BrightSign video preparation

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jstenner
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Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:33 pm

BrightSign video preparation

#1 Post by jstenner »

These instructions deal ONLY with how to prepare video for use with our BrightSign video controllers.
The assumption is that you are working on a Mac, using Final Cut Pro, and you want to get that video into a playable format to place on an SDHC memory card.

1. Render files direct from Final Cut Pro to Compressor at 1280 x 720, 30fps. You could also use After Effects here.

2. In Compressor, select Settings -> Apple -> Formats -> MPEG-2 -> Transport Stream.

3. Double-check your configuration in the Inspector.

4. Submit.

5. It will render a file with an .m2t suffix. Simply change the suffix from .m2t to .ts

Optionally, using MPEG Streamclip, you can do this:
1. Open .ts file in MPEG Streamclip http://www.squared5.com/ and Convert to MPEG with MP2 Audio to create an mpeg file.

2. Change file suffix to mpg so Windows/BrightSign will recognize it.

This file can be included as part of your BrightSign project and will be played smoothly in HD without problem.

HTH,
Jack
The master of disaster!

jstenner
Site Admin
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:33 pm

Re: BrightSign video preparation

#2 Post by jstenner »

This has pretty much been made obsolete with the addition of QuickTime support, however, it is still recommended if you want reliably frame accurate, highest quality, dependable HD sync and playback.
The master of disaster!

jstenner
Site Admin
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:33 pm

Re: BrightSign video preparation

#3 Post by jstenner »

One situation where this is still critical, though, is with seamless looping video. Unless you format your video as MPEG-2 Transport Stream WITHOUT AUDIO, you won't be able to seamlessly loop. You will have a slight delay at the end of your clip before it begins the next loop.

So, for seamlessly looping video, modify (2) above to:

2. In Compressor, select Settings -> Apple -> Formats -> MPEG-2 -> Transport Stream. Disable audio under Encoder->Extras.

And place a text file called autorum.brs on your SDHC card with this script:

Code: Select all

v=CreateObject("roVideoPlayer")
v.SetLoopMode(true)
ok = v.PlayFile("video.ts")
if ok = 0 then print "error playing file":stop

while true
sleep(1000)
end while
Change "video.ts" to whatever your file name.

Attached is a droplet from Compressor with the proper settings for seamless video:
Attachments
BrightSign_Compressor_Seamless.zip
Compressor settings for seamless video.
(3.88 KiB) Downloaded 484 times
The master of disaster!

jstenner
Site Admin
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:33 pm

Re: BrightSign video preparation

#4 Post by jstenner »

Some of the above is out of date now. Here's the latest documentation on BrightSign seamless looping playback. I've had best luck with H.265 encoding rather than H.264 recently.

http://docs.brightsign.biz/display/DOC/ ... eo+Quality
https://brightsign.zendesk.com/hc/en-us ... o-playback

The biggest issue is that they want PCM SWOT encoded audio for seamless video + audio playback and most encoding presets on the Mac default to AAC or mp3.
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/audio%20types

This seems to be the best solution as of December 2017:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-E ... 0621.shtml
https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/FFmpeg.shtml

2018 update - encoding info from BrightSign:
https://brightsign.zendesk.com/hc/en-us ... -PCM-Audio
The master of disaster!

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