BrightSign Author

7 min

Note that BrightSign Author (BrightAuthor:connected) is our latest app for managing content and players. Although similarly named, it is different from BrightAuthor Classic, our legacy app. Development of BrightAuthor Classic has ceased and it will soon be deprecated and replaced with BrightSign Author.

BrightSign Author

BrightSign Author is BrightSign’s latest app for player setup / management, authoring, and content management. Key features include:

Multi-Platform

Free desktop app available for Mac or PC (download).

Web app version available at https://app.bsn.cloud. Note that with the web app, players must be connected to the internet.

Player SetupPlayer Setup: Configure and set up players for use.

Player ManagementPlayer Management: Monitor and troubleshoot players over the Internet.

Presentation CreationPresentation Creation: Create presentations consisting of video, images, audio, HTML, and text.

Presentation PublishingPresentation Publishing: Publish presentations for players to display. Presentations can be delivered to players via several available Publishing Modes.

Requirements

To create presentations and publish them to your player, you will need the following:

BrightSign Author Plus

The subscription-based BrightSign Author Plus (formerly known as bsn.Content) includes all BrightSign Author features plus cloud hosting of presentations and media assets along with tools to manage that content. Subscribers can use the BrightSign Author Mac or Windows desktop app to access BrightSign Author and Author Plus. For those who prefer not to use a desktop app, all of this functionality is also accessible via a web browser at https://bsn.cloud.

You can access Author Plus through our free 30-day trial. After the trial, you can subscribe to Author Plus for $139 per player, per year, or simply let the trial expire where you’ll be reverted to the free BrightSign Author service. With BrightSign Author, you'll still be able to control your players remotely, but you'll lose access to the BSN.Cloud hosting and publishing tools along with any content and presentations you saved to the cloud during the trial.

Players configured for BrightSign Author Plus must be set up to receive content updates through BSN.Cloud. If your player was previously set up with another Publishing Mode, you will have to change how it receives content updates. To do this:

Create your Account

To connect an existing BrightSign player to BSN.Cloud for the first time, first Factory Reset the player.

Format a blank microSD card to FAT32 or ExFAT and insert it into the player.

Activate your free BrightSign Author Plus trial through the BrightSign Author Admin tab.

Create a Setup

In BrightSign Author, select Setup under the Admin tab.

If you have not already done so, select Player Settings and fill out Setup Name, Player Name, and Player Description. Set the Idle Screen Color to something other than black, so that you can see if the player is outputting a video signal.

Select BrightSign Author Plus (bsn.Content) as the Publishing Mode.

Choose Add Setup to Library.

Provision The Player

Go to the Admin tab in BrightSign Author and select Provision. Use the checkbox to select the player from the list.

Select Apply Setup and select the Setup File that you saved to your library.

Apply Setup to the player.

Go to the Network tab and select the cog icon next to the player you want to provision. This will take you to the remote Diagnostic Web Server.

From the Control tab, go to Reprovision Player, and select Update. The player will reboot several times in the process.

When reprovisioning is complete, a green check mark will appear next to the player and the Setup Type in the Properties pane will be BrightSign Author Plus. You will see the welcome screen when the player boots.

Publishing

BrightSign players support several methods for publishing content to players. This is known as a Publishing Mode. With a BrightSign Author Plus subscription, most users will opt for the BrightSign Author Plus Publishing Mode in which all content is stored on BSN.Cloud and readily available to any internet connected player. However, users have the flexibility to choose an alternative Publishing Mode if desired. For more info, refer to this page on Publishing Mode.

BrightSign Author Plus allows you to create and manage your own content library. All content uploaded or created will be available to every player registered on the BrightSign Author Plus network.

Content Library

You can access the Content Library through the Dashboard on the BrightSign Author home page or in the Content tab drop down menu. If you do not have a paid BrightSign Author Plus subscription, these sections in the BrightSign Author home page will be unavailable because they access cloud content, not local content.

From the this section, you can:

Upload New Media (for example, images, video, and audio)

Create a New Component like BrightSign dynamic playlists, data, or media feeds, or upload an HTML site or script.

Navigate the media and components already uploaded into the cloud, and view data on content including media type, dimensions, file size, and upload and modification dates in the Content Library.

Image 1

Local vs. Cloud Content

As a BrightSign Author Plus subscriber, you can build a presentation from content you have uploaded to BSN.Cloud, or from assets stored locally on your computer. However, remote and local assets can't be used in the same presentation. If you plan to work with locally stored assets, switch to Simple mode via the Simple/Advanced toggle switch at the top right. If you plan to host presentations and content remotely with your BrightSign Author Plus subscription, switch to Advanced mode.

If you added content or presentations to BrightSign in Simple mode, and want to use that content with your BrightSign Author Plus network, select the content or presentation and then select the Upload Presentation button, above the Advanced/Simple toggle, to make those assets available in the cloud.

Note that the Simple / Advanced switch is only available in the BrightSign Author Plus desktop app. If you open it through a web browser, you cannot access files on your local computer.

Image 2

Adding Content to the Library

In the Content Library, select a folder that corresponds to your media type, or select the icon to the right of the folder location to make a new folder. Enter a descriptive title and select Create to create the folder.

Add new media by selecting Upload New Media in the Content tab dropdown and Choose Files to select the files from your computer that you want to upload. You can preview your content and make sure it is pointing to the right folder. Then select Upload Content.

You will see a progress bar at the top of your screen, as shown in Image 3. Select Transfer Info to check the progress of your upload. You can navigate to other tabs while your media is uploading, which is helpful if you want to work on your presentation while content is uploading.

Image 3

Input Devices

BrightSign Author can be used to create Advanced presentations that take advantage of various types of input devices. Depending on player model, the following input devices are supported.

BrightSign Author

BrightSign Author

Requirements

BrightSign Author Plus

Updating to Author Plus

Managing Content

Scheduling & Publishing

Input Devices

Supported Input Devices