This bug, which has been plaguing iTunes users for a while, meant that playlist changes made on an iPhone, iPad or iPod were not synced back to iTunes on a Mac, leaving users with two different. Sep 20, 2010  I have 88 videos in iTunes. They all play on my iMac, they are all.mp4. When I sync them with my iPod Classic, I’m informed that ten of them are in a format not supported by iTunes.

Background My plays Quicktime movies on Mac computers, using ethernet to keep any number of computers playing in sync. It works great (and has been used around the world by artists, galleries and museums) but computers are expensive, complicated, and inherently unreliable. Inexpensive media players (like the ) are often used for looping presentations because they play most HD formats and have no fans or discs to wear out. But they can’t do multi-screen synchronization (except via ). Makes industrial media players that support network features and complex interactivity.

For multichannel video presentations, the $350 player is perfect. (It has no annoying user-interface. It comes to life as soon as you apply power, etc.) But there are some major pitfalls too Trouble in Paradise For each presentation, the players need to be configured so they know what to do with your media.

BrightSign provides the (Windows Only) BrightAuthor software for this. There is no Mac version and BrightSign. Considering that video content is often edited on Macs, this decision seems strange. If you have access to Windows, BrightAuthor is great for authoring complex presentations with playlists, interactivity & web data feeds, but it’s total overkill for multichannel synchronized playback.

Furthermore, BrightAuthor exports your video file in an obfuscated format on the player’s SD card. You can’t re-use previously-authored SD cards by swapping video files. You really need to start a new BrightAuthor project for every show. BrightAuthor gets updated constantly. Most updates require a firmware update on the players and new projects are not backwards-compatible. New players ship with outdated firmware, so your current shows won’t run on a brand-new player until you update the firmware.

If you update a presentation in the future you need to re-author your project, export a new SD card, and probably update the firmware too. This situation is pretty terrible for galleries, museums, or artists. The Script Solution The key to using a BrightSign with a Mac is scripting: For each project, BrightAuthor exports a file called “autorun.brs” in the BrightScript scripting language. When the player is powered-up it looks for this file and follows whatever instructions it finds. (This is no secret: BrightSign recommends that.) BrightScript is, including. Those examples don’t include network sync, but does. I modified the code a bit and added comments to make it easier for inexperienced users.

Operating System Versions: Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or a later version of Mac OS. Note To verify that your computer meets these minimum requirements In the Microsoft Office 2011 14.7.2 Update volume window, double-click the Office 2011 14.7.2 Update application to start the update process. Latest version of office for mac update 14.1.0 won't install.

• The “Master” script tells the player to preload the specified video file, send a sync message over Ethernet to all clients, and start playing. When the video ends the player loops and sends another sync message. • The “Client” script tells the player to preload the specified video file and wait for the sync message, then play the video. NOTE: BrightSign players cannot do timecode sync. Once the videos start they can drift out of sync slightly.

(In my tests I had a maximum of 1 or 2 frames of drift after 90 minutes.) You will need: • A BrightSign player and an SD card for each video channel. (I’ve used SanDisk Extreme Pro class 10 cards.) • A display and appropriate cable for each video channel • A properly encoded video file for each channel. ( of supported formats. For best sync performance, not MOV/MP4 files.

I’ve seen very little difference in practice.) • For 2 channel sync, you need 1 Ethernet cable. (It will connect directly between the 2 players.) • For 3 or more channels you need 1 Ethernet cable per player and 1 Ethernet switch. (Each player will connect to the switch) • A text editor (TextEdit on the Mac, Notepad on Windows, many options on Linux) to edit the scripts The Steps: • Format your SD cards Mac: Use “Mac OS Extended”. (Requires BrightSign firmware from late 2013 or newer.) Windows: For videos under 4gig, FAT32 is OK. Otherwise use NTFS. Linux: Use EXT3 • Download This zip file: • Unzip the file and locate the master and client folders. • One player will be the master and all other players will be clients.