Refresh as Often as the Data Changes
InfoSlides HTML playback keeps live-data signage current by cycling the rendered slides in the player from a manifest, instead of playing an encoded video. A refresh skips the video encode, so updated slides reach the screen the next time the loop wraps.
A per-slideshow setting · Switch modes any time
For the Moment the Data Changes
Not every screen can afford to wait on a video encode. HTML playback exists for the ones that can’t.
Refreshes take seconds, not minutes
Push a new value over the API and the next refresh carries it to the screen. With no encode step in the way, that refresh is cheap enough to run on a tight cadence instead of once a day.
Fast-Changing Feeds
A ticker, a live scoreboard, a fast-moving price list: content that would otherwise mean re-rendering and re-encoding a stream every few seconds.
Still Just Slides
Nothing about how you build a slideshow changes. HTML playback plays the same rendered slides, with the same transitions. It changes how updates reach the screen, not what a slide is.
Change This Slide Yourself
Pick a picture and a caption. Your choice is pushed to the slide below, a real HTML playback player, the same way your own data would be.
Pick a picture
Pick a caption
Three Live Boards, Playing Right Now
Each board below is a real player fed by sample data. It plays in a browser or in the latest Android app.
How It Works
The player runs on the screen instead of inside a video file.
Slides Render as Images
Each slide is still rendered the same way as any InfoSlides slide, but published as an image or short clip in a manifest, not baked into a video file.
The Screen Cycles the Manifest
A small player on the screen fetches the manifest and cycles through it (crossfading between slides, holding each for its configured duration) the same visual rhythm as a video stream.
A New Version Swaps In at the Loop Boundary
When your data changes, a new manifest is prepared in the background and swapped in cleanly the next time the loop wraps, so a change never lands mid-slide or flashes missing content.
The trade you’re making
It Wins on Immediacy. It Needs a Screen That Can Run It.
HTML playback is a different trade from video stream, not an upgrade. A video stream plays on anything that can open an HLS URL, hardware with no browser included. HTML playback needs the display itself to run a small player: a modern smart-TV app, an embedded browser, or any web browser opened at a stream’s embed player URL. On a screen that cannot do that, HTML playback is not an option.
If your screens are hardware signage boxes or older TVs with no app platform, stay on video stream and let live data slides refresh on their normal schedule. If your screens can run a modern app or browser and the content changes faster than a render cycle can keep up, HTML playback fits exactly that gap.
Read the case for video stream →Wins on immediacy · needs a screen that can run the player
Video stream
Wins on reach · plays on any screen that speaks HLS, browser or not
Technical details
- Setting
- A per-slideshow playback mode. Video stream remains the default.
- Supported players
- A smart-TV app, an embedded browser, or a browser opened at the stream's embed player URL.
- Not supported
- Hardware signage boxes and older TVs with no browser or app platform. Those need video stream.
- Update path
- Data is picked up by the next refresh, and updated slides swap in when the slideshow loop wraps. The speed is bounded by your refresh cadence and loop length.
- Connection loss
- The player keeps cycling the slides it already loaded, and a slide whose asset fails to load is skipped.
- Switching
- Change the mode from the slideshow's settings. It applies on the next render, and Re-render applies it straight away.
- Plan required
- No separate plan requirement. It is available wherever video stream is, but a slideshow cannot be switched to it while it is on a screen that cannot play it.
HTML Playback: Common Questions
How fast does HTML playback show a data change on screen?
InfoSlides picks up your data on the next refresh, and the updated slides swap in the next time the slideshow loop wraps. The refresh skips the video encode, which is the expensive half, so it can run far more often than a video stream's. It is not an instant per-second update: expect it to be bounded by your refresh cadence and your loop length.
Does HTML playback work on the hardware I already have?
Only if the screen can run a modern web browser or player, such as a smart-TV app, an embedded browser, or a browser opened at the stream's embed player URL. InfoSlides HTML playback does not work on hardware signage boxes or older TVs with no browser or app platform; those need video stream.
Is HTML playback better than video stream?
Not universally. HTML playback wins on refresh cost, because with no encode step content can be updated far more often. Video stream wins on reach, because it plays on any screen that speaks HLS, including hardware with no browser. Pick based on what your content and your screens need.
What happens to HTML playback if the screen loses its network connection?
The InfoSlides player keeps cycling whatever it already loaded rather than freezing or blanking, and a slide whose asset fails to load is skipped. Playback resumes normally once the connection returns.
Can I switch a slideshow between video stream and HTML playback?
Yes, at any time from the slideshow's settings, and it costs nothing extra because both modes are available on the same plans. The new mode takes effect on the next render, and Re-render makes it reach your screens straight away. There is no re-export or re-upload step.
Get Data to the Screen the Moment It Changes
A per-slideshow setting: switch a slideshow to HTML playback, or switch it back, any time. Live data slides need a paid plan, from €9 per month.
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