Your Event Bucket display runs on any TV with an HDMI port, and it does not need a kiosk app because the kiosk is built into the display itself. The hardware is inexpensive, the setup takes about ten minutes, and once it is running it takes care of itself. Here is exactly what to buy, what to avoid, and how to set it up.
Either of these streaming sticks plugs into a TV's HDMI port and runs your display in a free web browser, with no kiosk app to buy or configure. Pick whichever is on sale.
Our top recommendation, because it is inexpensive, easy to find, and runs your display in Amazon's free Silk Browser, which is the setup our own lobby screens use. It works on any TV with an HDMI port.
A good alternative with a polished interface. Chrome is not available on Google TV, so you install a free TV browser such as TV Bro or Puffin TV Browser from the Google Play Store and open your display there.
| Device | Why it is not the best choice |
|---|---|
| Roku | Roku has no full web browser, so it can only mirror a phone or laptop, which ties up that device for as long as the board is showing. |
| Apple TV | Apple TV has no web browser either, so it can only show the board by mirroring an iPhone or Mac over AirPlay. |
| Smart TV built-in browsers | Samsung, LG, and Vizio browsers can run the board for a quick test, but they were built for casual browsing, so a streaming stick is the more reliable choice for a screen that runs all day. |
About ten minutes from the box to a live display, shown here for the Fire Stick.
Connect the Fire Stick to your TV's HDMI port and to power, then switch the TV to that HDMI input. Sign in to your Amazon account and connect to your venue's Wi-Fi.
From the Fire Stick home screen, go to Settings, then Display & Sounds, then Screensaver, choose Start Time, and select Never. If your Fire Stick also shows a Sleep setting there, set it to Never as well. This is the only device setting your display needs, and it matters because the screensaver belongs to the Fire Stick itself, which no web page is allowed to change.
Open the Silk Browser app, which is free in the Amazon Appstore if it is not already on your home screen. Select the address bar, enter theeventbucket.com/tv, and choose your city. Your display remembers that choice, so it returns to the same board after a restart. You can also go straight to your board with theeventbucket.com/tv/?city=YOUR_CITY, and statewide screens can use theeventbucket.com/missouri/tv.
Press the menu button on your remote and choose Add Bookmark, so the board is one click away if the Fire Stick ever restarts. The display switches to fullscreen on its own.
That is all it takes. Your TV is now a permanent Event Bucket display that keeps itself running, as the next section explains.
Paid kiosk apps exist to keep a browser on screen around the clock. Event Bucket builds that protection into the display, so you get it on every screen at no cost.
The one thing a web page cannot do is start itself when the power comes back. After an outage, the Fire Stick returns to its home screen, so someone needs to open Silk and select the bookmark, and the regular check-in shows us which screen needs that visit. If a screen sits somewhere hard to reach, a device-level kiosk app that relaunches the browser after a power loss is still an option, although most venues never need one.
Grab a Fire Stick, turn off its screensaver, and open your board in Silk Browser, and ten minutes from now you will have a live community board.