Configuring audio and video outputs

AccessKit supports configuring audio and video outputs on your BrightSign to meet your specific configuration needs. Generally, BrightSigns should automatically handshake with a monitor connected via HDMI automatically and configure the audio and video outputs appropriately, but sometimes you may need to manually override certain settings.

Configuration Files

There are three configuration files which can be placed on the BrightSign's SD card to manage the customization of audio and video outputs: video.json, audio.json, and window.json.

Filename	Description	Controllable from Admin Dashboard
`video.json`	Override automatic determination of the signal resolution sent out by the BrightSign to the connected monitor.	No
`window.json`	Rescale and translate the image, i.e. for offsetting or stretching the image.	Yes
`audio.json`	Override the audio output used by the BrightSign.	No

{
  "mode": "1280x720x60p"
}

Video

Sometimes, the BrightSign will not automatically detect the resolution of the monitor connected via HDMI and so you may need to manually override this.

To do this, create a video.json file on the BrightSign's SD card with the following contents:

{
  "mode": "1280x720x60p"
}

Field	Description
`mode`	The desired resolution. For a complete list of supported modes per BrightSign model, see the BrightSign documentation.

Window

Sometimes, you may need to rescale and translate the image, e.g. for offsetting or stretching the image. This is most common when connecting to a CRT monitor, where the image might end up being cut off on one or more sides, or slightly misaligned.

While this can be configured manually by creating a window.json file on the BrightSign's SD card with the contents shown below, we do not recommend doing so because it typically requires some trial and error to get the image in the precise position you want.

Instead, we recommend using the AccessKit Admin Dashboard to configure the window position via the Mediaplayer's [controls] page.

You can find this page by finding the Mediaplayer in the list of mediaplayers on the Admin Dashboard homepage and clicking the [controls] button next to the Mediaplayer's name.

From the Controls page, you can use the following buttons to configure the window position:

Button	Description
Move Left	Move the window left.
Move Right	Move the window right.
Move Up	Move the window up.
Move Down	Move the window down.
Scale Width+	Increase the width of the window.
Scale Width-	Decrease the width of the window.
Scale Height+	Increase the height of the window.
Scale Height-	Decrease the height of the window.
Scale Both+	Increase the width and height of the window uniformly.
Scale Both-	Decrease the width and height of the window uniformly.
Reset to Default Window	Reset the window position to the default.

When you are happy with the position of the window, make sure to click the button labeled Save Window Changes, which will save the changes so that they persist across reboots of the BrightSign. Pressing this button will create a window.json file on the BrightSign's SD card for you.

{
  "h": 1920,
  "w": 1080,
  "x": 0,
  "y": 0,
  "transform": null
}

Field	Description
`h`	The height of the window.
`w`	The width of the window.
`x`	The x-offset of the window.
`y`	The y-offset of the window.
`transform`	The transformation matrix applied to the image (for rotating/mirroring)

Audio

The BrightSign can be configured to output audio via HDMI or the 3.5mm jack.

To configure the audio output, create an audio.json file on the BrightSign's SD card with the following contents, depending on your needs:

{
  "mode": "pcm",
  "output": "hdmi"
}

Field	Description
`mode`	The audio mode to use. Can be `pcm` or `compressed`. For more information, see the BrightSign documentation.
`output`	The audio output to use. Can be `hdmi`, `analog`, or `spdif`.

Surround Sound

For surround sound, you will likely need to use optical AC3 outputs with a specially encoded/muxed file and a decoder like this or this. Contact the AccessKit Team with subject line BrightSign Surround.

Some basic muxing instructions below:

Using Premiere take 5.1 stems and make sure they are arranged in this order: L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS
Export WAV file with embedded 5.1 audio tracks (using 48k/16b)
Open exported WAV in an Audacity project. You should see the indiv. tracks cascading in order.
Make sure FFMPEG Lib is installed within Audacity
Export AC3 from Audacity
Test AC3 file in VLC player. It should show up at multichannel audio
Use an open source utility to mux AC3 audio with your video file. Make sure both components are the same length before doing this. Example utility: TSMuxer
Transfer file to SD card and test using BrightSign player (with correct audio configuration from above), over HDMI to surround decoding AV receiver.

Configuring audio and video outputs

Configuration Files

Video

Window

Audio

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