Video in Digital Signage can either be added from your library, or from the royalty-free provider Pixabay.
Video is not to be confused with Youtube as Youtube is added and displayed using our Youtube plugin, read more about Youtube.
Options
Alignment – Maximize, left, center, right, top, middle, right, and lock
Details – Show you the video file name, duration of the video, and the resolution as well
Set slide duration to – Click this bottom to set your slide duration to the same time as the video.
Muted – Plays without sound
Loop – Toggle this to make your video loop (Check your slide duration after doing this).
Always on top – By default the video will be rendered on top of other elements for smoother playback.
Yes – This option is recommended for all entry-level players as they can struggle when having to render the entire canvas for every frame.
No – Video will respect the layers and other elements can be moved on top of the video. This requires a mid-level player as the entire canvas has to be rendered for every frame of video. If you want to position elements above the video, we recommend using background option instead.
Yes (native)– This option will be the default for 4K videos. On Android devices it will launch Android’s native video player at the position of the video, non-android devices behave the same as with the ‘yes’ option. Please refer to 4K limitations on the Android section in the FAQ.
Background – By selecting this option, the canvas background will become automatically transparent, this is because the video will be played behind the canvas in a dedicated video player. This way we can get the performance gains of not having to render each frame twice (like with the no option), yet also make it possible to position elements, such as text or logo on top of the video.
Layer – Move your image or photo up or down your layers
Positioning – Manually adjust the placement of your shape pixel by pixel
Sizing – Manually adjust the size of your shape pixel by pixel
Note! When you add a video you’ll notice that the slide duration automatically changes to the same as the duration of the video. This is a setting in Other settings under your user profile. You can always manually change the duration of the slide after adding a video.
FAQ
What formats are supported?
We support the following formats: 3g2, 3gp, 3gpp, avi, dv, flv, m2ts, m4v, mkv, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, mts, mxf, ogg, swf, vob, webm, wmv. Please note that all formats are automatically converted to mp4.
What is the best format?
We recommend using .mp4 files encoded in h264 or h265 codec. Despite h265 being a newer codec, often h264 is better for the players as it’s not that heavily compressed and decoding takes fewer resources.
Is 4K supported?
Our software has the support for 4k, but your player device has to be capable as well. Our Windows/Linux/OSX devices treat 4K like any other format, however Android devices are using a workaround. Android devices (ARM processors) are quite weak compared to other hardware (x86), and the 4K playback on Android devices is optimized for certain codecs and applications only. For that reason, our app will launch the native player at the coordinates of the plugin and will play the video.
Most users will be able to take advantage of using 4K without making compromises, however, we will outline the drawbacks of having to use an external player:
4K is played on top of all elements, including our app user interface elements, such as the download progress bar (in case you’re playing the video in full screen). This also means that slides with 4K can not use slide transition effects as the effects would occur behind the video element, thus not visible.
If you request a screenshot from the web portal, the video will not be shown on the screenshot as it’s running outside of our app context.
If you are using our software for portrait rotation (as opposed to operating system settings), the video will not be rotated. The portrait is still possible if the display can be rotated from Android operating system settings (Amazon devices lack this option). We’ve also discovered that Amazon’s 4K stick is incapable of playing a 4K portrait (2160 x 3840). You can work around this issue by rendering in 3840 x 2160 resolution instead, but the content in the video is rotated 90 degrees.
Since the video starts up in an external program, there may be a slight delay (especially on the first load), therefore we recommend setting the slide background to black to avoid a white flash when starting up.
Despite some manufacturers claiming that their device runs 4K, we’ve witnessed the 4K support to be rather limited or lacking (this is most often true for the cheapest Android devices claiming 4K capability). If possible, we recommend going with the Amazon FireTV 4k variant as Amazon’s devices are well tested and very capable for the price range.
It says bit-rate is too high?
Entry-level devices have limited resources, and there is a lot more to this than just the resolution. Videos have a bit rate that defines how many bits a video will take up in one second. Our recommended bitrate should not exceed 8000kbit/s or simply 1 megabyte per 1 second of video. So a 60-second clip should not exceed 60 megabytes, this is quite reasonable for FullHD, however, the specific limitations depend on your player hardware.
How to get a lower bitrate?
You can use a free transcoder https://handbrake.fr/ to optimize the video. H264/265 encoders have an option for constant quality, this should be set between 21-23 for optimal quality/bitrate ratio. Furthermore, you can also set an option “Web optimized” when encoding, this will reduce the time it takes for the player to load and start playing.
Every time I add a video the slide duration change?
If you go to your user profile and open Other settings you’ll find the setting Automatically set slide duration when adding a video. Toggle this to deactivate this setting.
Can I lock the position of a video in digital signage?
You can lock any object you have in your content. Locking an object ensures that the object stays where it’s supposed to be, and can not be resized or removed, read more about Locking Objects.
