Media RSS Feed

You can use Media RSS Feed states to display the content in Dynamic Playlists or MRSS feeds. An MRSS feed can be hosted on a third-party server or the BrightSign Network (using the Live Media feature). MRSS feeds can be used to play image, video, audio, and HTML content (different content types can be mixed into a single feed).

Follow these steps to add an MRSS feed to your presentation:

1. Click the Other tab below Media Library.

2. Drag the Media RSS Feed icon to the playlist area.

3. Select a Data Feed from the dropdown list.  If you have not added a Data Feed to the presentation yet, click Add Data Feed and follow these steps:

   1. Enter a Feed name.

   2. Under Feed specification, do one of the following:

      1. To add an MRSS feed that's hosted on a third-party server, select Url and enter the URL for the MRSS feed.

      2. To add a BSN Live Media feed, select Live Media Feed and choose the feed from the dropdown list.

      3. To add a BSN Dynamic Playlist, select Dynamic Playlist and choose the feed from the dropdown list.

   3. Under Data feed content usage, select MRSS Feed.

   4. Use the Update Interval dropdown menu to determine how often the player should check in with the server to update content in the feed.

   5. Click OK to add the MRSS feed to your presentation.

4. Click OK.

Media RSS Feed Caching in BrightAuthor

BrightAuthor presentations will cache a single Media RSS (MRSS) feed and retain the content files until they are refreshed. If you are using multiple MRSS feeds with BrightAuthor version 3.7.0.37 or later, multiple feeds will be cached as long as the MRSS .xml file includes the size of the files being downloaded. If you have several MRSS feeds in the same zone and you change from one feed to another, the first feed will not be purged if the downloaded file sizes are included.

Media files that are no longer referenced by the MRSS feed(s) will remain on the storage until all available space is filled. The system will then begin removing files that are no longer referenced to make room for new MRSS content. If you want to ensure that free space is left on the card for other purposes, BrightAuthor versions 3.8.0.38 and later allow you to define the maximum size allotted to dynamic data (MRSS feeds and Dynamic Playlists).

To specify a dynamic data pool size, navigate to Edit > Preferences > Storage and check the Limit storage space by function box. You can choose to restrict the Dynamic Data pool by either absolute size (MB) or by percentage of the total storage. When this pool is filled with cached MRSS files, the system will begin deleting files that are no longer referenced by the MRSS feed(s).

Downloading Files in a Media RSS Feed

When playing an Media RSS feed, a BrightAuthor presentation will play files as they are downloaded. The presentation will wait up to five seconds per image. If an image file takes longer than five seconds to download, the unit skips to the next image in the feed. If a video file has not finished downloading, the unit will skip to the next file until all feed items have been attempted.

The player will play feed items that are already downloaded while waiting for the rest of the feed to be completed.

Troubleshooting Media RSS Feeds

If BrightAuthor cannot access the feed, this might indicate that the feed is invalid, that it is in an unsupported format, or that BrightAuthor can’t connect to the Internet:

1. Try some feeds from well known sites like CNN, BBC, etc. to see if they work

2. Enter the feed URL in your web browser. You should see an XML document that reads <rss version ="x.x">.

3. Make sure your the RSS feed is not an Atom feed (these are not currently supported).

4. Verify whether the feed has HTML tags. Presentations built with BrightAuthor 4.0.0.x or earlier do not support feeds that are HTML based.

5. If Internet Explorer has proxy server settings enabled, then BrightAuthor will use those settings as well. This can prevent BrightAuthor from reaching the Internet.