BrightAuthor (Legacy) User Guide

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Oct 16, 2024
2 min read

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BrightAuthor is our legacy software application that allows you to create and publish digital-signage presentations for BrightSign players. You can play BrightAuthor presentations on all BrightSign models. Your presentations can include various types of content:

  • Images

  • Videos

  • Live video: Supported on the XD1230, XD1132, 4K1142, and XT1143

  • Audio

  • HTML5 pages

  • IP Streaming audio/video

  • Text

  • Date and time

  • RSS, MRSS, and Twitter feeds

  • BrightSign Network features: Dynamic Playlists, Live Data feeds (RSS), Live Media feeds (MRSS)

  • SignChannel (a subscription is required to use SignChannel -see http://www.signchannel.com/ for details)

What Types of Presentation Can I Create?

You can create three types of presentation in BrightAuthor:

  • Non-Interactive: A playlist of media (images, video, audio) that plays in a continuous loop. You can play non-interactive presentations on all BrightSign models.

  • Interactive: A presentation that transitions between media based on input from a user via button board, touchscreen, remote control, or similar input device. All models support at least one type of interactive event. The event types supported by a player model depend on the connectors and inputs that player has (for example, players with a USB port support touch screen and button board events, and players with an Ethernet port support UDP events).

  • BrightWall™: A non-interactive playlist of media (video files or live video) that is closely synchronized across multiple players. BrightWall presentations are ideal for video-wall applications.

What Types of Screen Layout Can I Use?

You can choose from a variety of ready-to-use layout templates. You can also create your own template. Layout templates fall into two basic categories:

  • Full Screen: The media (images, video, HTML) occupies the entire screen (this can be used for audio-only presentations as well).

  • Multi-Zone: The presentation contains content in separate regions of the screen. The screen can include multiple Clock, Text, Ticker, and Images zones, as well as (depending on the player model) multiple Video Only zones.