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Displaying Multiple Videos Simultaneously with HTML5

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Scowart
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Hi,

I am trying to use HTML5 to work around the BrightSign HD222 (or 4k242) unit's limit of 2 video zones by creating 3 zones, each of which is playing a 30 second video animation (no audio).

Basically, the display is divided up into thirds, each playing an animation.  The Site works locally if I open it in Google Chrome, but not when published to the BrightSign unit.

Is this possible, or is there also a limit to how many videos can be played at the same time via HTML5?

The BrightSign is a great unit!  Thanks for all the work you guys put into them!

 

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8 comments

  • 0
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    Lou Swing

    Are you getting at least one or two to play? The HTML5 Zone will have Media Properties, make sure to select Enable Native Video Playback for it to be smooth.

     

    Using the XD232 I was able to get good video playback when it was plugged into an html5 file. Any actual animations or text movement that were html5 css or javascript based operate really poor though.

  • 0
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    Lou Swing

    I guess the support admins don't post much on here, I see this was 8 days ago.

    Anyhow, just did a test using my xd232 and have three videos playing at the same time, all html5, works fine. It would only let me create two video-image zones, so I made the third an image zone. I loaded at .html file that is a video into each one, looks good.

  • 0
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    Scowart

    Support is usually really good about keeping tabs with the users.  That's one thing I've really enjoyed about BrisghtSign/Roku over the years.

    Thats interesting.  I had tried using a single HTML file to call up 3 videos, but I'll look at using 3 different zones, each of which signaling a video and try that.

    Thanks for the help!

  • 0
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    Lou Swing

    Yes, I would agree they tend to be good. Just surprised they haven't answered.

    So I was wrong in my test; it works locally when previewed with BA, but then when loaded onto the XD232 it fails, only one video plays.

    Odd that it would work locally. I've been having issues with the XD232 not having enough processing power for html5 animations, so maybe it can't handle the multiple html5 "videos" at once.

  • 0
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    Brandon

    Hi folks,

    Tickets are our top priority (behind priority callbacks, of course), so while we do see the forum we don't always get a chance to respond immediately, hence we consider the forum primarily for user-to-user interaction.

    For HTML5, when Enable native video plane playback is disabled, the player doesn't use the hardware decoder for playback. This allows playback of additional videos beyond the hardware decoders (1 for LS/HD series, 2 for XD/4K series) at the cost of performance.  Full-resolution/framerate video won't play nicely using the CPU alone.

    There are some additional "gotchas" in the mix as well - the player can only handle 3 audio sources, whether those sources are a Video zone, VideoOrImages zone, Audio zone, Enhanced audio zone (which takes 2 sources for its crossfade functionality), or HTML5 video/audio tag.

    As for the BrightAuthor software preview, unfortunately it is not yet an accurate representation of the player's capabilities and limitations, so especially for situations like this it's important to publish and view on an actual player.

    Scowart - what resolution and framerate are the videos you're playing?

  • 0
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    Scowart

    Hey Support, 

    Each of the 3 videos are 640 x 1080, 30 fps.  Together, the 3 of them occupy the entire 1920x1080 screen.  No audio.

    Appreciate you taking the time to help!  

  • 0
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    Scowart

    Attempted 3 separate HTML zones, each calling a unique video at the resolution and framerate I mentioned, but still only getting one video to display.  I un-checked the Native Video Plane Playback feature for each zone.  It'd be great to get this to work, even if there is loss in video quality.

    I am, however, testing on an HD222.  The project will ultimately be displayed on a 4k1042, which I should have in a few days for additional testing.

    Thanks again!

  • 0
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    Lou Swing

    Support, thanks for weighing in and updating in general.

    I did just try another test, two videos, but only one plays. It appears that only one html5 video will play at a time, Native Video playback must be set or they look bad.

    I tried another test running one html5 video, and one window playing a video directly. The window the the standard video played, and the html5 video would not in the instance. So I'm assuming one video playback per screen at a time.

    Videos are 1920x1080 29.97 .mp4 for my testing, embedded into an html5 timeline, and xd232 here.

    Anyhow, good luck, I'll see if I can find any good workaround as I've been looking into some playback options like this.

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