What is the NovaStar T50?
The NovaStar T50 is a bare-board Taurus multimedia player with a live video input. It stores and plays your content, accepts an HDMI source, and drives up to 1,300,000 pixels of LED screen from two Gigabit outputs. There is no case: the board is 165.0 mm by 146.4 mm by 21.2 mm and you build it into your own product.
Manufacturers choose it over the boxed equivalent when the finished item has to look like one device. A totem, a menu board or a double-sided sign ends up with a single power inlet and a single HDMI socket on the outside, and nothing that looks bolted on.
Compared with the cheaper board in the range, everything you are paying for sits in two sockets: an HDMI input and an HDMI loop-through output.
NovaStar T50 key features
One board covers both stored content and a live feed
A product built on a T50 can run a scheduled playlist for fifty weeks of the year and take a laptop for the other two. A button on the board switches between them, and its light tells you which is showing.
You do not need a switcher in front of the screen, and you do not need a second player waiting in a cupboard.
The picture can carry on to a second device
A second HDMI socket sends the same picture onward, at up to 1920×1200 at 60 Hz, so a confidence monitor, a recorder or a second screen can share the feed without a splitter in your bill of materials.
It is a loop of what came in, not an independent output, so both destinations see the same thing at the same size.
Tall screens get output sizes made for them
Portrait displays are awkward on ordinary hardware because standard timings are all wider than they are tall. In stored-content mode the T50 will put out 400×4096 and 480×4096, which is a shape no consumer source offers.
Custom sizes cover the rest, anywhere from 512 to 4096 pixels on either side, as long as the timing stays under 153 MHz.
NovaStar T50 specifications
Check the pixel row against your screen and the board size against your housing before anything else; the video rows matter only once those two pass.
| Pixel capacity | 1,300,000 pixels; maximum 4096 wide and 4096 high |
|---|---|
| Screen outputs | 2x Gigabit RJ45, both live by default, or one main and one spare |
| Live picture input | 1x HDMI 1.3, up to 1920×1200 at 60 Hz, HDCP 1.4, timing under 153 MHz, no interlaced sources |
| Loop-through output | 1x HDMI 1.3, up to 1920×1200 at 60 Hz; 400×4096 and 480×4096 available in stored-content mode |
| Board size | 165.0 mm × 146.4 mm × 21.2 mm; 184.5 g |
| Power in | DC 5 V to 12 V; 18 W maximum draw, 25 W supply recommended |
| Relay contact | 3-pin dry contact, maximum DC 30 V and 3 A |
| Sensor connectors | 2x RS485, for a light sensor or a temperature and humidity sensor |
| Radio modules | On-board 4G slot and RF module connector; neither module is included |
| Processor and memory | Quad-core ARM A55 at 1.8 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Android 11 |
| Internal storage | 32 GB, plus a USB 3.0 socket for more |
| Video it can play at once | 1x 4K, or 2x 1080p, or 5x 720p, or 6x 480p, or 6x 360p |
| Sound | Stereo output fixed at 48 kHz, three-pole plugs |
| Operating range | −20°C to +60°C, 0% to 80% RH, non-condensing |
| Approvals listed | MIC, FCC, IC, CE |
| In the box | Wireless antenna, power connector, 2 antenna pigtails, QR card, certificate |
Figures come from NovaStar’s T50 Multimedia Player Specifications V1.3.3, dated 5 January 2026.
Your live source has to be bigger than your screen
The T50 shrinks a live picture to fit your screen and never enlarges one, which is the rule that surprises people on commissioning day. Feed it a source smaller than the screen and the picture will not stretch out to the edges.
NovaStar sets three conditions on that automatic fit. The source has to be between 512 and 2048 pixels on each side, no larger than 1920×1080, and at least as large as the screen in both directions.
Work an example. A 1600×900 screen takes a 1920×1080 laptop happily, because the source is larger on both sides and gets scaled down. The same laptop set to 1280×720 fails the height test against that screen, and 720p is exactly what a laptop drops to when a long cable makes it cautious.
So fix the source resolution when you commission the product, and write it on the handover sheet. It costs nothing at install and saves a call-out later.
Nothing about this affects stored content. Playlists are made at the screen’s own size and play at full resolution.
Bringing the video input out through your housing
Two connectors have to reach the outside of your product, and planning them early is what separates a tidy build from a bracket bodged on later. The HDMI input needs a panel socket a customer can reach, and the source button needs either a hole or a longer story.
Consider what happens if nobody can reach that button. The switch between stored content and the live feed can be made in software over the network, so a sealed product is workable — but somebody has to have a laptop or a phone to do it.
Bring out the second reset connector too. It lets you wire a recessed factory-reset button to a surface a technician can get to, which on a wall-mounted totem is the difference between a screwdriver and a lift.
Leave the antennas until last and place them where metal is not. The board ships with two antenna pigtails so the aerials can sit away from the electronics, and a wireless hotspot inside a steel box is a hotspot nobody can join.
Which datasheet revision applies to the T50
The current published specification for this board is V1.3.3, dated 5 January 2026, and every figure on this page comes from it. It is worth knowing because its siblings have moved on since.
In July 2026 NovaStar issued fresh revisions for the T30, T60 and the boxed players, adding published limits for long thin screens — up to 23,040 pixels wide on the larger models. No equivalent revision for the T50 has appeared in the download center, so this page does not claim that figure for it.
What that means for you is narrow but real. If your product is an ordinary rectangle inside 4096 pixels a side, the V1.3.3 numbers are all you need. If you are designing a ticker or a tall banner that exceeds 4096, ask us to confirm the current position with NovaStar before you commit the design.
We will publish the newer figures here as soon as an official revision carries them.
T50 or TB50 — board or box
These two run the same electronics and the same software. You are choosing between building the player into your product and mounting a finished box next to it.
| Model | T50 board · TB50 box |
|---|---|
| Enclosure | yours · supplied |
| Power in | DC 5–12 V · 100–240 V mains |
| Weight | 184.5 g · 1,234.0 g |
| Relay contact on board | yes · no |
| UL on the datasheet | no · yes |
| Pixel capacity | 1,300,000 · 1,300,000 |
| Price | $365 · $488 |
Order the T50 if you are manufacturing the enclosure anyway, if a low-voltage rail is already inside it, or if you want the relay contact without buying a separate card.
Order the TB50 if you are fitting a player to somebody else’s existing screen, if only mains power is available, or if the job is inspected against a list of marks — UL appears on the boxed model’s datasheet and not on the board’s.
T50 datasheet, ViPlex Express and firmware
Build your cabinet map, playlists, brightness curve and relay schedule in ViPlex Express, and keep the file. On a product where the board sits behind a sealed panel, that saved map is what turns a board swap into a ten-minute job.
Firmware updates run over the internet in one step on anything newer than V2.3.0. Older boards have to reach V2.3.0 from a local file before they will take V3.0.0 or later.
NovaStar T50 FAQ
Will the T50 stretch a small source to fill a large screen?
No. It only scales a live picture down. The source has to be at least as large as your screen in both directions, between 512 and 2048 pixels a side, and no larger than 1920×1080.
What is the difference between the T50 and the T30?
Two sockets. The T50 adds an HDMI input and an HDMI loop-through output; capacity, board size, power range and the relay contact are identical.
Does the T50 come with an enclosure?
No. It is a bare board with an antenna, a power connector and two antenna pigtails. The TB50 is the same electronics in a mains-powered case.
Can it drive a tall portrait screen?
Yes. In stored-content mode its video output offers 400×4096 and 480×4096, and custom sizes from 512 to 4096 pixels a side, provided the timing stays under 153 MHz.
Does the loop-through output give a second independent picture?
No. It repeats what arrived at the input, so a monitor or recorder on that socket sees the same image at the same size.
What can the on-board relay switch?
A circuit you supply, up to 30 V DC at 3 A, with no voltage of its own. NovaStar advises against putting mains through it and publishes the alternative: the relay pins drive a solid-state relay with its own 3 V to 30 V supply, and that device carries the live wire.
Can a T50 drive a screen wider than 4096 pixels?
Not according to its published specification. NovaStar added long-thin-screen limits to the T30, T60 and the boxed models in July 2026, but no equivalent revision for the T50 has been released, so ask us to confirm before designing around it.
Is the T50 UL listed?
No. Its datasheet lists MIC, FCC, IC and CE. Where your finished product needs a mark the board does not carry, the certification is yours to obtain as its manufacturer.
What warranty covers a T50?
Three years of serial-tracked manufacturer coverage, because these boards come through our authorized US NovaStar channel.
Can I get volume pricing or Net 30 terms?
Yes. Send the model and the count for volume pricing, which is how most boards are bought. Purchase orders and Net 30 terms may be available for approved schools, government buyers, venues and established integrators.
How do I order a T50?
Pricing here is per board. Orders placed before 3 PM ET on in-stock items ship the same business day from Florida. Contact us to confirm current availability.
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