In this article, we'll add a YouTube video or Short to OptiSigns, preview it, and put it on your screens.
- Add a YouTube video
- Preview your video
- Display options
- Playback options
- Save your video
- Other YouTube apps
- Troubleshooting
Putting YouTube videos on your digital signs screens is easy with OptiSigns. You just need to copy the YouTube link and paste it into the YouTube app in OptiSigns. Then, assign it to your screens or put it in a Playlist.
Add a YouTube video
First, you will need to have your screens set up and paired. For more information on how to do that, click here.
Log in to the OptiSigns portal, then go to Files/Assets and click Apps.
Search for YouTube, then click YouTube:
Enter your YouTube video information:
- Name - Give your YouTube video a name. This is for displaying in your asset list only. It is optional: if you leave it blank, the app uses the video's title as the name when you save. You can change it to something else at any time.
-
URL - Paste the link to your YouTube video here. This is the only required field. The app accepts:
- A regular video link, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzylE6U0Vlk
- A share link, such as https://youtu.be/pzylE6U0Vlk
- A YouTube Shorts link, such as https://youtube.com/shorts/BUXczOFByAU
Links that carry extra parameters, like &list= from a playlist or ?si= from the Share button, work as pasted.
YouTube Shorts
Paste a Shorts link exactly as you copied it. There is no need to change /shorts/ to /watch?v=.
Preview your video
As soon as you enter a valid URL, the video starts playing in the preview on the right of the form, so you can check it is the right one before you save.
Use the picker at the top right to see how the video will look on your screen: Landscape (16:9), Portrait (9:16) or Custom. The picker only changes the preview. It is not saved with the video.
Display options
Click Display options to open the section.
- Caption - If the YouTube video has closed captions, the app will show them. You can toggle this on or off. Closed captions must be created by the YouTube video author; auto-generated captions may not work.
- Mute - Play this video without sound.
Both are off by default.
Playback options
Once the URL loads a video, a Playback options section appears, so you can play just part of a video.
- Start At - Skip the beginning of the video.
- End At - Stop the video before it ends. This starts out set to the full length of the video.
Both fields accept a time in seconds or minutes and seconds, such as 90, 1:30 or 1m30s. The bar below them shows the part of the video that will play. Click Reset to go back to the full video.
Save your video
Click Save. Your YouTube video now appears in Files/Assets.
You can assign the newly created YouTube asset to your screen by going to Screens, clicking Edit on a screen, and assigning the video to it.
You can assign the YouTube video to a Playlist, Schedule, or Split Screen too.
Other YouTube apps
This app is to display single YouTube videos or Shorts. For other types of YouTube content, see our apps on:
- YouTube Playlist (for displaying entire YouTube Playlists)
- YouTube Channel (for showing individual YouTube Channels)
- YouTube Dashboard (for displaying YouTube Dashboards)
- YouTube Live Schedule (for displaying Live Streamed YouTube content)
Troubleshooting
These are some of the errors that may appear when setting up a YouTube app, and how to solve them.
"Please enter a valid YouTube URL"
The link is not one the app accepts. Use a regular video, share or Shorts link. Live (/live/) and embed (/embed/) links are not accepted here; for live streams, use the YouTube Live Schedule app.
"Couldn't find YouTube video"
The video could not be found. Check that the link is complete and that the video is public or unlisted, not private or deleted.
"YouTube doesn't allow embedding, please contact the owner of the Video."
The video's owner has turned off embedding, so it cannot play outside YouTube. Ask the owner to allow embedding, or choose another video.
That’s all!
OptiSigns is the leader in digital signage software. If you have any additional questions, concerns or any feedback about OptiSigns, feel free to reach out to our support team at support@optisigns.com.