Other Legacy FAQs (Hardware)
Can I schedule content to play at certain times/days?
You can schedule content to play at different times of the day or different days of the week if your player has either a Real Time Clock (RTC) or is connected to a network with a time server to set the date and time. You can also manually set this for any players not connected to the network.
All currently shipping players have an RTC.
Legacy Players
- HD120 and HD810 have an RTC. These players are non network players.
- HD210w, HD1010, HD1010w, HD220, HD1020, XD230, XD1030 and XD1230 have networking and a real time clock.
- HD210 players manufactured since November 2010 have an RTC. These players have a reset button next to the GPIO12 button, and they also have the letter F as the third digit in the serial number. Earlier HD210s require a network with a time server to set and maintain the time. This also applies to the HD110 and HD410.
Can BrightSign legacy players output component, S-Video, or composite video?
HD810 and HD1010 players come installed with YPbPr component connectors. Using a third-party VGA adapter, you can also play component and composite video on other models that have a VGA output port.
There are many third-party VGA breakout cables; however, some VGA breakout cables will not work with the VGA port on a BrightSign player. You will need to ensure that the VGA converter you purchase has the same pin layout as outlined below:
| Pin 1 | Pin 2 | Pin 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Component RGB | Red | Green | Blue |
Component YPbPr | Pr | Y | Pb |
S-Video | C | Y | -- |
CVBS | -- | -- | CVBS |
In BrightAuthor, configure the output for component/composite as follows:
Component: Select Component from the Connector type dropdown menu. In the Screen resolution dropdown menu, you may choose any 1080, 720, or 480 option, as well as the NTSC-COMPONENT and PAL-COMPONENT options.
S-Video or CVBS: Select HDMI from the Connector type dropdown menu. In the Screen resolution dropdown menu, you may choose the following options:
- PAL-N
- PAL-M
- PAL-I
- PAL-BG
- NTSC-M-JPN
- NTSC-M
Newer BrightAuthor versions lock the presentation resolution to 1920x1080. Resize your content's zone to 640x480 or 768x576 located at the upper left corner (x 0, y 0) if you only see the upper-left quadrant of the content.
How does my player cache content using BrightAuthor?
Cache manifests are largely deprecated and replaced by HTML Caching. The information below remains for historical reference.
Unlike many PC-based browsers, the HTML5 engine on the BrightSign player does not cache any HTML content by default. As a result, whenever a page is loaded, the player will retrieve all page content as if it were new. If the page is being loaded from local storage, this process is seamless and nearly instantaneous. However, if the page is being hosted on a remote server, frequently refreshing the page can consume considerable bandwidth; furthermore, page elements will be loaded as they arrive over the connection, which can result in poor aesthetics.
To cache remote resources using the player HTML app cache:
- Enable the HTML application cache for your BrightAuthor presentation: Go to the Edit > Preferences > Storage tab (available in BrightAuthor versions 3.8.0.38 and later) and set the HTML data cache to the desired amount. If you are using a custom autorun or script to display HTML content, you can enable the application cache using the SetAppCacheSize() and SetAppCacheDir() methods available on the roHtmlWidget object.
- Create a cache manifest file specifying the assets that should be cached locally. See the image at the bottom of this expander for an example of a simple cache manifest; the formatting and behavior of cache manifest files is outlined in detail on this Mozilla Developer Network page.
- Ensure the cache manifest contains a "NETWORK" section that specifies all ("*") files that will be used by the presentation. To be more specific, specify the URL that contains all required files (e.g., http://www.example.com).
- Reference the cache manifest file in the HTML of the page (for example, ).
- Upload the cache manifest and index.html file to your web server. The cache manifest should be in the same directory as the index.html file.
When you need the player to download new copies of the cached content, upload a new cache manifest file to the web server with a new version number and date:
Original | Updated |
|---|---|
CACHE MANIFEST #v1 - 2014-10-28 | CACHE MANIFEST #v2 - 2014-10-29 |
Note: Changing the comment containing the number/date is a recommended practice when updating a cache manifest, but, technically, the player will download a new cache manifest file whenever any of the bytes that make up the file are changed.
How can I create portrait content for players that don't support portrait mode?
If you have a BrightSign HDx20, HDx10, or LSx22 player, which do not support portrait mode, you can use the following workaround:
Let's assume want to display a 1920x1080 video in portrait mode. Create your content “sideways” from your authoring application (for example, Photoshop, After Effects, Quicktime Pro, etc.). When you are done editing, you must output your content sideways as 1920 x 1080. It’s then presented right-side-up when the display is in portrait mode.
See Portrait Mode for more details about portrait mode on BrightSign players.
Where is the GPIO12 button on my BrightSign player?
For all modern BrightSign player models--including XTx43, XDx33, HDx23, LS423, 4Kx42, XDx32, XDx30, HDx22, LSx22, HDx20, and AU320--the GPIO12 button is now named SVC (service).
Do BrightSign players include an SD card?
An SD card is required to store content for playback on any BrightSign player. Players are not shipped with an SD card but you can buy reliable SD cards in the BrightSign store.
See SD / SDHC Flash Cards to determine what kind of storage to use with your player. These storage devices are supported on Series 3 and earlier players:
- microSDXC/microSDHC: XTx43, XDx33, HDx23, LS423
- SDXC: 4Kx42, XDx32, XDx30, HDx22, HDx20, LSx22
- SDHC: 4Kx42, XDx32, XDx30, HDx22, HDx20, LSx22, HD110, HD210, HD410, HD810, HD1010, HD1010w, TD1012
- SD: 4Kx42, XDx32, XDx30, HDx22, HDx20, LSx22, HD2000, HD110, HD210, HD410, HD810, HD1010, HD1010w, TD1012
- USB: XT1143, XD1033, HD1023, LS423, 4K1042, 4K1142, XD1032, XD1132, XD1030, XD1230, HD1022, HD1020, LS422, LS322, HD2000, HD810, HD1010, HD1010w
- Compact Flash: HD600, HD2000
Can I synchronize multiple BrightSign players?
This article describes an old (though still valid) method for creating video walls. See Video Sync section for an up-to-date list of options for creating a video walls.
All networked BrightSign models support synchronization over ethernet using BrightAuthor. You can synchronize up to 255 units on a local subnet (and up to double that number if you can bridge two subnets). Synchronized presentations are created in BrightAuthor with an Interactive playlist.
Watch the following videos to learn more about synchronization:
- BrightSign Synchronization Tutorial Please note, since the video was produced with an earlier BrightAuthor version:
- The Interactivity setting has moved to File > Presentation Properties.
- Manual IP address assignment is usually not required, but is part of the device setup, Tools > Setup BrightSign unit, Advanced Network Settings if you need it.
- The Synchronize command is now part of the Link group of commands.
You can only synchronize BrightSign players that belong to the same model family: For example, you can synchronize an HD222 player with an HD1022 player, but you cannot synchronize an HD222 player with an XD232 player.
Keep the following points in mind when using synchronization:
- Synchronization is not supported over Wireless.
- You cannot use the Synchronize command and the Pause Video command at the same time.
- We recommend using the latest production BrightAuthor and firmware versions available from the Downloads page.
- When using players with different firmware versions (not recommended), make sure the master/leader has the same or older firmware version as the slave/follower players.