Maintaining Your Screens

Look after your screens to help digital signage look after your business. This article will give you four things you can do to retain the quality of your screens.

Frequently maintaining your screens will dramatically increase their longevity. We recommend four simple actions to ensure your screens continue to perform at a high standard:

• Clean the Screen
• Protect the Screen
• Change the Content
• Rest and Repeat

Clean the Screen

Cleaning is an essential part of maintenance, especially for electronic devices. The steps below showcase a typical cleaning process:

• Turn off the screen.
• Gently wipe down the screen with a microfiber cloth. 
• For stubborn marks or stains, use a screen-safe solution (apply to cloth, not to the screen directly)
• For areas that are difficult to reach with the cloth, consider using a soft brush.

Protect the Screen

To avoid damaging the screen, do your best to give it adequate protection. This could include:

• Applying protective covers and films to the front and back. 
• Placing it in areas with low footfall.
• Keep away from liquids.
• When not in use, store it appropriately (e.g in a protective box in locked storage).

Change the Content

This may seem like an abstract concept, but showing the same thing on-screen for a prolonged amount of time can seriously damage your screens. This is due to ‘screen burn-in’, which refers to the permanent discolouration of a screen panel.

It is avoided by consistently changing the images shown onscreen (think how a screensaver often changes after a specific amount of time). By utilising Playlists, burn-in can be prevented through frequent content changes.

Rest and Repeat

Just like us, now and then screens need rest. Whether it’s turning it off during the night or restarting it each week, allowing the device to rest and recharge will significantly improve the screen’s longevity.

The amount you need to rest your screen will depend on whether it’s commercial-grade: 

• If it’s not a commercial-grade screen, turn it off whenever possible to retain some of the screen’s longevity. Standard screens will easily malfunction if left on for a sustained period. 
• If you’re displaying content 24/7, you are likely already using a commercial-grade screen. These screens require much less downtime than a standard screen, however it could still do with the odd restart to keep it performing at a high level.

Repeat all these steps regularly to maintain your screens at the highest level.