If in business cash is king, in digital signage, content is the king of all kings.  So in this series of articles, I will talk about content for digital signage and all that relates to it. So the first part, is the easy part.  While this topic is more specific to Scala, it is a general guideline to any tool that you use.  Sol let's start.

Scala supports most file formats, but some formats are preferred more than others. Nop,  color or race has nothing to do with this but rather due to factors such as bandwidth and their use within your message. So, here are few tips:

• For backgrounds, stick to JPEG, and try to optimize them, the small in byte-size they are the faster they get transmitted, loaded and shown. I would use JPEG also for photographs where clarity is not crucial, unless you are talking about cameras.
• For foreground, you know, the chairman photo, PiP,  use JPEG, and optimize please. But if your tool supports alpha channel, like Scala does, then use PNG with alpha, it is clearer and cooler to use. The less PowerPoint like your content, the cooler it is.
• For video, use MPEG-II, but only for full screen. Try 6Mbit compression, no need to go higher than that. But if your video is going to be smaller than the full screen, within a frame or part of the screen, then use MPEG-I. It is good enough. The loss of quality is minimal and it is better than  having a larger byte-size MPEG-II file that is not going to appear full screen anyway. Oh stay away from QuickTime.
• Sound, either MP3 or WAV will do. The smaller the better. In fact, if your screens are in public areas, where there is crowd and noise, do not bother spending time perfecting it. 

Well, that is all for the time being, do visit our blog for more.