0

BrightSign HD810, Serial Port and PC Communication

Sanothay

September 29, 2010 10:42

None

Follow

Hi everyone, We're considering to purchase 10 or more BrightSign HD810. However, we are not clear yet whether it is possible to make BrightSign HD810 communicate or send out data via RS-232 port to the connected computer? Here is our scenario: 1. the PC sends a command with a video name (can be in any format) to BrightSign via RS-232 port. 2. once BrightSign has received the command, it'll start playing the questioned video. 3. While BrightSign is playing any video, it'll send information about the video being played back to the connected PC via RS-232 port each 300 millisecond. Could anyone who knows or has some knowledge about BrightSign confirm us whether this is possible to realize? Thanks a lot in advance. Soulivanh

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

7 comments

• 0
  
  RokuLyndon September 29, 2010 13:40

  On our faq page, if you search for serial or rs232, you'll get these two results:

  http://support.brightsign.biz/entries/168137-does-the-brightsign-support-rs232-serial-control

   

  http://support.brightsign.biz/entries/180595-what-kind-of-input-can-i-accept-using-brightauthor-ir-serial-etc

  Yes, you can communicate over rs232, and you can configure the brightsign to match the settings of another device. So, there's no fixed speed you have to use. Yes, the brightsign can do all three. What information do you want every 300 milliseconds? I have a control script you can add to the flash card with your content that supports sending a simple play command and a file name. There's a link to it in this thread:

  http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26177

  It would be easy to add a timer that fired every 300 ms to send information out. The question is what info do you need sent?

• 0
  
  Sanothay September 30, 2010 10:17

  
  
  Hi,
  Thank you very much for promptly replied to my questions. This is extremely helpful.
  I am waiting for one BrightSign HD810 to arrive this week, and will test it out with your suggestion. I will come back with more specific information we need from BrightSign after doing some testing next week.
  Thanks again.
  Soulivanh
  
• 0
  
  Sanothay October 03, 2010 19:30

  
  
  Hi,
  Just got a new brand BrighSign HD810. I was trying to connect this HD810 with a computer via RS232 port available. But on the Hyper Terminal when I clicked connect there was nothing showed/displayed on the terminal nor I could type anything there like "Help?"...
  I used the following settings as stated on the manual.
  • 115200 baud
  • 8 data bits
  • No parity
  • 1 stop bit
  • NO flow control
  
  Is there anything that I missed? Could you please let me know how I can correctly set this up?
  Thanks,
  
• 0
  
  RokuLyndon October 04, 2010 20:17

  
  
  No, that should do the trick. So, you have an 810 that works with the same cable and settings, and this done doesn't? You should be able to hit enter a few times in the terminal window.
  
• 0
  
  Sanothay October 06, 2010 10:54

  
  
  Hi Lyndon,
  Thanks, I found out the reason why I couldn't connect to HD810 via the RS232. The reason was the cable that I used has RS232 on one end and RS422 on the other end, and when I changed it to RS232 at both side it worked.
  Thanks,
  Soulivanh
  
• 0
  
  Sanothay October 06, 2010 11:53

  
  
  Hi Lyndon,
  I have another problem connecting to HD810 via RS232. The problem is:
  - When I plugged the SD card in, powered it on and tried to connect to HD810 via RS232 - it just didn't work. I hit the return key several times but the HyperTerminal showed nothing.
  - Now if I removed the SD card out, power it on again and tried to connect to it the same way - it worked and showed me content of "help" command.
  - I also tried to plug in the SD card after a successful HyperTerminal connection to HD810. I was unable to dir sd:\ and it showed me this: "SD:/: No such file or directory"
  
  How do I test any sample scripts play the video using a command like: "videoplay"?
  
  Thanks,
  Soulivanh
  
• 0
  
  RokuLyndon October 06, 2010 19:51

  
  
  There's a script in memory that runs when there's content on the card. The videoplay command is  a shell command, not a script command. If you want to use the shell, you need to put something on the flash card that will exit to the shell once the unit boots.
  
  Create a text file named autorun.brs. Add one line to it, like:
  
  print "This is a test"
  
  When the unit boots it'll execute that line and drop to the shell.