Factors that can Affect Synchronization

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Sept 11, 2024
2 min read

To get the best results:

  1. Use Enhanced Synchronization which is the default setting in BrightAuthor:connected and BrightWall, but not in BrightAuthor (classic). Otherwise, videos will only be synchronized at the beginning and end of playback, and can be up to 1.5 frames out of sync. Enhanced Synchronization communicates during playback to keep the videos synchronized from frame to frame.

  2. Align versions, hardware, and content on all synchronized players:

    1. Use the same BrightSign OS version on all players. If you must use players with different OS versions (not recommended), make sure the leader (Screen 1 in a BrightWall) has the same or older firmware version as the follower players.

    2. The presentations for the players must be created in the same BrightAuthor or BrightAuthor:connected version. If possible, use the latest versions (see the downloads page).

    3. Images that are synchronized between players should have the same size and format. Videos should have the same resolution and frame rate, and must be encoded at a fixed rate:

      • Video bitrate should not exceed 25Mbit/s for H.264 (AVC) videos.

      • Video bitrate should not exceed 80Mbit/s for H.265 (HEVC) videos.

    4. If the leader player has video and audio, the follower players should also have video and audio. Video and audio must be the same length to the millisecond (if all screens are visible from the same location, drive all the audio from one of the players to avoid out of phase issues on other players).

    5. Players must be compatible (see the "Which BrightSign players can be synchronized?" FAQ)

    6. Use the same SD cards on all players.

  3. We recommend Class 10 SD cards to play back synchronize presentations. BrightSign SD cards have been tested and proven to work well for synchronized applications.

    • Transcend cards are not recommended.

  4. Sync over wireless is supported on recent BOS 8.x and 9.x versions, but avoid multipath if there are multiple active network connections.  Sync traffic should be limited to one network interface, via use of VLANs and/or blocking/filtering PTP multicast.

  5. To synchronize content between multiple players that are also using zone synchronization, make sure to use Zone Message commands/events rather than Link Zones commands/events (Link Zones are limited to the player).

  6. If you synchronize players in portrait mode, there are file/media and output restrictions depending on the model. See this article for details.

  7. Off-board processing by distribution amplifiers/splitters, display/wall processors, and on-display processing (scaling, filtering, smoothing) can introduce additional delays and v-sync discrepancies.

Older Player Models

  1. If you use HDx10 models for synchronization, ensure that there is no audio track in the video files. Newer players (HDx20, XDx30, Series 2, and newer) can synchronize audio and video, but older players cannot.

  2. Image playback can be sluggish on HDx10 (HD210, HD210w, HD1010, HD1010w), HDx20 (HD220, HD1020) and LS422 players, especially with larger images at 1080p. We recommend using videos for sync on those players.

  3. Enhanced Synchronization is not supported on HDx10 players. We recommend making smaller and shorter videos for these players.