Installing NowSignage For BrightSign (Middle East (ME) Server)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: - This Installation guide is ONLY to be used for accounts hosted on the NowSignage Middle East (ME) platform.

To confirm if your account is hosted on our ME platform. Please review the URL when you access your NowSignage account - For Middle East platform the URL will be- https://secure.me-central-1.nowsignage.com/profiles

NowSignage is compatible with BrightSign devices and includes a cutting-edge installation and update process that streamlines the initial app setup and seamlessly implements updates as they become available from NowSignage.

Compatibility: NowSignage is compatible on the current range of Series 4 and 5 BrightSign Players, please see compatible players in the link below:

https://www.brightsign.biz/digital-signage-products/compare-models

IMPORTANT:

SD Card Guidance: Use SD cards with a minimum of 16GB to run NowSignage, as image and video content will download and cache locally. Choose an SD card with sufficient storage for your display content.

Firmware Guidance for series 3 & 4: For series 3 & 4 players only, please ensure that your BrightSign model has the 8.4.14 FW, this can be found here:

https://support.brightsign.biz/hc/en-us/articles/360015198753-Previous-OS-and-Firmware-Releases

Please Note - Currently there is a compatibility issue with 8.5.31 onwards for series 3 & series 4 only.

For guidance on installing Firmware, please see the link below:

https://brightsign.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DOC/pages/370676536/Firmware+Installation+Instructions

Video Codec Guidance:

For Series 3, please use H264 codec only

For Series 4 & 5, please use VP9 codec.

NowSignage video codecs can be changed using the following method:

NowSignage Installation Guide:

SD Card Method:

Please note: The NowSignage loader will delete any files on the SD card that are not associated with NowSignage.

To install NowSignage to your BrightSign device, follow the instructions below:

Depending on the series of your player, download the suitable version of NowSignage loader, named autorun.brs, available at the following URLs:

Series 3&4:

https://cdn.nowsignage.com/me-central-1/brightsign/series4/autorun.brs

Series 5:

https://cdn.nowsignage.com/me-central-1/brightsign/series5/autorun.brs

Open a text editor on your computer:
1. On Windows, open Notepad: click Start Menu and type "Notepad" in the Start Menu search box.
2. On Mac OS, open TextEdit: Press Command + Space and type "TextEdit". Once TextEdit opens, click "Format" on the menu bar and then click "Make Plain Text".
Enter the screen PIN found in your NowSignage account. Save that file as pin.txt.
Copy the autorun.brs and pin.txt to an SD card then insert the SD card into your BrightSign device.
Reboot the BrightSign device, it may take a while for BrightSign to be fully initialized.

The updater will launch once the BrightSign is fully loaded, and you'll see the NowSignage downloader installing the signage player.

IMPORTANT:

To ensure the integrity of your data, it is crucial not to remove the SD card while NowSignage is actively running on your BrightSign device.

NowSignage App Troubleshooting

Issue: 'ENCOUNTERED AND UNKNOWN ERROR COMMUNICATING WITH NOWSIGNAGE'

Possible Causes: (in order of relevance)

1. There is no internet or network connection to the device.

2. Date/time is incorrectly set on the device.

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3. The app could not communicate with the NowSignage API.

4. The PIN code is not associated with a Screen

Solutions:

1. Ensure the device has a working internet connection, use the device's web browser or other internet-based apps to confirm connectivity.

2. Go into the date/time settings and set it to the current correct date/time.

3. Ensure the requests are not being blocked by a corporate firewall. Please see our firewall rules guidance.

4. Ensure the correct PIN code has been added by verifying within the NowSignage platform. (check for additional character spaces entered in error)