Content Synchronization

caution

Content sync works best between the same device platform types like Android players with Android players, BrightSign players with BrightSign players, etc.

Introduction

• In multi-display setups, keeping dynamic content playback in sync is crucial for a seamless viewing experience.

  • Factors like screen activation time, network speed, and hardware variations can affect when content starts playing.
  • To ensure consistency across all screens, it's vital to synchronize playback precisely, ensuring every viewer sees the same content at the same time.

You can turn on Synchronize content in the Content menu under Properties.

By default, synchronization is disabled. The Synchronize Content function allows you to display content synchronously on multiple screens.

Content sync relies on absolute passed time.

Example

Imagine you have a one-hour-long content page sequence with six pages, each lasting 10 minutes.

• At the start of each hour, the sequence restarts. Now, let's say it's 1:37 PM, and your screen just turned on.
• With sync enabled, the display will jump to the fourth page, show it for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and then move to the fifth page, and so on.

Widget Synchronization

Synced pages can include widgets with repeating elements that need separate timing based on relative time.

• This method uses the start of the page as a reference instead of the absolute passed time.

The elements that can be synced this way include:

• Video elements – Video sync also depends on video player type and platform.
  Learn more: HTML Player and Video Sync
• Image Gallery / Carousel elements
• PDF elements
• Content widget elements
• Weather elements
• Campaigns

Example

If your content has a Video gallery on the fourth page with 10 one-minute videos, it won't start with the first video at 1:37 PM. Instead, it will play the eighth video, starting from 30 seconds into the clip.

Channel Synchronization

To enable synchronization for Channel, make sure the Synchronize content option is turned on within Content settings.

• Content will only be in sync if the playlist is the same on every device.

Synchronization on Android Devices

Learn more: NTP Time Synchronization on Android

Synchronization on BrightSign Devices

Learn more: Sync on BrightSign

In addition to display synchronization, the Wallboard BrightSign client gets accurate time from the server it is connected to. However, on a local network, only one automatically selected device syncs to the server, while all other BrightSign devices sync locally to this device via BrightSign SyncManager.

The main device that syncs to the server is chosen based on the Wallboard device ID it receives during installation—the last in alphabetical order. This role is enforceable with advanced configuration.

To locate a BrightSign's device ID, right-click on the screen and then select Screen Info.

Only one content can be synchronized per local network with BrightSign. This can be extended by configuring separate ptp_domain, udpAddress, and udpPort for different player groups.

If you are using a Soft Matrix solution for a BrightSign video wall, ensure that the Master device is assigned one of the Soft Matrix Child contents. Otherwise, synchronization will not work properly. If the Master device is not included in the Soft Matrix setup, some players may fail to play their videos because they are waiting on a Master device that isn't part of the configuration. This issue can be resolved by reassigning the Master device to a Child content.

Synchronization on Windows Devices

Windows uses NTP (Network Time Protocol) and falls back to an HTTP source if NTP is unavailable.