the same.  Cheers.

[criley]

Do your monitors have the ability to be scheduled on and off?

[paulie]

Normal functioning monitors HDMI/DVI inputs with USB.
They power on and off as normal when connected with pc. What would be the difference @ Criley?
The solution i think you maybe thinking would work, but only with monitors.
That ok with monitors but some screens are LED TVs and this will only switch on to standby mode.

[jetimages]

Someone try with HDMI-CEC? Maybe is possible

[warwickwater]

Essentially Mediasignage is just another Windows app running ob a PC, so something external running on the PC should control the monitor using HDMI-CEC. My little laptop turns my home TV on and off fine - but havent tried any MS integration myself like that. I would be scared it would vary by screen too much.

[criley]

I think it is a neat concept and could potentially replace (I said potentially) RS232, but I am not versed in Android so much to say if it could be done on that platform with the player running. You would have to have an app running in the background to send signals to the port.

[warwickwater]

I have no idea if Android offers explicit access to controlling those signals at an API level. A quick Google doesn't bring up any apps that seek to do that, so with 300,000 apps out there that cover just about everything else, I'm guessing its not trivial. It is neat when it works though - first time our test 40" screen 'magically' came on when we booted a test player was spooky!

[paulie]

I think we may have found a easy solution.
I will update shortly