Player Troubleshooting FAQ

Why is playback failing when playing multiple audio and video files?

If you are trying to play multiple audio and/or video files simultaneously, playback might fail if the files use differing audio sampling rates. Ensure that all audio and video files use the same audio sampling rate (for example, 44.1KHz or 48KHz).

Some player models allow Mixed Audio PCM or Mixed Audio PCM / Compressed audio settings, which allow you to mix different audio sampling rates. See Presentation Settings | Audio.

Why is my image or video distorted, playing too fast, or not displaying properly?

Video Troubleshooting

1. Try playing a different video to rule out a problem with the display, cables, hardware, etc.

2. Make sure that your video file extension is supported by the player and that the video does not exceed the maximum video resolution for your player. Extension and resolution information is available on this page.

3. Verify that your video uses the recommended constant bitrate (CBR). See Optimizing Video Quality for details. 

4. If your video is playing too fast:

   1. Make sure your video is not an MPEG elementary stream. If you are playing an MPEG elementary stream that's encoded at 25 fps, but the player is outputting 50 or 75 fps, it will play faster than normal.

   2. Try re-encoding your video as an MPEG-2 program stream or transport stream. Some encoders require that you add a silent audio layer to create a program stream, or you can use one of several utilities such as Mpeg2Vcr to convert the video.

Image Troubleshooting

If your image isn't displaying, it might be an unsupported format or the image size may be too big for your player. See this page for more information about supported formats and sizes.

Why am I getting a"Please Insert Card" message when I boot the player?

1. Check that the card is inserted properly into the SD card slot (you should hear a click).

2. If this is a new card, ensure that it is formatted as exFAT or FAT32.

3. Try a different brand and/or size card. We recommend using BrightSign approved cards.

4. If you are using the Standalone publishing method, verify that you published the presentation files (autorun.brs, current-sync.xml, etc.) to the root of the SD card ("SD:\").

5. SDXC cards do not work on HD110, HD210, HD410, HD810 or HD1010 players.

6. SDHC cards do not work on HD2000 players.

Why is the VGA Output discolored?

A loose or damaged VGA cable or an incorrect resolution setting in the presentation can cause this. To fix it:

1. Check that the VGA cable is securely fastened to the connector on the player and the display.

2. Verify that the Screen resolution of the presentation is set to a VGA resolution. You can set the Screen resolution in BrightAuthor:connected in Presentation > Layout Settings and in BrightAuthor in File > Presentation Properties > Main.

3. Test with a different VGA cable.

4. Test with a different display.

5. Test with a different BrightSign player (if available).

Why is the player clock not working?

Networked BrightSign players synchronize their internal clocks with the BrightSign time server (http://time.brightsignnetwork.com) or can be configured to retrieve the time from an HTTP server during setup. If a home or small office router is being used as a switch and DHCP server and does not provide internet connectivity, it cannot determine the time and may provide an error page in response to the HTTP request. A player attempting to retrieve the time from this server will instead get an incorrect time from the redirect page. This can cause problems with schedules, events, and clock/date displays. Severe problems can occur if the router causes time to move backward on the internal player clock.

This issue may also occur with some router models when they lose internet connectivity, even if they are not being used as a network switch. If you cannot change the switch/DHCP configuration of the local network, disable the time server requests.

To do this in BrightAuthor:connected:

1. Go to the Admin tab

2. Edit the existing Setup in Setup Library (or create a new Setup if you prefer)

3. Under Network Configuration, select Include network configuration and Network Options.

4. In the Player tab, remove the URL entered in the Time server field so that it is blank.

5. Select Done and Save Setup. Apply this Setup to the player.

To do this in BrightAuthor:

1. Go to Tools > Setup BrightSign Unit.

2. Locate the Time server field under Network Properties.

3. Remove the URL entered in the Time server field so that it is blank.

4. Specify other player settings in the BrightSign Unit Setup window as desired.

5. Click Create Setup Files to publish the files. Apply this Setup to the player.

Why can’t my player set the time using NTP?

If your player is having trouble retrieving the time from a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, it is likely that the firewall on the local network is blocking UDP communications. The Network Time Protocol uses UDP to communicate with time servers, and BrightSign players cannot route these requests through a proxy server like they can with HTTP/HTTPS communications. 

There are a few ways to fix this problem:

• Configure the firewall on the local network to allow NTP requests to pass through. The player will send NTP requests whether or not it is configured to use an HTTP/HTTPS proxy.

• Configure the player to use the HTTP Time Protocol (HTP), which can work through most proxies.

• Run an NTP server instance on the local network. Make sure the player is configured to use this NTP server in BrightAuthor:connected or BrightAuthor.

See this page for more information about time servers on BrightSign players.

Can I connect my player to a wireless network?

You can connect to a wireless network using a WS105, WS104, or WS103 wireless module.

BrightSign players support most commonly used wireless encryption formats: WEP (64 & 128), WPA (TKIP), and WPA2 (AES). WPA Enterprise is supported using EAP-TLS (with DER, PEM, or PKCS#12 certificates) and PEAPv0/MSCHAPv2 (with a username and passphrase). Wired authentication via 802.1x is also supported. 

See our documentation for WS105, WS104, and WS103 specs and installation instructions.

The wireless settings of a player are configured in Network Options in BrightAuthor:connected or in Unit Setup in BrightAuthor/BSN.

Also, any networked model that doesn't have a wireless module can use a wireless bridge (game adapter) connected to the ethernet port. 

Do I need to change my firewall so my player can connect to the Internet?

Networked BrightSign players need to access certain ports and URLs. BrightAuthor:connected desktop client access requirements are described here, and BrightAuthor/BSN requirements are documented here.

Why is the audio quality poor?

Poor audio quality is normally caused by a problem with the file or bad encoding.

1. Try re-encoding the audio or video, or using a different application to encode the video.

2. If you're using high bitrate video (20Mbps or more), it's possible the flash card isn't fast enough to keep up. Try encoding at a lower bitrate.

3. If you are using MPEG-2 files, open your video using the Mpeg2VCR utility, and save it. Some videos have an uneven distribution of audio and video packets in the MPEG stream. This can cause audio drop outs, hiccups, or distortion. You can download a 30-day trial of Mpeg2VCR from Womble.

The red error LED flashed 10 times on my player. How do I fix it?

LED error codes are described in each player’s Theory of Operations page (for example, XT5 Theory of Operations). A red LED flashing 10 times indicates that a runtime error has occurred in the autorun.brs script.

Script errors can be caused by a problem with the content or a bug in the autorun script. To troubleshoot the problem:

1. Confirm that the Read-Only tab on the SD card is not in the locked position.

2. If the player is running an older OS version, download and install the current version from the Downloads page. You can determine the current OS version by powering up the player without an SD card (or a different storage device): The version will be displayed on the screen.

3. If you are using BrightAuthor:connected or BrightAuthor to publish presentations, download and install the current version from the Downloads page.

4. Verify that the SD/microSD card is formatted correctly. See this page for more details.

5. If you are using the older autoplay.bsp or autoplay.csv format, an old autorun file or errors in the playlists can cause this error. 

Why is there no display even though the player power light is on?

This problem is normally caused by an incompatible video signal or a problem with the content. To debug this:

Check whether the issue is with the resolution of the presentation:

1. If you are connected using VGA, verify that the presentation is not using an HDMI-only resolution like 1920x1080.

2. If you are using HDMI/Component for output, please verify that your display is set to the correct input.

3. If the presentation is currently set for 1080p output, try different 1920x1080 settings (e.g. 1080p30), as well as 720p. 

4. If your presentation is set to 1080 at 29.97p, this mode might not be supported by your display even if it supports 1080p.

5. If you are using the VGA, try using 1024x768 first, then try other VGA resolutions.

If you still can't get the presentation to display, test whether the issue is with the video/image files in the presentation:

1. Transfer other content files that work with your player to the root folder of an SD/microSD card (without any other presentation or content files)

2. Insert the card into the player

3. Reboot the player.

If any red/yellow LEDs are blinking, check Interpret Flashing LEDs on a Playerto see what the problem is.

Why is my 1280x800x60p video dropping frames?

According to the VESA DMT standard, the 1280x800x60p video mode should be output to monitors using a vertical frequency of 59.810Hz, which is significantly slower than the 60Hz at which your video is encoded. This difference in speeds causes the video output to run slower than the video decode at the rate of 1 frame every 5 seconds, resulting in the dropped frames seen on screen.

This discrepancy can affect other VESA modes to a lesser extent. The following modes may exhibit a dropped frame once every 8-10 seconds: 1400x1050x75p, 1440x900x60p, 1680x1050x60p, 1920x1200x60p.

Because the frequency discrepancy is part of the standard, this issue cannot be fixed. If you wish to avoid dropped frames with your video, we recommend doing one of the following:

• Downscale the video to a TV mode at 60p (e.g. set the video output to 1280x720x60p).

• Upscale the video to a TV mode at 60p (e.g. set the video output to 1920x1080x60p).

• Re-encode the video so that it uses the exact refresh rate of the VESA mode (for example, 59.810Hz for 1280x800x60p). This is the only way to fix the dropped frames problem without changing the resolution. Note that this will cause video playback to be slightly slower, so any accompanying audio will need to be matched to the new refresh rate as well.

Why is the red error LED on the player flashing three times?

This indicates one of two common errors, depending on whether the player is set up for BSN or not:

BrightSign Network

The player is trying to enter recovery mode. When you use a player with a BSN account, recovery information is stored in the registry to allow the player to fix itself in case of file system errors. The player will enter recovery mode if any of the following occurs:

• The SD card (or other storage device) becomes corrupted.

• The player is booted up with no SD card (or other storage device).

• The storage device has content, but no presentation script (i.e. autorun.brs).

If you wish to continue using BSN with the player, the player must contain an SD card or other storage device and have a valid Internet connection. It will then automatically recover and download the presentation for its assigned group the next time it boots up.

If you do not want the player to enter recovery mode anymore, you will need to permanently remove the recovery settings from the player (including all BSN settings). To do this, either:

• Download the attached registry-clean.zip file. Copy the autroun.brs file from the .zip folder onto the root folder of the SD card, insert the SD card into the player, and power it up.

• Perform the Device Setup process again using BrightAuthor: Set up the player for Standalone, Local File Network, or Simple File Network publishing.  

Other Configurations

The player is indicating that there is no presentation script (i.e. autorun.brs file) on the SD card or other attached storage device. You will see this error code if you power up the player without a storage device, or if the storage device does not contain an autorun.brs file or content files in its root folder.

To fix this issue, publish a presentation from BrightAuthor to the root folder of the storage device, insert it into the player, and reboot the player. Alternatively, you can include a set of content files in the root folder of the storage device--the player will display them as a simple looping playlist.