Last Updated: October 23, 2018
There are four methods for creating synchronized presentations. Use the following descriptions to decide which method is best for your digital signage deployment.
BrightWall™
Resources: BrightAuthor User Guide -- BrightWall Presentations
This feature allows streamlined creation and publishing of looping video playlists for video walls (images cannot be included in the playlist). BrightWall can be accessed by navigating to the Create tab and selecting BrightWall™. BrightWall is only available in BrightAuthor versions 3.8.0.x and later.
BrightWall is the easiest way to create and publish video walls:
- It has tools for generating video wall content by splitting up a single video or integrating several video files into a synchronized wall.
- It allows you to save the video wall project as a single presentation file. With standard synchronization or Enhanced Synchronization projects, you will need to create and manage multiple presentations (one master and one or more slaves) for a single deployment.
- It allows for simplified publishing using Standalone or Local File Network methods. Standard and Enhanced Synchronization projects, on the other hand, require separate publishing steps for each player in a deployment.
- Advanced IP configuration is not required for most networks.
The simplicity of BrightWall presentations also includes some drawbacks. You can only create simple looping playlists: There are no options for interactivity. Furthermore, only MP4 and TS video files are supported (images cannot be included in the playlist).
Autowall
The Autowall Plugin Kit allows you to publish video walls that automatically resize to fit the number of players in the wall. Autowall presentations play videos from BSN Dynamic Playlists or MRSS feeds (any image or audio files that are part of the feed will be ignored), and also supports a multiscreen-ticker option.
See this page to download and view instructions about the Autowall Plugin Kit.
Enhanced Synchronization
This option allows for more closely timed Synchronize events. Master and slave events execute within a few milliseconds of each other. Enhanced Synchronization can be enabled by navigating to File > Presentation Properties > Interactive. This feature is only available in BrightAuthor versions 3.8.0.x and later.
Enhanced Synchronization offers some of the benefits of BrightWall presentations without the same drawbacks—though they tend to be more complicated to create and publish. The close execution benefit applies only to image and video states within an interactive presentation: Synchronized transitions to and from audio files and presentation states (such as Event Handler, Live Text, and HTML5) do not benefit from Enhanced Synchronization.
NOTE: When using players with different firmware versions (not recommended), make sure the Master (Screen 1 in a BrightWall) has the same or older firmware version as the slave players.
Synchronization
Resources: Can I synchronize multiple BrightSign players?, How do I create a video wall?
This is the original synchronization option, which entails using Synchronize events and commands without enabling Enhanced Synchronization. This option should be used with legacy synchronized presentations.
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