BAconnected General FAQ

What is the difference between Setup, Provision, and Activate?

This page explains Setups and Provisioning in more detail and is highly recommended reading.

Generally speaking, the process of setting up a player involves applying a Setup to that player. The Setup includes various player settings including the critical Publishing Mode which defines the method with which content will be delivered to the player. The Setup also includes a Player App which, at a minimum, must contain an autorun.brs file (the .brs extension denotes a BrightScript file) which instructs the player what to do upon startup.

Applying a Setup to a player using BSN.Cloud (via Admin > Provision using BrightAuthor:connected, bsn.cloud, or control.bsn.cloud) is known as provisioning. Since most situations involve using BSN.Cloud to apply Setups to players, the term provisioning is often used to refer to the process of setting up a player.

Publishing presentation content is separate from provisioning, but these steps can be combined. For example, you can deliver the player app with the content as a single package via an autorun.zip file.

Activate

A QR code appears on the connected display when a player is first powered up. This code can be used to provision the player and automatically apply a default Setup:

• If the player is using bsn.Control, it will be configured for DHCP with Local Network publishing and given a default name.

• If the player is using bsn.Content, it will be configured for DHCP with BSN.Cloud publishing and given a default name.

If you do not want to use the default Setup, first create a Setup to apply to your player. If you use the QR code to set up your players and then try to change to a different Setup type, you will have to go through the re-provisioning process. See this page for more information about that process, and see Activate for more details about player activation.

What are BSN.Cloud data usage limits?

This information is governed by the Terms of Service:

• Current subscriptions include 1GB/player/month or 12GB/player/year for download.

• Active storage on our service is currently not limited. 

• Customers are responsible for the backup of their data and BrightSign makes no commitment to retain data that isn't currently in use.

• Single file upload is limited to 5GB per file.

Do you need to use BrightAuthor:connected to create playlists?

Playlists can be created in the BrightAuthor:connected Presentation tab (see this page for a tutorial). To create simple presentations without BrightAuthor:connected (or any other publishing software), see the “Can I play files without presentation software (BrightAuthor, BAconnected, etc.)?” FAQ.

Will my BrightSign player appear on my local network like my computer?

No. BrightSign players are not capable of traditional computer file sharing and thus do not appear on Mac or PC network viewers.

If your player was set up for the BSN.Cloud publishing mode, it will be visible under the Network tab in BrightAuthor:connected where various settings can be accessed.

If your player is on the same network as the computer you are using to run BrightAuthor:connected, you can publish to the player directly using the Local Network publishing mode. Alternatively, you can set the player up for the Web Folder publishing mode where content on the player is automatically updated from a designated web folder.

More info on the various publishing modes can be found here.

Which Video Mode should I use in BrightAuthor:connected?

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

See Zones | Zone Types for more information about the BrightAuthor:connected Video Mode types.

Why can’t I see my players in the Network tab?

This is usually caused by a communication issue with BSN.Cloud servers (for example, a missing player setting or configuration or a network issue). Check the following:

1. Make sure that Enable BSN.cloud is selected in Admin > Player Settings > Advanced (this setting is Enable Control Cloud or Content Cloud in BrightAuthor:connected 1.36.0 or later and Enable bsn.Control or bsn.Content in BrightAuthor:connected version 1.42 or later):

2. Make sure that the player was activated before or during the setup process. For more information, see this page.

3. To communicate with players, the network must meet some basic requirements. See this page for more details.

4. Players must be on BrightSign OS version 8.0.119 or later to run BSN.Cloud, so make sure your player OS is compatible with BSN.Cloud. See the next topic if you need instructions about how to update your OS.

How do I update the BrightSignOS version on my player using BrightAuthor:connected?

There are several different ways to update the OS in BrightAuthor:connected. See Update the Player OS for more information.