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Guide

Devices

Everything you can do once a device is paired — groups and locations, kiosk lockdown, screen and TV power scheduling, screenshots, diagnostics, and how offline playback actually works.

Pairing a Device

Every player shows a 6-character pairing code on its screen the first time DisplayCache launches.

  1. Install the app or flash the image on your device. Per-platform setup walkthroughs: Apple TV, iPad / iPhone, Fire TV, Raspberry Pi, Intel NUC.
  2. Read the code on the screen.
  3. In the web admin, open Devices → + Pair Device and type the code.
  4. Name the device (e.g., “Main Lobby”, “Children's Wing TV”) and assign it to a location.

The pairing screen disappears within seconds and the device starts showing its assigned content (or a holding screen if nothing is scheduled to it yet).

Status & Playing

Each device row shows its current state.

  • Online (green) — the device checked in within the last 35 minutes.
  • Offline (gray) — we haven't heard from it. The screen is probably still playing from cache, so visitors usually don't notice; you'll only see a problem if you push new content while the device is offline.

The Playing column shows which schedule and playlist is currently active. Hover for the playlist name.

Locations

A location is a physical place — “Main Lobby”, “Fellowship Hall”, “South Campus Sanctuary”. Assign each device to a location so:

  • Schedules and playlists can target by location instead of by individual device.
  • Per-item playlist filters can scope content to one location (see the Multi-Location trick).
  • Each location can have its own timezone, so schedule times resolve correctly across campuses.

Manage from Devices → Manage Locations.

Device Groups

Groups bundle devices for bulk targeting and bulk actions. Open Devices → Manage Groups to:

  • Create groups with color labels (e.g., red for “Lobby Screens”, blue for “Classrooms”).
  • Add or remove devices.
  • Drag groups up or down to set priority — higher groups win when multiple schedules overlap on the same device. See Schedule priority.
  • Set a default playlist per group — this plays when no other schedule is active on a device in the group. Great for “always-on fallback” content.

Per-Device Actions Menu

Click the ⋮ (three dots) on any device row for:

  • Take Screenshot — capture what's currently on screen. Updates the thumbnail in the device row.
  • View Diagnostics — current IP, uptime, memory, cache usage, network info, agent and webapp versions.
  • Refresh Manifest — push the latest schedule/playlist updates immediately rather than waiting for the next periodic fetch.
  • Reboot — restart the device remotely.
  • CEC Power On / Off — turn the connected TV on or off via HDMI-CEC (Raspberry Pi and Intel NUC; needs a CEC-capable TV).
  • NDI Output — toggle live NDI streaming (Intel NUC only). See NDI Output.
  • Remote Shell — open a terminal to the device for advanced troubleshooting (Linux and Android devices).
  • Remove Device — unpair and delete from your account.

Display Rotation

For portrait-mounted screens, use the rotation dropdown on the device row. Options: 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°.

Supported on Linux devices (Raspberry Pi / Intel NUC), Android TV, and Fire TV. Content rotates at the OS level — no need to change TV settings.

Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, and Mac render landscape only. iPad and iPhone follow the device's own rotation lock; Apple TV doesn't expose an orientation API at all.

Kiosk Lockdown

For lobby, classroom, or self-service deployments, you may want to prevent visitors from exiting the player. The mechanism depends on the platform:

  • Apple TV — Single App Mode via Apple School Manager / Apple Business Manager / MDM (Jamf, Mosyle, Kandji, Intune). Locks the device to DisplayCache; visitors can't escape to settings.
  • iPad / iPhone — Guided Access (free, built into iOS): Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access. Or use MDM Single App Mode for a fleet. Full walkthrough.
  • Android TV / Fire TV / Android Tablet — the DisplayCache app runs as a home-screen launcher in kiosk mode. The Home button stays inside DisplayCache; visitors can't reach the system launcher.
  • Raspberry Pi / Intel NUC — the player runs as the kiosk shell out of the box (no desktop, no launcher visible). The device is locked by virtue of the image.

CEC TV Power Control

On Raspberry Pi and Intel NUC, DisplayCache can turn the connected TV on and off over HDMI-CEC. Two flows:

Per-device CEC schedule

On the device's settings panel, set a weekly schedule for when the TV should be powered. The agent fires HDMI-CEC commands at the scheduled times. Useful for “TV on at 7:30 AM weekdays, off at 6 PM” energy savings.

Manual CEC commands

From the actions menu, choose CEC Power On or CEC Power Off for an immediate one-off command.

Most modern TVs (LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL) implement HDMI-CEC under different names: SimpLink, Anynet+, BRAVIA Sync, T-Link. Check your TV's HDMI settings if CEC commands don't take effect. For Intel NUC you may need a Pulse-Eight USB-CEC adapter ($35) since most NUCs lack a CEC pin on HDMI.

Cache & Offline Playback

DisplayCache is offline-first. Every device downloads its scheduled content to local storage before playing it — the screen keeps running even if Wi-Fi drops mid-service.

What you see on the device row

A thin cache bar shows how much of the device's cache budget is in use. A nearly full bar is healthy — it means the device has the content it needs. An empty bar on a freshly-paired device just means caching hasn't started yet.

What caches

Images, videos, Canva imports, Planning Center attachments, OneDrive / Google Drive synced files. These all play offline.

What streams (doesn't cache)

YouTube and Vimeo links, BoxCast and HLS live streams, and external URLs. They need internet at playback time. If Wi-Fi drops, the device skips over those items and continues with what's cached — visitors see the gap as a normal slide transition.

Offline ready badge. Content items show an “Offline ready” badge once every device they're assigned to has cached them locally. A missing badge means at least one targeted device hasn't finished caching yet (often just network speed; sometimes a device has been offline a while and hasn't caught up).

Device Variables

Variables let you attach little key-value pairs to a specific device. Set them under ⋮ → View Diagnostics. Examples:

  • room = Sanctuary
  • service = Traditional
  • campus = South

You can then reference those values inside content templates. A TouchPoint script can read device.room to pull the right room's schedule; a Smart Display widget can branch on device.service to show different verses.

Most customers never need this. It's a power-user feature for personalizing what a single screen shows without duplicating playlists.

NDI Output (Intel NUC)

NDI stands for Network Device Interface — it lets production tools (ProPresenter, vMix, OBS, hardware NDI receivers) pull a live video feed from any source on the LAN.

When you enable NDI on a NUC, the device publishes its current screen output as an NDI source over the network. Sound desk, broadcast booth, or sanctuary IMAG operators can then pull DisplayCache's output into their production mix.

  • NUC only — the other platforms don't support NDI output.
  • Ethernet strongly recommended — NDI is bandwidth-heavy.
  • Toggle from the actions menu (⋮ → NDI Output) or via Fleet Policies.

Filtering the device list

Use the Location and Group dropdowns at the top of the Devices page to narrow the list. Helpful when you have many screens across multiple buildings and want to focus on one area's status.

Stuck?

Email hello@displaycache.com and we'll help.