# Brightsign video player slow to trigger



## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

I bought a couple of these on ebay they are the HD1010's. When Im playing a looping video and then trigger a scare video through the gpio inputs they take approximately two seconds to start playing. Anyone else experience this or know how to speed it up.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Don't have any experience with that player specifically, but I would say it is not uncommon for a player to take a few seconds to switch between videos. Actually, 'a few seconds' seems pretty fast to go between two files.

If you want the switch to be 'instant', you'd almost have to edit the two videos into one and trigger based on time - so the scare happened at the moment the scene changed in the video.


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

corey872 said:


> Don't have any experience with that player specifically, but I would say it is not uncommon for a player to take a few seconds to switch between videos. Actually, 'a few seconds' seems pretty fast to go between two files.
> 
> If you want the switch to be 'instant', you'd almost have to edit the two videos into one and trigger based on time - so the scare happened at the moment the scene changed in the video.


I was hoping that I could loop a video that looked like a portrait and when someone walks by I could trigger a scare video. Looks like ill have to guess the timing!


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

i have a slight lag on my HD910 also.. loop video freezes for a sec then switches to scare.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Guess you could try an A-B switch. You'd have both sources of video playing at the same time (with separate players), then just switch the feed from A to B when you need. That might eliminate most of the lag.

Another more technically involved option would be to have your portrait painted on some scrim fabric and front lit. Your monitor would be behind and playing the scare video. When time for the trigger, the front light would turn off and the monitor light would come on making an instant transition to the scare.


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## David_AVD (Nov 9, 2012)

Can't you get those players to display the video file's first frame as a static image, then have a trigger set it playing ? That's no good if you want to use 2 separate video files of course.


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## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

I had a lag on mine when I tried to transition from a static jpg to a video. The way I fixed it was to use a movie editor to create an MP4 "movie" that only had a couple frames, i.e. it was like .01 seconds long. When I had BrightAuthor play that in a loop, then transition to my scare video when the i-o was detected, it transitioned instantly.
Thanks, Mike


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

mikkojay said:


> I had a lag on mine when I tried to transition from a static jpg to a video. The way I fixed it was to use a movie editor to create an MP4 "movie" that only had a couple frames, i.e. it was like .01 seconds long. When I had BrightAuthor play that in a loop, then transition to my scare video when the i-o was detected, it transitioned instantly.
> Thanks, Mike


I was hoping you would chime in thanks for the advice I'll give it a try


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

corey872 said:


> Guess you could try an A-B switch. You'd have both sources of video playing at the same time (with separate players), then just switch the feed from A to B when you need. That might eliminate most of the lag.
> 
> Another more technically involved option would be to have your portrait painted on some scrim fabric and front lit. Your monitor would be behind and playing the scare video. When time for the trigger, the front light would turn off and the monitor light would come on making an instant transition to the scare.


If Mikkojay's option doesn't work I may explore one of your creative options, thanks


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

BillyVanpire said:


> i have a slight lag on my HD910 also.. loop video freezes for a sec then switches to scare.
> 
> 13hr Haunted Grandfather Clock - YouTube


Wow very impressive prop!


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## Montclair (Nov 20, 2007)

BillyVanpire said:


> i have a slight lag on my HD910 also.. loop video freezes for a sec then switches to scare.


That prop kicks butt, man! Really nice work! Love it!


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

danb708 said:


> Wow very impressive prop!





Montclair said:


> That prop kicks butt, man! Really nice work! Love it!


thanks guys, i tried playing around with frame sizes & codecs.
give mikkojay's suggestion a try.


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

I tried Mikkojay's advice and cut the looping video down to a fraction of a second and it probably shaved a half second off of the reaction time, thanks Mikkojay! I also did a little more research on Brightsign's website and found out that the my brightsign player (HD1010) likes to be fed .mov files so I tried that and low and behold my player only takes about a second to react now which I think is manageable. I hope this helps out anyone else that might be struggling with one of these older Brightsign players.


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## 8bit (Nov 8, 2015)

Which pins on the D-sub did you connect to for your trigger on the HD1010? Any idea on voltages (I saw a pretty cheap 12v single channel)?


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

8bit said:


> Which pins on the D-sub did you connect to for your trigger on the HD1010? Any idea on voltages (I saw a pretty cheap 12v single channel)?


I believe its pin 14 and ground.


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

Well everyone I finally solved the problem. I thought .mov files were the solution but in fact you have to convert your file type to H.264 .ts and now the video playback of the scare video is instant. I am so happy now I was about to give up and sell them on ebay.


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## David_AVD (Nov 9, 2012)

Excellent news.


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

I scored a few HD 910s on eBay for $20 each, and have been playing around with Bright Author. When I plugged the SD cards that came in the units into my computer, the computer didn't see them.

I don't know if there is some Read Protect on them (the units came from Target stores, and the SD's are labeled Target EN...) and if so, how would I go about re-formatting them (since the computer doesn't see them).

Any suggestions are always greatly appreciated! Thanks


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

check the little grey tab/switch on the side of the SD card?


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## danb708 (Sep 24, 2014)

MBrennan said:


> I scored a few HD 910s on eBay for $20 each, and have been playing around with Bright Author. When I plugged the SD cards that came in the units into my computer, the computer didn't see them.
> 
> I don't know if there is some Read Protect on them (the units came from Target stores, and the SD's are labeled Target EN...) and if so, how would I go about re-formatting them (since the computer doesn't see them).
> 
> Any suggestions are always greatly appreciated! Thanks


Wow you got a great deal on those.


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

BillyVanpire said:


> check the little grey tab/switch on the side of the SD card?


Nothing like over-looking the obvious, I didn't even notice that"

I'll have to check it when I get back Thursday.

Thanks Billy!


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

some helpful info about the gpio pins:

http://support.brightsign.biz/hc/en...-GPIO-Which-pins-correspond-to-which-buttons-


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

Billy, thanks for the additional info on the gpio pins.

I checked the little grey tabs last night, and switched them back and forth on all my SD cards, and the computer still doesn't see them.

Not being familiar with these players, I'm not sure which way to proceed...


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

sounds like a bad card, or reader device maybe?

i have 2 of the Target units and i had no troubles reading/writing to the cards.
test another card or try a different usb reader to trouble shoot.

when you say "the computer still doesn't see them", 
do you mean the brightsign or your pc?


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

The PC doesn't see the SD card when I plug them in the card reader.

I put a completely different SD card in from an old mp3 player and the PC reads it just fine (shows up as removable drive N).

But none of the 5 SD cards from the Target units work regardless of the switch position.

I haven't tried hooking up the Brightsigns to the PC yet...


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

that seems strange, just try new sd cards?

how i did mine was create the 2 videos i needed in h.264 mp4 format.
fired up brightauthor software and created an inter-active playlist.
published it to my sd card then i put the card in the brightsign & turned it on.

i didn't connect the brightsign to the pc.


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

Got the SD card issues resolved (old machine with old reader wouldn't read newer cards).

New question:

Is it possible to trigger the video using a PIR off the 3.3 volt pin (pin 8), button pin and ground, or does the PIR (that we've been using for the fourbanger project) need 5 volts?


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