Below are a few tips, tricks, and best practices to consider when using the SF-100e / SF-200e player.
Player:
-If a player boots up with an IP address of 192.168.0.190, the player was not able to get an IP address from the DHCP server. If the DHCP server is working correctly there maybe a problem connecting the player to the network. Check the network cable making sure that it's firmly plugged into the network jacks on both ends.
-Pressing the reset button on the player will reset the player to defaults settings except the Noventri Server's IP address it was connected to.
-Playback speed will differ from resolutions set on the player and transitions set in the project. (Higher resolution = longer delay, transitions further add to the delay)
-A blinking power LED on the SF-100e will most likely need the power supply replaced.
-Clocks that appear to be off by an hour need to have Daylight Savings Time checked on the server pc & the player's Time Zone settings in the Manage tab.
-Clocks will not show up if the project and players resolution do not match or the project orientation is set to vertical.
-A firmware update may occur when a player gets connected to the Server or on the first Sneekernet publish.
-Project using special fonts need to be installed on the server pc before the project is published for new fonts to show up (may need to restart the pc as well).
-If the player can be ping'd, via command line, most problems can be fixed remotely.
-Players with a Static IP must have a matching ip/net mask/gateway, or they will not communicate.
-Secure Socket Mode & Decompress Content can be turned off in the Manage tab to reduce the publish/update times.
Installation:
-Firewall settings, hardware firewalls, and anti-virus software may block the Noventri application or it's port(s). (default 20940)
-If the Suite tries to install to the User's Documents directory or fails to install Reporter.exe, check that the user has Full Administrative rights.
-This maybe a good time to install any special font on both PC's running Noventri Server and Suite.
Suite:
-Remember to name your pages and regions accordingly. When gathering and building additional pages, it will become increasingly difficult to keep track of pages that are not named.
-Excel sheets with spaces or odd chars will not show up in the Noventri Suite's database select table, use Advance select statement if the excel document contains spaces.
-If the total sequence length exceeds 30 minutes in the Edit Sequence panel (even by a second), a 60 minute sequence will be added in the Schedule tab.
-If a project uses special fonts, they must be installed before opening a project or they will default to Arial.
-Installing the latest Microsoft Access Driver will allow for updates to go though while MS Excel is still open.
-When prompted if you would like to copy an image into the Project's media directory, it is generally a good idea to do so if you have plenty of hard drive space and do not intend on updating the image by saving over it. This will ensure that you won't lose the image if the original source is renamed, deleted, or moved.
-If you are not copying the image into the Project's media directory because you intend on updating the image by saving over the original file, then make sure to uncheck the box "Migrate image content on publish."
-.PNG images have smaller file-size and support transparency, .BMP images look good as well, but filesize it much larger. (use png for best performance)
-While Suite has the ability to scale images for you, it is always best to size images accordingly prior to bringing them into Suite. For the best results, size your Image Region in Suite to the size of your photo.
-If you would like to use the transparency in your image file, make sure to turn off the Background Color check box.
-If you are building a Dynamic Page and are planning on copying and pasting database'd regions, be sure to set your "Rows Per Page" and "Row Offset" before doing so (this will save you from changing it later).
-If you are working with a team of people that all use Suite and connect to the same Server, make sure to always download the newest copies of the projects before working on them to have the newest copy. (found in the Design Tab, Server >> Projects on Server).
-Remember that changing a page name will save a project - so for example, if you're demonstrating it to someone and do not want to save the changes you've made, be careful not to change page names.
-Create groups for players with the same content to save time scheduling to single players.
-If you are in a location that could potentially lose internet connection to your digital signs (and you are not using SneekerNet), you'll want to create your Play-Every-Week schedule in the year 1998. If the SF-100e does not find a Server, it has no way of knowing the current time and will default to 1998. Creating your schedule in this year will guarantee that even if no internet is available, content will continue playing.
-The Lock Position feature will prevent accidental deletion and movement, but will not prevent layer stack arrangement or various other changes in the Properties panel.
-If working on a smaller monitor, you may not be able to see some of the items in the Properties panel. Suite has re-sizable panels in order to compensate for this.
-Be sure to use the monitor preview feature (found in Edit >> Options) to make sure the content looks as intended before publishing. You can also disable the Region Icons and Region Bounds (found in View) to reduce the clutter of your Composition panel.
-Name Sequences carefully before publishing your project. If you change the names of Sequence later, all players that had the old schedules assigned to it will be removed.
-Set the time slider at the top of the Schedule tab to the intended time of play before adding a sequence to the schedule; this will save you from moving it later.
-Double click schedule entries to fine tune them to a greater degree than the click-and-drag allows.
-Craft "specific" select statements that filters out unneeded results using WHERE clauses. This makes retrial of the selected data faster, and will reduce lag on the server.
Server:
-Files that are not local to the Server and use UNC paths require the Noventri Service to run as the user to access the file.
-UNC paths require authentication before remote content will show up. (Use the remember checkbox during confirmation if you want to avoid this after rebooting the pc)
-Setting permissions in the excel file, sheets, cells, workbooks may cause accessibility problems.
-Database does not update after recent software upgrade? (check that the service is running as a user or move files to local hdd).
-If special fonts are used, they need to be installed before a project is scheduled to play.
Network:
-When the connection is intermittent, it could be from another device using the players IP address on the network. (use arp -a from the command line to determine if 2 devices are using the same ip)
-Check that the network cable is firmly plugged in all the way. Green status lights will flash if the player is communicating.
This post will be updated as more tips and hints are available. If you feel that we missed something important or would like to contribute to the list above, please post below and we will update the post.