PADS4 Viewer on SharpNEC Compute Module 4

Contents

1. First time use

1.1. Updating display firmware

1.2. PADS4 Image

2. Installing PADS4 Viewer and connecting to the PADS4 Server

2.1 Adjust PADS4 Viewer settings using the options screen

2.2 Updating PADS4 Viewer

2.3 Reinstalling the PADS4 Viewer

2.4 Install the PADS4 Viewer via operating system image

3 Remote device connectivity

3.1 VNC Viewer

3.2 Cockpit Server Monitor (for advanced users)

3.3 SSH (for advanced users)

4 Supported features & limitations

5 General limitations

1. First time use

During the installation, you will need to configure the PADS4 Server location. It is recommended to complete the installation of the PADS4 Server first, before continuing installations on the device.

The minimum required PADS4 version is PADS4 Foundation 2023.2.

For device manuals and other documentation, see the NEC website.

1.1. Updating display Firmware

NEC maintains a Firmware Update Tool for updating the firmware of the display. Download the supported firmware version for your NEC display.

The minimum recommended firmware version is 1.1.00 which can be found here.

1.2. PADS4 Image

Both devices can be booted from a customized operating system (OS) image of the default Raspberry PI Compute Module 4. The image contains all the necessary software packages to run the PADS4 HTML5 Viewer on the display. The OS image and the steps for installing it are accessible at PADS4 App Center.

2. Installing PADS4 Viewer

Both devices are preconfigured to run the PADS4 Installer (pictured below) if PADS4 HTML5 Viewer is not already installed. Enter your PADS4 server URL and, optionally, your Viewer Name of choice, then follow the steps to download and install the Viewer. The Viewer will start and connect automatically to the server. If connecting to another PADS4 server or domain, it is recommended to use the installer to automatically preconfigure the Viewer. For instructions on how to reinstall the Viewer, see section 2.3.

2.1. Adjust the PADS4 Viewer settings using the options screen

You can adjust the PADS4 Viewer settings directly on the display. To enter the options screen, connect a keyboard to the device (see section 3 for other possible connection methods) and click the Right mouse button.

2.2. Updating the PADS4 Viewer

After the initial installation of the Viewer and upon updating the PADS4 Server, the Viewer will automatically update to the version available on the PADS4 Server.

2.3. Reinstalling the PADS4 Viewer

It is recommended to use the Installer bundled with the device if you need to connect to a different domain or server. Connect to the device and click the Launcher Settings button at bottom left of the options screen to start the Viewer Installer.

2.4. Install the PADS4 Viewer via operating system image

There are extra steps required to install PADS4 on a new device from an operating system image. To download the latest image, see section 1.2. To complete the installation, you will also need to download and install Raspberry Pi Imager and rpiboot on your host PC.

Once downloaded, follow the steps below to install the PADS4 OS image.

Note: When flashing the PADS4 Image using Raspberry PI Imager, it is recommended not to overwrite the username for the device. It is recommended, however, to change the password. Other settings, such as hostname and region, can be freely modified.

3. Remote Device Connectivity

There are alternative methods of connecting to the device without directly connecting a mouse and keyboard. This section describes three such options. Note that it is only possible to connect to the device from within the same local network to which the device is connected.

3.1. VNC Viewer

The device includes a VNC Server. Download and install VNC Viewer, then enter the IP address of the PI to connect to the VNC Server running on the device.

3.2. Cockpit Server Monitoring (For Advanced users)

Cockpit is a free and open-source web-based interface for monitoring servers. It is configured to start-up with the device and provides a secondary interface for sending commands to the PI via command line. You can connect from your host PC by entering https://<hostnameofpi>:9090 in a web browser.

3.3. SSH (For Advances users)

It is also possible to connect to the device and send commands via SSH.

4. Supported features and limitations

Support	Category	Description
	Automatic PADS4 Software updates	After the initial installation of the PADS4 Viewer and PADS4 Hikvision app, if you update the PADS4 Server the PADS4 Viewer and PADS4 Hikvision app will automatically update to the version available on the PADS4 Server.
	Offline mode of device	While offline from the network, the device will still continue to play PADS4 presentations and change planned schedules for 7 days. Scheduled presentations, content and data is cached local.
	Device
	Portrait mode	Supported. Device will adjust the rotation automatically.
	Block remote control	Option to prevent usage of remote control to operate the screen
	Transfer protocols	HTTP, HTTPS
	Turn off display	Turn off display when no presentation scheduled. Device still active but backlight is turned off for less power consumption
	Cluster Viewer	This device is able to be used as Cluster Viewer
	MD5 Check	PADS4 Content Library file integrity is checked during synchronization using MD5
	Volume Level	Only works on an element level. The master volume cannot be set throughout PADS4 CTRL Center.
	Elements
	Video element	Maximum number of videos 2 video on each page. Check out the supplier documentation for more info Video rotation Supported Seamless videos Supported Reflection, skew, flip Supported Streaming HTTP Streaming Supported
	Image element	Support for JPG, PNG, SVG, GIF
	Text element	Supported
	Line element	Supported
	Shape element	Supported
	Scrolling text element	Supported
	Formatted text element	Supported
	Flash element	Not supported
	Table element	Supported
	Interactive button element	Not Supported
	Web element	Usage of the interactive Address Bar not supported
	Powerpoint element	Supported Requirement: Microsoft Powerpoint must be installed on the PADS4 Server Clipping, User interactivity and mousepointer not supported
	PDF element	Supported (Xpert license required)
	Data connections	Data connections make it possible to show information from external sources inside presentations
	Data providers	More than 70 PADS4 data providers for retrieval of (realtime) data from external sources and the possibility to change and join the data to fit your purpose
	Viewer Variables	Usage of Viewer Variables can simplify your presentations and data connections. It also gives the opportunity to centrally manage the content without changing presentations or data providers.
	Property bindings	Apply element properties by using external data sources
	Rules	Rules will make it possible to interact on certain situations like realtime data and change the behavior of a presentation automatically
	Presentation rules	Supported
	Page rules	Supported
	Element rules	Supported
	Device Management	Device management which can be performed from a remote location
	Remote device management Web based and Windows	Connection state Device connection state information Alerts Automatically send out alerts when network failures occur for this device Reboot Reboot device Restart Viewer Restart PADS4 Viewer Screenshot Retrieve screenshots for what is actually displayed Logs Viewer log, synchronization log, system info Viewer Settings Edit Viewer Settings Fonts Install Fonts on device Proof of play Show Proof of play information Blackbox If help from NDS Support is required, the blackbox contains important information for investigation purposes
	General limitations
	Data Providers	Data providers always make use of the PADS4 data server. A HTML5 Viewer is not able to read the information itself from the source.
	Content Library	Support for content from PADS4 Content Library . *Content from file is not supported when pointing to a local disk location.
	Proof of play	Local storage limitation of max. 50.000 records on the HTML5 Viewer during offline period. When the 50.000 is hit, the oldest value will be removed first.
	Storage Capacity	Storage capacity for content differs per device and browser.