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Digital Signage Tutorial

Installation and setup

  • How to connect a player to your account

  • How to disconnect a player from your account

Media

  • How to upload media files

  • How to delete files

  • Supported files

  • Convert MOV to MP4

  • Use Handbrake to optimize video exhibition

  • How to display flash content

Campaigns

  • How to create a campaign

  • How to create custom screen layouts

  • Campaign duration adjustment

  • How to use tags

  • How to search campaigns by tag

  • How to use timeline

  • Organize campaigns in folders

  • How to duplicate campaigns

App

  • What is an app

  • How to add apps to campaigns

Publishing

  • Basic campaign publishing

How to connect a player to your account

For connecting a player to your account, you will need a player software installed in your device, whether it is a tablet, a computer or a media box.

The player software varies depending on your device’s Operational system. Go to Getting Started section within the Easy category on our tutorial page. Find there what software fits your device best and how to download it. Once you have it installed, connect a player by following the steps below:

  1. Open the software on your device. Write down the code displayed on the screen as you will need it later.

  2. Login on your HD2Sign TV account and click on “Players” at the header.

  3. A new page will load as shown in the picture above. Hit “Setup Player” button at the top right corner.

  4. Enter the player code you have written down previously

  5. Fill the settings as you prefer. Click on “Show Advanced settings” and modify it if you don’t want it to have the default player settings. You can also edit this player specific settings anytime on “Player tabs” after connecting it to your account.

  6. Hit Add Player at the bottom of the page. Now your player is ready to receive campaigns! As you have just set it up, the “you have no campaigns” message will be displayed on the screen.

How to disconnect a player from your account

If you no longer want to use a device, disconnect a player from your account.

Follow the instructions below:

  1. Click on Players at HD2Sign’s header

  2. Select the player you want to remove from your account

  3. As you select the player, the “Remove” button will appear at the top of the list. Hit it

  4. Confirm the action.

  5. Now the device won’t be listed anymore among your players. The player will display a code.

How to upload media files

Photos, videos and other medias are essential to create effective campaigns that grab the client’s’ attention. Learn how to upload media files into your HD2Sign TV account before or during the creation process.

  1. First, sign in to your HD2Sign TV account. A way of uploading files is by clicking on “Content” tab at the page header.

  2. Hit then “Upload Files” orange button at the loaded page top-right corner.

  3. A pop-up window will open. Browse through your computer maps and select the files you want to add to the campaigns.

  4. Hit “Open” or click enter and wait until the media is uploaded. It might take seconds or minutes depending on the file size.

Alternatively, you can create a campaign and upload the files afterwards.

  1. Hit “Create a Campaign” on HD2Sign TV account homepage.

  2. Scroll down the campaign editor page. On the bottom you will find the Content box. Click on “Upload File” at the right.

  3. Select the files on the pop-up window. If you prefer, you can also drag the files from your computer map straight to HD2Sign TV page. As you hold the photo or video over the Content Box, the message “drop files here to upload them” shows up.

All files will be stored in the content library. Every time you create a new campaign, you can reuse the previously uploaded files.

How to delete files

It is best to delete files from your HD2Sign TV account if you are not going to use that specific image or video.

Stored files occupy storage space you might need in the future. Each HD2Sign TV user has 1Gb storage capacity per player.

  1. To delete files, go to the Content tab at HD2Sign TV page header.

  2. Select the file or map you want to get rid of. Check the selection box on the left side of the media’s icon to pick multiple files.

  3. Hit “Delete” button on the header. This command only appears if an item is selected.

  4. Click on “Proceed” at the pop-up window and the file is gone! On the bottom of the page, you can check what percentage of the storage space you have used.

Supported files

You can upload the following supported files into HD2Sign TV:

  • Videos (MKV, AVI, MP4, MPG, MPEG)

  • Images (JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF)

  • URL

  • Web (HTML, CSS, JS)

  • Flash animations (SWF)

You can also upload PDF files as well as .zip files containing multiple media. In this case, a map will be automatically created with all the individual pages from the pdf or items comprised in the zip file. A red error message will be shown on the screen in case you try to upload an unsupported file to HD2Sign TV platform.

Convert MOV to MP4

HD2Sign TV supports several video formats, such as MKV, AVI, MP4, MPG and MPEG. If you try to upload any other format, HD2Sign TV website will display an uploading error message. Other video formats must be converted to any of the supported file formats.To convert MOV to MP4, you can either download a software or use computer default settings.

Using computer settings:

  1. Open the map and select the MOV file.

  2. Check “File name extensions” on the map header. This needs to be enabled to change the extension

  3. Right click the file and hit Rename.

  4. Change the extension “.mov” to “.mp4”. Because MP4 is a subset of the QuickTime standard, you can change a MOV file to a MP4 format just by changing the extension.

Using free softwares:

  1. Download Adapter software. It is available for both Mac and Windows. During the installation, check “Download and install FFmpeg” box.

  2. Start the program

  3. Drag .mov file to Adapter window and select output format MP4.

  4. Hit convert

Other converters are Movavi, AVC and Freemake.

Use Handbrake to optimize video exhibition

Reduce large size video before uploading them to HD2Sign TV and save storage space.

Even though compressing files implies in loss of quality, it will speed up the transfer to the platform and player. We recommend converting videos with Handbrake, a free software available for Mac, Windows and Linux:

  1. Download and install the specific Handbrake’s version for your computer’s operating system.

  2. Once downloaded, launch the program.

  • It might seem complex at first, but we only need to focus on few settings:

  1. In “Output settings”, select MP4 in “Container” drop-down menu . Check “web optimized” option.

  2. At the “Video” tab, choose h.264 for “video codec”.

  3. Browse the output file destination folder. The program requires that you name the output file. Hit “Save”.

  4. Click on “Source” and then on “File”. Browse for the video in the File Explorer window and click open.

  5. Wait for the program to scan the video file.

  6. Click on start green button at the top row. Depending on your computer and the file size, it can take a while. You can check the converting progression at the bar below.

  7. The converted file will be saved in the folder you specified. In this tutorial, we have used a 50MB MPEG file (left image). After conversion, we saved about 30 MB (right image).

How to display flash content

TV app Windows version supports .swf files, but it requires Adobe Flash Player installing. Learn how to download it below:

  1. Access Adobe Flash Player website.

  2. Select your computer Operational System version and then select “FF 22 for Firefox – NPAPI”. Click on “Download now”.

The Adobe website offers the installation of additional programs, but you don’t need to install them in order to download Flash Player. Uncheck if you find it unnecessary.

  1. Open the downloaded file.

  2. Follow the instructions provided.

  3. After the installation is complete, your flash files will work properly on the players.

How to create a campaign

A campaign is how we call the package where you insert your media on HD2Sign TV platform.

As you create them, they will be uploaded and displayed on your player’s screen. In other words, a campaign is what you want to advertise. It groups media files such as images, videos and gifs and several apps, such as clocks and weather forecasts.

  1. On your HD2Sign TV account, click on the top-right corner orange button “Create Campaign”.

  2. You’ll be redirected to the campaign page editor. The tools for setting a campaign are the information area, screen layout, timeline (where you insert the media you want to display in a specific order) and File and Apps box.

Within seconds you are able to save and publish effective campaigns!

How to create custom screen layouts

HD2Sign TV platform allows you to display more than one content at a time on your screen.

Imagine, for instance, screen layouts splitted in two blocks: one of them is an image slideshow, while the other informs the local time and weather. Setting different zones on your campaign is quite easy.

  1. Create a campaign

  2. After naming it, take a look at the Screen Layout box. By default, the layout will be three different zones. You can choose other types of layouts, vertical or horizontal, or with more or less zones.

  3. If you wish a different layout from the list, click on “Add Custom Layout” at the right.

  4. A pop-up window will open, simulating your digital signage screen.

  5. You can create your own layout by clicking on “Add Division” and dragging the shapes to the desired size. You can also adjust its size on the left table.

  6. Your screen layouts are ready? Hit “Create Layout” then!

Once you select a new layout, notice that the timeline will adapt to it. If you had a two zone layout and selected a new three zone layout, a new ruler will be added on the Timeline box.

Campaign duration adjustment

By default, the campaign duration is set at 30 seconds, but you can make a campaign length shorter or longer depending on your needs.

  1. Create a new campaign or edit an existing one. Scroll down to the timeline section

  2. Change the number beside the clock icon on the Timeline Header. Note that the duration is written in seconds, so if you want a three minute campaign you need to type “180”.

  3. Once you hit enter, the timeline length will match the campaign duration.

Use the bar at the timeline bottom to scroll through the ruler.

How to use tags

Organize your campaigns and player with tags: classify them according to region, content, target audience or anything you want!

Besides categories, you can add tags on your HD2Sign TV account and they will be easily found. If you are drowning on content, no doubt tags are there to help you! Besides search, you can also publish quickier than ever!

Tag campaigns:

  1. On your HD2Sign TV account, create or edit a campaign.

  2. Tag field will be found right under the campaigns name. Just write down the text you want. You can add as many as you want by placing a comma between different tags (,). The website will suggest you tags you have already used as you type (see image below).

  • You can also tag Playlists.

Tag players

  1. Click on Players tab on the top menu. Select then the player you want to tag or setup a new device.

  2. Click on settings on the left menu.

  3. Tag is the second field on the loaded page. Write down as many word as you want.

  • You can also create player groups and tag them

How to search campaigns by tag

Did you take care and tagged all created campaigns? Now all the effort will pay off!

Find that campaign you forgot the name by using tags. No need to say that you must have filled the tag field beforehand! Find it in no time by following the instructions below:

If you want to avoid scrolling down a tag list, just type “tag:” followed by the word you are looking for and click enter.

  • Login to your HD2Sign TV account.There is a search field right on top of the webpage.

As you place the cursor into the box, a drop-down menu will appear. All tags you have ever created will be displayed on the dropdown menu. Find the desired tag and hit it. All campaigns tagged with the specific term will appear as result!

How to use timeline

The timeline is your digital signage stage! Master this tool in a few seconds

Access your campaign page and click on the button “Create Campaign”. The timeline is right under the Screen Layout and is the central point of your campaign, showing how many medias and apps you are displaying simultaneously, for how long and how. Learn the main usages of this tool.

  • Determine length of campaign: Right above the rules you can set how many seconds the campaign should last. Add the seconds on “Manual Duration”. Alternatively, you can select “Automatic Duration”, so the timeline length will expand everytime you add a new item to it.

  • Complete media sequence: Drag and drop items from your files and apps to your timeline so they can be viewed by your audience.

  • Adjust media and apps display: Hold on the bar in the end of each item and drag it to shorten or making it longer. You can also click once over the item to open a dialog with length and other settings, such as ken burn for photos and editing for apps.

  • Insert audiotrack: Select “Enable” to create a new area on the timeline where you can insert songs for as long as your campaign lasts.

  • Mute audiotracks: If you bring videos into the timeline, make sure their sound won’t come out or overlap another layer of sound by clicking on the speaker icon beside each layer and marking it mute.

  • Lock layer: If you are already done setting content in a layer, lock it before editing the following one to make sure you won’t edit it by mistake. It also prevent Shared Accounts who have access to this campaign editing it.

Organize campaigns in folders

Manage your campaigns easily and more efficiently with folders

As your digital signage operation grows, folders are welcomed to organize campaigns according to your own criteria. Combine this tool with campaign tagging and never take long looking for a specific content!

Move single campaign to folder:

Click on “More” under the campaign thumbnail and then click on “Move to folder”

Select the folder and click on “Move”.

Move multiple campaigns at once:

Click on “More” below the folder name and select the “Move campaigns here” button

Write down as many campaigns as you want. You can also search campaigns by tags.

  1. Click on “Create Folder” button at your HD2Sign TV account homepage.

  2. Write down a name at the pop-up window and proceed.

  3. Folders will be displayed on the top of campaigns page. Now you can start filling the maps with campaigns through two methods.

  • To delete a folder, just click on “More” below the thumbnail and then on “Delete”. Mark the option at the dialog if you wish to delete the folder content as well. If you don’t check this, all campaigns within the folder will be replaced outside of it.

How to duplicate campaigns

Copy and rename campaigns before modifying them.

Let’s say you display a campaign across different locations, but each location needs to have its local news displayed. For that purpose, it is easier to duplicate the campaign and replace the RSS app located on the bottom of the screen.

Also use this feature if you want to do slight modifications to the campaign, but you don’t want to change the original campaign as you will use it again on the future.

  1. On your HD2Sign TV account, click on “More” below the campaign thumbnail.

  2. Click on “Duplicate Campaign”.

  3. The page will reload and exhibit the duplicated campaign with the following name “XXX (Copy)”. Rename it so you know at a glimpse what modifications were done.

Tip: You can also duplicate playlists. Just go to “Playlist” tab and redo steps 2 and 3.

What is an app

An app is short for “application” and it is a software program used while online or on mobile devices.

It has usually a single simple purpose. On HD2Sign TV scope, it is a small program that enables you to display dynamic content on your campaigns – such as time, weather, news from websites, videos from YouTube, and much more. The picture below displays the App library. All categories are listed on the left bar menu, each of them containing a bunch of apps with different functions and styles. All of them are customizable.

How to add apps to campaigns

Add apps to your campaigns in order to make them much more dynamic and eye-catching.

  1. For setting Apps on your campaigns, start by creating a campaign or editing an existing one.

  2. On the bottom of the page, you will find the tab “Apps” just besides the “File”. Click on it to access your app gallery. If you are new on HD2Sign TV, there is only a few preset apps.

  3. Dragan app to the timeline to add it to the campaign.

  4. You can create new ones by clicking on “Add App” button.

  5. A pop-up window will be displayed with all apps available. Browse through different categories in the left menu bar.

  6. Select the app you want to add to your campaign and fill the settings. Check out how the app is turning out by clicking on “Preview”. If the result is satisfying, hit “Save App”.

  7. The custom app will be automatically saved to your App Library. Drag it to the timeline to add it to the campaign

Each time you create a new campaign, you can reuse the custom app. There is no need to create it all over again. Just keep in mind that if you want to edit any preference, the changes will apply to all campaign in which the app is set.

Basic campaign publishing

Do you already have your account filled with campaigns? Great! It is about time, then, to learn the basics of campaign publishing.

A great content is useless if hidden on your HD2Sign TV Account from your audience’s eyes.

Before learning how to publish, make sure you have already acquired player devices and HD2Sign TV App. To publish, login on your HD2Sign TV account and follow the steps below:

  1. After you’ve finish editing the campaign, hit “Save and Publish” orange button at the bottom of the page next to “Preview” button. By clicking on it, the campaign will be saved into your account

OR

On your account homepage, click on “Publish” button under the campaign you wish to set to the player

  1. You are a few steps closer to watching your campaign on the screen! Hit now “Publish to Players” on the top-right corner

  2. The loaded page shows several publishing filters. Begin by selecting in which players you want this specific campaign to be displayed. Besides, HD2Sign TV offers the following campaign playback settings:

  • Playing all the time or only when there are no other campaigns scheduled.

  • Triggering campaign whenever you want by the website, when crossing a geographic region or at predetermined time

  • Setting specific playback period

  • Defining regions where campaign will be displayed

  1. Click on “Publish” after you have selected the options.

  2. Your campaign has been successfully published! In case you forgot to mark an option or add it to a player, just hit “Publish to Player” and repeat the process.

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