Help / Getting started

Set up your player

Connect the player to one or two TVs, power and the internet.

What you need

• Your Pixigns player. One player is one screen in Pixigns, whether it drives one TV or two.
• One or two TVs or monitors with an HDMI input. Any TV or monitor with HDMI works.
• An HDMI cable for each TV.
• The internet: a network cable from your router, or your Wi-Fi name and password.
• A phone with a camera, to set up Wi-Fi and to add the screen by scanning a QR code. A computer works for adding the screen too.

Connect the TVs

The player has two HDMI ports, port 1 and port 2.

• One TV: plug it into HDMI port 1.
• Two TVs side by side: plug the left TV into HDMI port 1 and the right TV into port 2. Together they make one wide picture, so a slide can stretch across both.

Plugged them in the other way round? You don't need to move cables. Once the screen is added, swap them in the admin with Swap TVs. See Manage your screens.

Background music plays through the TV on HDMI port 1, so turn that TV's volume up if your playlists have music. Videos on your slides play without sound.

Switch each TV on and set it to the HDMI input the player is plugged into.

Connect to the internet

Pick one:

• A network cable (Ethernet) from your router to the player. This is the most reliable connection, and there's nothing to set up: the player skips Wi-Fi setup altogether.
• Wi-Fi. You choose your network from your phone once the player is on. See Set up Wi-Fi below.

Switch it on

Plug the player into power. The TVs show the Pixigns start-up picture while it starts, then a guide along the top with three steps: Connect, Add to admin and Play. The TV tells you what to do at each step.

With a network cable, you'll see Connecting to the internet… for up to a minute, then the code to add the screen.

Set up Wi-Fi

With no network cable and no Wi-Fi saved, the player opens a small Wi-Fi network of its own so your phone can tell it which Wi-Fi to use. The TV shows Connect to Wi-Fi, with that network's name (pixigns- and four letters), a password made of three words and two numbers, and a QR code.

1. Scan the QR code on the TV with your phone's camera and join the network it offers. Or join the network by hand, with the name and password on the TV.
2. A page called Connect your screen to Wi-Fi opens on your phone by itself. If it doesn't, open a browser on your phone and go to 192.168.4.1.
3. Tap your Wi-Fi in the list and type its password. Wi-Fi passwords are 8 to 63 characters; leave it empty only for an open network. Your network isn't listed because it's hidden? Choose Other network and type its name.
4. Tap Connect. Your phone leaves the player's network, and the TV shows Connecting to your network. This can take up to a minute.

Once the player reaches the internet, its own network closes and the TV moves on to the code for adding the screen.

If Wi-Fi doesn't connect

If joining doesn't work, the player opens its own network again, and the TV says why:

If the TV says “Can't reach the internet”

When the player is on a network but can't get through to the internet, the TV checks each step and shows which one fails:

• Connection: Wi-Fi (with its name) or Cable, or Not connected.
• Address: whether your router gave the player an address.
• DNS: whether the player can look up addresses on the internet.
• Internet: whether it can reach Pixigns.

It tries again every 30 seconds. On Wi-Fi, before anything has played, Wi-Fi setup opens again after 2 minutes so you can pick another network. On a cable, check the cable and the router; to use Wi-Fi instead, unplug the cable.

If your network blocks unknown devices, or only lets through certain sites, ask whoever runs it to let the player reach the internet over the usual secure web port (443).

Changing your Wi-Fi later

A player that's already playing never interrupts your TVs to open Wi-Fi setup. To move it to another network, or to a new password, open the screen in Screens and choose Change Wi-Fi while it's still online: before you switch off the old network or change its password. Its TVs keep playing while it tries. If it can't reach the internet on the new network, it goes back to the one it was on, and Screen Details says why.

If the old network has already gone, the player keeps playing what it has but can't get your changes. Connect it with a network cable and choose Change Wi-Fi, or email support and we'll help you set it up again.

What the TV shows next

Once it has played something, it never goes back to these pages: if the internet drops, it carries on playing what it has.

Power cuts, restarts and updates

• After a power cut the player starts again by itself and plays what it had, even before the internet comes back.
• Software updates install by themselves overnight, between 2 and 5 in the morning in your business's time zone. If a new version doesn't play properly, the player goes back to the one it had. See Manage your screens.
• Restarts can be done from the admin, without touching the player. See Manage your screens.