A Fire TV Stick and any TV with an HDMI port is all the hardware a digital sign needs. Here is the full setup, start to finish.
Most digital signage vendors want to sell you a media player: a small box that plugs into your TV and costs anywhere from $150 to $600, plus a licence on top. You almost never need one. An Amazon Fire TV Stick, which you can buy for the price of a couple of takeaway lunches, runs a signage player perfectly well for a single screen in a shop, cafe, gym, clinic, or lobby.
What you need
- A TV with a free HDMI port. Any modern TV works — it does not need to be a commercial display.
- An Amazon Fire TV Stick (any current generation), or a TV with Fire TV built in. Android TV support is coming soon.
- Wi-Fi at the location, or an Ethernet adapter if the signal is weak.
- A power source for the stick. Use the TV's USB port only if it keeps power when the TV is on; a wall plug is more reliable.
- An Aldivue account. The 14-day trial does not ask for a card.
Step 1: install the player app
On the Fire TV home screen, search for Aldivue Player and install it. The app is a player only — it has no browsing, no ads, and no settings to get lost in. When it opens for the first time it shows a pairing code on the TV.
Step 2: pair the screen
In the Aldivue dashboard on your phone or laptop, add a screen, give it a name you will recognise later ("Front counter", "Window", "Studio B"), and type in the pairing code shown on the TV. The screen goes from unpaired to online within a few seconds. You never have to touch the TV again after this step.
Step 3: build the content
Upload images and video, or start from a slide template and type your own text and prices. Group them into a playlist and set how long each item stays on screen. The playlist is what the screen plays on loop.
Step 4: schedule it
If you want different content at different times — breakfast until 11, lunch until 3, a happy hour board after 5 — create a schedule for each playlist with its days and time window. The screen switches on its own. Higher-priority schedules win when two overlap.
Keeping it running unattended
- Turn on the TV setting that restores the last HDMI input on power-up, so a power cut does not leave you on a blank input.
- The player caches content on the device, so a Wi-Fi drop does not stop playback — it keeps looping what it already has and syncs when the connection returns.
- Disable the Fire TV screensaver and sleep timer so the screen never goes dark during opening hours.
- Set the TV itself to turn on and off with a wall timer if you do not want it running overnight.
What it actually costs
One-off: the Fire TV Stick, and the TV if you do not already have one. Ongoing: $9.99 per screen per month for Aldivue, with unlimited storage, unlimited team members, and every feature included. No hardware markup, no per-feature upsells, month to month. Run the numbers for your own screen count on the cost calculator.