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Carousel is digital signage software for screens of all sizes. It helps keep everyone from your corporate office to your school districts, storefronts & everywhere in-between safe & connected. Going beyond your typical wall mounted displays, it sends tailored messages to your audiences through tablets, mobile devices and desktop computers, allowing you to reach your audience at the right place and time. Supercharge your communications and effectively communicate to your audiences using the tools you know and love. Drive revenue, productivity and safety with PowerBI and GeckoBoard. Integrate your chosen calendar feed, YouTube videos or choose templates from Canvas and Google Slides to create content and seamlessly incorporate into Carousel. Be ready in an emergency by allowing important messages to be simultaneously delivered to variety of alerting systems within your facilities by integrating with The Common Alerting Protocol. All this and more, with Carousel.
Provider
Tightrope Media Systems
Located In
United States
Foundation
1997
Open API
Yes
Deployment
Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
Mobile Apps
iOS
Training
Live Online, Documentation, Videos, In Person, Webinars
Support
Email/Help Desk, Phone Support, Knowledge Base, FAQs/Forum, Chat, 24/7 (Live rep)
Carousel specializes in digital signage for k12 education, higher education, government (City Hall, library, police, fire, parks and rec. ...) corporate communications, healthcare, retail and more.
Content Source: Carousel
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Carousel Reviews
Pros
For the functionality and flexibility of devices it runs on, Carousel is a win win four our institution.
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 had a superb encounter working with Carousel and their record agents. Their preparation and proceeded with help of the stage is extremely careful and a brisk reaction to investigate.
We only had 6 displays before and now we can have up to 30 for the same cost. It was so awesome knowing we can expand our digital signage without having to increase our budget.
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.
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.
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).
It's very lack-luster becoming a new user too this software. Confusing channels, inability to customize templates, No proper photo library.
"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.
Vendor Response
"Super Easy cloud based signage for multiple buildings and lots of players"
Overall: 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.
Vendor Response
"Carousel Comments "
Overall: 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.
"Carousel is Perfect for Managing Large Organizations"
Overall: 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.
Vendor Response
"Great signage that doesn't require a ton of time"
Overall: 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.
