Overview

BrightSign players typically have a “Setup” applied. The Setup contains information such as the intended publishing configuration as well as various player settings.

BSN.cloud

While BrightAuthor:connected does offer limited functionality without a BSN.cloud account, accessing the full functionality of BrightAuthor:connected requires that users be logged in to BSN.cloud.

• Launch BrightAuthor:connected (alternatively, the same functions can be accessed at https://control.bsn.cloud).

• Sign In using your email address and password or click New User to create an account.

Player Settings

The Setup screen is where you can configure various player settings. A Setup can be created from the option within the Admin tab or the Setup Library.

Open

Open

1. Setup Name 

Enter a name for the Setup. Once it has been saved, you can locate the name in the Setup Library if you use the Add Setup to Library option.

Default Setup

Unless a player is explicitly assigned a specific Setup, the BrightSign “Default Setup” will be applied. With the BrightSign Default Setup, the player will search for a network connection via Ethernet and, if a connection is found, obtain an IP address using DHCP.

If the player has a Content Cloud subscription (or is using the free trial), the player’s default Publishing Mode will be BSN.cloud. If the player does not have a Content Cloud subscription (and is not using the free trial), the player will default to the Control Cloud tier and utilize the Local Network Publishing Mode.

Many users may find that the BrightSign Default Setup is acceptable for their needs in which case explicitly applying a Setup may not be required.

Custom Default Setup

Users have the option of using another Setup (instead of the BrightSign Default Setup) to function as the default that is automatically applied to players that have not been explicitly provisioned. This involves creating a new Setup specifically named “Default Setup” (case and spelling must match exactly as shown). By using a Default Setup, players do not have to be explicitly provisioned - any player not explicitly provisioned will have the Default Setup automatically applied upon activation which is the process of using a QR code to provision a player (more details here).

2. Player Name 

Enter a name for the player. All players provisioned with this Setup will use this name by default. To differentiate between players, the name can be appended with a unique suffix per the Customization section below.

3. Player Description

Enter an optional description for the player.

4. Customization 

A few customization options are available:

• Append Unit ID: Appends the serial number of the player to the end of the Player Name. This option is useful if you're applying the Setup to multiple players and want each player name to be unique.

• Use Name Only: Does not append anything to the Player Name.

• Time Zone: Select the time zone where the player is located.

• Idle Screen Color: Specify what screen color the player should display if it does not have an active presentation. The default is black, but it is generally recommended to choose a color other than black to help differentiate when the screen is on and displaying a blank screen from when the screen is powered off.

5. Publishing Mode

This section specifies the publishing mode the player will use. 

• Standalone: This mode involves publishing your presentation to a storage device (such as a µSD card or USB drive) and then manually inserting the storage device into the player. This method is generally suitable if your player doesn't have a network connection and/or you do not plan to update the presentation frequently. You can use the USB drive to update the schedule/presentation if you don't want to remove the SD card and/or it is inaccessible. The USB drive can be used with or without a password: the password protection feature ensures that a player cannot be updated with the Publish for USB update option unless the correct password is supplied. If you choose to require a password, note that the password cannot be changed once configured, and cannot be recovered. See this page for more information.

• Local Network: This mode publishes presentations to players over the local network. Players set up for Local Network require the Local Web Server to be enabled which can be done via the Player Configuration part of the Player Settings:

• BSN.cloud: This mode enables you to remotely schedule and publish presentations using your Content Cloud subscription.

  • Group: Select a BSN.cloud group for the player (this is the group the player will appear in after the setup is applied). Once the player successfully joins your network after setup, it can be moved to other groups as needed. All players in a group receive the same presentation schedule. You can add BSN.cloud groups in the Network tab.

• Web Folder: With this publishing mode, presentations/content are placed on a web folder accessible via a URL. A player set up for Web Folder publishing periodically checks the URL for new content and if new content is found, the player downloads the content from the URL.

  • URL for Web Folder: Specify the URL from which the player will download content updates. Do not use trailing slashes in your URL; some web servers do not support trailing slashes. If you're having trouble getting players to communicate with your web server, see this FAQ for troubleshooting tips.

  • Content Check Frequency: Set how often you want the player to check the web folder for updates.

  • Web Folder Authentication (optional): Enter a User Name and Password to enable digest authentication between the player and the server.

    • Enable basic authentication: Instruct the player pass credentials to the web server in unsecured packets. Use this option only if it is absolutely required by the configuration of your web server.

• Partner App: Select applications created by BSN.cloud integrated partners. See Partner Setup and Recovery for more information about creating a recovery URL for partner apps.

• App URL: Specify a URL address to point players directly to an externally hosted application.

For more information on how to change player types, watch this tutorial video:

6. Network Configuration 

• Include Network Configuration allows you to set network options in the Network Options window before connecting to your network.

• Use Current Player Settings if the player to be re-provisioned is currently configured on a network which requires a specification configuration (security, certificates, etc.) to maintain your player's current network configuration. 

7. Save Setup 

Publish the Setup manually. Follow these steps to complete the Setup process: 

1. Save the Setup to storage device (e.g., µSD card or USB flash drive). Ensure the Setup is saved to the root folder of the storage device.

2. Turn off the player by unplugging the power adapter (or unplug the Ethernet cable if the player is being powered by PoE).

3. Insert the µSD card or USB flash drive into the player.

4. Turn on the player by reconnecting the power. 

8. Add Setup to Library

 Add the Device Setup to the BSN.cloud Setup Library. You can then open the Setup later or provision players using the Setup.

Player Settings

The Player Settings section on the right allows you to configure additional optional parameters.

Player Configuration 

• Enable Diagnostic Web Server: Enable the Diagnostic Web Server and specify a password for the server (the username is always "admin"). We strongly recommend securing the Diagnostic Web Server with a strong password.

  • Use default password: Use the player serial number as the password

  • Specify password: The password will be reset to the password you input

  • Disable password: No password is required

• Enable Local Web Server: Enable the Local Web Server, which is necessary for Local Network configured players. This feature enables the Player Web Page, which allows you to update User Variables over the local network.

  • User Name: Enter a user name for the Local Web Server login

  • Password: Enter a password for the Local Web Server login

  • Enable Update Notifications: (Optional) Check this box to have the player automatically refresh the Player Web Page whenever variable values change on the player.

Logging

Use the check boxes to enable/disable logs. Logs can be turned on and will work behind the scenes, but can only be retrieved from the SD card.

• Enable Playback Logging: Record playback start and end times, zone names, media types, and file names.

• Enable Event Logging: Record timestamps, state names, zone names, event types, and event data.

• Enable State Logging: Record current and last state names, timestamps, and media types.

• Enable Diagnostic Logging: Record timestamps, firmware and script versions, and the current presentation.

• Enable Variable Logging: Record the current and default values of all User Variables in the presentation.

• Uploads logs: This feature is available with SFN. Specify log upload settings:

  • On Startup: Check this box to have the player upload its logs to the BSN servers each time it boots up.

  • At specific time each day: Check this box to have the player upload its logs daily at the specified time.

BrightSignOS Update

Use this section to include an OS update file with the Device Setup. First, determine the behavior of the update file using the Update Type dropdown list:

• Standard: The OS update is applied to the player. The player reboots and deletes the update file after the update is complete.

• Different: The OS update is only applied if the version of the update file is different from the current OS version on the player. The player reboots and deletes the update file after the update is complete.

• Newer: The OS update is only applied if the version of the update file is newer than the current OS version on the player. If the player is booting up in Safe Mode, the update is always applied because the player cannot check its OS version before applying the update. The player reboots and deletes the update file after the update is complete.

• Save: The OS update is applied to the player, but the update file is not deleted from the storage device. The player does not reboot after applying the update; instead, it waits for the storage device containing the update file to be removed.

Next, select the version of the OS update file according to your player model:

• Production Release: The current official release of BrightSignOS

• Beta Release: The current beta release of BrightSignOS

• Minimum Compatible Release: The minimum OS version that supports presentations created by your version of BrightAuthor:connected. The minimum compatible OS may not support all features provided by a contemporary version of BrightAuthor:connected.

• Specific File: Select a .bsfw firmware update file from your hard drive. The other options will download the update file from BrightSign when the setup files are created.

• Update from URL: Enter the download URL for a .bsfw firmware update file. This option is only available when distributing a Device Setup via Device Provisioning.

Remote Snapshot

If you select the Enable Remote Snapshot checkbox, this feature will be enabled in BrightAuthor:connected. Remote snapshots can be turned on and will work behind the scenes, but can only be retrieved from the SD card. This feature has the following options: 

• Remote Snapshot Interval: Specify how often the player should take a snapshot of the presentation display in minutes.

• Maximum Number of Images to Save: Specify how many JPEG snapshot images can be stored on the local storage of the player.

• JPEG Quality Level (1-100): Specify the quality level (and thus the file size) of each image file.

• Screen Orientation: Images can be rotated to either Landscape or Portrait mode.

• Relative URL for Remote Snapshot Handler: Post snapshots to this endpoint (only available for SFN).

Debugging

• Enable Serial Debugging: Enable serial debugging on the player. The autorun script will output debugging information related to the presentation to the serial port (as well as over Telnet and SSH if these features are enabled).

• Enable System Log Debugging: Enable system-log debugging on the player. The player will output system log information to the Log tab in the Diagnostic Web Server (or the serial/telnet/ssh ports if these are enabled via the Serial Debugging option).

Advanced

• Enable BSN.cloud: Enable the persistent WebSockets connection between the player and BSN.cloud servers. This allows for BSN Control Cloud and Content Cloud functionality with players.