A Chromecast with Google TV is a €40 stick that many businesses already have plugged into a TV. Install a free TV browser, open your screen's player URL once, and TVpilot turns it into a managed signage player: playlists, scheduling, designed screens and monitoring, all from one dashboard. For quick one-off displays you can even cast a Chrome tab from any computer.
Free plan, no credit card required. Paid plans from €5/month.
The classic "cast a tab" trick depends on a computer staying on; the reliable route is running the player directly on the Chromecast with a TV browser app from the Play Store. Everything you need:
Sign up free and click "Add screen". Choose Chromecast / Google TV as the device type and you get a short player URL for that screen.
On the Google TV home screen, search the Play Store for a TV browser such as TV Bro. It is free and installs in a minute, Google TV has a full Play Store, unlike older cast-only Chromecasts.
In the browser, type the short play URL from your dashboard. The screen connects and starts playing its playlist immediately.
Switch the browser to fullscreen and bookmark the page so it is two clicks away after a restart. From here on, every content change happens in the dashboard.
Once the Chromecast shows your player URL, the TV is done. Everything below works the same across one screen or a fleet.
Images, videos, web pages and PDFs in one playlist with drag-and-drop ordering, smooth transitions and per-screen portrait or landscape orientation.
Daypart your content: the breakfast menu until 11, the lunch specials after. Every slide can be scheduled per time slot and weekday, and promos with an end date remove themselves.
AI Studio turns a short brief into a finished signage screen, or start from a template in the Designer and drop in your own text, photos and logo.
Online/offline status and heartbeats for every screen in the dashboard, with email alerts when a display goes dark. Free for 1 screen, from €5/month with 3 screens included.
The older Chromecast models (without Google TV) cannot run apps, so they only support the tab-casting route, which keeps a computer involved. For a standalone signage player you want a Chromecast with Google TV (HD or 4K), which has the Play Store and can run a TV browser by itself.
Any TV browser from the Play Store works; TV Bro is a solid free choice with fullscreen support and bookmarks. Install it once, open your player URL, go fullscreen, bookmark, done.
In the Google TV settings, set the screensaver/sleep to off or to its maximum. Combined with the fullscreen browser the player then runs continuously; after a power cut you reopen the bookmark once.
For most shops, offices and waiting rooms: yes. For mission-critical, always-on installations a Raspberry Pi (fully self-recovering) is the more robust choice, and you can mix devices freely in one TVpilot dashboard.
TVpilot is free for 1 screen with 250 MB storage. Starter is €5/month with 3 screens included, Pro €29/month with 10 screens and every Premium feature. Hardware: a Chromecast with Google TV you may already own.
Use the hardware you already own; the software starts at €0.
Try TVpilot on one screen, for as long as you like.
For a shop, practice or restaurant with a few screens.
For offices, schools and chains, with every Premium feature.
For organizations with a team, approvals and many locations.
Create a free account, add a screen, install a TV browser on your Chromecast and open one URL, your signage is live before the coffee is cold.
Start free with TVpilot