Quick Start Tutorial

The purpose of this quick start tutorial is to provide a basic introduction to Broadsign Control. By following these steps, you will be able to get a single piece of content onto your screen in about five minutes.

Note: To set up a basic digital signage network, start with the Network Setup Tutorial, which includes procedures and training videos. See Network Setup Tutorial.

The "Quick Start Tutorial" training video is part of the "Introductory" playlist:

Quick Start Tutorial – Outlines how to get a single piece of content onto your screen in about five minutes.

Within Broadsign Control Administrator, we refer to each piece of content as an ad copy.

Ad copies contain and store pieces of content. For example, an ad copy called “Corporate” could contain a PNG file (logo.png) or a video file (corporate-video.mp4).

To upload an ad copy:

  1. Open Broadsign Control Administrator.
  2. From the resource tabs on the left (see Resource Tabs), select Ad Copies.
  3. Drag and drop content from your PC into the work area. Follow the steps on the screen.

    4. The Transfer Manager will show you the progress of your content upload.

For more information, see:

A display unit represents a screen or a content channel on your network. Display units tie together various settings including:

Then, when booking campaigns, you can target specific screens (see Campaign Booking).

To add a display unit:

  1. In the Network Setup ribbon, select the Display Unit icon.

  2. Give the display unit a descriptive name. Click Finish.

Your screen is now set up in the software.

Note: Your display unit will have the default loop policy and display type. For more information, see Create a Loop Policy and Add Display Types.

When setting up a larger network, you will find it helpful to use targeting criteria. See Add Criteria.

For more information about display units, see:

Now that we have uploaded content and added a display unit, we can start scheduling content to our screen. We schedule content by booking a campaign.

To book a campaign:

  1. In the Schedules ribbon, select the Campaign icon.
  2. Follow the steps on the screen.
    • On the Display Unit Targeting page, select the display unit that you created in Add a Display Unit.
    • On the Duration page, if your ad copy is static (that is, a single image), you will need to enter a duration value.

For more information, see:

Player resources in Broadsign Control Administrator represent PCs running Broadsign Control Player. They communicate with Broadsign Server to receive their scheduling information and display proper content.

Note: Every Evaluation Agreement has three players with which you can evaluate Broadsign Control Administrator.

To register a player:

  1. Ensure that you have a PC-player for your demo-network.
  2. Open Broadsign Control Player.

  3. Click Register.

  4. Follow the steps on the screen for a player registration. For this demonstration, you will skip through most of the pages of the registration, except the following:
    • On the Display Settings page, select the display unit that you created in Add a Display Unit.
    • On the Registration Name page, name the player (e.g., "Player 1").

Once registered, the new player will appear in Broadsign Control Administrator under the Players resource tab. The player polls/connects with Broadsign Server, allowing your display unit/player to download your content.

Finished! You have set up a screen, and scheduled content to it.

For more information, see:

You can start the player application on your player-PC. It will open full-screen. To go to window mode, hit Esc.

By default, a player polls every 40 minutes. This can be changed in Broadsign Control Administrator.

You can enforce a player-poll for testing-purposes:

  1. Open Broadsign Control Player.
  2. For window mode, hit Esc.
  3. Access the small "hamburger" icon, at the top left of the Broadsign Control Player interface, and select Poll Now.

Your changes or schedules will download and start.

For more information, see The Network Tab.

To install a proxy server on the player:

  1. Open Broadsign Control Player.
  2. For window mode, hit Esc.
  3. Access the small "hamburger" icon, at the top left of the Broadsign Control Player interface, and select Options.

For more information, see The Proxy Tab.

The Diagnostics Report is a useful and efficient tool to quickly ensure a player is working properly.

To generate the report:

  1. Open Broadsign Control Player.
  2. For window mode, hit Esc.
  3. Access the small "hamburger" icon, at the top left of the Broadsign Control Player interface, and select Diagnostics Report.

For more information, see Verify Your Installation.