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Synchronized Video playlist on HD222's -- Media End vs. Sync command between videos in playlist?

John Evans

April 12, 2017 16:58

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Hi All.

In the past I've had fine success synchronizing multiple HD222s playing 1 looping video. 

Now I am trying to play a 2-video play list as a loop and get them to sync. If you review the attached screen grabs, I have a Master HD222 with a splash image, a time event with a Sync command labeled "sync1," then Video 1 plays, then a Media End event with a Sync command labeled "sync2," then Video 2 plays, then a media end event, a sync1 command, and returns to Video 1 again. This process loops.

For the Slave presentation, I have the splash image, a sync event (sync1) then Slave Video 1 plays, then a sync event (sync2) then video 2 plays.

 

Is this correct? Or should my Slave presentation have Media End events at the end of each video too? (with the appropriate Sync command).

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

MASTER BPF

SLAVE BPF

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31 comments

• 1
  
  Bright Scripters April 12, 2017 17:07

  Hi John,

   

  Seems like you are working too hard my fellow bright scripter.

  BrightWall is your friend.

  Simply create a video wall configuration, with the number of screens you have.

  Doesn't matter how they are arranged. As long as you have the correct number of screens, you'll be fine.

  You can then create a sequence of multiple videos, for each screen, and publish.

  It is a bit of learning curve, but well worth the investment of your time.

  Please let us know how that went.

  Best of luck

• 0
  
  John Evans April 12, 2017 17:13

  Indeed, I spoke to Lyndon and understand the advantages of the BW. But we can't do a BW configuration right now because these are set up in standard groups in a remote location I can't access to reconfigure, etc.. Plus we're running this particular project for a few days and I  won't get the BW configured correctly before it ends.

  That's why I just need to know if this is the right solution for now.

  So, apart from the BrightWall being the best long-term solution, does anyone know if this is the best way to script this particular project?

• 1
  
  Bright Scripters April 12, 2017 17:40

  Understood perfectly!

   

  What is the issue that you are seeing?

  What is working, and what is not?

   

   

   

• 1
  
  Allen H. Porter April 12, 2017 18:00

   

  This should work using Enhanced Sync assuming your timer is set to the same and your simultaneous videos between the master and slave are the same length.  Don't forget to turn on Enhanced sync and set the Master/Slave.  Both players should be on the same subnet.

  

   

  

• 1
  
  Allen H. Porter April 12, 2017 18:12

  We have done a number of video walls but we have not used BrightWall...we only have used Enhanced Sync.  The only issues I have seen are when a switch stops passing UDP and when we tried WiFi (for fun...and it sometimes worked!).  We have even set the UDP Destination address to Multicast and jumped across subnets.

   

   

• 1
  
  ^UD\_$ April 12, 2017 20:05

  I'm still curious about how their current program is working or not working.

  What is the problem that John is trying to solve exactly.

  Is the master playing and the slaves are idle?

   

  If applicable, combining all three sections to a single file would simplify things.

  That way, each player is playing one file, instead of three, so there are less moving parts.

• 1
  
  John Evans April 12, 2017 20:47

  Allen. 

  
  Thanks for the heads up on "enhanced sync." My only previous experience was from a tutorial (this one: http://bit.ly/2onJsWK ) from a few years ago and that wasn't an option in BA at the time. I'll look into those configurations and report back.

   

  UD|_Sheme5h

  The current version was not working. I'm not able to see the problem on site, and I'm relying on a retail manager who can only describe what he's seeing on the displays so my feedback isn't ideal. I THINK one of the players is showing my splash image (master) I believe and the others are blank.

  I'm hoping to get a photo from him at some point so I can see what he sees. 

   

• 1
  
  Allen H. Porter April 12, 2017 20:58

  A slave player that fails to see the UDP command will play until it gets to the point where it needs the command then freeze...and ultimately go to black screen.  So it looks dead to the uninitiated.

• 1
  
  ^UD\_$ April 12, 2017 21:07

  The plot thickens... :)

  Pictures from the store would help.

  Are the players on Bright Sign Network?

  Can you get snapshots from the players?

   

  You may be looking at a different issue.

  For troubleshooting, you could publish a test presentation to both, only showing the splash screen.

  Use the same presentation for both.

  Confirm with the store that both screens are showing the content.

  Then, publish the master presentation to the master player.

  Confirm that master is working.

  Then, publish slave presentation to the slave player.

  Confirm that all is working.

   

   

• 1
  
  Bright Scripters April 12, 2017 21:13

  Looks like there is a brother in need for help :)

  John,

  While you are figuring things up with the store, we could test your presentations here.

  Would you like to provide a download link to the two presentations? (Master and Slave)

  If not suitable for public exposure, you could email to bright.scripters@gmail.com

   

• 0
  
  John Evans April 12, 2017 21:42

  Hi All.

  I'll email the files to Bright Scripters. (since they belong to a client). I revised them using Allen's suggestion of "Enhanced sync" (slave and master)" and I gave each of the sync events their respective unique names.

  I just revised the presentations to Allen's suggestions and uploaded them, Once the file updates to the players I'll check with the on-site manager and get a couple of cell phone images. 

  ----

  Here's the thing. The system has sync'd fine for months as of yesterday with only one video in the playlist. The problem occurred today when I scheduled a new presentation containing multiple videos in a playlist. So:

  As of 4/11/17: Loop Video1 forever = no problem. 

  As of 4/12/17: Play Video 1 then Video 2 in a loop = problem.

  My suspicion is I just didn't get the sync commands and sync names right between the video events in the playlist. 

  I'd LOVE to render it all as one long video, but I have to switch out the second video each day at midnight to be a new video the following day. 

  Basically what's been happening its this:

  The units successfully play "Video1" on a 24-hour loop as it has been doing fine for a couple years.

  What's SUPPOSED to happen starting today is this:

  Plays "Video 1" (same content as before) then -> "Video2 Ver. 4/12/17"

  Tomorrow at 12AM it will play "Video1" then -> "Video2 Ver. 4/13/17"

  Friday at 12AM it will play "Video1" then -> "Video2 Ver. 4/14/17"

  Sat at 12AM = "Video1" then -> "Video2 Ver. 4/15/17"

  etc. through 4/17/17

  As of yesterday everything was fine . . . because the playlist only contained 1 video. Then I added the second video and she went kaplooy!

   

  Thanks again to everyone for your ideas and help.

   

  john

   

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 13:59

  Gents:

  I made these changes recommended and uploaded them. Things WERE working but now they're not.

  Of the 6 slaved networked players, 2 are stuck on my custom splash screen while the others play fine. PlayerB and PlayerD are now hanging on the splash screen.

  This doesn't make sense. All of the slave files were created from the same file. I just created one file, then "saved as" for each new player presentation file.
  
  Moreover, when I looked on the BSN snapshots, there were points earlier this morning (around 2AM) when Player B was playing fine, but then beginning at 4:45 all the remote snapshots are of the splash screen.
  Player D was playing find until around 9AM this morning and now it's holding on the splash screen.

  Any idea why this would be happening?

  QUESTION: I've set the "recover don't reformat" switch for the players that are hanging. I don't know if I need to have the players power cycled for this to take effect or if they'll do it the next time they check in to the BSN.

• 0
  
  Allen H. Porter April 13, 2017 14:29

  If a player fails to receive the UDP synch word for that video it will hang.  Are all players on the same subnet?  See the screenshot below.  Set these the same for all projects and make sure the Master box is checked for Master and Slave for the others.  I have changed the UDP Destination address to a Multicast IP and hopped subnets before but that takes cooperation from the IT group.

  I can put your projects on a couple of players here in the lab is you email them to me...or email a link.  Non-disclosure is assumed...I have customers too :).

   

   

  allenhporter@gmail.com

   

  

• 1
  
  Bright Scripters April 13, 2017 14:33

  In order to recover a player with BSN, you need to reboot the player too.

  

  With that said, it would not be a bad idea to reformat, and start fresh.

  It may help with defragmentation of the SD card, which may affect video loading time, which may lead to the sync issues.

  Probably best to bake the two videos together, to simplify things.

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 14:45

  Thanks for your willingness to take a look at these. Under UDP I have them all set to "all devices on a local subnet" (all the players are plugged into a NetGear switch). Both UDP send and rcv ports are set to 5678.
  
  The master and slave are set under enhanced sync.
  
  Again, when I was just playing back one video on a constant loop this was all fine. The problems started with multiple videos in a playlist.

  And then once I got the sync references correct one player appears to have been playing fine this morning from 2am until 445. Then the second one started hanging on the splash image at around 9AM.
  
  Allen, I've sent you all the files. The "bad" or hanging player files are SlaveB... and SlaveD... The report I get from the location is that they are stuck on the opening splash jpg.
  
  I've been going through all the fils this morning and I can't find anything different between the slave files that work and the ones that do not.

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 14:55

  Bright Scripters:

   That's what I'm thinking too. Just do a complete reformat on each player and let them replace all the files on each one.

  One side question: what do most of you experts recommend for a content check frequency? I'm currently using 30 minutes because we have a pretty ancient DSL line there with a spotty reputation at best. 

  Is there a technical advantage to going with check every 5 minutes?

  
  Thanks!

• 1
  
  Bright Scripters April 13, 2017 15:01

  Download speed can be a challenge, if all 7 players are trying to download the daily video at once through the DSL "straw".

  Players may timeout and give up on the download.

  Look in the BSN players' properties, under the Downloads tab, and confirm that all content is successfully downloaded.

  Your content updates daily, so 30min refresh time should be fine.

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 15:12

  Yeah. That DSL line has been the source of a few problems over the last few years.

  The DSL line is why I'm  trying not to package all these videos into one long one. Besides it being a very slow connection, it's also very unreliable. There are 7 players on this network, so downloading 7 3-minute videos takes up a lot more bandwidth than just downloading the 15-second videos that change each day.

  The way I've configured this particular project, only 2 of the players need to download fresh video files each day. I'm trying to be as efficient with the downloads as possible. 

• 0
  
  Allen H. Porter April 13, 2017 15:21

  So everything about these Presentations looks correct.

   

  From what I can tell the players all play a JPG for 60 seconds followed by Video1 then Video2 then back to Video1.  In theory the JPG is only seen one time and then never again...unless a power cycle or complete restart of the playlist.
  

   

  As a reminder, each video that plays simultaneously across the master and all slaves must be the same length, encoded at the same rate/specs, and be the same resolution for the best synchronization.  Your Presentation is set for 1920X1080(60p) but if any of your assets are different this could impact playback.  You do not have the "Force Resolution" box checked.

   

  You didn't send me any of the assets so I can't put this on my players and test.  If you send me the assets for the master and the assets for B and D I will put them on players and see what happens.

  

   
• 1
  
  Allen H. Porter April 13, 2017 15:30

  I set our players to check for content every 5 minutes and health check also every 5 minutes.  But we don't actually send content more than weekly, generally...although that varies by customer.  While we are concerned about bandwidth at a customer site we are also concerned about the load on our BSNEE.

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 15:34

  Hey Allen.
  
  Thanks. I'm glad to hear I'm not missing anything the consistency of the files.
  
  I sent you the video files.
  
  Video 1 is the "...331..." files
  Video 2 is the "...412..." files.
  
  All of these are encoded exactly the same way and to the same specs that they were when a looping 1 video presentation was playing correctly. In fact, the 331 video file ARE the video files that were playing correctly in sync as a 1-video playlist.
  
  Basically I have a render pre-set that is specifc to BrightSign and I render everything using that.
  
  I'm trying a reboot/recovery-reformat for all the players now. I think UDI might be on to something with the SD card being fragmented.
  
  It will take a while for all the players to reboot and format and re-download everything so it may be a while before i know if this works.

• 0
  
  ^UD\_$ April 13, 2017 15:40

  Recovery is better be done one player at a time, because of your bandwidth limitation.

  If not too late...

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 16:05

  Okay, now this is weird.
  
  I performed a recovery-reformat on all the players and Player B screen shot from  still show the splash JPG. Meanwhile Player D hasn't taken a screen shot at it's regular 30-minute interval. The green screen is the splash JPG. 
  
  I'm truly at a loss.

   

   

  
  
  
  

   

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• 1
  
  Bright Scripters April 13, 2017 16:18

  Players are on a slow connection, so give it more time...

• 0
  
  Allen H. Porter April 13, 2017 17:26

  So I can't simulate all of your players at once without moving around players and displays...and my employer might frown on that level of disruption. This looks like a 2X2 video wall?  I can only ever see two displays/Presentations with the setup I have free.

  Don't know if this has been said but make sure you have updated player firmware and all players are at the same version.

  Your Master and SlaveB presentation runs synchronized here with one exception:

  If any of your slave players are rebooted or download after the Master is already running, they will get stuck on the splash JPG and eventually go to black screen because your master presentation loops back to the first video and so never sends out the sync1 UDP word after the initial run-through.  You should dump the JPG in all presentations or loop back to it from the end of the last video.

  Otherwise these presentations all play and are synchronized.  Most likely it is this and a combination of network issues causing problems for you.

   

   

   

• 0
  
  Bright Scripters April 13, 2017 17:40

  Should the third sync message be "synch1"?

  Instead of "Synch3"

  That would start all slaves that are stuck on the image.

  

• 0
  
  Allen H. Porter April 13, 2017 17:48

  Ah...that is why John did that.  Good point.

   

  But this would still be avoided by dropping the splash...which is only played for 60 seconds once...

   

   

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 17:55

  >Bright Scripters Today at 12:40
  >Should the third sync message be "synch1"? Instead of "Synch3"

  This would explain why it worked before and not now. When I set it up originally that particular keyword was "Synch1"

  I'll try it when I get back.

  THANKS.

• 0
  
  John Evans April 13, 2017 18:35

  I'm changing the "sync3" to "sync1" One question: Any recommendation on the order in which I should upload the revised presentation files to the server? Master first, then slaves? or vice versa? or would it matter?

  And should I reboot all of them after I upload the files?

• 0
  
  Allen H. Porter April 13, 2017 18:59

  Doesn't matter.