EngagePHD Lite offers simple and quick options in getting full screen content to your players. This Knowledge Base entry will cover the sections of the software that are supported by the EngagePHD Lite license.
EngagePHD License Comparison:
Sections Covered:
Navigation
A look at the EngagePHD navigation when using EngagePHD Lite:
Settings
The ‘Network’ icon from the Home page main menu provide options specific to your network:
Within the Network properties you have three tabs, Network, Alerts and Integration.
The Network tab allows you to define:
- Contact – This is the Network point of Contact; the best person to contact for any support questions or concerns.
- Time Zone – Default time zone for the Network (Note: each Player can be set in a different time zone).
The ‘Alerts’ tab is where you are able to subscribe to automated email alerts that are sent out when a player has been offline for the user definable period of time.
Asset Library
The ‘Asset Library’ is where all of your media assets and custom fonts are uploaded and stored. Media Assets include:
- Images (JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP) – PNG images are recommended if you want to have a layered transparent image that allows the background video or image to come through.
- Videos – Videos over 50 MB or WMV, MOV, AVI files will be automatically re-encoded to improve performance and to ensure they are in the correct format (MP4 encoded as H.264). Once processing is complete you will receive an email and the asset can be used.
To upload an Asset select the ‘Upload Media‘ tab as shown below. The first time you try to upload an Asset you will be prompted to confirm that you have permission to use the content that you are uploading:
You will then be able to drag your Asset(s) (font files included) onto the gray dialogue box or click to find the Asset(s) you wish to upload. Once the Asset(s) have been uploaded you can view them in list view as shown below or as thumbnails as shown below by clicking on the required button:
Once an asset has been added to the Asset Library, you can click on the asset and open the Media Detail. From this page you can manage the asset by setting Tags, Deleting the asset, Applying the asset to multiple products, or setting a Scheduled Start and End Date/Time.
Assets can be deleted by clicking on the asset and clicking the ‘Delete‘ button. If an asset is being used in a layout or playlist, you will be prompted to remove the asset from that layout or playlist before deleting the file. To override this, or to delete multiple assets at once, you can click on the ‘Action’ button at the top right of the library and select ‘Delete’. Click on each asset line you want to delete (each will highlight in blue), the click the ‘Process’ button. This will also remove assets from any playlists.
Creating Folders to Organize Assets:
1) From the Home page, click on ‘Assets‘.
2) Click on the folder icon:
3) Click on the create new folder icon and give your folder a name:
4) Drag and drop assets on the folder to add the assets to the folder.
Folders are also visible from playlists, so you can add assets from folders to your playlist timeline:
From the Asset Library list you can also Add Web Page and Add Widget. Please see: Using the EngagePHD Store
Players
The Players section of the software is where you add Player records, perform updates and check network status. When you access the Players menu, you will be presented with the following screen layout.
Players Menu:
- Players Tab– This is the default view when you access the Players menu.
- Upload or Download Players Tab– This is where you can download a list of players and make mass changes before re-uploading, or you can add multiple new Player records without having to create records manually one by one.
- Search– Allows you to search for Player where many may exist on your Network.
- Add New Player – This is where you can manually add a new Player record.
- Player Action (above the header)– This is where you can perform global actions against all Players on the Network or a selection of Players on the Network. Note: Firmware Update is only applicable to LG webOS or Samsung SSP displays.
- Description– Shows the Description of the Player (or display)
- Device Id– This shows the system generated unique ID for the Player (Note: LG webOS and Samsung SSP displays although player-less, are for commonality termed Players). Depending on the hardware being used, this will be used in a number of different ways when activating your Player/Display, just make sure you substitute the DeviceId references below with the actual DeviceId of the Player/Display you are configuring:
- Content – This will show the name of the Playlist you have scheduled to the player.
- Last health check – This indicates whether the player is online and connecting to the software. Green means the player is connected to the internet and communicating with the software. Red means that the player is not connected to the internet and communicating with the software.
- Magnifier – Gives you a full quality and full resolution preview of the content that is supposed to be running on that Player.
- Properties – Takes you to the Properties of the Player record. Clicking anywhere on the same row will do the same.
- Player Action – The “in-line‟ Player Action drop down (not to be confused with the “above header” global drop down) will perform the selected Action for that individual Player.
For more information on EngagePHD supported players and instructions on how to set up your players, please see: Adding Players
Playlists
From Playlists you can create a new Playlist, edit an existing Playlist or delete a Playlist. Use caution when deleting a Playlist as this will remove the Playlist from any Player that is currently scheduled to be playing the deleted Playlist.
Note: Any changes you make to your Playlist will save automatically. Any Playlists that are scheduled to Players will update shortly after changes are made.
Creating A New Playlist:
1) When you click ‘Create New‘ you are prompted to give the Playlist a name:
Assets Tab: When you drag Assets or Layouts onto the Playlist timeline, by default Image Assets will run for 10 seconds and Video Assets will run for their natural duration. As shown in the example below: The order in which you have the Assets will be the order in which they playback subject to any specific playback attributes you set. You can drag the Assets around when they are on the timeline to put them is the order that you require:
Clicking on the ‘Properties’ icon will allow you to set Asset specific playback attributes that affect just that Asset:
The order in which you have the Assets will be the order in which they playback subject to any specific playback attributes you set. You can drag the Assets around when they are on the timeline to put them in the order that you require.
Clicking on the ‘Properties’ icon will allow you to set Asset specific playback attributes that affect just that Asset. Leaving the Start Date, End Date, Time Range, Day(s) of the week and Tags blank will mean that this Asset will play continuously in a loop along with other Assets that have no attributes set.
Please note: The time range needs to span 24 hours for any scheduling to work correctly. For example: First asset could be 11:00am – 1:00pm, next asset would be 1:00pm to 11:00am. Please also ensure that the time is set correctly on your player.
Upload Media Tab: If you have forgotten to upload the Asset(s) you need for your Playlist. You can click the ‘Upload Media’ tab and upload the required Asset(s). Once uploaded you can go back to the Assets tab and drag the newly uploaded Asset to your timeline:
Playlist Details:
- The Name field will allow you to change the name of the Playlist.
- Click to advance scene can be used when your playlist is added to a touchscreen layout. Users can click/press the image on the touchscreen to advance to the next asset in the playlist.
- Playlist Mode allows you to randomize your assets so that they play at random.
- Randomize Total # Slots – Only available from the Advertising module with a standard EngagePHD license.
- Image Transition allows you to apply a fade in/out transition to your JPEG or PNG image assets. Please note: This feature only supports image files (JPEG or PNG), video files will not work with Image Transition.
- A Playlist will automatically save itself as you work on it. However, the ‘Copy’ button will allow you to create an exact copy of the selected Playlist from which you can make any minor changes instead of starting from scratch:
Preview Playlist: This will allow you to preview your playlist in a new tab in your browser:
Any changes you make to your Playlist will save automatically. Any Playlists that are scheduled to Players will update shortly after changes are made.
Schedule
The Schedule allows you to send your playlist to your Player(s).
Click on the ‘Schedule’ icon and ‘Select’ the Playlist you would like to play:
Select the Player(s) you would like to send the Playlist to:
‘Schedule Now’ for content to start playing now, or select a future date/time:
Quick Start Video