Displays
The Displays section of the Userful Control Center is where you assign and manage individual displays using the Userful Manager.
A Display can be defined as:
- A Zero Client is connected to a panel or controller with a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) or a Video Graphics Adapter (VGA).
- A Userful uClient Device connected to a panel or controller with a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) or DisplayPort.
- A certified uClient device (LG WebOS) with installed uClient software.
- A Virtual Display (these only appear in Mapping).
Zero clients and virtual displays only work with on-premise servers.
Zero Clients connect to a Userful on-premise server over a local network. Each Zero Client has a unique MAC address and must be assigned an IP address. This IP Address can be changed from dynamic to static in the Displays. You can also give user-friendly names and location tags to displays to make managing large numbers of clients easier. This page also highlights the Zero Client’s model, firmware version, and network speed.
If you are receiving your system from Userful, it will likely come with a set of Zero Clients. Zero Clients are generally only available through Userful and one Zero Client connects to only one display. Zero Clients have a maximum output resolution of 1920x1080.
The Userful Receiver Device is a Userful-supplied Android client that expands on the abilities of the Zero Client in many ways, including offering support for 4K (over HDMI), DisplayPort, and Userful cloud. These devices are only available from Userful.
uClient is an application that Userful provides for a number of certified platforms including LG WebOS and the Userful uClient adapter. It helps facilitate operations by converting these devices as clients for Userful On-Premise or Cloud servers.
The Userful Receiver Device is an Android device supplied by the Userful corporation to its clients with pre-installed Android uClient. Compared with Zero Clients, uClients can be deployed across different subnets from Userful servers, consume less network bandwidth than a Zero Client, support higher resolutions, and are compatible with the Userful cloud.
Virtual Displays exist only inside Userful On-Premise. They can be useful for accessing system applications and testing interactive sources (with Interactive Viewer), creating staging environments for content or Command & Control, or familiarizing users with the Control Center and Video Wall calibration interfaces, Zones, and how Zones and Resource Groups interact with RBAC.
Supported installations of Userful can create new Virtual Displays by clicking “New Virtual Display” in UCC.
Creating a Virtual Display
Virtual Displays are licensed separately from physical displays. If you are not able to create Virtual Displays, contact your Userful Account Manager.
There are functions that can execute on multiple or all displays if they are selected.
From left to right, these are:
- Restart
- Shutdown (LG WebOS only)
- Update App
- Update Firmware (LG WebOS only)
- Clean uClient Storage (deletes all downloaded content)
Clicking a Display will bring up a selection of statistics and options. This will vary depending on the type of Display being selected.
Field | Description |
Display ID | The display's number. This can be changed, and will automatically resolve numbering conflicts. |
Display Tag | Optional - allows tagging of displays. |
Physical Size | Sometimes detected from EDID, sets the physical size of the connected display, in inches. Useful during the Video Wall calibration process. |
Resolution | Sets the output resolution of the Zero Client. Automatically defaults to the maximum available resolution of the device connected to it, up to 1920x1080. |
Rotation | Set angle of rotation for Artistic video walls.
Note:
This should not be altered here - use the Video Wall Calibration tool. |
Color Depth | Color depth output, in bits (24-bit color shown here). |
Color Calibration | Allows adjustment to the color and brightness of the image being sent to the displays. It is recommended to set color calibration on the panels themselves. If using Userful to do color calibration, use the Video Wall Calibration tool. |
Currently Playing | Displays the Source currently playing on that display. |
Stop/Extend | Ends the current session, or allows administrators to extend the current session's time limit. This is used in conjunction with Session Management for Public Computing deployments only. |
New Session | Allows administrators to start a particular session on that display. This is generally used in Public Computing deployments only. |
Name | |
Display Model | Retrieved from the display through EDID, if available. |
Device | Model information of the Zero Client itself, set in firmware. |
Serial Number | Retrieved from the display through EDID, if available. |
Location | |
IP Address | |
MAC Address | MAC Address of the Zero Client |
Firmware | Firmware version of the Zero Client. |
Smart Frame Update | Zero Clients only. This setting enables bandwidth savings when using content with low-frequency updates such as HTML pages and static images, where new JPEGs are not sent to the Zero Client if they have the same CRC checksum as the previous frame. |
Connected Devices | Devices connected to the Zero Client are listed and can be selectively disabled for bandwidth savings, reliability improvements, and security. |
Audio Device | Select the audio output path for the Zero Client - either its own built-in device, an HDMI audio device (if connected) or disabled. |
Volume | Volume control. |
Mute | Mute audio. |
These vary depending on the type of server they are connected to
The only variables here are Display ID, Tag, and Resolution if "LED Display" is enabled. The rest is system information about the device itself.
Field | Description |
Display ID | The display's number. This can be changed, and will automatically resolve numbering conflicts. |
Display Tag | Optional - allows tagging of displays. |
Resolution | Sets the output resolution of the device. Automatically defaults to the maximum available resolution of the device connected to it, up to 3840x2160 with HDMI or 1920x1080 with DisplayPort. |
Name | |
Display Model | Since the Display Device is inside the client, this field does not change. |
Device | Same as Display Model. |
Serial Number | Serial# of the uClient Adapter |
Location | |
IP Address | IP address of the uClient Adapter - edit this by changing the IP settings on the device itself. |
MAC Address | Active MAC Address of the uClient Adapter. As these adapters have both wired and wireless interfaces (use of wireless is not supported at this time), this will display only the MAC of the interface that is currently connected to the server. |
Firmware | System Android version info |
Connected Devices | Any extra devices connected to the USB hub of the uClient Adapter are listed here. |
Field | Description |
Display ID | The display's number. This can be changed, and will automatically resolve numbering conflicts. |
Display Tag | Optional - allows tagging of displays. |
Physical Size | Sometimes detected from EDID, sets the physical size of the connected display, in inches. Useful during the Video Wall calibration process. |
Resolution | Sets the output resolution of the Zero Client. Automatically defaults to the maximum available resolution of the device connected to it, up to 1920x1080. |
Rotation | Set angle of rotation for Artistic video walls.
Note: This should not be altered here - use the Video Wall Calibration tool. |
Color Depth | Color depth output, in bits (24-bit color shown here). |
Color Calibration | Allows adjustment to the color and brightness of the image being sent to the displays. It is recommended to set color calibration on the panels themselves. If using Userful to do color calibration, use the Video Wall Calibration tool. |
Currently Playing | Displays the Source currently playing on that display. |
Stop/Extend | Ends the current session, or allows administrators to extend the current session's time limit. This is used in conjunction with Session Management for Public Computing deployments only. |
New Session | Allows administrators to start a particular session on that display. This is generally used in Public Computing deployments only. |
Name | |
Display Model | Retrieved from the display through EDID, if available. |
Device | Model information for the uClient Adapter |
Serial Number | Serial# of the uClient Adapter |
Location | |
IP Address | IP address of the uClient Adapter - edit this by changing the IP settings on the device itself. |
MAC Address | Active MAC Address of the uClient Adapter. As these adapters have both wired and wireless interfaces (use of wireless is not supported at this time), this will display only the MAC of the interface that is currently connected to the server. |
Firmware | System Android version info |
Connected Devices | Any extra devices connected to the USB hub of the uClient Adapter are listed here. |
The Displays page lists all physical display devices, with a summary of information about each display. The icons show the display's status at-a-glance:
Icon | Meaning |
| Displays that are online but have not been assigned to any Userful server have a green display icon. |
| Assigned displays that have not been mapped to any source have a black display icon with display ID. |
| Assigned displays playing a source have blue display icons with display ID. |
| Displays that are assigned to an offline Userful server appear in light gray color. Orphaned displays can be viewed but cannot be edited (such as applying firmware updates, changing the name, or applying the server's DPMS settings) until you lock them to an online Userful server. |
| Assigned displays that have an unsupported device attached to it have a red display icon with display ID. |
| Displays that are assigned to the failover server after a failover event have an orange display icon. |
Virtual Display | Virtual Display. These only appear in Mapping. Click the red X icon to remove it. |
Displays can be renumbered and provided tags. Click an individual display in either the Displays or Mapping screens to open Display Settings.
Changing the resolution or other settings of a Display cannot be done while the Display is part of a Video Wall or Zone. Remove the display from the Video Wall calibration, or delete the Zone, before editing these settings.
Display Settings for On-Premise
Display Settings for Cloud
Zero Clients, Userful Receiver Devices, and Virtual Displays can be set to output custom resolutions. uClient on WebOS will only display their respective device’s native resolution.
To enable custom resolutions, select a Resolution from the drop-down menu, enable the LED Display checkbox if the device is connected to a Direct-View LED controller, and click OK to complete the process.
Other actions that can be performed under the Display Settings dialog window shown above:
- Change the display’s rotation for vertical or inverted displays (for On-Premise, see Landscape Displays for Cloud)
- Color calibration
- Stop/Extend a currently running timed session (for Public Computing deployments only)
- Start a source (or user session for Public Computing deployments only)
- View other details retrieved from the display’s EDID, such as make, model, size, and more
Because display numbers can be easily changed, you may want to assign information to a specific device, such as a name and location. As an example, you may want to assign each client the same number as its display ID in case the order becomes corrupted or a device needs replacement. You can also assign a location if you have displays in many locations across a building or campus.
Unlike the display ID, this information is stored inside the client itself, so it will not be erased in case of server failure or failover incident.
- 1.Click on the pencil icon across the Name of the display as highlighted by the pointer in the image above.
- 2.Enter the desired name in the text box.
- 3.Click on the pencil icon across the Location.
- 4.Enter the desired location in the text box.
- 5.Click OK in the confirmation dialog box.
Changes will not be saved until you click on the Apply button. Note that updating these information fields will cause the device to reset.
By default, Zero Clients automatically retrieve their network settings and the IP address from the router or DHCP server. It is possible to manually override this setting and manually assign a static IP address to a Zero Client. This does not apply to uClients, which must be configured independently.
Operations being performed on Zero Clients
- 1.Click on the pencil icon across the display's IP Address to open the network settings configuration box for that display.
- 2.Enter a valid IP Address and Subnet mask to assign a static IP Address to a network display.
- 3.Click OK to complete the process.
To use DHCP for the network display, ensure that the Use DHCP checkbox is enabled. Note that assigning a static IP address to a Zero Client will cause it to restart.
Client devices must be assigned to a Userful server to function. To assign or release a display, click the “chain link” icon to the right of each display. To assign or release all displays, click the same icon at the top of the list. Click “Apply” to start the process.
Zero Clients being unlocked from a server
Note that any action run on multiple displays will be carried out in sequence. Zero Clients may take up to 30 seconds per device to update, though uClients will be much faster.
Zero Clients being locked to a server. The process can take some time
Occasionally it may be necessary to reset an individual display if it is frozen, in an abnormal state, or part way through an operation. Resetting the device can be done in a few different ways:
Resetting a device may reset the entire video wall if it is part of one.
Userful distributes firmware updates for Zero Clients and both updated Apps and Firmware for Userful Receiver Devices and LG WebOS devices. Firmware updates are provided by the manufacturer and are independently verified by Userful, so if an update is available it is safe to apply it, and likely recommended to resolve known issues.
To update multiple devices, select all by selecting their blue check-box icons on the left (or the single box at the top), and then click on the "Update Firmware" or "Update App" button on the top of the Displays page. Alternatively, updates can be applied to individual devices with their menus.
Updating the App for a Userful uClient Device.
Firmware updates can be applied both to unassigned or assigned displays. If an assigned device has firmware that is not up to date, the firmware update process will automatically un-assign the display, update the firmware, restart the device, and lock the device back to the server.
Firmware updates for Zero Clients typically take up to 2 minutes per device to complete.
uClient app updates are typically very small (under 100MB) and apply in under 1 minute.
Firmware updates for LG WebOS devices typically take 5 minutes to complete once the download is finished. Download sizes for LG firmware updates regularly exceed 1.5GB and each display must download its own copy, so plan time and resources appropriately. LG firmware updates are downloaded from the Internet, so the displays need Internet access in order to receive updates.
Last modified 4mo ago