piSignage Player is based on Raspberry Pi which is a popular low-cost credit-card sized computer sold across the globe. This forms the foundation on which piSignage is built as a lean and reliable player which plays full HD content.
piSignage Player is built upon on node.js and communicates with the central server (pisignage.com or your server) via websocket. This way piSignage player can be managed either by central server or locally through webUI with a similar UI.
Few notes
piSignage Player provides HDMI interface with selectable 1080p(Full HD) or 720p output mode. CEC is also supported by Pi for TV on/off control. Identify a suitable TV which supports these specifications and suits your needs.
For displays that have other specifications, you may have to edit the /boot/config.txt and select hdmi_group, hdmi_mode accordingly. piSignage also supports RCA video output with PAL and NTSC modes.
By default, player is configured to obtain IP address automatically from DHCP server. You can configure wifi settings or set static IP address in one of the following methods.
Please make sure the welcome screen on TV displays IP address and all network status are OK. To troubleshoot, useplayer shellas follows.
piSignage player always plays files from local media folder. Hence it can work offline (except for streaming links) after configuration and downloading of files to the local folder. Weblinks are usually cached by browser. Browser Caching can be disabled under Group > Settings. Player supports progressive downloading which resumes the download instead of restarting in case of intermittent network failures.
For local management piSignage provides REST API similar to that of server. Android/Chrome piSignageremote appand player webUI interface http://pi IP address:8000 use this API to locally manage the player.
Player settings are configured in one of the 3 ways.
piSignage player uses media specific players like omxplayer, livestreamer and chromium-browser for optimum performance for the Raspberry Pi media play. Videos are converted to MP4 format at the server and only MP4 formatted videos are played by the player.
piSignage player supports number of tools to support troubleshooting of the player. Significant ones are
You can manage piSignage players centrally using a browser by signing up at pisignage.com. Two players can be managed FREE with this service. This is the recommended way to manage piSignage players and offers many features that complement the player. In addition hosted service offers various reports.
The work flow for displaying your content on TV is as follows.
To get started, create an accountby selecting a username which is your installation name. Username is unique to you and all your player licenses are tied to this name. Select a valid email ID as all communication and licenses are mailed to this address. Once you sign-up, you are automatically logged in.
Players are assigned to groups. All players belonging to a group have the same settings and assigned the same list of playlists. Upon sign-up, "default" group is created automatically which can be used to assign players. You can create more groups if needed and assign players to these groups.
You can register a player in theplayerstab using "Register" button. Upon registration, player license is generated which will be downloaded to the player on next boot. You can register a player multiple times without losing any licenses or data.
The files (of type - video, image, pdf, html, templates, bootup video etc.) which are to be shown in the player are to be uploaded first to the server. You can upload multiple files at a time inAssetstab using Add1 button.
The video files which are not in mp4(h.264) format are automatically converted to mp4 format by the server after upload. The server also processes image files for optimum display, extracts metadata, creates thumbnails and validates template files. You can select the categories for the file when the upload is complete.
In a similar way, the links which need to be shown on the player are added inAssetstab using Add1 button. piSignage player supports the following url types.
Uploaded assets can be renamed4 or deleted2 in Assets Tab. Also an asset can be viewed and categories can be assigned by clicking the asset name6. Assets can be filtered and viewed based on a category by clicking Categories5 button.
Select the assets you want to add to the playlist using checkbox2 on the right. The duration3 field specifies how long an asset need to be shown. It is pre-filled with video duration for video files and default value specified under Settings tab is used for other media types. Use minimum of 20 seconds for url loading time for streaming, media rss and weblinks.
For layouts with multiple zones, zones are named as "main", "side", "bottom" (which could be on top as well!) and "zone4", "zone5" and "zone6". Select the "main" zone content in the list and add other zone content as mentioned in the same row6,7. If main zone content to be shown in full-screen, select the checkbox8 below the asset name.
piSignage comes with many pre-defined layouts with 1,2 or 3 zones to show different content. The layout and dimensions are shown in the layout popup. More detailed layout dimensions are given in the following image. The layouts ending with "p"(2ap,2bp,customp) are for 900 rotated portrait mode. Similarly the layouts ending with "p270"(2ap270,2bp270,customp270) are for 2700 rotated portrait mode. All the assets including video will be aligned to fit inside the zone.
In addition to the standard defined layout templates, custom templates can be uploaded and assigned per playlist. In addition to custom layout files, video position and size need to be defined in the layout popup 8,9. The top left is (0,0) for positioning purposes.
The custom_layout files needs to start "custom_layout" text and end with .html extension (e.g. custom_layout_menu.html). The template file is uploaded similar to other asset files. Examples of custom layouts are available atpiSignage repository.
A scrolling or sliding ticker can be added4 at the bottom of the screen at playlist level or at group level. The style of the ticker like font-size, color etc. can be changed by specifying CSS attributes. The ticker can have static text message or RSS feed as input.
A playlist can be converted to advertisement playlist using popup5. The assets of advert playlists are inserted at regular intervals one at a time. If the adverts need to appear only on non-main zones, select the option in the popup. The layout can be "1" or same as the regular playlist playing. These playlists need to be added to the Group and they can be scheduled.
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