This guide will walk you through the basic setup procedure to get a Mediaplayer running and synced with AccessKit using a test media file.
Later, if necessary, the AccessKit team can assist in setting up specific media files for your upcoming Exhibitions.
Upon completing your account registration with AccessKit, an admin portal for your organization will be created for our team.
You'll receive an email with your organization's subdomain, and will be able to log in to your
account through the following URL, by replacing the $SUBDOMAIN field with that provided to you in your email:
https://$SUBDOMAIN.accesskit.cc/adminPlease send the AccessKit team a list of other emails that you'd like to be able to access the admin
portal. Alternatively, we can authorize anyone with a email at your organization's domain (e.g.: david@museum.org, sam@museum.org, etc.).
The admin portal is a launchpad for your institution's control and functionality within AccessKit.
Here you can create new Exhibitions and Works, download the necessary BrightSign Script to sync media, and customize the look and feel of your AccessKit web application's guest view, and conveniently use real time controls for multiple media players at once.
You can also toggle between your admin control panels and the GUEST HOME view, in order to preview your users' experience before it goes live.
When you've successfully logged in to your AccessKit admin portal, please prepare the following items:
Test media file and SRT, formatted as .mp4 or .mov. We recommend using our test mp4 (log in to access) and srt (log in to access) media files.
Ethernet cable and access to an Ethernet port.
BrightSign mediaplayer, directly connected to the internet via Ethernet.
SD media card.
Video monitor compatible the BrightSign mediaplayer. Generally, any HDMI-compatible monitor will suffice.
Before registering a BrightSign, make sure you've prepared the requirements listed above.
Click the BrightSign Script button on the top right of the AccessKit Admin Portal.
You will be prompted to save a file called autorun.zip. Save it to a convenient place on your computer's drive.
Insert your SD card directly into your computer, and move autorun.zip onto the SD card. Do
not unzip the zip file, and make sure the filename is exactly autorun.zip.
Safely eject your SD card.
Before powering on the BrightSign, connect it to a monitor and connect it to the internet via its ethernet port. The ethernet port it is connected to must be a live internet connection, not just a local network.
Insert your SD card into the BrightSign.
The BrightSign will now go through several boot cycles as it clears its registries and sets up local network diagnostic access. It will eventually attempt to connect to AccessKit for the first time.
Once it connects to AccessKit, it will display an ID number assigned to the player, as well as the player's local network IP address on screen.
Log into AccessKit's Admin Portal. The player should now be visible.
If any errors occur during this process, please follow the on-screen prompts. If errors persist, please contact the AccessKit team for additional assistance.
For more information about registering media players, please refer to the following instructions.
Once registered, you can configure the BrightSign to play a media file either by:
For this initial test setup, we recommend Remote Updating the BrightSign you just registered to download and play our test media (log in to access).
Copy the test media file's resource link (i.e., test.mp4).
Note: With Dropbox, you can create resource URLs by clicking "Share File" and
replacing dl=0 with raw=1 at the end of the link. For example:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1234567890/test.mp4?dl=0
changes to:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1234567890/test.mp4?raw=1
Click on the newly-registered Mediaplayer in the AccessKit admin portal to view its configuration page.
Paste the test media file's resource link into the Remote Video URL field.
Check the New Content Available checkbox, which will instruct the media player to download the media resource. Make sure the checkmark is showing!
Click the Update Mediaplayer button.
The Mediaplayer will stop playing whatever media it is playing and display Downloading new content on its monitor.
Do not power the player off while it is downloading.
When downloading is complete, your Mediaplayer will automatically reboot and begin playing the new content! In the admin portal, you should see the timestamp of the most recent player sync to the right of your media player.
To manually set a media file, follow our Content Updating Guide.
For more information on customizing media content with your BrightSign mediaplayer, please refer to the following instructions.
To add real-time synced captions to the test work:
In the AccessKit admin portal, click the "+ Work" button on the top right of the page.
Enter a title for your work (ex: "Test Work").
Download the SRT captions file for the test work here (log in to access).
Click "Add Additional Captions," and then "Choose File," selecting the .srt file you just
downloaded.
Click "Published?" to make this work display in your guest portal. During setup for an actual exhibition, you can uncheck "Published?" to hide works from public view.
Click "Create Work".
Click back to configuration page of your newly-registered Mediaplayer, and in the "Linked Work" field select the Work you just created. Once you click the "Update Mediaplayer" button, the captions will sync with the media file playing on the BrightSign.
Click the [edit] button for the newly-created Work in the admin portal. Scroll to the bottom of the configuration page, where you will see a QR code. You can scan this QR code with your phone and see the captions synced to the media file!
For more information about editing captions, audio description tracks, and work metadata, see the documentation here.
Now that you have a Mediaplayer successfully registered and playing test media, check out our Gallery Install Guide for information about setting up media files, QR codes, and wall text that will provide a seamless accessible experience for your guests!