Digital signage deployments often include setups where multiple screens — video walls, multi-monitor displays, or adjacent kiosks — need to play content in perfect sync. OnSign's Synchronized Playback feature solves this by letting you designate a Lead Player within a Player Group, which controls Loop timing across every other Player and keeps them starting in sync.
Requirements
- To ensure efficient synchronization, all Players must be connected to a wired high speed network. Most Wi-Fi access points do not forward broadcast packets, therefore Players aren't synchronizing.
- The Sync protocol makes extensive use of UDP Multicast packets. Confirm that UDP Multicast is enabled on your router and supported by your network.
- While it is possible to mix hardware, we recommend to stay within one hardware type as much as possible. The more mixed the hardware, the less they will be in perfect sync.
Note: As mentioned above, we highly recommend using a wired network connection for all Players within the Sync Group. This ensures data packets can flow reliably across the network. Using Wi-Fi is possible; however, network latency and packet loss may cause Playback Synchronization to drift. This is especially likely in environments with congested Wi-Fi networks or weak signal strength. For the best and most reliable synchronization performance, a wired network connection is strongly recommended.
Supported on
How to enable synchronized playback
- Create a Player Group.
- Go to the option "Enable Synchronized Playback" and enable it by checking the box.
- A new field appears where you can select a Player to act as the Lead Player.
The Lead Player will trigger a Loop restart on all Players forcing the content loops to start in-sync.
Note: It may take a couple of loops until your screens start playing synchronized content. This is normal and expected, as not all screens are ready at start to receive the sync command.
The Content on the Players can be:
- Identical: In this case, all Players will be in perfect sync presenting the same content.
- Different: Each screen will show different content, synchronizing at content loop start.
How to check if Players are synchronizing
To confirm everything is configured correctly, check the Playback Synchronization status on the Player Status screen. Look for the green icon, which indicates that the Player is synchronized and correctly receiving the synchronization packages.
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In addition to the Playback Synchronization status, you should also see these two messages in the Player Events when the Player starts:
- Synchronized playback was enabled.
- Synchronized playback: in sync.
These messages indicate the Player is properly configured for synchronized playback and is correctly sending and receiving synchronization packages.
Troubleshooting
- Players are not synchronizing, or synchronization drifts over time: one or more Players might be connected via Wi-Fi, or the network has high latency/packet loss.We highly recommend to use this feature in a wired network.
- Playback Synchronization icon does not turn green: UDP Multicast is probably disabled or blocked on the router/network, or a firewall is blocking UDP broadcast traffic. Confirm UDP Multicast is enabled on your router and not being filtered by a firewall.
- Screens take several loops to start playing in sync: this is expected behavior — not all Players are ready to receive the sync command at the first Loop start.