BrightAuthor General Troubleshooting FAQs

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

The eventlog.txt file location for Windows Vista and Windows versions 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11 is:

• %localappdata%\\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\version_number 

• For example: C:\Users\John Doe\AppData\Local\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\4.3.0.11

The eventlog.txt file location for Windows XP is:

• %appdata%\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\version_number

• For example:
  C:\Documents and Settings\John Doe\Local Settings\Application Data\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\3.7.0.11

Try the following:

1. Update your graphics card driver to the latest version.

2. Try removing all files from the BrightAuthor Media Library folder. Then open BrightAuthor again. If it opens, this would indicate a codec problem when BrightAuthor tries to build thumbnails for the Media Library. 

3. If the files used in the project are stored on a networked drive or external drive, try opening them from a location on your local disk. 

4. Update to the latest version of BrightAuthor, which can be found on the Software Downloads page.

If these suggestions don’t work, post a description of the problem in the forums or email us at support@brightsign.biz and include:

• 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 (see https://brightsign.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DOC/pages/edit-v2/2085126145#Where-is-the-BrightAuthor-eventlog%3F)

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

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.

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.

• If you add content to your Media Library folder when BrightAuthor is open, it doesn't automatically refresh. You need to click on Refresh in the top right to update the library.

• Only files with recognized extensions appear in the Media Library. These extensions are supported:

  • Audio files: .mp3, .wav, .ac3 (pass through only)

  • Image files: .jpg, .png, .bmp

  • Video files: .mpg, .vob, .ts, .mov, .mkv, .mp4, .m2ts, .wmv

  • Text files: .txt

• If you select a zone in your project that only plays certain types of media (like an Video Only zone) only supported media types will be displayed.

• Text files will only show in BrightAuthor if you have a Ticker zone selected and you click the Text tab under Media Library. If you are having difficulty changing the file extension type to .txt,  make sure “Hide file extensions for known file types” is not turned on in Windows. See this third-party doc for guidance.

As of BrightAuthor version 4.6.0.35, you can set the transition type and duration through the Image List panel:

To use Remote Snapshot, the Enable Remote Snapshot box must be checked during the setup process and the player must be running a presentation created in BrightAuthor 4.1.1.14 or later. To update the presentation in the group, either:

• Recreate the presentation in BrightAuthor 4.1.1.14 or later

• Export the presentation (File > Export <presentation name>) into BrightAuthor after you have upgraded it to a newer version.

• Update the autorun of the BSN group. This solution may cause unexpected changes, so test it before attempting it on players in the field. To do this:

  1. In BrightAuthor, log in to your BSN account.

  2. Go to Tools > Advanced

  3. Select the Update Autorun tab

  4. Check the boxes next to the group(s) that should use Remote Snapshot.

  5. Select Update now.

BrightAuthor configures networked players to synchronize their internal clocks with the BrightSign time server (http://time.brightsignnetwork.com). During setup, players can also be configured to connect to any HTTP server to retrieve the time. This synchronization process is carried out using the HTTP Time Protocol (HTP).

Problems can occur if a home or small office router is being used as a switch and DHCP server, and not to provide Internet connectivity. Routers that are configured in this manner will likely have incorrect time settings because they cannot determine the correct time without an Internet connection. Routers built for enterprise operations will likely not be affected by this issue.

When routers do not have upstream connectivity, they often provide an error, configuration, or diagnostics page to any device that makes an HTTP request. A player attempting to retrieve the time from the remote server will instead retrieve the time from the router redirect page, which will have the incorrect time. This can cause a number of problems with schedules, events, and clock/date displays. Severe problems can occur if the router causes time to move backward on the internal player clock.

If you cannot change the switch/DHCP configuration of the local network, disable the time server requests using the player configuration process in BrightAuthor:

1. Navigate to Tools > Setup BrightSign Unit.

2. Locate the Time server field under Network Properties.

3. Remove the URL entered in the Time server field so that it is blank.

4. Specify other player settings in the BrightSign Unit Setup window as desired.

5. Click Create Setup Files to publish the files to an SD card. You can then setup the player using the card.

The issue described above may also occur with some router models when they lose Internet connectivity, even if they are being used in a standard way and not as a network switch. You can prevent this issue by configuring the player to make NTP or HTTPS requests.

Dynamic Playlists support a maximum of 500 content files, so ensure that it has fewer than 500 files before uploading it to BSN. If you need dynamic playback of more than 500 files, create two or more Dynamic Playlists to hold the content.

This type of error can be caused by proxy server or firewall blocking BrightAuthor's access to the Internet. Even if you aren't using a BrightSign Network account, BrightAuthor contacts BSN servers to get the latest firmware versions for public and beta releases. See this page for more information.

Try to duplicate the problem, then exit BrightAuthor if it is open. Find the eventlog.txt file (see this FAQ for more info) and forward it to support@brightsign.biz with a description of the problem.

There should be no spaces in the filename of the content you upload to a Media RSS feed. Dashes, underscores, and/or camelCase can be used instead. For example, instead of Your File Name Here.jpg, use any of:

• YourFileNameHere.jpg            

• Your-File-Name-Here.jpg

• Your_File_Name_Here.jpg

The “KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary” error can be caused by a corrupted UserPreferences.xml file, for example, an empty language setting or a missing localization language entry. Try uninstalling and re-installing BrightAuthor to fix this problem.

BrightAuthor presentation files (.bpf files) created on one computer may fail to open on another computer due to the language that the operating system is set to. Verify the operating systems on both computers are set to the same language, change the language to English temporarily, then try to open the presentation file in BrightAuthor. For example:

Action

You attempt to cast a numeric string to a numeric data type, using code similar to the following:

Dim strInput As String = "10"
Dim intResult As Integer = 0
Try
  intResult = Convert.ToInt16(strInput)
  Catch ex As Exception
  MessageBox.Show("Error: " & ex.Message)
End Try

Result

You receive a System.FormatException with "Input string was not in a correct format" and this stack trace:

A first chance exception of type 'System.FormatException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
at System.Int16.Parse(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
at System.Convert.ToInt16(String value)
at TypeConversionTest.Form1.cmdConvert_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Source\TypeConversionTest\TypeConversionTest\Form1.vb:line 7

Cause

There is an incorrect value in the following value in the Windows registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\sPositiveSign

This value should be empty for most English Language settings. Note that when this error occurs, the value may appear empty visually, but may contain a space or unprintable character.

Resolution

While it is possible to directly edit the value for the problem key, the preferred method is to change the Regional Settings to a different Region/Language and then reset it to the desired setting:

1. Open the Regional and Language Options applet from the Control Panel.

2. Note the Current Format.

3. Change the Current Format to "English (Australian)".

4. Click Apply.

5. Change the Current Format to the desired format (for example, "English (American)").

6. Click Apply and then click OK.

This action resets every value under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International registry key.