BrightAuthor FAQ

The View Mode option in BrightAuthor allows you to determine how videos will be scaled to fit in a Video Only or Video or Images zone. This option has no effect if the video and the zone are the same size.

In regular BrightWall presentations, the View mode option applies to videos on individual screens the same as described above. In stretched presentations, the View mode option applies to the entire wall. The following descriptions apply to stretched presentations only:

• Scale to Fill: The video will be stretched over all screens in the video wall. If the aspect ratio of the video wall does not match the ratio of the video content, the video will likely appear stretched or distorted.

• Letterboxed and Centered: The video will not be stretched. Instead, it will appear at the center of the video wall at its original resolution, which may cover one or multiple screens. Areas of the video wall that are not filled by the video will display the background color of the presentation.

• Fill Screen and Centered: The video will be stretched to fit the height or width of the video wall (whichever length is lesser). If the aspect ratio of the video wall does not match the ratio of the video content, the video will be cropped.

Yes. To do this:

1. In BrightSign Unit Setup, select Enable local web server in Unit Configuration

2. Define your user variables in your project.

3. Add BrightSign .js library to your webpage

No. The autoplay.xml file that is generated when you publish a presentation is a playlist file. This file includes only the information required for playback on a BrightSign player. It is not the same as a presentation project file.

To use a different font, browse to a folder on your computer that has a true type font (e.g. in a Ticker zone, click Zone Properties, and then click Browse beside font). This font will be copied to the SD card when you publish the presentation. You can use your own custom fonts or download free TrueType fonts from the web.

Yes. Although there isn’t a template export option, you can save a presentation project with the desired template layout, and then transfer it to another computer. You can then open the project in BrightAuthor, and then save the template (Layout > Save Template).

No, these legacy models are only supported by BrightAuthor versions 3.8 and earlier.

If the folder you selected has a large number of images and videos, the Media Library may take a few minutes to update.

If you copy a presentation project from one computer to another, or move or rename files used in a BrightAuthor project, BrightAuthor cannot locate the files, and you will receive an error message when you try to publish. To resolve the error, you must remove the files from each zone’s playlist in the presentation and then add them again.

The thumbnails are generated by codecs installed on your computer. You can download codecs to resolve the problem. For example, if you’re missing thumbnails for your transport streams, you can try downloading a codec such as K-Lite.

For any errors or crashes you encounter while using BrightAuthor, please post a description of the problem in the forums (http://support.brightsign.biz/hc/en-us/community/topics ) or send us an email at support@brightsign.biz and include the following information:

• Steps to duplicate the problem (or indicate that you can’t duplicate it)

• Any error dialogs you saw, including text in the dialog

• The contents of your event log right after the crash. You can find the log in this folder: C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\

  • Look for a subfolder named after the BrightAuthor version number, such as 2.4.0.

• A copy of the presentation project where you experienced the problem

Each audio file in the playlist must have the same audio sampling rate if you want to cross-fade between audio tracks in an Enhanced Audio zone. If audio tracks have different sampling rates (for example, 44kHz vs. 48kHz), the player will cut between tracks instead of fading between them.