Black screenshots

[GSX]

Hello everybody,

I run 3 DSCS9X with my Xibo CMS, but every time I try to request a screenshot, I’m always getting a black screen.

Can you guys help me ?

Best regards!

[Schweminska]

Try this:

Black screenshot on android player(only video)

Is the date/time definitely updating on the screenshot? For Android 6 you should have Surface View turned off and for Android 7 it should be enabled. You should just have screencap in the screenshot intent field with no leading or trailing whitespace. The Player will then need to collect once before it can work. Perhaps you could provide screenshot of those settings to check they’re correct

[GSX]

Thank you for answering me!

I just did and yes, the date/time update correctly!

I also set the Display Profile to take a screenshot every 5 minutes, but it doesn’t seem to work. I have to request a screenshot manually to make it happen.

Another thing I don’t understand: why does the ‘Screen Shot?’ column display a cross?

Best regards!

[DanBW]

Hi GSX, welcome to the community!

@GSX

every time I try to request a screenshot, I’m always getting a black screen.

I suspect this may be because you have videos running on the Xibo player at the time you request a screenshot. Schweminska is absolutely right to share that post with you. That post explains that videos are hardware accelerated, which is why you see a black screen when you request a screenshot of a video.

Within that post it also explains that you can also try using the screencap screenshot intent. Have you tried that on your DSCS9Xs?
In case you haven’t please follow these steps:

• Log into your CMS and go to the Displays page.
• Click the button at the end of the entry for your display and choose Edit from the menu that appears.
• When the Edit Display window opens, go to the Settings tab. You will see a series of settings that have an override box. Locate the option named Action for Screen Shot Intent and set the override to screencap:
  
  
• Save the change and wait for your display to connect to your CMS and collect that change.

After this, you may find that the screenshot will instead return showing the video instead of a black screen. Please note that there may also be a slight delay with the screenshots being returned, this is due to the extra steps required for the screencap action.

Can you try this and let me know if it solves your issue?

@GSX

I also set the Display Profile to take a screenshot every 5 minutes, but it doesn’t seem to work. I have to request a screenshot manually to make it happen.

Could you follow the steps above and try setting the override for screenshot interval to 5 minutes (you can see the option in my screenshot earlier in my post)? You will need to check the time stamp in the top corner of your screenshot to see if it has updated. If you then allow 5-10 minutes more, refresh the page (this is very important), then check the screenshot thumbnail again to see if the time stamp is updated. If you don’t refresh the page you will not see new screenshots come through.

@GSX

Another thing I don’t understand: why does the ‘Screen Shot?’ column display a cross?

There are two statuses for the screenshot column; tick or cross. The tick means you have requested a screenshot that has not yet been returned. That will switch to a cross when the screenshot has been returned. I can appreciate that may not be immediately obvious.

[GSX]

Hi Dan,

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

I followed all the steps in your procedure, and everything seems to be working perfectly.

Indeed, the screenshot module does feel a bit clunky and slow, but it gets the job done for verifying that my content is running correctly on the players.

Also, thanks for clarifying the purpose of the screenshot column. Much appreciated!

Best regards

[GSX]

Another quick question…

I have a playlist with 3 videos.

Two of them are 1920x1080 at 25FPS, and one is 3840x2160 (4K).

I can take screenshots from the 1080p videos without any issue, but for the 4K video, the screenshots always come out black.

Could it be that the 4K video is too demanding, and the player can’t handle generating screenshots properly?

[GSX]

Hello everyone,

It’s me again!

I just wanted to confirm that all the videos in my playlist with a 1920x1080 resolution are being screenshotted normally.

However, any videos in 3840x2160 resolution always result in black screenshots…

Is that an issue you’re aware of?

Could it be because 3840x2160 videos are too resource-intensive for the player?

Best regards!

[DanBW]

Hi GSX, please excuse my delayed reply.

I’m going to send you a private message, can you reply to that message with an exported copy of your layout containing your 4K video so I can test it on my DSCS9X?

Many Thanks.

[GSX]

Hey @DanBW,

I answered your private message.

Thanks to you for helping me!

Best regards!