USER GUIDE BrightAuthor 4.1.1 BrightSign, LLC. 16780 Lark Ave., Suite B Los Gatos, CA 95032 | 408-852-9263 | www.brightsign.biz

2 Chapter 1 – Getting Started players with a USB 2.0 port support touch screen and button board events, and players with an Ethernet port support UD

92 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events Event Description Video Time Code Performs commands at specific times during video playback. To define the comma

93 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events Event Description the value “2012-12-20T15:45:00”. Daily timeout event Choose whether you want the event to occu

94 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events User Defined Events This feature allows you to save interactive events you use often so that you can use them more

95 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events • Edit a User Defined Event: Click the appropriate name from the list in the Manage User Events window. Make the

96 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall CHAPTER 6 – CREATING A BRIGHTWALL™ The BrightWall™ feature allows you to easily create, publish, and edit video

97 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall • Configuration file: If you have created a BrightWall Configuration file, you can use it to automatically gen

98 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall Note: The BrightWall Type (Stretched or Regular) is not specified in the BrightWall Configuration file. Instead

99 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall o Stretched: The video wall is made up of a single video. BrightAuthor automatically splits the video among th

100 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall For a Regular BrightWall Each screen in a video wall has a distinct playlist. You can switch among screens by

101 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall • Adding a video with a “VideoName_Number” file name to a screen will add all other videos with the same form

3 Chapter 1 – Getting Started • One of the following operating systems: o Windows Vista 32 or 64 bit o Windows 7 32 or 64 bit o Windows 8 32 or

102 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall o Scale to Fill: The video will be stretched over all screens in the video wall. If the aspect ratio of the v

103 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall you’ve signed into your account. You can also export a BrightWall presentation for use on another computer by

104 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall the Adding a Player to the BrightSign Network section for more details. 8. Repeat steps 7a through 7f to set

105 Chapter 6 – Creating a BrightWall Using Configuration Files Each BrightWall presentation within a BrightWall group must use the same configurati

106 Chapter 7 – BP900 and BP200 Button Panels CHAPTER 7 – BP900 AND BP200 BUTTON PANELS The BP900 and BP200 button panels are LED-based touch device

107 Chapter 7 – BP900 and BP200 Button Panels For example, if there are defined BP900 events for buttons 1 and 4, then a BP900 event set to Any Butt

108 Chapter 7 – BP900 and BP200 Button Panels • Remain on current state: If you select this option, the state will not change when the interactive e

109 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations CHAPTER 8 – PUBLISHING PRESENTATIONS After you create and save a presentation, you’re ready to publish it t

110 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations 2. Add the presentations you want to publish: a. Click the Publish tab. b. Click Local Storage (below th

111 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations e. Click OK. The adjustments you made will be represented in the calendar. f. Repeat steps b through e fo

4 Chapter 1 – Getting Started allows you to play media files that are 4GB or larger in size, but the player will not be able to receive network upda

112 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Keep existing events, adjust new event: Opens the Schedule Presentation window, allowing you to schedule

113 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Save: The .bsfw update file is not deleted after the update is applied. The device will only reboot once

114 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations a. (Optional) Click the Specify Password button if you are publishing a USB content update to a player or

115 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations Publishing with BrightSign Network Publishing with BrightSign Network enables you to distribute your presen

116 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations Note: Alternatively, you can schedule a presentation by double-clicking a blank area on the schedule to ope

117 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Event time: Specify the time during the day when you want the presentation to play by using the dropdown

118 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations b. Click Specify Firmware Update to indicate what firmware version you want the player to be updated to. T

119 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations Publishing with Simple File Networking Simple File Networking enables you to distribute your presentation t

120 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations every day of the week. Specify the individual days of the week when you want the presentation to play. • R

121 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Enable system log debugging: The autorun script will output debugging information related to the presenta

5 Chapter 1 – Getting Started 1. Go to the BrightSign Support page. 2. Click the Software Downloads link and select the appropriate BrightAuthor v

122 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Different: The update will only be applied if the version of the .bsfw update file does not match the cur

123 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Enable playback logging: Creates a log that records start and end times, zone names, media types, and fil

124 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations Publishing with Local Networking Publishing a presentation with a local network lets you distribute your pr

125 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Recurring Event: Check this box if you want the presentation to recur during specified times. • Recurr

126 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations a. Click Specify Firmware Update to indicate what firmware version you want the player to be updated to. T

127 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations • Newer: The update will not be applied if the current firmware version of the player is newer than the ver

128 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations Publishing a BrightWall™ Presentation To publish a BrightWall presentation, navigate to the Publish tab, ch

129 Chapter 8 – Publishing Presentations Local Network Once you have finished scheduling your BrightWall presentation(s), click the Publish button t

130 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations CHAPTER 9 – CUSTOMIZING PRESENTATIONS This chapter will describe the different ways you can customize your

131 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations • Audio Mixing: Sends the stereo, left-only, or right-only audio signal. • Image mode: Use the dropdown

6 Chapter 1 – Getting Started • H.264 (MPEG-4, Part 10): Can be saved as a .mp4, .mov, or .ts container. Note: .mov files with compressed “atoms” (

132 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations Note: This option also appears when editing Images zones, but not when editing Video Only zones. o Cente

133 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations o Animated: Text is placed on screen from left to right (similar to a Teletype style ticker). o Static T

134 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations • Audio Output: Choose to output audio via HDMI, Analog Stereo, and/or SPDIF. Note that analog and SPDIF

135 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations • Transparency: Set the transparency of the Background text color in Ticker or Clock zones. • Font: Clic

136 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations Import/Export User Events These actions allow you to transfer User Defined Events between presentations. T

137 Chapter 9 – Customizing Presentations 5. Once the scan is complete, the channel settings will be written to the internal registry of the player

138 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties CHAPTER 10 – PRESENTATION PROPERTIES You can edit a range properties that apply to the presentation that is

139 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties channel scan file in Presentation Properties will change as well. Note: A player can only contain a single

140 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties the master, while the presentation(s) using Synchronize events act as slaves. Synchronize events associated

141 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Audio Set any of the following: • Set the Minimum Volume and Maximum Volume for the Audio output (0 – 100

7 Chapter 1 – Getting Started Step 6: Create your Presentations Now you’re ready to start using BrightAuthor to create presentations. Just add your

142 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Click Add Script Plugin to add a custom script to your BrightAuthor presentation. Script plugins are custo

143 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Device Web Page Display The device web page allows you view and edit User Variables over your local network

144 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Adding User Variables • Name: Enter a unique name for the User Variable. • Default Value: This is the val

145 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties presentation start and republish the presentation. To set a single variable to its new default value, use t

146 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Synchronize, Send Zone Message, Link Zones, GPIO On, GPIO Off, GPIO Set State, BrightControl – Send Ascii S

147 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties • Dynamic Playlist: If you have a BrightSign Network subscription, you can use Dynamic Playlists as Data F

148 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties o MRSS Feed: The feed will be used to download and play media in a Media RSS or Live Text state. o Conten

149 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Use this tab to add HTML5 sites to your presentation. You must add sites in this tab before you can use HTM

150 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties • Query string (optional): Enter a query string to be appended to the site URL using the following format:

151 Chapter 10 – Presentation Properties Files Use this tab to publish additional files to the SD card along with the presentation. This feature is

8 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players CHAPTER 2 – SETTING UP BRIGHTSIGN PLAYERS Before you can publish presentations, you must first set up yo

152 Chapter 11 – Editing Preferences CHAPTER 11 – EDITING PREFERENCES Whenever you create a new project, various presentation settings are based on

153 Chapter 11 – Editing Preferences • Date: Use the Edit field to customize the date format on the player (refer to the chart of terms for differe

154 Chapter 11 – Editing Preferences Networking Check the boxes to enable/disable the following: BrightSign Network, Local Networking, Bonjour, and

155 Chapter 11 – Editing Preferences o Display Mode: Specifies how BrightAuthor draws event connections between states in the interactive playlist

156 Chapter 11 – Editing Preferences • HTML data: The maximum size of the HTML application cache. • HTML local storage: The maximum size of all Ja

157 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network CHAPTER 12 – MANAGING YOUR NETWORK You can use BrightAuthor to manage the players on your BrightSign Network

158 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network • Checks for content every: The interval for synchronizing with the BrightSign Network servers to determine

159 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network Note: The Remote Snapshot feature is not available for the LS422, HD220, or HD1020. o Refresh: Click this bu

160 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network • Each BrightWall group consists of one or more BrightWall(s): BrightWall(s) within the same BrightWall grou

161 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network Creating BrightWall Groups To create a BrightWall group, click Add BrightWall Group (located below the Bright

9 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players Adding a Player to the BrightSign Network To publish and manage presentations using BrightSign Network,

162 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network BrightWall Presentations Click the button next to BrightWall Presentations to view a list of all BrightWall

163 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network Library The Library tab allows you to see all content files (images, audio, video) that have been uploaded to

164 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network • View info: Right-click a Live Data Feed and then click Info to see when the Live Data Feed was last modifi

165 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network To perform an operation, select a player from the list (or select multiple players by holding down the Shift

166 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network User Permissions Administrators of BrightSign Network accounts can create separate accounts with access to th

167 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network • Display status on screen during data capture: Displays the status on the display while the USB flash drive

168 Chapter 12 – Managing Your Network • Recover – don’t reformat: Puts the unit in recovery mode and downloads the latest Autorun script to the st

169 Chapter 13 – Frequently Asked Questions CHAPTER 13 – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS For additional Frequently Asked Questions, go to http://support.

170 Chapter 13 – Frequently Asked Questions Why can’t BrightAuthor locate my files when I try to publish my presentation? If you copy a presentation

171 Appendix A – Remote Control Protocols APPENDIX A – REMOTE CONTROL PROTOCOLS Currently, BrightAuthor only supports the NEC remote control protoco

10 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players b. Use Proxy: Check this box if you want the player to connect using a proxy server. Type the address

172 Appendix A – Remote Control Protocols BRIGHT 4. Repeat the above steps for each remote input you want to define.

173 Appendix B – Change Log APPENDIX B – CHANGE LOG Version 3.5 April 11, 2013 • Revised Chapter 2 > Setting up a Player for Standalone Use Chap

174 Appendix B – Change Log • Created a new chapter, “Chapter 10 – Presentation Properites” to house descriptions of all tabs in the Presentation P

175 Appendix B – Change Log • Expanded the explanation for enabling a proxy server in Chapter 2 > Setting up BrightSign units. • Added a descri

176 Appendix B – Change Log • Added additional information to Chapter 9 > Importing and Exporting about importing User Variable sets that contai

177 Appendix B – Change Log • Added description of new firmware update options in Chapter 9 > Publishing with Local Storage, Publishing with Sim

178 Appendix B – Change Log May 30, 2014 • Added further description of how default variables work in Chapter 11 > Variables. This includes a no

179 Appendix B – Change Log Version 4.0 September 29, 2014 • Changed mention of model numbers in many sections to bring the user guide up to date

180 Appendix B – Change Log October 6,2014 • Corrected the description of serial port enumeration behavior in Chapter 11 > Interactive. October

181 Appendix B – Change Log • Added a description of the Enable Local Storage and Query string options to Chapter 10 > HTML Sites. • Added an e

11 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players d. Limit health updates: Check this box if you want to limit when the player sends health updates to t

182 Appendix B – Change Log • Revised Chapter 6 > Configuring a BrightWall Presentation again to reflect the fact that the Interactive tab has b

TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 – Getting Started ... 1

12 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players 8. Click Specify Firmware Update to indicate whether you want to update the firmware and to which vers

13 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players select a BrightWall group for the unit. Each BrightWall group includes one or more BrightWall(s) that s

14 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players b. Save up to [ ] images (1 - 100) on local storage: Specify how many JPEG images can be stored on the

15 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players Adding a Player to your Local Network With Local File Networking, you can use BrightAuthor to schedule

16 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players b. Connection Settings: Indicate whether the IP address is auto-generated (via DHCP) or static. If you

17 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players iii. Test Internet Connection: The player will indicate whether or not it was able to attain a connect

18 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players a. Enable playback logging: Creates a log that records start and end times, zone names, media types, a

19 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players d. Turn off the BrightSign unit by unplugging the power adapter (or Ethernet cable if the player is be

20 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players Adding a Player to your Simple File Network With simple file networking, the setup file provides detail

21 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players a. Data Types Enabled: Use these checkboxes to determine the types of data that will be transferred us

Creating a Multi-Zone Presentation ... 33 Custo

22 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players three categories: Outside content download window and During content download window (both of which cor

23 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players Important: The URL for the web folder must be identical to the web folder URL you enter when publishing

24 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players e. Upload logs i. On startup: Uploads log files each time the player is powered on. ii. At specific

25 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players c. Insert the card or flash drive into the unit. d. Turn on the BrightSign unit by reconnecting the p

26 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players Setting up a Player for Standalone Use Standalone players are not connected to a network and must be up

27 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players b. Use Proxy: Check this box if you want the player to connect using a proxy server. Type the address

28 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players 6. Select the Diagnostics tab in the Advanced Network Setup window if you would like the player to per

29 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players b. (Optional) Enable local web server: Check this box to enable the Local Web Server. You can include

30 Chapter 2 – Setting up BrightSign Players Important: Do not remove the SD card or flash drive from the player.

31 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations CHAPTER 3 – CREATING PRESENTATIONS Creating a Full-Screen Presentation In a full-screen presentation, your im

Live Text ...

32 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations f. Monitor Orientation: Choose whether you would like the content to appear in Landscape or Portrait mode. B

33 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations add. This can be the same folder used in your Media Library or a new folder. A list of all files currently ad

34 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations You can choose one of the existing templates, or create your own (see Chapter 10 – Customizing Presentations

35 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations b. In the New Project window, enter a name for the presentation in the Save as field. c. In the Where fiel

36 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations ii. To set the order in which the files play, drag them to the Playlist area in the proper order. You can ch

37 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations media files. In the Replace Media Files window, click Browse to select the folder that contains the files you

38 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations Customizing Zone Layouts If the predefined zone template layouts do not meet your needs, you can create your

39 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations be unpredictable; if you want to place a graphical element on top of an image, we recommend using a Backgroun

40 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations Note: The preview image is always displayed as a landscape. If your display is a portrait and you have select

41 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations 3. If you're creating a new Dynamic Playlist, choose either Image or Video or Audio Only option. Audio

GPS ...

42 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations feeds in Ticker zones or as individual text widgets in a Live Text state. They can even be used to remotely u

43 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations RSS Feeds and Text Feeds Ticker zones can be used to display dynamic text (RSS feeds) or static text feeds. T

44 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations 2. Click the RSS tab and drag the Twitter icon onto the playlist. 3. Enter your Twitter User Name and clic

45 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations • HTML5 Site: Select an HTML site from the dropdown menu. To populate this list with sites, navigate to File

46 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations transforms and other page elements. By default, it will place the video on top of all other video and graphic

47 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations 4. Select a desired Default playlist. If no Dynamic Playlist is assigned to a player in a Local Playlist, th

48 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations RF In (ATSC) Note: The RF In state was changed significantly in BrightAuthor version 3.7.0.12. If you have an

49 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations “ScanResults.xml” file in the Specify RF channel scan file field. c. Virtual channel: Displays the channel b

50 Chapter 3 – Creating Presentations • Channel Map: Select QAM, ATSC, or ATSC and QAM (consult your service provider for details). • Modulation

51 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive CHAPTER 4 – MAKING A PRESENTATION INTERACTIVE You can use BrightAuthor to create interactive presen

Publishing a BrightWall™ Presentation ... 128 Chapter 9

52 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive By default, the first item you drag into an interactive playlist will become the Home Screen. It

53 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive transitions to another file. In the user interface, files are referred to as “states,” where the cu

54 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive b. Click (and hold) the file name below the thumbnail image of the current state. This media file

55 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive If you don’t see the event you want in the playlist toolbar, click the arrow to the left of the Zoo

56 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Editing Media Properties You can edit individual files in the playlist by right-clicking the file i

57 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Hold last video frame: (Video states only) Choose this option if you want the last frame of the

58 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive audio). Alternatively, you can set the list to shuffle files or cycle through every file in the lis

59 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive event (unless you are using an Enhanced Audio zone). If you leave the Play from beginning on entry

60 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive o Media Files: Add individual files to the list by clicking the Add File button and using the drop

61 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Video Play Files, Image Play Files, and Audio Play Files Like Media Lists, Play Files combine files

Variables ...

62 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Note: For BP200/BP900 events, you must specify each Key using both the panel enumeration and button

63 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Add File: Click this button to add media items to the Play File. • Files: This list displays fi

64 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive This file can then be imported to other Play File states that have the same media type. • Specify

65 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Position: Adjust the position of your text fields. X corresponds to the position of the text on

66 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive a. Fixed Text: Select this option if you want to display simple, static text. A text field will ap

67 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive created for media entries in the MRSS feed. You can only uncheck an option if you do not have that

68 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive o If you create a text item without another text item selected, the new text item will inherit the

69 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Live Text Images If you want to use a still image behind your Live Text, you should add the Live Te

70 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive 6. Click Add Text Item. Adjust the Size and Position of your text field by clicking and dragging o

71 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Important: The background image is not simply a background for the actual menu items. It must conta

Live Data Feed ...

72 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Event, Serial input, etc.). A second dropdown menu or text field will appear. Specify the button or

73 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Add Menu Item: Press this button to create a Menu item. The Add Menu Item window will open. Ther

74 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive action and select 2, the user can now navigate from Menu item 1 to Menu item 2 by pressing the Down

75 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Play clip: Click the Browse button to select a file you want to play when the user presses the E

76 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive To use an Event Handler, click the Other tab under Media Library and drag the icon into the playlis

77 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Each Super State contains an initial state: A transition to a Super State will point to the init

78 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • You can copy, paste, export, and import Super States: All events, states, commands, and other Su

79 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Note: There are a few other options under the Advanced tab. They will depend on the type of file yo

80 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Increment: Specifies how much the volume level increases with each interaction. Select the Analo

81 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Serial string (no EOL): Sends the specified string to the specified serial port. This command do

1 Chapter 1 – Getting Started CHAPTER 1 – GETTING STARTED What is BrightAuthor? BrightAuthor is a software application that helps you create and pub

82 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive • Send Ascii String: Sends a CEC command. The provided string will be converted to hexadecimal for

83 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Conditional Targets Conditional targets allow you to change the settings of an event transition dep

84 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Note: In the target value field, you can enter either a fixed integer or the name of another user v

85 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive 6. Use the address bar of a web browser to navigate to device IP port 8008. For example, if the IP

86 Chapter 4 – Making a Presentation Interactive Note: It is possible to check both Assign input to variable and Input specifies variable boxes for

87 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events CHAPTER 5 – INTERACTIVE EVENTS Interactive events can include any of the following. For all interactive events, ma

88 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events Event Description Continuous, you will need to specify how long the button should be pressed down ( in millisecon

89 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events Event Description You can also specify whether you want to assign input to a User Variable under the Advanced op

90 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events Event Description Keyboard Input Sets the action that occurs when a BrightSign player receives specific input fr

91 Chapter 5 – Interactive Events Event Description Zone Message Use this event, combined with the Send Zone Message command, to affect changes fr