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UDP Input Questions

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JRB Technical
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Hello:

Just checking to make sure I am doing this right, or if I am missing something.

Players are on 10.0.0.0/16 network.

Players are set to 255.255.0.0 subnet mask

Player Presentation Properties -> Interactive -> UDP Destination Port and Receiver port set to 5000 (I have also tried with different and separate values)

I added at UDP Input event to list to word "GO" to try and reload a HTML Page in Zone 3 (Transition to New State - Itself) but doesn't work (also tried other simple words - matching upper and lower case letters, etc.)

I tried the same thing but transitioning to another image file, still does not do anything.

I also did a new presentation trying to do this in Zone 1, still nothign.

I checked sending and receiving UDP messages to from other computers on the same network, they all are working fine.

Is there something I am missing?

This should be simple, but I can't seem to get any UDP working no matter what.

Any suggestions???

 

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6 comments

  • 1
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    Monica Knutson

    Are the players on WIFI or LAN?

    Also, what setting did you choose in the presentation properties > Interactive > UDP for the broadcast?  The options are:

    • specific ip address
    • all devices on the local subnet
    • all devices connected via ethernet
    • all devices connected via wireless

    Lastly, is that port allowed in your network Firewall or could it be blocking?

    You should see your list of UDP inputs used in the presentation properties "UDP" tab as well.  They may be case-sensitive (not sure but I've always ensured that we used proper case).

    As a test, you could connect using the BrightSign iPhone app (have to be on the same network) and connect to one of the devices.  If you ticked the "Show in BrightSign app" box on the UDP input event you can manually trigger the UDP with the button on the app.

    Cheers,
    Monica

  • 0
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    Brandon

    UDP messages are not case-sensitive for the UDP Input event (in BrightAuthor and BrightAuthor:connected)
    However, leading/trailing spaces do matter.

    _________________________________________________________________________
    Friendly reminder, the community forum is intended for user-to-user discussion.  It is not regularly monitored. For troubleshooting problems and to ensure a timely answer from a BrightSign representative, please submit a support ticket

  • 0
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    JRB Technical

    All devices are on LAN.

    UDP is set to All Devices on the local subnet, which is the way it will be set up on site, with a Medialon server. It will be a large number of players on the network, and Medialon needs to talk to all of them.

    I can send messages to and from a Linux computer in same subnet using NetCat and Windows using UDP - Sender/Receiver (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/udp-sender-reciever/9nblggh52bt0) fine.

    Nothing sent to the BrightSign players seems to work.

    As a test, I did a timer event, with a Send UDP, and I see that UDP Message fine in both Windows and Linux computers.

    Someone else said I had to add a ">" to the end of all UDP trigger words used in the UDP Input fields, that doesn't seem to work either.

    So it's not a firewall issue, since I can send and receive UDP messages on the same network to other devices, so UDP traffic is working on the this subnet fine.

    I've talked to other people that say they also have had issues getting UDP to work on BrightSigns, and gave up after banging their heads against a wall for too long.

    Unfortunately, I am working on someone else's scope, so this has to work sooner or later.

  • 0
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    Brandon

    Can you send a UDP message from the BrightSign player and receive it on the Windows machine?  Hercules Setup is good for that.  http://www.hw-group.com/products/hercules/index_en.html

    I have dealt with customers successfully using Medialon with BrightSign players.  In most cases the trouble was keeping the server and players from talking to too many recipients.

    Note that the UDP broadcast options are for sending UDP, the player will receive UDP packets as long as it's on the same subnet as the sender and the packets aren't being otherwise filtered at the network level.

    I've seen IGMP snooping and Block multicast from unknown addresses cause issues if enabled on switches.

    This BrightAuthor project will display received input from UDP and Serial ports 0-2 with surrounding brackets to help identify if any extra characters are being received before or after the intended string.

    https://brightsign.box.com/s/hqepv4wmtjyzz88zdxjzvyo4g2ygj1v3

    If you're on a deadline, open a support ticket to ensure you get timely attention from BrightSign Support.

    _________________________________________________________________________
    Friendly reminder, the community forum is intended for user-to-user discussion.  It is not regularly monitored. For troubleshooting problems and to ensure a timely answer from a BrightSign representative, please submit a support ticket

  • 0
    Avatar
    JRB Technical

    Brandon:

    Thank you.

    Hercules is working better then what I was trying.

    It seems some UDP packet senders are ending the string differently then others. Something is missing from the equation as far as CR or Linefeed at end of message. I am not sure what the BrightSign players are looking for in those packets, and I haven't had time to do packet sniffing to find out why some are working and others aren't (using the exact same UDP message and Input).

    If I have time later I will see, but I would think someone at BrightSign would also know about that.

    I also found Packet Sender (https://packetsender.com/) seems to work well, but is only for sending. It allows you to have more than 3 presets, which is good when you need to test more than 3 UDP commands.

    Thank you.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Brandon

    UDP is self-encapsulated so there isn't a need to have termination characters.  That said, some legacy systems throw the same strings they use for serial in, including terminating CR, LF, or CRLF
    If your strings are reasonably unique, you can just add a wildcard to the end of the UDP input to account for termination, like
    Play<any>
    would trigger on Play, PlayCR, PlayLF, PlayCRLF, Playfoobar, etc.

    If you need to, you can mix ASCII and binary in Hercules as well - hover the mouse over the Send text box for the syntax - it accepts a variety for embedding binary values, rather than having to convert the entire string to hex.

    _________________________________________________________________________
    Friendly reminder, the community forum is intended for user-to-user discussion.  It is not regularly monitored. For troubleshooting problems and to ensure a timely answer from a BrightSign representative, please submit a support ticket

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