BRIGHTSIGN QUICK START GUIDE HD120, HD220, HD1020, XD230, XD1030, XD1230 BrightSign, LLC. 16795 Lark Ave., Suite 200 Los Gatos, CA 95032 | 408-852-9263 | www.brightsign.
TABLE OF CONTENTS What’s in the box? 1 Setting up BrightSign Players 7 What is BrightSign? 2 Creating presentations 10 Benefits 2 Creating a Full-Screen Presentation 10 Capabilities 2 Creating a Multiple Zone Presentation 13 Models 3 Creating an Interactive Presentation 17 Getting Started 4 Publishing Presentations 23 Connecting a display 5 Next steps 26 Using an HDMI cable 5 Connecting speakers 6
What’s in the box? BrightSign Player Rubber feet Power Adapter Cable Mount SD slot cover International prongs Cable tie Tip: Use the cable mount and ties to keep the cables securely attached to your BrightSign player. Note: An SD card is not included in the package, but it is required for the player to function. .
What is BrightSign? A BrightSign player is a standalone digital sign and kiosk controller. Because BrightSign players are non-PC devices with no moving parts, they are durable, reliable, and energy-efficient. They are designed specifically for digital signs, making them an ideal solution for information kiosks, retail displays, video walls, museum exhibits, and more.
• Schedule content to play at specific times (hour, day, month, and year). • Create looping displays. • Display RSS feeds and other network information. • Run interactive presentations that playback content based on inputs from buttons, touch screens, mice, network devices, and more. • Synchronize video playback across multiple BrightSign players. • Update software and content remotely using the BrightSign Network.
Getting Started 1. Download the QuickStart.zip file from the following URL: www.brightsign.biz/quickstart. 2. Unzip the file to a location on your PC. 3. Double-click the Setup.exe file and follow the on-screen instructions to install the BrightAuthor software.
Connecting a display Using an HDMI cable Note: The connectors on BrightSign players vary by model. Your BrightSign player may have different connectors from those displayed above.
Connecting speakers If your presentations include audio, you can route the audio through an HDMI display connected to your BrightSign player, or you can connect powered speakers to your BrightSign player.
Setting up BrightSign Players Before you can create and publish presentations, you must first set up your BrightSign player(s). To set up a player, you need to create setup files in BrightAuthor and add those files to a storage device (SD card or USB flash drive). Afterward, insert the storage (usually an SD card) into the BrightSign player. Remember that if you are using an SD card, it must be formatted using FAT32 for the player to receive network updates and generate logs.
Using BrightAuthor to set up a player for standalone use 6. Under Unit Configuration, choose one of the four setup options, and then complete these steps: • Standalone: Under Unit Configuration, enabling the Diagnostic Web Server and Local Web Server is optional. • Local File Networking: Under Unit Configuration, enabling the Diagnostic Web Server and Local Web Server is optional.
• BrightSign Network: Assign the unit to a group. The player will receive presentations assigned to this group. Set a Network Connection Frequency and an Update Health Frequency. Simple File Networking: In the URL for web folder text field, set the location from which the unit will download presentations. Set a Network Connection Frequency. 7. Under Logging, set your logging preferences. 8. Click Create Setup Files. 9.
Creating presentations This guide describes how to create three types of presentations: a full-screen presentation, multi-zone presentation, and interactive presentation. The presentations built in this section are the same as the “FullScreen_HDMI_1080p60.bpf”, “Zones_HDMI_1080p60.bpf”, “Interactive_HDMI_1080p60.bpf” presentation files that are included in the Quick Start Kit. You can use these presentation files as a guide to see how each presentation is built when it is complete.
Locating the Content folder in the Quick Start Kit 5. Drag one or more files to the playlist area. 6. Set the order in which files play by dragging them to the playlist area in the desired order. You can change the order of files already in the playlist by clicking a file and dragging it to a new position. 7. Right-click a file and click Edit: a. For image files: Specify how long each file displays in the presentation and the type of transition that will occur when the image file times out. b.
Playlist of the “FullScreen_HDMI_1080p60.
Creating a Multiple Zone Presentation Using zones, you can divide your signage screen into windows and play different types of content simultaneously in each window, which can include video, audio, images, ticker feeds (RSS or text), or date and time. You can also control transitions between media files, background color, background image, font, text color, text alignment, and text orientation.
• Video or Images: You can add videos, images, or audio files in this type of zone. If using an HD player, you can only have one video-enabled zone on screen at a time. If using an XD player, you can have up to two. • Images: You can add images to this type of zone. Also, you can add as many image zones as you like to a presentation. 3. Resize the existing zone: a. Navigate to the Layout screen under the Edit tab.
b. Select and drag one side of the Video Or Images zone to make the zone thinner. Alternatively, you can specify the exact height and width of each zone using the W and H fields on the left. Tip: For best results, match the width and height of your zone to the width and height of your video/image files. The content used in the sample multi-zone presentation is 1536x1080 pixels in size. 4. Add a new zone: a. Click Add Zone in the Zone section on the left. b.
5. Position and resize the new Images zone: a. Place the Images zone to the right of the Video or Images zone by either dragging it or entering the X and Y coordinates into the Position field. b. Resize the zone by clicking and dragging the corners or by entering the exact width and height into the Position field. The content used in the Images zone of the sample multi-zone presentation is 384x1080 pixels in size. 6. Add appropriately sized video and image content to the Playlist of each zone. 7.
Creating an Interactive Presentation The HD120, HD220, and HD1020—as well as all XD series of BrightSign players—support various types of interactivity. For a complete list of features and details for each BrightSign model, see the BrightSign Product Comparison Matrix. This section of the guide will teach you how to create an interactive presentation with a USB touch screen attached to your BrightSign player (see this FAQ to learn more about the brands of touch screens we support).
a. Select the files tab in the Media Library section to the left. b. Click the Browse button and locate the …\Quick Start Kit\Content folder. c. Select the content folder and click OK. You should now see the sample image and video files in the Media Library. 5. Drag the “MainScreen.jpg” file into the interactive playlist area. Adding this file to the presentation first will make it the Home State (i.e. the media item or state that interactive presentation will always begin with).
7. Now that the media files have been added, you will need to create transitions from the main menu represented by “MainScreen.jpg” image to each of the four menu items: a. Navigate to the events tab in the Media Library. b. Drag the Rectangular Touch event icon onto the “MainScreen.jpg” state. icon above the interactive playlist area, left-click and Note: Alternatively, you can select the corresponding hold the “MainScreen.jpg” state, and drag the pointer onto the state you wish to transition to. c.
Resizing the touch region for “Products1.jpg” c. Select Transition to new state and specify “Products2.jpg” as the new state. d. Repeat the above steps for “Features1.jpg” and “MenuBoard2.jpg”, linking them to “Features2.jpg” and “LiveHDTV2.jpg”, respectively.
9. Now you will need to create touch screen events that transition back to the Home State: Note: In an interactive presentation, it is key that every sequence of events eventually leads back to the Home State. Otherwise, the presentation will eventually become trapped on a state it cannot transition away from. At this point, rebooting the player will be the only way to return to the rest of the presentation. a. Open the Rectangular Touch event that leads from “Products1.jpg” to “Products2.jpg”. b.
e. Repeat the above process for the “Products2.jpg”, “Features1.jpg”, and “Features2.jpg” states. f. For the “Showcase.jpg” and “LiveHDTV2.jpg” states, add a touch region to the state that encompasses the entire screen area and transitions back to the Home State. You have now created an interactive menu that viewers can navigate using a touch screen. Viewers can move forward through the slides, as well as return to the main menu at almost any time.
Publishing Presentations After creating a presentation, you can publish the content to your BrightSign player using one of four methods: Local Storage, Local Networking, Simple File Networking, or the BrightSign Network. This guide will teach you how to publish your presentations to an SD card and update your BrightSign player manually via local storage. For details on the other publishing methods, please see the BrightAuthor User Guide.
In the screen shot above, the presentation is set to “Active all day, every day” 7. In the Publish to section, click Browse, select the drive where your SD card is located, and then click OK. 8. Click Publish. When the Publish Complete notification appears, click OK.
9. Turn off your BrightSign player by unplugging the power adapter. 10. Insert the SD card used in the above steps into the BrightSign player. 11. Turn on the BrightSign player by reconnecting the power adapter. 12. Leave the SD card in the player. A local storage device (SD card or USB flash drive) must always remain inserted in the BrightSign player, regardless of which publishing method you are using.
Next steps Visit these areas of our webpage to get the most from your BrightSign player: • Documentation: Get the latest user guides, release notes, scripting references, hardware reference manuals, and regulatory guides. • Demos: Get more presentation examples, and get an overview of what BrightSign players are capable of, by downloading the BrightSign demos. • Tutorials: Get step-by-step instructions on how to use BrightAuthor to create presentations, publish presentations, and more.
