Carousel

Flexible product that just works

Pros:

We use all Apple products at our school, Carousel was a clear choice as we are able to deploy the robust signage solution to our Apple TV devices that we already had in every classroom in a matter of minutes.

Cons:

I would like it noted more that Carousel on Apple TV doesn't support video streaming. This is a limitation of the hardware, not Carousel but would be good to know the Apple TV specs on the site

Super Easy cloud based signage for multiple buildings and lots of players

Comments: We have over 40 signes spread over 8 buildings and we love it. We've been using versions of Carousel for 10 years and couldn't be happier.

Pros:

Carousel is cloud based, making it easy to manage from anywhere and any device. Content is cashed on the displays, so they work when the internet is down and the sign design editor is very easy to use. The newest version even works with ChromeBox, so we can install the free Chrome OS Flex on any device and it is immediately a sign. Lots of media types and external sources can be added. We've been using Carousel for nearly 10 years and we have more than 40 signs over 8 schools and we love it.

Cons:

Functionally, we couldn't really ask for more. Maybe a way to play Google Slides directly. The only negative I can see, just like most products today, the price is getting higher and schools are struggling with budgets, but the value is there.

Great signage that doesn't require a ton of time

Comments: I have been a Carousel (Tightrope) Customer through 3 different shops, over the span of almost 15 years. Thier products have always done what I need them to-do, have been easy to understand and implement, and I have had to spend very little time on Maintenace and upkeep. I wish all of my systems were as worry free as Carousel has been.

Pros:

Its simple to implement and to use, but also has the options for a more robust system should you need more custom configurations. It's very to learn.

Cons:

There is not much not to like. It's simple, has a bunch of integrations, and is easy to use.

Carousel is Perfect for Managing Large Organizations

Comments: Overall good, Implementaion went well, training was easy. Some of the staff were a little too pushy and ungenuine and the critical feature upgrades did not come until 3 + years later ... but I would not say that had hindered the quality of product but rather reflects the organization.

Pros:

It made it easy to produce, distribute, and manage content to 25 different buildings and give them a similar and easy experience

Cons:

The rigidness of their templates are and how unfriendly it is to be creative with the stock they give you.

Carousel Comments

Comments: Tech support is very quick and helpful when issues arise.

Pros:

I like that I can do it remotely and that I can have more then one person work on this platform.

Cons:

More options for scheduling, not being able to make presets for certain types of bulletins, like the default for background for uploaded images.

Easy digital signage across campus

Comments: It's been easy to set up and run across campus. I started with a 10 license pilot 2 years ago, and it's caught on to the point where we now have 22 licenses and growing.

Pros:

The web interface allows me to work on the signage from any location. The ability to add start and end dates/times is very helpful - I can set up a bulletin to start and stop when I want and then forget about it. The ability to have calendar feeds based on web sites is also very helpful. Finally, using Apple TVs and JAMF device management software allows me to quickly get a sign up and running, and locks the Apple TV into just the Carousel app so no one can change what's being shown.

Cons:

Inability to show YouTube videos when using and Apple TV for signage, but that's a limitation put in by Apple itself, not Carousel.

Great Value and Easy Management

Comments: Our experience with Carousel Digital Signage has been excellent. The platform is user-friendly, with centralized management and seamless integration with BrightSigns. Setting up and managing content is straightforward, and the ability to grant granular access to team members is highly effective. It’s a reliable tool that offers great value.

Pros:

Carousel Digital Signage is a fantastic product with great value for the pricing. It offers an intuitive interface that makes centralized management of multiple signs a breeze. The ability to provide granular access to specific team members responsible for posting content is a standout feature, allowing for smooth collaboration and content control. Getting BrightSigns provisioned and up and running is incredibly easy, saving time and reducing any potential headaches. Overall, the system is reliable and user-friendly, making it an excellent choice for anyone looking to manage digital signage effectively.

Cons:

My understanding is that you need to purchase additional player licenses in bundles of 5 or 10, which can be limiting if you only need a few more signs. Having the option to add signs on an individual per-sign basis would offer more flexibility and make the product even better.

My Journey with Carousel

Comments: My overall journey for the past 3 years using Carousel was nothing more than fantastic, I appreciate the support team especially [sensitive content hidden], they are very proactive and supportive and I wish them continue doing the same.

Pros:

We use Carousel as our Digital signage partner in our enterprise, its very simple to use and our users find it very easily get adapted to the carousel environment in terms of usage

Cons:

Not much to say about what I like the least, but i like Carousel to get more and more cool features and incorporate some modern templates in terms of content creation.

Convenient & efficient digital signage

Comments: It does exactly what I was looking for! I needed an easy way to share and update announcements from a central location across my campus. Carousel lets me do that easily and effectively.

Pros:

It is very quick and easy to create bulletins and schedule them with minimum time. However, if you want to really spend time creating content, that is possible too.

Cons:

I didn't like the look of my channel so when I was helping a colleague set up a new channel and I discovered the default layouts available, I started using them, but updating my templates has been time consuming. It's probably user error on my end but that kind of set-up has been challenging.

Satisfied Customer

Comments: This was a great experience. We had never had digital signage for our internal users and now it is a seamless part of our office life!

Pros:

Gorgeous displays and can use multiple platforms to create designs as well

Cons:

A little difficult to get the physical components activated, but lots of help and now running smoothly with little intervention.

Carousel Digital Signage Was Our Top Choice

Pros:

Carousel meets the needs of our community including user role management, CAP EAS integration, active directory/SAML integration, unlimited user accounts, clean end-user and admin user interface, continual software development and response to user requested features, and integration with various hardware options.

Cons:

There is not much to dislike. There is some lack of social media integration mostly caused by the platforms themselves continual changes in development. Other minor dislikes have mostly all been addressed by Carousel through feature requests that have been implemented into the UI.

affordable and scalable digital signage solution

Comments: Fantastic especially for the price we pay for the. Inner of screens we have. Carousel makes it very cost effective to have digital signage that is easily scalable.

Pros:

For the functionality and flexibility of devices it runs on, Carousel is a win win four our institution. Once it's setup it is easy to add additional devices and display different content on different screens.

Cons:

The learning curve for how to use the software. It could be more intuitive for sure.

Great value

Comments: Overall, a fantastic product and great support. The product offers a myriad of opportunities to customize, schedule, and use for the end user. I have over 100 displays currently running and I rarely check to see if the Carousel is running since I know I can trust it to do its work.

Pros:

The ease of use and pre-built templates made setting up the over 100 displays around our operation so much easier. The end-users took to learning it very well even if they weren't normally tech savvy users.

Cons:

I wish that the design phase offered a drag and drop capability. The current system works well but it would be a bit quicker and easier this way.

Carousel is fine

Comments: Carousel is pretty good; once it's set up and running, it's solid. I do dread having to make any changes to the environment (ESPECIALLY creating new content) and pity people who have to learn Carousel for the first time as it is complex.

Pros:

I appreciate that once you have it configured and running, it's very solid. Any outage or downtime has been the result of a hardware player going offline, not Carousel's service being unavailable. Support is friendly, knowledgable and expedient.

Cons:

Our use case is pretty simple - we have some full screen videos that we display on a number of TVs 24/7. I find that the admin dashboard is overly complicated in the context of how we use Carousel. Zones, channels, hubs, etc., it's all a bit much for me. I'd appreciate a simpler "choose the device you want to config -> choose the content you want to display" admin experience.

Great tool for managing digital media displays

Pros:

I feel like we barely scratch the surface of what Carousel can do, but we get some big benefits--we are able to stream live video from our auditorium to viewers in other areas, we have easily adaptable lunch menu options and daily announcements, and we display a variety of content for special occasions. All of our players have highly customized content for the areas where they are used.

Cons:

The UI is a bit clunky at first. If I use the product regularly, I am able to become more efficient with it.

Carousel Digital Signage

Comments: The experience so far has been overall positive. They have been responsive with questions or problems in regards to billing or working with their product. It has allowed us to put some important information front and center in some of our remodeled school spaces. The students can see at a glance what is happening in school as they go through passing periods.

Pros:

We went with the Carousel Cloud option and have been happy so far. We use Jamf to manage a fleet of 1:1 iPads in K-12 education so we already had Apple TVs and the management for them. Setting up an Apple TV for Carousel was very simple and they have documentation on how to get everything setup as well. We also recently purchased a CAP system that integrates into Carousel. Which will allow us to send messages in the event of emergencies to all of our TVs running signage. The Carousel system is also being updated with new features once a month. Having the ability to use multiple players is also great, chrome books, Apple TVs, Brightsign.

Cons:

The only downside we have had to the software so far is teaching users how to manage the signage. There are so many customizations and setting up zones that we find we end up having to setup everything and give them a specific section to edit. Most of our users do not want to take the time to learn all the design aspects and creating zones, schedules, etc.

Carousel High School Implementation

Comments: We are generally pleased with our Carousel experience to this point. If there is one complaint, it would be that our initial support in on-boarding has been disappointing. I have no idea why there is a 60-day cap on access to learning academy resources. It seems like you would want customers to get the most possible out of the system to increase their ROI. Having the 60-days begin right as you enter your contract means a good number of those day are likely wasted anyway. We didn't even get the custom channel released to us until about day 15 of that period. Also, it has been almost impossible to talk with someone in person when we have requested it. In one instance, I exchanged a dozen emails with someone after initially and repeatedly asking early if we could talk to someone in person. It took far more time to email communications to try and resolve the issue than it would have to just talk with someone briefly. I have plenty of experience in this area to know that some companies simply cannot provide phone support as a practice, but for the annual cost of the system this should be a support service.

Pros:

The software is easy to deploy and generally easy to administrate for someone who is familiar with other similar school technology system. I was also easy to additional content contributors and the training for them can be made quite minimal. I think the Carousel is priced about right for the features and capabilities it offers.

Cons:

Use of AppleTV creates some frustrating limitation, which are mostly in part to the limitations or restrictions of the AppleTV (e.g. not including a web browser, YouTube videos don't work). The diversity or general lacking when it comes to dynamic content choices is disappointing. It would be nice if there were more widgets/apps that you could utilize and configure (e.g. a single weather display option).

Excellent Platform

Comments: I cannot say enough good things about our move to Carousel Cloud. It works better, faster, and more stable with our BrightSign's than it ever did on premise.

Pros:

Fast, stable, and Cloud hosted. No longer have to worry about server hosting, application upgrades, or database management. Features now come automatically, without requiring maintenance windows.

Cons:

I think that if you would rename Bulletins to Assets, it would make more sense, especially to our Marketing folks who develop the content for our screens.

Professional Digital Signage with unlimited potential and excellent tech support

Comments: First Class Digital Signage with excellent reliability and support. Easy to deploy and configure. Users can have full control, limited control, or anywhere in between.

Pros:

Carousel Software has all the features we wanted in Digital Signage. The ability to deploy content to hundreds of displays at once is great. The approval feature that allows other users to create slides that are not live until approved by an admin is invaluable. The limitless number of templates and widgets keeps our content fresh and innovative. We can create content now and have it scheduled to play in the future. Can't say enough about how well this platform works in the corporate environment.

Cons:

Only minor issue that I would like see addressed is the addition of better tutorials. It would be nice if I could hover over a tool or feature and get a video box that describes that feature. Would also be great if Carousel University was available to all for free.

BTPS Review

Comments: Really easy web based management keeps things simple. I don't need any special on the users end to have them edit channels.

Pros:

Ease of use. It is very easy to take a photo or video and get it uploaded and running on the system.

Cons:

I wish it would integrate with the web better. Display webpages better, youtube support.

Digital Signage

Comments: We display weekly and daily events and news of the campus.

Pros:

It is easy to deploy and very easy to use even for inexperienced users. Very effective tool to advertise and be seen by target clients.

Cons:

The variety of options you have to display your content is the best. It satisfies every company's needs.

Great signage product, exactly what we needed

Comments: We purchased this service in a pinch to quickly implement a signage solution throughout our school district and we've been happy with that choice. From a tech standpoint, we really haven't had to do anything since we got the system up and running other than create new users. It works everyday.

Pros:

The biggest plus is its integration with Jamf Management that allows us to deploy and maintain using our existing Apple TVs. It is also very easy to create new bulletins that we can scope to different buildings as needed.

Cons:

The startup learning curve was a little challenging but once we got the hang of it we were able to easily train new users to create and manage content.

Great for School Districts

Comments: In general, it has been a great experience. The training was well done and informative. The design staff was super helpful in getting our initial channels set up as well.

Pros:

My district loves that you can customize for screens in different areas (reaching students, parents, or staff). It has given us a great way to communicate our district and campus 'good news' and information. I especially like that we can have a consistent brand, but still have individuality shown on each campus. It is easy to bring new devices online and get them up and running quickly.

Cons:

There are some features like RSS feeds that are still giving us issues. I wish the training videos were available for longer.

great option for on-prem needs

Comments: fairly straightforward service and support, stable product with many handy features. could be more user friendly.

Pros:

we appreciate the browser-based nature of the product, in addition to the overall stability. using brighsign players, we can deploy and largely forget about the players.

Cons:

channel setup is clunky and therefore discourages more creative use or frequent updating. lack of deep player controls is frustrating if you must make global changes. the channel preview needs to be updated to include video. speaking of video, our biggest peeve is the lack of seamless video looping. there is always a moment of black on-screen between loops. this prevents us from using the product more widely.

Great for our needs

Comments: When Covid started we needed something quickly that was easily implemented and able to be managed remotely. Since Carousel had pre built templets for Covid along with there cloud based service we were able to have this running in just a few days.

Pros:

It is cloud based and had pre built templets for Covid.

Cons:

The setup of playlist and the building of temples and the setup takes a little getting used to. With having to pay more for training it makes it a little more difficult on users.