Live display for TV / OBS
Venue screens and streams that update themselves from real timing data
The screens at the venue and the pictures going out on the stream are what people remember afterwards, and what sponsors can actually use. But both need information that changes every minute — which is more than anyone can type fast enough to keep up with.
So most events end up with one person typing winners into slides live, and the moment runners are finishing thickest and the crowd is largest is exactly the moment they fall behind. The screen sits on the previous category, or on the event logo all morning.
The stream is harder still, because viewers at home see runners passing a camera with no idea who they are, what their time is or where they are placed. The available fix is hiring a graphics team to build lower thirds, which is expensive — and still needs someone typing numbers into it.
And there is a group waiting on these screens that rarely gets considered: the sponsors who paid for visibility. A screen frozen on the same image all day, or a stream with no logos at all, means something that was sold was not delivered — which organizers usually discover when it is time to negotiate next year.
The RunLah team designs the screens around your event’s brand: colours, logos, where sponsors sit and what information is shown. You see the real thing and can ask for changes before race day, so it is not something you configure yourself or see for the first time when the screen is switched on at the venue.
It works with any screen driven by a computer, an Android box or a smart TV that can open a browser. Open that screen’s link and it is running — nothing to install, no specialist hardware, and nobody needed to watch it.
If the event already streams, the team adds the same link to the live production software they already use and gets a results overlay with a transparent background sitting on the real video. Whichever channel you stream to works exactly as before — only now viewers have the information to follow the race.
Each time a runner passes a timing point, the relevant screens update within seconds with nobody pressing anything: latest finishers, category placings, a race clock running from the actual start time, and where on the course the field is currently bunched.
Before the start, during the race and at the prize ceremony need different things on screen, so the changeover can be scheduled in advance and switched during the day without walking round stopping each machine. A screen that loses its connection reconnects itself and picks up the current state.
Finishers appear one at a time with their time and category placing, so people waiting for a friend at the finish always have something to follow — and a runner who has just finished sees their own name on screen seconds later, which plenty of them photograph and post themselves without being asked.
Results bars, race clock, finisher names and sponsor logos are laid over the live video and update continuously. Your existing stream team does not change how they work and nobody has to type numbers in, and viewers who previously saw only runners passing a camera can tell they are watching a race.
Sponsor logos are on the venue screens and in the stream all day, either fixed in a row, scrolling as a bar, or rotating one at a time so every sponsor gets equal full-size exposure. That gives you something concrete to sell in a package, and images afterwards showing where the logos appeared.
The screen shows the route with the density of runners on it, plus how many have started, how many are still out and how many have finished. The MC has something to talk about while waiting for the main group, your crew can see which point to prepare next, and viewers at home get an overview a single camera cannot give.
On bib collection day the screen shows live collection totals, and at the chip check point it shows the name, distance and age group of whoever just tapped, for the runner to verify. It is one system managed from one place, so you are not assembling equipment from several suppliers for different days.
People who could not come can leave a message for a runner through the event’s link, and it appears on the venue screens and in the stream. Supporters at home become part of the day, and it gives people a reason to share the event without you buying more advertising.
Screens change content on the schedule you set, reconnect themselves when the signal stutters and pull the current state back without anyone refreshing. Staff who used to be stationed at a screen can go and do something that genuinely needs a person.
A screen, and anything that can open a browser with an internet connection — a computer, an Android box or a smart TV. Nothing to install and no specialist hardware. Whatever screens you hire, landscape and portrait both work, and 4K is supported. If the venue’s connectivity is unreliable, our team can place a machine on site that serves the display locally.
All of them, because what we hand over is a link that renders with a transparent background. Your stream team adds it as one source in the live production software they already use, and the stream goes out exactly as before. We are not involved with your page or channel and nothing about the way your team streams has to change.
The venue TV screens work on their own with no stream team involved. If you want to start streaming yourselves, whoever takes it on needs one computer with any of the freely available streaming applications; we send the overlay link and how to connect it. The filming and the streaming itself remain with your team.
A few seconds from a runner passing a timing point, because the screens do not wait for a refresh cycle and nobody presses update. What can lag further is the live video itself, which depends on the latency of the platform you stream to rather than on the numbers in the results bar.
Yes — which screen shows what, and the sponsor logos or their order, can all be changed during the day. Screens that are already running pick up the new content themselves, with nobody walking over to them.
The screen keeps trying to reconnect and, once it does, picks up the current state immediately without anyone restarting it. Timing does not stop when a screen does: times recorded while it was dark are still captured in full and appear as soon as the connection returns.
There is no limit, and each screen can show a different layout and different distances, or several distances together. The most valuable position is past the finish, where people gather waiting for friends, followed by the results area and bib collection. Most events start with two or three and add more the following year — and our team is happy to look at your site plan and suggest positions.
Not currently. Every display reads directly from RunLah’s timing and on-site systems, which is exactly why it updates itself with nobody entering data. Events using our timing service get these screens straight away, with nothing extra to connect.