About Screen Sync:

The screen sync feature in NowSignage allows for the time synchronisation of your content across an unlimited amount of displays. This feature requires each screen to be run off a separate media player or SoC (which can be added to a 'sync group' to achieve time synchronisation). 

Please note - If the screen sync feature is not available in your account, please contact support@nowsignage.com and we will enable this.

Compatible on: 

Android (v2.8.0+)

Windows (v0.4.1+) 

MAC (v0.4.1+)

BrightSign (v0.4.1+)

Samsung Tizen (v0.4.1+)

Activating Screen Sync:

To activate screen sync, firstly go into the 'Apps' area on the left sidebar. You will now see a list of apps, click into 'Screen Sync' then click 'Enable':

Creating a Sync Group:

Once you are in the app, click '+add sync group'. Now give your sync group a name and click 'create new' once you are ready:

Now you can search for the screens you wish to add to the group (by name or location) and select which screens you want to sync together by clicking on the screen names on the left.

This will then add the screens to the sync group (you can add an unlimited amount of screens into a sync group):

Optional: You can also select a 'Re-sync interval' for your group, this will force the app to resync the content (in instances where this the sync gradually drifts on the hardware).

Once you are happy with this, click 'save' and your sync group is now created. You can go back into the sync app at any stage to edit or delete your sync groups.

Please note - if you are creating or editing a 'sync group' after you have launched the app, you will need to reboot the app in order for the sync to take affect.

Creating your playlists:

Depending on your setup, there are a couple of methods to sync content together. You can either:

1. Have the same content syncing across multiple displays at a time.

2. Have different content syncing across multiple displays at a time. 

For method 1, simply create a playlist containing your assets, add this playlist to a schedule, then apply the same schedule to all the screens you wish to sync the identical content onto (you can add the same schedule to an unlimited amount of screens).

For method 2, you need to create multiple playlists but ensure that the duration of the items in each playlist identical (so that each item changes at the same time on each screen) E.g:

Playlist 1

Menu image 1 (8 seconds)

Menu image 2 (5 seconds)

Video 1 (20 seconds)

Playlist 2

Menu image 3 (8 seconds)

Menu image 4 (5 seconds)

Video 2 (20 seconds)

Once you have created the multiple playlists for your screen, add these to separate schedules, then apply the individual schedule onto each screen within your sync group.

Loading the App:

Once you are happy with your sync group and your content configuration, you need to simply activate the NowSignage app on your media players or SoC Screens. 

Once it is loaded on all of your screens within the sync group, after downloading the content, you will see a 'syncing screens' icon in the bottom left of the screen. Once this command has been sent, all of your screens should then be in sync:

Please note - if you are creating or editing a 'sync group' after you have launched the app, you will need to reboot the app in order for the sync to take affect. 

Also, if there is any delay in the syncing of your content, please double check the date/time settings on your hardware, as this will need to be set the same across all media players/SoC screens in order for sync to function correctly. Sync also requires a solid internet connectivity across all of your synced displays (we advise this is run on ethernet as a preference).