Zones

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Sept 20, 2024
9 min read

Zone Properties

Select a zone in the Layout tab to edit the Properties for that zone. For invisible zones (Audio or Enhanced Audio), use the Navigator pane to select the zone.

  • Name: Edit the zone name.

  • Type: Use the dropdown list to change the zone type. The options in this list may be limited by the capabilities of the player, as well as media types that you have already added to the zone playlist. The various zone types are described in more detail below.

  • Size: Define the pixel Width and Height of the zone (applicable to visible zones only).

  • Position: Define the position of the zone by specifying the X and Y coordinates of the top-left corner of the zone (applicable to visible zones only).

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Zone Types

When displaying videos and/or images there are three zone types that users must consider:

  • Video, Image, or Audio

  • Video Only

  • Image Only

  • Audio Only

Upon first glance, these types may seem somewhat confusing. If one wants to add a video to a zone, for example, should the zone type be “Video, Image, or Audio”, “Video Only”, or does it not matter?

With BrightSign players, graphics elements (e.g., videos, images, HTML, etc.) are rendered on “planes”. Players have a single Graphics Plane where images can be rendered as well as a limited number of Video Planes where videos and images can be rendered.

The Graphics Plane on most BrightSign players is limited to HD. When the Output Resolution of a presentation is set to a resolution higher than HD and an image with a higher-than-HD resolution is placed on the Graphics Plane , graphics upscaling must be employed to display the image which can result in a reduction in visual quality. To get around these limitations of the graphics plane, a video plane can be used to display an image at higher-than-HD resolutions. However, this takes away one of the available video planes.

Another consideration is that the Graphics Plane can render multiple graphics elements simultaneously while a Video Plane can only play one video at a time. Since these resources need to be managed, we have zone types with limitations on the number of zones of each type you can create. These limits are driven by the hardware capabilities of the particular player the presentation is being created for.

The “Video, Image, or Audio” type makes it easier to transition between graphics states and video states without also needing zone manipulation because the autorun generated by BrightAuthor:connected automatically takes care of this complexity behind the scenes for this zone type.

Video, Image, or Audio Zone

This zone type allows you to display images, video, and HTML as well as play audio files.

Video/Image Modes

When displaying videos and images, a number of “modes” exist which dictate how the video or image will be positioned and/or scaled/stretched.

  • Centered
    Centers the video or image without scaling. This may result in cropping if the image is larger than the zone.

  • Scale to Fit
    The video or image is scaled (the aspect ratio is maintained) to fit the zone. No cropping of the image occurs and black borders are added as necessary.

  • Scale to Fill
    The video or image is scaled (the aspect ratio is maintained) to completely fill the zone. The image is cropped as necessary.

  • Stretch to Fill
    The video or image is stretched (if the aspect ratio of the image differs from that of the zone, the aspect ratio of the image will not be maintained) to fill the zone. The image may appear stretched or squashed if the aspect ratios of the image and zone do not match.

The Stretch to Fill and Scale to Fit options will not remove letterboxing if it's part of the video file.

These animated gifs help visualize the different modes:

Modes for Videos and Images

Centered
(Image Mode Only)

Scale to Fit

Scale to Fill

Stretch to Fill

 

 

Audio Output

Audio settings for this zone type are as follows:

  • Audio Output: Configure audio outputs for the zone. 

    • Analog Stereo: Check this box to enable audio output via the 3.5mm audio connector (or USB Type C connector on the LS423/LS424).

    • HDMI: Check this box to enable audio output via the HDMI® connector. If your device has multiple HDMI outputs, the corresponding number of HDMI boxes will appear, numbered as HDMI1, HDMI2, etc.  

      • PCM: Supplies the decoded audio signal through the HDMI connector.

      • Pass through: Supplies the un-decoded audio signal through the HDMI connector. Use this option if the source audio codec (for example, AC3 Dolby Digital) cannot be decoded by the BrightSign player and is being decoded on an external device.

      • Stereo: Supplies the decoded audio signal through the HDMI connector.

    • SPDIF: Check this box to enable audio output via the SPDIF connector.

      • PCM: Supplies the decoded audio signal through the SPDIF connector.

      • Pass through: Supplies the un-decoded audio signal through the SPDIF connector. Use this option if the source audio codec (for example, AC3 Dolby Digital) cannot be decoded by the BrightSign player and is being decoded on an external device.

      • Stereo: Supplies the decoded audio signal through the SPDIF connector.

  • Initial Video Volume: Set the initial volume for video files (0-100).

  • Initial Audio Volume: Set the initial volume for audio files (0-100).

  • Minimum Volume: Set the minimum volume for the zone (0-100).

  • Maximum Volume: Set the maximum volume for the zone (0-100).

The Maximum Volume setting will be overridden by other volume settings in a presentation, including the Initial Volume setting for the zone and volume commands attached to events or states.

  • Audio Mixing: Choose the mixing of the audio output:

    • Stereo: Outputs both left and right audio signals.

    • Left: Outputs the left audio signal only.

    • Right: Outputs the right audio signal only.

Video Only Zone

This zone type allows you to display video files, video streams, or HDMI input. Applicable settings are similar to those described for “Video, Image, or Audio” zone above.

Image Only Zone

This zone type allows you to display images and HTML. Applicable settings are similar to those described for “Video, Image, or Audio” zone above. Note that setting the Image Mode will have no effect if the image and the zone are the same size.

Audio Only Zone

This zone type allows you to play audio files and streaming audio.

This section has an accompanying tutorial video:

Audio output settings are similar to those described for “Video, Image, or Audio” zone above.

Attempting to play AC3 audio using a BrightSign player will fail if PCM is enabled and AC3 audio is not enabled.

Enhanced Audio Zone

Enhanced Audio zones provide similar functionality Audio zones, but allow cross-fading between audio files in the playlist: Fading occurs from silence at the beginning of the audio playlist and to silence at the end of the audio playlist, while cross-fading occurs between audio files.

Use the Fade property to specify the duration of cross-fading between audio files. This setting also affects the fade-in and fade-out durations.

Ticker Zone

Ticker zones allow you to display RSS feeds or pre-defined text strings.

This section has an accompanying tutorial video:

Ticker Zone Properties

  • Rotation: Specify the rotation of text in the zone in 90 deg increments.

  • Text appearance

    • Animated: Text appears on screen, character-by-character, from left to right as if each character is being typed. This is similar to a Teletype-style ticker.

      • Number of lines: Set the number of text lines displayed in the zone. The font size of the ticker will increase with fewer lines and decrease with more lines. Ticker font size can also be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the size of the zone.

      • Time to Display Each Line: The length of time, in seconds, each line displays in the zone.

    • Static Text: Lines of text appear without any animation.

      • Number of lines: Set the number of text lines in the zone. As with animated text, the font size of the ticker will increase with fewer lines and decrease with more lines.

      • Time to Display Each Line: The length of time, in seconds, each line displays in the zone.

      • Alignment: Specify whether the static text is left aligned, right aligned, or centered in the zone.

    • Scrolling: Text scrolls smoothly across the screen, similar to a news or stock ticker.

      • Scroll Speed: Use the slider to set the scroll speed to 100%, 200%, 300%, or 400% of normal.

  • Foreground text color: Select a color for text in the zone.

  • Background text color: Select a color for the text background in the zone.

  • Background bitmap: Check the box to display an image as the text background. You will be prompted to select an image from your BSN Content Cloud library or your local machine (depending on the Storage Selector setting).

    • Stretch to Fit: Check this box if you want to stretch the image to fill the zone.

  • Font: Select the font type for displaying text in the zone.

    • System Font: Displays text using the default Linux font.

    • BSN Font: Displays text using a custom font stored on your Content Cloud network. You can use any TrueType font. This option is only available when the Content Mode is set to BSN.Cloud. 

    • Local Font: Displays text using a custom font stored on your local machine. You can use any TrueType font. This option is only available when the Content Mode is set to Local.

      • When selecting a local font file, you cannot browse to the font files in the Windows fonts folder. You will need to copy the font file to your Desktop or another location and then select it using the Local Font button in BrightAuthor:connected. If the presentation's Destination is set to BrightSign Network, fonts can be accessed through the BSN.cloud by navigating to Set Text Parameters > BSN Fonts. 

  • Safe Text: Define the dimensions of the text region in the zone.

Clock Zone

Clock zones allow you to display the date or time.

  • Rotation: Specify the rotation of text in the zone.

  • Foreground text color: Select a color for text in the zone.

  • Background text color: Select a color for the text background in the zone.

  • Background bitmap: Check the box to display an image as the text background. You will be prompted to select an image from your BSN Content Cloud library or your local machine (depending on the Storage Selector setting).

    • Stretch to Fit: Check this box if you want to stretch the image to fill the zone.

  • Font: Select the font type for displaying text in the zone.

    • System Font: Displays text using the default Linux font.

    • BSN Font: Displays text using a custom font stored on your BSN Content Cloud network. You can use any TrueType font. This option is available when the Storage Selector is set to BSN.cloud Content. 

    • Local Font: Displays text using a custom font stored on your local machine. You can use any TrueType font. This option is available when the Storage Selector is set to Local Content. 

  • Safe Text: Define the dimensions of the text region in the zone.

Background Image Zone

The Background Image zone allows you to place an image or media feed in the background of your presentation. All other zones appear on top of this zone.

The Background Image zone consumes a video decoder on the BrightSign player. If the player model supports two video zones (e.g. XTx44, XDx34), it can support one Background Image zone and one video zone, while single-video models (e.g. HDx24, LS424) do not support both a video zone and Background Image zone simultaneously.

Control Zone

This is an invisible zone that is used to control other zones. A zone can be converted to a Control Zone from another zone type.