Get Started

Once you have an MP80 media player, follow the steps below to begin using QuickSign Cloud.

Step 1: Media Player Setup

MP80 media players must first be "activated" to use with QuickSign Cloud.

Activating the Media Player:

  1. Obtain a QuickSign Cloud account.
  2. You will receive a file named "activation.txt".

    This file can also be obtained through the QuickSign Cloud desktop application.
    See Main Menu/Get Player Activation File

  3. Place the "activation.txt" file on top level of any USB flash drive.
  4. Insert the USB flash drive into MP80 player.
  5. Player will automatically be configured for QuickSign Cloud operation and will show up in players list in the QuickSign Cloud desktop application.

Connecting the Media Player to the Internet:

In order for Quick Sign Cloud to work, the player must first be connected to the Internet. This is done by going to the settings menu on the player and selecting either a wireless or Ethernet network and properly configuring.

For further information on the MP80 and setting up the network, see the MP80 operations maunal.

Step 2: Install the Desktop Application and Login

Before you can control and monitor your media players over the Internet, you must have a QuickSign Cloud account. Once you have an account:

  1. Install the QuickSign Cloud desktop application (Windows).
  2. Start the QuickSign Cloud application. Login using your QuickSign Cloud username and passwords. If successful, your online players will appear in players list.

At this point you can add media and create content to be loaded to the players.

Step 3: Add Media Files

Before a video playlists can be created and sent to a player, media must be available to put in the playlist. Media can be videos,images, or mp3 files. Also, websites and streams can be specified and included in playlists.

Adding Videos, Images, and MP3s:

  1. Highlight Upload in the Panel Selector.
  2. Click the Add Files button.
  3. Browse for video, image, and/or mp3 files.
  4. The file will be uploaded to the cloud. Upload status can be monitored and could take some time for large files.

Once the files are uploaded they can be added to a playlist.

Step 4: Create Play Lists

After adding some media to QuickSign Cloud, you can now create playlists using this media. The media can be videos, images, mp3 files, streams, or websites.

Creating a Playlist:

  1. Highlight Playlists in the Panel Selector.
  2. Click New Playlist. The Playlist Editor will appear.
  3. Assign a name to the playlist and add the desired media. Can now use arrow button, or drag and drop to add media to the playlist.
  4. Click OK to save the playlist.

Step 5: Create Layouts

At this point, you may optionally create layouts that can be sent to the player along with a playlist. Layouts can be used to specify multiple zones on the display. For example a video can be played in one zone and images and/or text, for example, can be placed in other zones. Use of layouts is completely optional. See Layouts

Creating a Layout:

  1. Highlight Layouts in the Panel Selector.
  2. Click New Layout. The Layout Designer will appear.
  3. Design a layout and save.
  4. Once saved, a layout can be loaded to the player.

Step 6: Load/Play and View Status

After creating a playlist, you can load the video files and playlist to the player over the internet using QuickSign Cloud.

Loading the Video Files and Playlist

  1. Click on Players in the Panel Selector.
  2. Highlight a player in the player tree that you wish to load a playlist to.
  3. Click the Player Control tab.
  4. Specify a playlist to be loaded to the player. Specify a layout to be loaded or specify Full Screen (no layout, video only).
  5. Click Load/Play button.

QuickSign Cloud will now upload media files as necessary to the QuickSign Cloud. Once complete, the media player will then retrieve the media files and start playback.

NOTE: The Load/Play process can take a long time depending on the size of the files and how many files are required. Each file only needs to be loaded to QuickSign Cloud one time. The next Load/Play command using the same media file will not need to re-upload the file.

Step 7: View Status

At this point, you can view player status to insure the playback is as desired.

Viewing Status

  1. Click on Players, highlight a player, and click the Player Status tab.

  2. The Player Status tab shows the currently playing video, the current layout (if specified), and the last playlist or layout or schedule that was loaded to the player.

To update the status immediately, click on the update status button denoted by:

refresh

NOTE: Player status is updated automatically on about a 1 minute cycle. To get status "now", click on the update status button. Note that after about 10 minutes of no user interaction with the application, status is updated on a much longer basis (typically, 10 minutes and increases as more in-active time passes).