Understand Inherited Players & Setups

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Aug 27, 2024
4 min read

If you have inherited an existing BrightSign signage system, here are some tips to help you understand and use the setup. The most important things to know are:

  • Which Content Management System (CMS) application was used? This could be BrightAuthor, BrightAuthor:connected, or a partner CMS.

  • Which method did that application use to publish content to the player? These applications support multiple content publishing methods.

Determining the Player CMS and Publishing Type

To determine how content was published to the player, you can search the computer that was used for setup (if you have access to it), check the contents of the player SD card, or access the player through the local Diagnostic Web Server. These methods are described below:

Computer Access Method

If you can access the computer that was used to create the presentations, search for a BrightAuthor:connected, BrightAuthor, or partner CMS application.

  • If BrightAuthor:connected is installed on your computer, open it (you may need the login credentials of the previous user or may need to create your own account). Go to the Network tab to see the setup type of the players (Standalone, Local Network, Web Folder, etc.).

  • If BrightAuthor is installed on your computer, open it (you may need the login credentials of the previous user or may need to create your own account). Go to the Manage tab to see more about your setup.

  • If neither BrightAuthor nor BrightAuthor:connected are visible on the computer, search for one of our partner applications: The BrightSign Partner Network | BrightSign®. If you find their application on the player, check their website for more information.

SD Card Method

Copy the SD card information from the player to your computer using a card reader to see if BrightAuthor, BrightAuthor:connected (BA connected), or CMS partner files are on the card.

If you see XML files on the card, the BrightAuthor CMS was used. To determine the content publishing method:

  • If you see a local-sync.xml file, your player was not set up for the cloud and uses either Local File Networking or Standalone. The contents of the setup.xml file will help you determine which method was used to publish content to the player.

  • If you see a current-sync.xml file, your player is set up for the cloud and uses either BSNEE or
    BrightSignNetwork.com Simple File Networking. If the current-sync.xml file is pointing to a custom URL (the customer’s Simple File Networking server), then it is set up for Simple File Networking.

BA_SDcard.png
This setup uses BrightAuthor and Local File Networking or Standalone

If you see JSON files on the card, BrightAuthor:connected was used. To determine the content publishing method:

  • If you see a local-sync.json file, your player is not set up for the cloud and was using either Local Network or Standalone.

  • If you see a current-sync.json file, your player is set up for the cloud and is using BSN.cloud Simple File Networking. If the current-sync.json file is pointing to a custom URL (the customer’s simple file networking server) then it is set up for Web Folder.

SDCard.png
This setup uses BrightAuthor:connected for Simple File Networking

Here are examples of SD card contents from some BrightSign CMS partners:

IP Access Method

You can also enter the IP address of the player into a browser to access the local Diagnostic Web Server (DWS):

  1. Open a web browser.

  2. Enter the player IP address in the address bar.

  3. You should now have access to all the features of the local DWS (see Diagnostic Web Server | Local DWS for more information) which will help you understand the setup type of the player.

Other

If you can’t access the SD card but do have the player serial number, you can send that information to the BrightSign support team for further assistance. 

BrightAuthor and BrightAuthor:connected Recovery

Have your IT staff redirect the BrightAuthor or BrightAuthor:connected admin emails to you and reset the account password. If possibly, use a generic email account so future users can avoid this process.

Next Steps

Once you have determined the CMS and setup type of the player, see the following resources: