bsn.Content has be renamed to BrightSign Author Plus. It is the same product with a new name.

The BrightSign Author desktop app, available for Mac or PC, is recommended for the vast majority of users. While much of the same functionality is available through both apps, the web app has some important limitations. The web app, https://bsn.cloud, requires an internet connection and cannot access players through the user's local network (i.e., players must be connected to the internet). In addition, files must first be uploaded to BrightSign Cloud before they can be used in presentations. The BrightSign Author desktop app does not have these limitations.

Provisioning and Default Setup File explain these concepts in detail and is recommended reading.

Setup

Generally speaking, the process of setting up a player involves applying a Setup File to that player. The Setup File includes various player settings including the Publishing Mode which defines the method with which content will be delivered to the player. The Setup File also includes a Player App which, at a minimum, must contain an autorun.brs file (the .brs extension denotes a BrightScript file) which instructs the player what to do upon startup.

Provision

Applying a Setup to a player using BrightSign Cloud (via Admin > Provision using BrightSign Author, BrightSign Cloud, or control.bsn.cloud) is known as provisioning. Since most situations involve using BrightSign Cloud to apply Setup Files to players, the term provisioning is often used to refer to the process of setting up a player.

Publishing presentation content is separate from provisioning, but these steps can be combined. For example, you can deliver the player app with the content as a single package via an autorun.zip file.

Activate

A QR code appears on the connected display when a player is first powered up. This code can be used to provision the player and automatically apply a default Setup File:

If you do not want to use the default Setup File, first create a Setup File to apply to your player. If you use the QR code to set up your players and then try to change to a different Setup type, you will have to go through the re-provisioning process. See this page for more information about that process, and see Activate for more details about player activation.

Playlists can be created in the BrightSign Author Presentation tab (see this page for a tutorial). To create simple presentations without BrightSign Author (or any other publishing software), see this FAQ.

The Video Mode option in BrightSign Author allows you to determine how videos will be scaled to fit in a Video or Image zone. This option has no effect if the video and the zone are the same size.

See this page for more information about the BrightSign Author Video Mode types.

The Windows process and Mac process to uninstall applications does not delete all directories related to BrightSign Author. To delete these folders, first exit BrightSign Author, then remove the folders and files described below, depending on your operating system.

Windows users:

Mac users: