Channels
A Channel is one content feed at one spot, playing Boards according to its Playlist. It can play on any number of TVs — each connected TV needs a Player Licence (see Billing). A Player is the TV or device actually displaying it, such as a NowBoard Player Pro, a smart TV, or a browser tab set up with New web player on the Players page. Use this page to see every Channel at a glance and jump into one to change its settings.
What is a Channel?
A Channel belongs to a Site (a building or venue), can sit inside an optional Area and Zone for finer organisation, and plays whichever Playlist its schedule points to. The Player is the physical device or browser tab showing it.
The Channels list
- Name and Site — click a row to open that Channel.
- Orientation — landscape or portrait.
- Status — the online/offline dot, explained below.
- Preview — opens the Channel in a new browser tab so you can check it.
Preview is not a screen
Preview, on a card or a row here, opens the Channel in a browser tab so you can see what it is playing. The preview carries a watermark, creates no Player and uses no Player Licence, so you can open it as often as you like.
Setting up a screen is a separate job: go to the Players page and choose New web player. That creates a real Player with its own address, which is the one to open on the TV or bookmark on the machine driving it.
Filters
Search by name or site, or narrow the list by status, division, region, site, area or zone. Each dropdown narrows the one below it — pick a site to see only its areas, for example. The filter button badge shows how many filters are active; Clear resets them all.
Assigning a playlist
Select one or more rows with the checkboxes, then click Set default playlist in the bar that appears to apply the same playlist to all of them in one go. Any time-slot schedules already set on those Channels are kept — only the default playlist changes.
To set a schedule with time slots, or to change a single Channel's default playlist, open that Channel directly.
Status colours
Online — its Player has checked in within the last few minutes. It's running and receiving updates.
Offline — its Player hasn't checked in for a while. It might be powered off, unplugged, the browser tab closed, or the internet is down.
Keeping things up to date
This page refreshes itself every 30 seconds, so the status is always close to live. The timestamp at the top tells you when it was last checked.
Need it now? Hit the button to refresh immediately.
Why can a Channel stay green after I close the tab?
We give every Player a few minutes of grace before marking its Channel offline — small network blips shouldn't make your dashboard flicker. After ~7 minutes of silence, it'll turn red.