Page Comparison

The Networked Variable feature in BrightAuthor requires an .xml file to update. The .xml file uses a simple RSS <item> tag. The <title> tag contains the variable name, and the <description> tag contains the variable value:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<item>
<title>test</title>
<description>50</description>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

In the example below, under File > Presentation Properties > Variables, the variable is pointing to an .xml file in a Dropbox account. When you select Validate, BrightAuthor attempts to read the value in the description field of the .xml tag.  

BSN Live Data Feeds

If you have a BrightSign Network subscription, you can use the Live Data Feed feature to update Networked Variables. With Live Data Feeds, each Title field specifies a variable name, and the corresponding Value field specifies the value of the variable.

To speed up the response process, first update the BOS and BrightAuthor version to the latest production version on the Downloads page. You should also design your presentation with the newest BrightAuthor version. Other tips to avoid lags include:

Images

• Smaller images open faster than large ones. If your images are larger than the output resolution, they will open slowly or not at all. You should size all images to the resolution of the zone they are going to be played in.

• Bitmaps images (BMP) open faster than other image types. The fastest image decode is achieved with an 8bit, RLE encoded bitmap. You can convert JPEG images to BMP using image editing software. 

• You can use the Image Cache feature in BrightAuthor (File > Presentation properties > Image Cache) to preload some images into memory so that they open much faster. You can use up to 16MB of graphics memory for the Image Cache. BrightAuthor shows how much memory each image will use when it’s opened. If an image is compressed (i.e. with the JPEG or PNG format), then it will consume more of the graphics memory than its reported file size. For example, a 100kB JPEG image might use up 4MB of memory when decompressed. Since bitmap images are not compressed, the file size of a bitmap image will always represent exactly how much memory it will use.

• Since videos open faster than images, you can use one of two provided batch programs (batch program 1, batch program 2), which convert images automatically to videos, and then change your presentation to use those videos instead of images. These batch files will convert any JPEGimages in the folder into 10 second videos. Just copy JPEG images to the folder (not in subdirectory) of the BAT file, and then run the BAT file. The JPEG image filenames can't contain spaces. You can still use a timeout event in BrightAuthor to indicate how long you want the files to play.      

Videos

• H.264 MOV videos open faster than other video formats. For HDx10 models, transport streams (H.264 or MPEG-2) are the fastest kind of video formats.

• Video files with no audio will open faster than ones with audio. Sometimes, even though there's no audio in the file, the encoder still includes an empty audio layer.

Touchscreen/Button Press

Usually, what seems to be slow touch or button responses are caused by slow images. In these cases, we recommend using videos instead. See the last bullet under “Images” for information about converting images to video.