If the display your player is connected to is showing a blank or black screen, it may be due to a failure at any point in the video output chain. Below are the most common causes and troubleshooting steps to diagnose and resolve the issue.

The screen may be off or set to the wrong input.

✅ Test the display with a known good HDMI source (e.g., laptop) to confirm the display is functioning correctly.

Faulty or disconnected HDMI cable, or bad port connection.

The player is not powered or has failed to boot.

 is securely connected and delivering power. If it is not delivering power, try a 

✅ Reboot the player and observe if the 

The player may not be outputting a video signal or is incompatible with the display.

Verify Content Playback and Software Status

The player may be idle, misconfigured, or stuck in a crash loop.

✅ Ensure the device is receiving content updates by checking the CMS (Content Management System).

✅ Reboot the player and observe the display of a 

✅ If the player is connected to BSN.Cloud, use the Remote DWS to perform diagnostics. From the DWS:

Use the Snapshots tab to view screenshots of what the player is displaying.

Use the Video tab to check the video status.

Use the Log tab to check the player logs for any error messages.

If all of the above checks fail, contact support by clicking on the Support button in the lower right of every page. To help us resolve your issue as expeditiously as possible, see 

 on how to create an effective support ticket.

Blank or Black Screen

Connect the GPIO

Decode Four HD Videos at Once

Decommission a Player

Disable External Storage

Display Media with MPCDI

Non-Latin Characters

Portrait Presentations

Factory Reset a Player

Find a Player's IP Address

Fix DUID Errors

Format a microSD Card

Get Player/DWS Logs

Interpret Flashing LEDs

Interpret Autorun Logs

Move Players to a New Network

Packet Capture (PCAP)

Player Repair or Replacement

Player Upgrade Factors

Run a Network Test

Reboot via the DWS

Schedule Reboots

Send Non-Printable Keys

Set Time & Time Zone

Set Up Wi-Fi

Stream Content via IP Camera

Update the Player OS

Upgrade to Chromium 110/120

Use Serial / UDP commands

Use USB Button Panels

Players

This is our legacy cloud platform. Our latest cloud platform is BSN.Cloud which consists of the free bsn.Control and the paid bsn.Content tiers. Development of BSN has largely ceased and will eventually be deprecated and replaced with BSN.Cloud.

BrightSign_Network_BSN

BrightSign’s *legacy* app for authoring and managing players. The app's actual name is BrightAuthor but is referred to as BrightAuthor Classic to lessen confusion with BrightAuthor:connected, our latest app.

BrightAuthor_Classic

BrightSign’s latest free, all-in-one app for player setup / management, authoring, and content management.

BrightAuthorconnected

The BSN.Cloud record of a player and its Setup. The Default Setup is assigned to the player unless another Setup has been explicitly set.

Provision_Record

The process where a Setup is delivered and applied to a player by BSN.Cloud.

Provision

A set of files containing player settings (player name, description, time zone, Publishing Mode, network settings, etc.) and an autorun.brs file which instructs the player what to do upon bootup.

Setup

How-tos

Player Setup

Player Management

Presentations

Publishing

Interactivity

Partner CMS

Video Guides

Add Plugins to Presentations

Add Node.js to Presentations

Authenticate in BSN.Cloud

Create a BSN.Cloud Account & Network

Standard (Linked / Sync'd) Videowalls

Bezel Compensation for Video Walls

Create a VideoWall

Create GPIO Input

Create Image Transitions

Display a Direct View LED Presentation

Display YouTube Videos

Edit Network Settings

Migrate Local Setups from BrightAuthor Classic to BrightAuthor:connected/BSN.Cloud

Pause / Resume a Video

Recover an Account/Login

Send a Serial Command on Receiving a UDP Message

Send Hex Commands

Set GPIO Outputs On/Off

Sleep / Wake a Display

Switch Presentations

Sync Zones (latest)

Sync Zones (old)

Sync Zones

Use GPIO on Players

Use the Local Web Server

BrightAuthor:connected

Add Digital Certificates

Add GitHub Plugins

Apply a Custom Resolution

Automate Browser Testing with Selenium

Connect Players & Servers via VPN

Convert Videos to Compatible Formats

Create / Install an autorun.zip

Customize Network Streaming

Decode AC3 Data on Older Players

Display a Google Calendar

Display an Excel File

Enable PTP

Encode Final Cut MOV Files for TSMuxer

Evaluate OS & Software Releases

Fix Expired CA Certificates

Get Optimal 4K Image Quality

Inherited Players

Manage Subscriptions

Play PowerPoint Presentations

Play Videos with Audio Despite Chromium Restrictions

Reduce Card Wear on Looping Displays

Seamlessly Loop Videos

See Current Root CA Certificates

Troubleshoot Appspace Issues

Troubleshoot Web Folders

Update Storage without Removing Content

Quicktime for Looping Files

Misc