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Installation instructions for NeuroomNet (software) digital signage players

This section describes the installation and technical functionality of the NeuroomNet Digital Signage Player. The Digital Signage Player is available for Windows.

Digital signage players as dynamic components​

The NeuroomNet digital signage players are initially registered as so-called dynamic components in NeuroomNet, i.e.

  • In the configuration file of the digital signage player, the NeuroomNet server is specified with IP address and an arbitrary but unique name of the digital signage player
  • After starting the Digital Signage Player, it contacts the NeuroomNet server via the specified IP address.
  • The digital signage player then appears as a component in the NeuroomNet server, particularly in the Setup, Monitoring and Digital Signage modules.

Once the Digital Signage Player has been registered in NeuroomNet in this way, it remains there as a component (which can be offline).

Digital Signage Player for Windows​

The Digital Signage Player for Windows consists of the following files:

  • DigitalSignage-WebPlayer.exe
  • Batch file for starting the player: starter.cmd:
set DSWEBPLAYERID=Enter here the name of this player
set DSWEBPLAYERSERVER=IP-Address / DNS / URL of the NeuroomNet-Server

set DSWEBPLAYERHEIGHT=1080
set DSWEBPLAYERLEFT=0
set DSWEBPLAYERTOP=0
set DSWEBPLAYERWIDTH=1920

set DSWEBPLAYERCACHE=%tmp%\.cache-neuroomnet-webplayer

set DSWEBPLAYERDEBUG=
set DSWEBPLAYERONTOP=yes

start DigitalSignage-WebPlayer.exe

In particular, the first two lines of the starter.cmd file must be adapted because the name for the player as it will appear in NeuroomNet is defined here and the IP address of the NeuroomNet server is specified.

The Digital Signage Player for Windows can be installed and put into operation as follows:

  1. the two files specified above are copied on a Windows device to any location (important: the directory / file path must not contain any spaces) in the file system and then the cmd file is started there.
  2. the player now appears in NeuroomNet as a component in the Setup, Monitoring and Digital Signage module.

FAQ / Answers to common problems​

The HTML player does not start​

The application should be in a directory path without spaces.

The HTML player is not displayed offline in NrN, although it has been closed​

The application is generally not visible in the taskbar. This can lead to several players being started by mistake. You should therefore check in the Task Manager whether a player is already running before it is restarted. The component only goes offline when all players have been closed.

The player is started and remains black​

If the show contains very large files and the network connection is rather slow, it may take a long time for the files to download completely. Only then will the player show start.

The player remains black or plays the wrong content​

Check the time on the player and the server. Which content plays when depends on the time of day. If the clocks of server and player differ, a show starts late, not at all, or different content plays than scheduled. Server and player should therefore get their time from the same NTP source, ideally from the NeuroomNet server itself.

Also check the time zone. NTP only synchronizes universal time (UTC); the displayed time depends on the configured time zone. If a player is set to UTC instead of Central European Time, for example, it is off by one hour in winter and two hours in summer despite NTP. An offset of whole hours therefore almost always indicates a wrong time zone. The NeuroomNet server uses the time zone Europe/Berlin by default. With the correct time zone, the switch between daylight saving time and standard time happens automatically.

The layout looks wrong, although all resolution specifications have been made correctly​

In Microsoft Windows, check whether the display is scaled to 100%. A display of 125% or 150% can lead to content being cut off.