Media Players, or simply Players, represent end-node devices running the Korbyt player software to display Signage Content.

This article will review the settings and options for configuring your media players in the Korbyt CMS. Please see Adding Players to your Korbyt Tenant - Provisioning if you need assistance adding players to your CMS.

The Players Screen

To Access and View the Player Screen

• Click on the Mega Menu, in the Device Management column, click on Players

  

Viewing Options of the Player Screen

• You can set the view to be a List, Cards, or a Custom List using the view controls in the upper right

  

  • The List View displays columns of information about players

    
    Expand for details on the Columns of Information in List View

    Column	Description
    Player Name	The name programmed into the player
    Player Description	Text that you set on the Player details screen to help identify the player
    Last Update	The last time the player checked in for new information
    Creation Date	The date the player was created on your tenant
    Player Status	The Player’s communication status with your Tenant. Active, Inactive, or Pending
    Agent Version	The Korbyt Software Version on the player
    PRT Versions	The PRT Version enabled This might be included in () in the Agent Version section These are the instructions sets available to device
    Last Heartbeat	The last time the player had a connection with the server. This should happen every 60 seconds and show as “Just Now”
    Last Check-In	The last time the player and server updated the player’s assigned content. This should happen every 15 minutes. A check-in can also be forced in the Player Detail screen
    Model	The Model of the player

  • Card View displays the most recently captured screenshots

    

    Player Screenshots are normally captured when players reboot, or when the Get Screenshot command is sent. If continually updating screenshots are something you require see Korbyt Instant Screenshots

    • There is a toggle button to overlay player details

      

  • At A Glance view allows a user to create a custom list view

    

    • When you click the At A Glance selector, you will see a pop-up window to select which data points you want as columns in your custom list view

      

    • Drag the datapoints to the right that you want to add, then scroll to the bottom of the pop-up and click continue

      

Player Groups provide an alternative way to view player details. Information about this view can be found in Player Groups and Access Permissions

Heartbeats and Check-ins

In the different views, you can see two duration-based information fields, Last Heartbeat and Last Check-in.

• Heartbeat

  • A small connection from the player to the service that happens every minute

  • It is used to synchronize activity between the player and the service

  • When working correctly, the Last Heartbeat should read as “just now”.

    • Some activities, such as a software update or reboot, will disrupt heartbeats for short periods.

• CheckIn

  • A full review of the content assigned to the player through playlists which happens every 15 minutes.

    • Any changes that have been made in the system (items being deleted, content added that flows to a playlist through clever rules or tags) will be synchronized to the player through the check-in

  • Some actions will cause an immediate check-in to happen, not waiting for the 15-minute cycle, such as sending the check-in command or clicking save a playlist that is directly assigned to a player

    • When an action causes a check-in, it also resets the “every 15-minute” timer for the next check-in

Hearthbeats and Check-ins are also used to determine a player’s status.

Player Status

A player can be in 1 of three states

• Active Status

  • A player who is communicating normally

  • Heartbeats and Check-ins are happening as expected

• Inactive Status

  • A player who has stopped communicating normally

  • The reason for the disruption could be that the player is powered off, the network cable has been unplugged, a network outage, or a software crash.

  • A player will report as Inactive after two missed check-ins, or approximately 35 minutes of missed heartbeats.

    • The player returns to Active status when the Heartbeast and Check-Ins begin again

• Pending Status

  • Pending is a temporary status for a player between the player being provisioned to the tenant and their first successful check-in

  • A player that is powered on and connected to a network should only be in Pending for a few minutes.

    • Slow network connections might take longer

    • A player that is unexpectedly in Pending for a long time should have its network connection and functionality examined

      • Ensure the network has Korbyt White Listed and the Ports are available, see Korbyt Player Network Connections

  • Once a player achieves Active Status, it will not move back to pending

It is possible to configure notifications on players status changes through Player Groups
See Player Groups and Access Permissions and the Player Notifications seciton for details

Taking Actions on Players with the Action Icons

• The Actions icons for each player allow different interactions with the player

  • Pencil = Edit Player Details

    • View and Edit the Player Detail screen

    • Only Available to Administrator and Tenant Administrators

  • Eyeball = Player Preview, opens a new tab

    • Preview the content assigned to the Player on all of its playlists

    • Not a live view of what the player is showing at that moment

    • Available to all users who can see the player

  • Calendar = Schedules, opens a new tab

    • The Schedule of playlists assigned to the player

    • Can be a Month or Week view

    • Clicking on a Playlist name will open the playlist in a new tab

    • Only Available to Administrator and Tenant Administrators

  • Trashcan = Remove

    • Asks for confirmation

    • Deprovisions the player from the tenant

Editing Player Details

Clicking the pencil icon for a player will open the Player Details page and allow you to send action commands or set player details

If you change any value in the player you have to click the Save button in the upper right

Player Screenshot

And the upper left player information

• In the top left, there will be a Player Screenshot if the Media Player supports them

• They are captured/refreshed after a Player Reboot or through the Get Screenshot command (described below in Player Actions)

  • If continually updating screenshots is something you require, see Korbyt Instant Screenshots

  • The Player type appears as a watermark in the top left of the screenshot; it is not part of the actual display on screen.

    

• Below the Screenshot, you will find

  • A volume control slide

    • If the player allows volume control

  • S link to the Player Configuration page

    • The Player Config Page is available for Korbyt KDA and KWP players and links to the IP Address of the player to log directly into the device

    • For more information, see KDA Player Configuration Page

  • A Preview Eyeball

    • Opens a new tab that will preview the player content, the same as the preview eyeball on the Player Screen

Player Tags and Description

• Tags

  • Attaches a point of information to a player

  • Can be used to organize, along with the media items that are tagged

• Player Description

  • Can enter a description of the player that would be helpful to other system users, especially helpful if the player name is too limiting

  • The player description shows in the Player Screen next to the Player Name

    

    And in the Playlist / Player Assignment window

    

Player Actions

The Actions section in the upper right allows you to send different instructions to a player. Actions available will vary based on the player type.

When clicking an action, some will send the command to the player on the next heartbeat, some will ask for follow-up instructions, and let you schedule the command

Players have to be Active, with an Active Heartbeat, to receive and carry out Action Commands. If a player is Inactive in Korbty, the command will be listed as Pending until the system receives the player’s heartbeat.

Expand any Action below for more details

Check-in

Check-in ~ Causes the Player to do a check-in on the next heartbeat

Normal Check-In happens every 15 minutes

When you click Check-In, it will schedule the check-in process to happen on the next heartbeat from the player

Reboot

Reboot ~ Reboots the device on the next heartbeat or at a scheduled time

When you click the Reboot Action it will present a Checkbox to select next heartbeat or a scheduling window to set a date and time

After making your selection, click Send Reboot to confirm and it will be listed in the Pending Actions

You can abandon the command without sending by clicking the black X

Get Player Log

Get Log ~ Player sends a Data log, helpful for troubleshooting

When you click Get Log, it will schedule the action for the next heartbeat
You will see the Playerlog command as a Pending Action

• You can click the refresh symbol, and when the logs have been retrieved, the pending action area will be blank

• Now, in the lower right area of the player screen, you will be able to Refresh the player log section at the lower right of the player screen
  

  

• Click on the drop-down and select the date of the logs – if more than one set of logs were generated. After selecting the specified date, the list with the logs will be displayed as shown below.
  

  

  • After selecting the log file date, it can also be filtered by Level.

  • Below are some examples, showing what the logs can be filtered by.

    

  • Selecting All it will display all the entries.

• You can also highlight the text in the error messages and copy it to paste into a Word document or similar

Get / Update Screenshot

Display/Hide Identity

Upgrade Player Software / Agent Version

Clear Cache

Show/Hide QR Code

Hot Key Commands

Hot Key ~ Send the player a Hot Key command

Hot Key Commands are for KDA and KWP devices

They are not compatible with BrightSign Players

Use the Drop Down to select the Hot Key command you wish to send

Runtime Select

Runtime Select ~ Set a Runtime Environment Version (PRT)

Korbyt players use Chromium to display content.
PRT or Runtime is used to help Chromium execute tasks and events that are responsible for handling how content is displayed and scheduled to be displayed on players.

Newer versions of Runtime allow newer features of Korbyt to Function Properly and keep all functions running smoothly.

If your players are not using the latest verion of PRT they may encounter errors or difficulty

Select the PRT versions from the dropdown

After you select a version, you can send on Next Heartbeat or on a Schedule

Resolutions

Resolutions ~ Select one of the available resolutions.

Korbyt is capable of handling a wide variety of resolutions.

The resolutions you will see available in the drop down are a combination of the resolutions that the media player can support and the resolutions that the DisplayID information has provided to the player about the resolutions the screen has available

For video walls it may be required to use Multi Screen Controls

Select the available resolution from the dropdown

After you select a version, you can send on Next Heartbeat or on a Schedule

Player Metadata and Settings

Player Metadata allows you to program the player with information about itself.

It can be basic information, such as its address or the name of the room it is in, but 100 blank Custom Metadata fields allow you to give any points of information that distinguish the player and who it serves. This information can then be used to create Clever Playlists or Dynamic Player Groups.

This information can be entered and changed one player at a time in this Player Screen, or you can update several players’ metadata at once using the Bulk Provisioning Process

Expand a Metadata or Settings section to learn more

Locaiton

Location ~ The player’s address and location information

The Player should at the least be programmed with their physical address, as this controlls the Player Map on the dashboard, as well as any Subscription data that can destinquish different addresses

After entering the mailing address you can click Get Location to fill in Latitude and Longitude

Custom Metadata

Custom Metadata ~ Customizable information fields

Custom metadata fields are initially labeled metadata01 - metadata100 and can be used with these generic names.

You can also customize the display name of these fields in the System Settings

• Click the Gear Icon in the upper right

• Select the Signage tab at the top of the settings

  

• In the Player Metadata section configure the metadata fields as needed

  

• Changing the field name by typing a new name

  • This will change the name that is presented in other drop-down menus that reference Metadata, in Clever Playlist rules, for example

• Type controls what data will be in the field

  • Text - Standard text field

  • Lookup - create a lookup table of other drop down values

  • Boolean - Sets the field to Yes or No value only

  • Number - Sets the field to numerals only

  

With the player knowing these details, it can not be used when created

Dynamic Player Groups

Cleverl Playlists

And other automations

Custom Properties

Custom Properties ~ Used by BrightSign, LG, and Samsung devices

Allows the setting of specific values for a few select player types

Not all options seen here will be available on all players

• Orientation - Allows rotation of the screen

• Set TimeZone - Set a specific timezone if it hasn’t been controlled by BSN Clould

• Daily Reboot - Set a daily reboot schedule

• Native Playback - Allows native video playback on Brightsigns, can improve Video performance on some video files, BUT if turned on will severely limit the playback of other types of content

Sleep/Blackout Schedule

Player Groups

Player Groups ~ Can see which groups the player belongs to

The Player Groups section shows the groups that the player belongs to

The Group Membership is controlled on the Player Group screen

The Group Names are links that will open a tab showing the Player Group if the user has access to control player groups

Content Assigned

Content Assigned ~ Can see the playlists assigned to the player

Can See Playlists assigned to the Player, either directly to it as an individual player or assigned to a Player Group that the player is a member of.

• A playlist that has the Red X to remove means it is a playlist that was assigned to the player as an individual

• A playlist without a Red X to remove means it was a playlist assigned to the group of players.

  • To remove this playlist, you will have to remove the content from the Group or remove the Player from the Group

Scriptlets

Scriptlets ~ Program the player with Microcode

Scriptlets are small sections of code that can be installed into a player to make it act in a custom way that is not a normally supported option

• Scriplets, by their nature, are custom and have to be matched to the specific player and end goal

Screen Control

Screen Control ~ Allow the media player to control a screen over a Comm Port

Screen controls allow the player to be programmed with commands that are sent to the screen through a dedicated communication port.

Supported on KDA Media Plyerss

This can be limited by screen manufacturer and compatibility and specific KDA Model

• The exact command and syntax will vary based on screen manufacturer

If the screen you are hoping to control is not a listed make/model you can configure additional ones in your Tenant Settings > Screen Control

To configure additional displays you will have to know the HEX / RS232 / IR codes for the model you are trying to control

Multiscreen Settings

Multiscreen Settings ~ Allows a multi-output player to merge its outputs to one screen

Multiscreen Settings are only available on players that have multiple HDMI outputs

Some multi-output players will not accept these GUI settings and will need a custom Scriptlet to combine the screens

Either complete the details in the Express Setup section, or device each screen individually

Remeber to hit the Save Button after selcting Apply

Player Details Section

The Player Details section has multiple areas of information. Some sections only display details about the player, some sections are configurable.

Details that can be Set

Player Alias

• An optional “Friendly” display name

• Some Media Players have a limited ability to change the player name for the device

  • Either character limits or format limits

• The Player Alias is a way to set a more friendly name that will be displayed in the Korbyt CMS in places that are labeled Player Name

Player Name

• It can be set, but some devices limit how it can be changed

Player Background Color

• The color that will be seen if the content does not fill the screen completely

  • Letterboxing, or Columnboxing

• Normal Default is black, but it can be changed

• Setting to a Company color can help content look more polished if it is not 100% matching the screen ration

• Enter a color code, or use the color wheel

  

Details that are only viewed

• Model - The media player model information

• IP Address - the IP Address that the player is connecting from

  • Can be used to access the Player Configuration Page if available

• Provision Code - The code that the player will display if not connected to a tenant

  • Can be useful to check if a type was entered on a player that has been stuck in Pending status

• MAC Address - The device’s MAC Address

• Agent Version - The Version of the Korbyt Software that is installed

• OS Version - The Operating system version for the player

• Last Heartbeat - The heartbeat should be Just Now

  • Heartbeat should happen every 60 seconds

• Runtime Version - the Runtime Environment currently selected

  • Can be changed through the Action commands

• Last Check-in - the last time a check-in was processed

  • Should be every 15 minutes

• Display

  • Aspect Ratio, Resolution, Orientation

• Recent Player Events

  • Shows the time that the player has been running, and any unexpected or planned reboots

• Permissions

  • Shows the User Groups that have access to the player

  • Access to the Player is controlled by Player Groups, this is only a display of any limitation