How can I exclude a specific media from a playlist for certain displays?

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1

To be completed by the original poster:

CMS Version

Xibo CMS v4.5.1 (Self-Hosted)

Player Type

Linux Player

Issue

Hello Xibo Team,

We are currently evaluating Xibo CMS v4.5.1 (Self-Hosted) and conducting feasibility tests to validate the solution before deploying it across a multi-site digital signage network.

Overall, the solution meets our requirements very well. In particular, I have successfully implemented display groups and highly effective dynamic playlists by leveraging the tag system.

This is a great feature.

However, there is one specific requirement that I have not been able to implement, and it is currently preventing us from completing our final validation of the platform.

Our Requirement

We would like to use a single playlist per product category (Bread, Coffee, etc.) and distribute it across our entire fleet of displays.

However, in some situations, certain displays should not show all the content contained in the playlist. For example:

  • A specific location does not sell a particular product.
  • A specific location is temporarily out of stock for a given product.

In these cases, we are looking for a way to exclude a specific media item only for the affected display.

For example, if Store A does not sell Brioche Bread, we would like to remove only the “Brioche Bread” media item from the “BREAD” playlist for that display, while keeping it available for all other displays.

Creating a separate playlist to handle this type of exception is not a viable option. With several hundred displays, maintaining multiple exception playlists would quickly become unmanageable on a day-to-day basis.

Ideally, we would like to manage these exceptions directly at the media level while keeping a single centralized playlist.

Our Questions :

  • Is it technically possible to define an exclusion rule for a specific media item within a playlist?
  • If so, what would be the recommended approach?
  • If not, is there another method to manage these local exceptions (products not sold or temporary out-of-stock situations) while maintaining a single centralized playlist and avoiding playlist duplication?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Kind regards,
Lury

2

Hey Lury,

Thank you for the detail, and I’m glad to hear the display groups and dynamic playlists are working well for you.

On your first question: there isn’t a way in Xibo to exclude a single media item from a playlist for one display.

It may be possible to achieve something similar through display groups by duplicating your playlists, excluding specific items, and targeting at a display group representing the displays that stock it. You could also take a look at our schedule criteria documentation, which may be a method too.

I understand this isn’t the flow you were hoping for so I have recorded this as product feedback. I can’t commit to us building it or to a timescale, but we will take a look.

I hope that helps!