How to install OptiSigns Player on Raspberry Pi

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In this guide, we will walk you through end to end process to install OptiSigns Digital Signage App on your Raspberry Pi and assign a playlist to it.

2 ways to get OptiSigns running on your Raspberry Pi:

1) Download our prebuilt SD Card image and flash to your SD Card

2) Install OptiSigns on your existing Raspberry Pi OS by downloading and running AppImage file

If you are using Raspberry Pi 8GB model, please follow method 2, and start with the fresh Raspberry Pi OS.

Here's the step by step guide for each method:

1) Download & use prebuilt SD Card image:

Download the latest SD Card image here.

You can double check MD5 hash if needed.

Unzip and Flash the SD Card image to your SD Card (minimum 16GB card is required).

2) Install OptiSigns on your existing Raspberry Pi OS by downloading and running AppImage file

Here are the high-level steps:

i) Get a fresh image of Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian) boot up and configure your network. If you already have Raspberry Pi OS running, you can skip this.

ii) Download OptiSigns to your Raspbian an run it.

iii) Pair your screen with OptiSign portal.

iv) Using OptiSigns's web portal to assign content and manage your screens.

i) Get a fresh image of Raspberry Pi OS and configure network

Use a tool like Etcher to flash the image to your SD Card.

ii) Download OptiSigns AppImage to your Raspberry Pi OS an run it

If you not familiar with AppImage, it is a way Linux package app to run just like you would run an .app file on Mac or .exe file in Windows.

In the Properties box. Click Permissions tab The in the Access Control -> Execute drop down. Select Anyone. Then Click OK.

 

After that, double click on the optisigns.arm7l.AppImage file to execute it. In the pop up, select Execute.

 

Raspberry Pi is not very fast, so it may take a few seconds to load. The app will run in full screen mode, and generate a pairing code for you to pair with the app.optisigns.com portal. You can also move the mouse around and see the top 3 buttons to resize, open side bar menu or close the app.

 

 

On the side menu, you can set Orientation, etc. The app has Autostart and Fullscreen on Startup checked as default. So now, next time the Raspberry Pi started up, it will run OptiSigns app automatically.

 

iii) Pair your screen with OptiSign portal. 

If you don't have an account already, create one, or you can also log in with Google or Facebook account.

Once you logged in Click "Add screen" button

In this pop up, type in the Pair Code showing up on your Fire TV screen. Then click Pair

The screen will change to:

iv) Using Optisigns' Web portal to assign content and manage your screens.

Upload video/ image to your account:

Log on to your account. Click Files/ Assets

Click Upload Files

In this pop up, click to browse the file or drag and drop your files here.

Create a Playlist:

Go to Playlist Tab: Click Create Playlist A "New Playlist" will appear at the bottom on the screen. Click on it.

Click on the pencil button to change Playlist name.

Change it to something meaningful for you. In this case, we will name it "Lobby TV Playlist"

Drag and drop Video/Images that you uploaded to the playlist.

When you done, it should look something like below.

You can click on the pencil button next to the item duration loke below to change the duration of the item on the playlist.

Assign the playlist to your screen: 

Go to the Screen tab.

Click "Edit" button on the screen you want to change.

Click the Type drop-down list and select Playlist.

Click the Selected Playlist drop-down and select the playlist you've created. In this case we select "Lobby TV Playlist"

Click Save.

Summary:

Now your Raspberry Pi image already has Digital Signage player features configured:

• Autostart up and launch OptiSigns.

• It will resume, play what's assigned to it, even after hard power lost.

• It will not go to sleep.

• It can play downloadable content (images, video, document) even when internet is lost.

If you have any questions or issues that need support, please feel free to reach out to us at support@optisigns.com.