When it comes to picking a TV for your digital signage needs, you will find that there are great options at all price ranges.

We recommend starting with planning your budget and then picking the best TV in that price range, keeping in mind that you may need an additional digital signage media device if that TV does not run on any operating system that supports ScreenCloud, or if you need a more powerful operating system that has features that a TVs operating system does not have.

Let's take a look at one key thing to consider when getting a TV or display for digital signage - should you get a consumer TV or a professional display?

To answer this question, let's first look at what the main differences are.

There's one key difference that stands out first, and that is display time. Simply put, consumer TVs are displays designed for personal use, meaning they are designed for less display time, more or less 8 hours per day at most, as you probably won't be watching TV for more time than that in 1 day. Professional displays, on the other hand, are specifically designed for digital signage and are designed for longer display times, usually 16 hours a day 7 days a week, or 24 hours a day 7 days a week (you'll often see a 16/7 or 24/7 display time rating on professional displays' spec sheets).

This is a really key difference and it's all about durability, if you use a consumer TV for 24/7 digital signage usage you will find that the TV will lose quality over time, with things like edge burn-in, color distortion - among other issues - becoming a problem over time. A pretty easy rule of thumb here, if you need to display content 16-24 hours a day, you might need to get a professional display. A bit of counter advice though, you will find that professional displays are often significantly more expensive than consumer TVs, and as such, we find it common for users who need to display content 16-24 hours a day to still get a consumer TV and just replace it after a few years when it begins to lose quality instead of going for the more expensive option. In the end, the choice is up to you.

There are other areas as well though where professional displays can have advantages over consumer TVs - for example, build quality and durability, brightness, warranty, outdoor use, viewing angles, device control, touch screen capabilities, and more - so we recommend looking at your options closely and choosing what's important to you.

You can find the most up-to-date list of recommended budget or consumer TVs on our hardware page under the Smart TV & Displays selection.

If you wish to select a display that is not part of that list, we strongly recommend reviewing the minimum requirements for the ScreenCloud player app guide for your smart screen, specifically when it comes to Android-powered Smart TVs. If the storage nor the RAM is not sufficient, you can expect issues with video playback and other content-heavy apps.