HD Image/Video Player
by Florian Wesch <fw@info-beamer.com>

Description

A very simple media player that can display FullHD videos as well as PNG/JPEG images.

Example usage

You can use this Package to display a bunch of images. Upload the images using the assets page. Then create a new Setup based on this Package. To do that, go to the packages page, select the HD Player Package and then click the Create Setup button. Give your new Setup a name.

The configuration screen for your new Setup allows you to specify which assets you want to play. Click the Add item Button for each Asset you want to play. In the new row that appears, select the Asset field. Delete the default value (empty.png) and select the image you previously uploaded.

When done, click save. Your Setup is now ready for your Device.

Settings

Switch Time

Selects the duration of the fade to black effect that happens between media files. You can choose from a set of different durations ranging from Instantly (the is no visible effect) to 0.8 seconds.

Rotation

You can rotate the content in 90 degree increments so it plays correctly on portrait or landscape screens.

Progress indicator

Displays an optional progress indicator that allows viewers to see how long the current content will be shown on the screen.

Synchronized Start

Allows you to play one or multiple playlist synchronized accross multiple devices. If you play the same playlist or different playlists of the same total play time on multiple devices, the start time for each asset will be calculated based on the current time. Play lists with a length of (for example) 10 seconds will start at every full minute, every 10 seconds past the full minute and so on. Since every device can calculate the start time solely based on the current time and the playlist length, no network connection is required between devices.

Ken Burns effect for images

Uses the Ken Burns effect for all images displayed. Each image will slowly pan and zoom while it is displayed. The movement is chosen randomly from a predefined set.

Play audio

Play audio track for all video files. By default the playback is silent.

Running outside of info-beamer hosted

All info-beamer hosted packages can be run with the standalone info-beamer pi program with a little (or a little more) work. All you have to do for this packages is to create a config.json file.

Have a look at the advanced documentation for more information about this and other options possible.

Offline

You cannot use the Synchronized start feature offline as it requires a precise system time across multiple devices. This usually requires network access to reach an NTP server.

Problems?

Please report any problems you encounter using this package here:

https://github.com/info-beamer/package-hd-player/issues

Changelog

Version 2019-11-06.hevc

This package can now play HEVC videos with up to 4K resolution on the Pi4. Right now only a single HEVC decoder can be used at the same time. This prevents the player from seamlessly switching between videos. Instead it has to pause for a brief moment (with a black screen) while it's loading the next video. This might be solved in a future version of info-beamer.

Version 2019-08-22

Now compatible with the Pi4