Carousel Cloud allows you to synchronize Simple Channel content playback across multiple Brightsign Players!

Whether it be a brilliant video wall to adorn your lobby or syncing multiple screens in proximity to create a polished uniform look in ample space, this feature gives you yet another tool in your toolbox to display captivating content and get your message out there, keeping your digital signage content “in sync” with your vision!

How it works

Let’s start with the basics:

Requirements and Limitations

• Only Simple Channels can be synchronized.

  • Simple channels are Full Screen, Single Zone Channels.

• Only Uploaded Images, Uploaded Videos, and Template Based Bulletins are supported*.

• Repeating bulletins are not supported.

• Synced Players must be of the same BrightSign model family.

  • You can synchronize an XT244 player (XT4) with an XT1144 player (also XT), but you cannot synchronize an XT244 player with an XD234 player (XD4).

• Players must use a wired network connection on the same subnet.

  • Wireless connections added too much latency for consistent triggering

• Administrator access is required for setup.

• IMPORTANT: You must be running the latest firmware for Synchronization Support.

_{*See Synchronization Behavior Notes Section Below}

Create a Simple Channel

To make a Simple Channel, create a zone by logging into Carousel, clicking on your username, and selecting Configure.

Then Select Zones.

Then Select New.

Here you will:

• Select Bulletin as the zone type (full screen alert zones are not supported for synchronization).

• Name your zone.

• Add your organizational tags.

• Fill out a description.

• Set your zone size to the full resolution of your display.

Once you have created your Zone, create the channel to which you wish to apply it. To do so, head back to the main configuration menu and select Channels.

Then Select New to create your new channel.

Here you will:

• Name your channel.

• Select Simple as the channel type.

• Set the output resolution to match your zone/display.

• Select the zone you wish to apply to the channel.

• Set Accessibility Site preference in extras(Optional).

• Save your new Simple Channel!

Create a Player Synchronization Group

Next you will create a Player Synchronization Group.

A synchronization group consists of one leader player and follower players. Once a group has been created, the follower players will synchronize their bulletin transitions to the leader. Again, be sure to update your Brightsign player to the latest firmware. Please note that once set up, changing a leader player in a sync group will require a factory reset.

To create a synchronization group, head over to the main configuration menu and select Players.

This will bring you to the player dashboard. From there, select Media Players.

Check the box next to each player you would like to add to a synchronization group, then select Synchronize Players from the bulk action drop-down menu above.

Select the desired Channel for each player. If you would like a particular player to be the leader, simply select it from the drop-down menu and press save. Your players will then reboot to apply their new configuration.

You can view, manage, delete, and create new synchronization groups by selecting Synchronization from the options in the left hand column of the player configuration menu.

Synchronization Behavior

As a brief exercise to help explain how synchronization will behave, let’s picture a basic 2 x 2 Video Wall:

The top left player is the leader, the rest will follow its transitions. For example, If you want to play a video across all four panels as one screen, you would simply use a video editing program to slice up one video into four equal parts, then upload each part into its corresponding zone.

If each video slice is the only bulletin in each of the four zones, the video will look whole and transition all together in a loop. Simple right?

Now, let's say you also took an image and sliced it up for each zone. You would upload each slice as the next bulletin in the corresponding zone and your video wall would play the video, then the still image, then the video and so on.

As long as you have the same number of bulletins in the same order in each zone, everyone will follow the leader and transition at the same time.

Proximity Synchronization is another common use case to explore.

Let's say you have several players showing the same content in your large lobby area and multiple screens are in view at once. To synchronize them, you would simply add all of the lobby players to a synchronization group and apply the same Lobby channel to all of them. The followers will transition with the leader.

Synchronization Behavior Notes

• If the follower players have a fewer number of bulletins than the leader player, they will pause on their last bulletin until the leader player begins again.

• If the follower players have a greater number of bulletins than the leader player, they will not play through their list, but will begin again with the leader player.

• Follower players will use the bulletin dwell time from the leader player.

• If bulletin types other than uploaded video and images are scheduled in a zone that is assigned to a simple channel the following behavior or similar may occur:

  • The leader player will show the content while follower players will pause on their current bulletin.