Screenly OSE -- Digital Signage for the Raspberry Pi

[vpetersson]

Is there a way to add a group of images at once, e.g. all images in a folder, instead of making every image a separate asset?

No, that's not possible at the moment unfortunately.

[iain1940]

Strange Problem after installation - cannot upload images.
Last week I installed my original 256MB model B at my golf club to display messages and images on the TV in the clubroom. Worked fine (as 192.168.1.50:8080). I had pre-set some web pages and images. I demonstrated the maintenance. The following day I was told they couldn't update. Today I went in and the address had moved to 192.168.1.44:8080. I could change which assets would load but could not upload a .jpg. I could select the image, give it a name but when I clicked 'save' it hung with a blue band.

Not sure about why it hung, but it seems like the system uses a poorly configured DHCP-server. Normally, the IP will remain the same even after the DHCP 'lease' is renewed.

I guess that could in theory affect the save feature too. The easiest solution is probably to switch to Static IP (try this http://www.penguintutor.com/blog/viewblog.php?blog=6306).

Thanks for your comments

I've re-attached the RPi to my home network (with address 192.168.0.9) and it was able to update images OK.
I'll try again on-site later today.
Are there any diagnostics I could look at?

[vpetersson]

Thanks for your comments

I've re-attached the RPi to my home network (with address 192.168.0.9) and it was able to update images OK.
I'll try again on-site later today.
Are there any diagnostics I could look at?

Yes, you can find log messages on the 'system info' tab in the web interface. If you want more logging messages, check out /tmp/screenly*log

[iain1940]

Thanks for your comments

I've re-attached the RPi to my home network (with address 192.168.0.9) and it was able to update images OK.
I'll try again on-site later today.
Are there any diagnostics I could look at?

Yes, you can find log messages on the 'system info' tab in the web interface. If you want more logging messages, check out /tmp/screenly*log

Thanks - I'll follow those up.
But when I reset it up today we used Google Chrome as browser - everything OK (even if it has allocated yet another IP address - 192.168.1.47). So somehow it was M$ Internet Explorer - well well !!

[hanspost]

I am a satisfied user of screenly. It works great and simple, thank you for that. I hope the password functionality will be coming soon.

I do have one strange problem though. I am using an jpg image (exactly 1920 x 1080) as a template for my screens. I am using Powerpoint to create images with that background. These image show up fine. However when I use exactly the same image as background on a webpage I am showing, the image doesn't fit on the bottom. I think it is a browser problem on the Raspberry, but I am not sure. An example of the missing image can be seen on http://www.korfbal.net/tvscreen/test2.html. In my browser (Chrome, Safari) everything looks fine, on my TV screen (Raspberry) the text beneath the logo is missing.

Do you know what is wrong?

[allanco]

Hi,
I've started using Screenly today, hoping to use it in a School foyer showing info for parents and pupils.
I've uploaded some pics and websites so it works fine so far, but I can't get back into the O/S
I've tried Alt+Ctrl+1 and Alt+Ctrl+F1 but nothing happens. Ctrl+Alt+Del works as I see the LXTask manager, so it's not the keyboard (I assume)
I am a Linux noobie, but can normally work things out.
I'm using the latest image.
Many thanks
Allan

[jef79m]

Hi,
Does anyone have a video of using the web console of screenly OSE? It seems really unresponsive to me, and I was wondering whether that's just how it is, or if I've done something wrong. I only have class 4 SD cards to test with at the moment, would that slow down the webserver component?

Cheeers,
Jef.

[jef79m]

Answered my own question, class 10 SD card doesnt make it any quicker. Web interface is just horribly slow?

[vpetersson]

Answered my own question, class 10 SD card doesnt make it any quicker. Web interface is just horribly slow?

The web interface shouldn't be too slow, but keep in mind that you're not working with a super computer. The resources are very scarce. In particular if you're displaying content while managing assets.

Uploading large assets is a known issue (and not very surprising). It is something we'll revisit hopefully soon.

[allanco]

I sorted out my previous issue with getting access to the the O/S, it was a keyboard issue after all (original works fine with every other O/S I have but not this one, weird).

I have another query though which has been touched upon elsewhere, I have loaded a few images and a couple of videos, all work fine, but the gap between them shows a blank screen for 8 to 10 seconds, is there a way to reduce the time?

Many thanks though for which is a great little app

[username2r]

Hi

I've set my Raspi up with the the Screenly-OSE image and have a couple of questions.

I want to be able to mange my display from a 3G dongle, without purchasing the pro version will this be possible?

Also I'm connected to a Samsung UE32EH4000 and cant seem to get the sound over HDMI working, has anyone got any ideas that might resolve this? The audio option is set to HDMI.

Thanks

[username2r]

Anyone?

[jdanforth]

I am experimenting with the EXCELLENT Screenly OSE build and I am very impressed. Thank you, Viktor, for creating such excellent software.

Is it possible to load content but not have it play automatically? Is it possible to play content via an external trigger like me sending an http request or something?

[vpetersson]

I want to be able to mange my display from a 3G dongle, without purchasing the pro version will this be possible?

Neither Screenly OSE nor Pro supports 3G dongles directly mounted in the device. There are plenty of reasons for this, but primarily because it is a very messy problem with a ton of variables, which makes hard to support well.

I'd recommend that you instead try a 3G router. We've been very pleased with the quality of Dovado's (http://www.dovado.com/en/products) routers and used a number of 'Tiny' ones in production.

Also I'm connected to a Samsung UE32EH4000 and cant seem to get the sound over HDMI working, has anyone got any ideas that might resolve this? The audio option is set to HDMI.

Nothing obvious comes to mind beyond checking the HDMI cable and the TV settings.

[vpetersson]

I am experimenting with the EXCELLENT Screenly OSE build and I am very impressed. Thank you, Viktor, for creating such excellent software.

Thank you.

Is it possible to load content but not have it play automatically?

Sure, you can just upload it and not activate it.

Is it possible to play content via an external trigger like me sending an http request or something?

No, not at the moment. Exposing the API to the public for Screenly Pro is however on the roadmap. For OSE we don't have any immediate plans for this, but maybe down the road we can add an API there too.

[hanspost]

I am a satisfied user of screenly. It works great and simple, thank you for that. I hope the password functionality will be coming soon.

I do have one strange problem though. I am using an jpg image (exactly 1920 x 1080) as a template for my screens. I am using Powerpoint to create images with that background. These image show up fine. However when I use exactly the same image as background on a webpage I am showing, the image doesn't fit on the bottom. I think it is a browser problem on the Raspberry, but I am not sure. An example of the missing image can be seen on http://www.korfbal.net/tvscreen/test2.html. In my browser (Chrome, Safari) everything looks fine, on my TV screen (Raspberry) the text beneath the logo is missing.

Do you know what is wrong?

[vpetersson]

I hope the password functionality will be coming soon.

No, that's not coming anytime soon. This has been discussed before, and it is a bit more complicated than just adding authentication, as we would also need to switch to HTTPS (instead of HTTP).

I do have one strange problem though. I am using an jpg image (exactly 1920 x 1080) as a template for my screens. I am using Powerpoint to create images with that background. These image show up fine. However when I use exactly the same image as background on a webpage I am showing, the image doesn't fit on the bottom. I think it is a browser problem on the Raspberry, but I am not sure. An example of the missing image can be seen on http://www.korfbal.net/tvscreen/test2.html. In my browser (Chrome, Safari) everything looks fine, on my TV screen (Raspberry) the text beneath the logo is missing.

Do you know what is wrong?

Nothing obvious comes to mind. The image viewer does however scale down the image, while the browser doesn't. It could perhaps be the case that the system isn't using 1920x1080.

What do you get if you run the following command on the Pi?

Code: Select all

$ tvservice -s

[hanspost]

I will check this when I am near the RPI.

[hanspost]

I've checked the setting but I think it is correct:
state 0x120009 [HDMI CEA (31) RGB lim 16:9], 1920x1080 @ 50Hz, progressive

[hanspost]

I want to signup for the trial of Screenly Pro, but every time I get an error: invalid domain.
The domain I am using is korfbal.net. What is wrong here?

[vpetersson]

I want to signup for the trial of Screenly Pro, but every time I get an error: invalid domain.
The domain I am using is korfbal.net. What is wrong here?

Hi hans,

Yes, that is an invalid entry. The domain is not for your domain,but rather the domain within Screenly. That is, if you enter foobar, your domain would be foobar.screenlyapp.com

Feel free to reach out to our support if at support.wireload.net for any support related questions for Screenly Pro.

[jmahoney]

Hi

I have been using Screenly OSE for about 6 months, I am very happy with it.

But I have recently noticed a problem that I don't think was there before:-
Previously there was no gap between images and usually 1-2 seconds between videos. Since last week I find that, once a screen has been running for some hours the black screen is being shown between assets for a longer time. Now I am getting 6-8 seconds gaps.

Does anyone else have this too? Or any idea what might be going wrong?

I am using the 13-3-25 dated image of Screenly-OSE
The only other thing which has changed about my setup is that the screen with this problem is a newer Pi with the Hynix chip. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Any help you can offer will be gratefully received

[vpetersson]

Now I am getting 6-8 seconds gaps.

Hmm, that's strange. A little delay is to be expected, but it is something we're working on addressing. The reason why the delay was introduced was because we changed the method we used for displaying images, since the prior method failed to render some images properly.

That said, an expected delay would be more like 1-3 seconds, not 6-8. What kind of images are you trying to view? If it's a 15MB image-file, that would explain the delay. If it is a reasonably compressed PNG in 1920x1080, the delay should not be that great.

Also, you might want to check your memory split settings.

[jmahoney]

Hi Viktor

Thanks for the fast reply!

I shouId say, the longer gaps are been between video and video.

I have been tinkering today and find that the length of gap seems proportional to the size of file, as you suggest. e.g. 2sec before a 2MB clip and 6sec before 20MB

It is not a major issue for me, I will try to trim down the file size.

The mem split is 50/50. Do you think changing it might affect this?

Thanks again for all your help.

[vpetersson]

I have been tinkering today and find that the length of gap seems proportional to the size of file, as you suggest. e.g. 2sec before a 2MB clip and 6sec before 20MB

Yep. It's a load issue. Remember that the Raspberry Pi isn't a super computer. In addition to that SD cards aren't that fast either. You're best luck is probably to get a Class 10 SD card. That is probably what will make the most impact.

The mem split is 50/50. Do you think changing it might affect this?

50/50 seems reasonable, assuming it's a 512MB version.