Player does not output if power cycled without network

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blessingscm
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Player does not output if power cycled without network

Post by blessingscm »

In our player testing as we prepare for deployment I found that the SF-100 fails to display content if it power cycles and is unable to connect to the network.

When I have the SF-100 connected to the network and power it on it works without a hiccup however if I disconnect the network (we didn't have a spare network jack where we were testing the live TVs) and then power it on the initial test screen appears with the grey box to display the IP, fails to detect an IP and then shuts down. Is this behaviour expected? I thought the player would boot up and start playing the data it has scheduled whether it has a network connection or not because the data is stored locally on the USB drive.

Let me know.

Thanks.
Viktor S
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Re: Player does not output if power cycled without network

Post by Viktor S »

Hello,

If the player's power is cycled with no active network connection, it will not be able to display content.

If the player is running and loses network connectivity for any reason, it will still continue to display content and cycle through the content, unless the player is rebooted during this time. Once the player is rebooted, all the temporary cache is cleared out and the player has nothing left to play (because it cannot reach the network / server).

If the player will be in a location with no network connection, you can use a different method of publishing called Sneeker-net. It publishes a project directly to the thumb drive, and will play it even if you cycle power. In this case, you would just need to pull out the thumb drive and republish the content to it anytime you wanted to change something on the screen.

To do a sneeker-net publish, you will have to pull the USB drive from the player and plug it into a computer that has the Noventri Suite installed. Once you have created your project, select the sequence you want to play and click "Publish to Thumb Drive". Then, navigate to the thumb drive and click OK. Once it is complete and the progress bar disappears, Select Edject on the thumb drive, then remove it from the PC and put it back into the player. Finally, cycle the power on that player, and wait a few minutes for your content to come up on the screen.

Note: Even though you can still publish a project with data-based regions, those data-based regions will be not updated automatically.

If you decide you want to go back to a networked setup, then you would need to pull the thumb drive out and format it before plugging it back in and rebooting the player. Make sure that the player has a network connection so that it may receive updates from the server.

Kind Regards,
Viktor Seredich
Technical Support Engineer
Specialized Communications Corp. / Noventri
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
http://www.noventri.com
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Trent S
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Re: Player does not output if power cycled without network

Post by Trent S »

Hello blessingscm,

Another optional solution is to actually create your play-every-week schedule in the year 1998. You can jump to this year using the calendar in the lower-left hand corner of the Scheduling tab.

When the SF-100e Digital Signage Player is powered on, it first will look for a Noventri Server to find the current time. If it cannot find a Noventri Server, it will look to the internet to find the current time.

Because the player cannot reach either the server or the internet, it thinks that the year is 1998. Technically, it is playing what you've scheduled, but since there is nothing scheduled for 1998, you see no playback. Creating your schedule in that year will allow you to lose power and internet but still have content play when power is restored.

While we don't technically consider this to be a bug, our development team is currently working on a option in the software for players to continue playing their previous content even when no network / internet is found. We'll be letting everyone know once it is complete and included in the software.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Kind Regards,
Trent Semler
Art Director
Specialized Communications Corp. / Noventri
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
301-790-0103
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blessingscm
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Re: Player does not output if power cycled without network

Post by blessingscm »

That's a great tip. Thanks Trent.
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