---
title: Play Back Multiscreen Video
slug: author/play-back-multiscreen-video
docTags: 
createdAt: 2025-03-11T07:10:25.852Z
---

The XC2055, XC4055 and XT2145 BrightSign players have multi-headed output features to let you author video wall and multiple screen presentations. This page describes how to create a multiscreen presentation in BrightSign Author for these players.

# Prerequisites

To ensure a successful multiscreen video presentation, check the following before you begin:

1. You should know the screen characteristics, including the number of screens, [bezel compensation](docId:_ppg0qT6SXnJnjrufZr1I), screen size, resolution, and screen orientation. 
2. All screens must have same orientation and resolution.
3. Frame rates must match exactly if you want the screens to be in sync (so, for example, 23.97 is not the same as 24). If you don’t care about the screens being in sync, you can have different frame rates.
4. You should have a plan or diagram of how the screens should be installed.

# Set Up the Presentation

Follow these steps to set up a video presentation with XC2055, XC4055 and XT2145 players in BrightSign Author.

## Create the Presentation

1. Select **New** **Presentation** in the **Dashboard**. This will take you to the **Basic > Single Zone > Playlist** entry in the **Presentation** tab.
2. Select either the two output **XC2055** or **XT2145**, or the four output **XC4055** (each output is 4K), as the **Target Device**.
3. Enter a presentation **Name**.
4. Select **Start** to create the presentation.

![](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/511c8QBH-VHiwWnyzIwUb/krjmn1OeEpecCWGGOuhVb_selectdevice.png)

## Screen Layout and Properties

1. This will take you to the **Screens** tab. If your player has two outputs, two screen layouts will be displayed. If it has four outputs, four screen layouts will be displayed (see Image 2).
2. Select the layout and resolution by changing the number of layouts in the **Screen Count** dropdown menu and picking a **Screen Resolution**. If you chose one output, you can select 8K resolution output, but if you have more than one screen, the output is limited to 4K for each screen. **Layout Resolution** in the right panel will show you the total resolution.
3. Select a **Target Frame Rate** or use the default.
4. Check **Force Resolution** or **Enable YCbCr 10-bit Output** for those options:
   1. **Force Resolution** forces the player to output the selected resolution even if the display reports over HDMI® that it does not support it. If this box is unchecked, the player will attempt to use the selected **Screen Resolution**,  but will then fall back to the highest resolution supported by the display if it is unsupported. 
   2. **Enable YCbCr 10-bit Output** outputs a 10-bit color video signal to the connected display. See [Video Formats & Codecs](docId\:knsFFwMTD4NswXm4BUP0I) for more details on supported 4K color spaces and bit depths.
5. Under **Screen Properties**:
   1. Enter a **Name** for your screen
   2. Select a **Video Output** (**HDMI-1**, **HDMI-2**, **HDMI-3**, **HDMI-4**).
   3. Enter **Bezel Compensation** values, including bezel **Top**, **Bottom**, **Left**, and **Right,** to adjust the display for the space between the screens. Set this for each screen or select **Apply to All Screens** to apply the settings for one screen to all the screens. Bezels that are selected will be highlighted.

![](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/511c8QBH-VHiwWnyzIwUb/UeLIY9qimVgEce2uIe8rQ_screens2.png)

## Content Layout

1. Switch to the **Layout** tab to see the content layout. 
2. Resize the zone by clicking and dragging on the blue tabs in the corner and middle of the zone and/or move it around the layout to place it as you want. You can do this without affecting the screen layout.
   1. **Toggle** **Layout Boundaries** lets you see the screen and bezel boundaries are. This feature makes it easy to resize a zone to match the edge of the screen or the edge of the bezel. 
   2. **Enable snap to canvas** lets you snap to elements quickly and ensure that your zone fills the entire screen.
3. To add more zones, use **Add Zone.** In the **Zone** panel, you can change the priority to put the zone on top of or under other zones. 
4. Under **Type**, you can change the zone type to **Audio**, **Image**, **Ticker**, or **Control**.

![](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/511c8QBH-VHiwWnyzIwUb/O7Td4wemuh3OsvkybFqrW_screen-shot-2022-11-15-at-100507-am.png)

## Add Content

1. Select a zone. Each zone will have its own content assignment.
2. Go to the **Content** tab, or double-click on the zone to go directly to the Content tab.
3. Drag your content from the **Assets** tab into the zone, either as a playlist or an interactive playlist.
4. Continue to do this until all the zones have content. Remember, you can use the **Zone** panel to put some content zones over others if you wish. You can also change screen configuration and the zone information will remain the same though you will probably have to resize the zone to match the new layout. 
5. You can now publish the multi-screen video presentation.

![](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/511c8QBH-VHiwWnyzIwUb/oXDb0Ow-R8HuukFEgbYsB_content.png)

# Example

In the video below, we demonstrate how to create a four screen video wall running on the XC4055 video player:

::File{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/presign/TYAqEnq_Txckpox4eAKHe-Aa5DIsyLjLaRMhYndEXUs-20250418-212128.mp4" label="XC4055_8K_Videowall.mp4"}

# Decoding Constraints

XC5 players have the following video output constraints:

- Both players support up to 7680x4320 resolution on the HDMI-1 connector
- All other outputs support up to 4K video resolution
- When using more than one HDMI output simultaneously, all outputs are constrained to 4K video
- If you are outputting 8K, make sure to select HDMI cables that support 8K

# Supported Video Types

The chart below describes the supported video types. Video sources larger than 3840x2160 resolution must be in HEVC (H.265) or VP9 format. Neither AV1 nor AVC (H.264) will work at 8k video resolution, and all video sources other than HEVC and VP9 are limited to 3840x2160. See [Video Formats & Codecs](docId\:knsFFwMTD4NswXm4BUP0I) for more info.

| **Stream / Codec Name** | **Common Name** |
| ----------------------- | --------------- |
| hevc                    | H.265 or HEVC   |
| h264                    | H.264 or AVC    |
| av1                     | AV1             |
| vp9                     | VP9             |
| mpeg4                   | MPEG 4 part 2   |
| mpeg1video              | MPEG1 video     |
| mpeg2video              | MPEG2 video     |
| mjpeg                   | MJPEG video     |

## Supported Audio Types

See [Audio Formats](docId\:Hs4EUH9JcuiJcBafGShef).

## Touchscreens

As of BrightSignOS 9.0.22.3, even if multiple touchscreens are attached to a player, only the screen attached to the HDMI-1 output of a XC2055, XC4055, or XT2145 can be configured for touch events (the touch area will be mapped to the portion of the screen associated with HDMI-1).