Connecting Your First Display
Connect your first screen with Add a screen in easyCMS Studio. Install the player, enter the CMS address and key from your welcome email, then name the screen and press Connect.
Player already installed? Claim the screen here — you need to be on the same internet connection as it.
A display is any screen running the easyCMS player: an Android box on an HDMI port, a PC behind a monitor, or a commercial panel that runs the player itself. You connect it yourself with Add a screen in easyCMS Studio, in a few minutes.
Add a screen asks what kind of screen you are connecting, then shows the steps one at a time.
What you need
- Your CMS address (https://app.myeasycms.com) and CMS key, from your welcome email. Add a screen shows them too once you are signed in. Lost the email? Ask us.
- The player device, switched on and online.
- A free licence. Your account includes one, for a Windows, Android or ChromeOS screen; extra lifetime licences are 99€ each. A Samsung Tizen or LG webOS screen needs the 129€ licence.
- A phone or computer on the same internet connection as the screen. This one is not optional.
We recommend Android unless you already have a PC behind the screen (Windows). Installers are on the downloads page.
Connect it in Studio
- In Studio, open My screens and tap Add a screen.
- Under What kind of screen are you connecting?, choose Android, Windows or Samsung Tizen. For LG webOS, ask us and we set it up with you.
- Follow the steps (installing the player, typing your CMS address and key), pressing Done, next step after each.
- Sign in with your easyCMS login, then wait: the player can take a few minutes to check in. Leave the screen on and the page open.
- When the screen appears, type a name in Name it, e.g. Reception screen and press Connect. It shows Connected ✅.
- Android: press Connect once more on the player. Windows: restart the player. Samsung Tizen: give it a few minutes. This is the step people miss.
Within a minute or two the screen shows the default easyCMS layout: everything worked. The Add a display page on our website is the same flow, if you prefer it.
Watch out On Android and Samsung Tizen, choose Configure Manually: the activation code the player offers does not work with easyCMS. Type the address in full, with
https://.
Every detail per player: Android, Windows, Samsung Tizen, other players.
When nothing appears
- Different connections. Venue Wi-Fi versus mobile data, or a separate guest network. Get both on the same network and reload.
- Several new screens listed. Each row then shows the last four characters of the screen’s MAC address. Open the player’s advanced details (see the player status window) and pick the matching row.
- “That display is no longer available to claim.” It was claimed already, or dropped off the list while the page was open. Restart the player, let it check in, reload.
- Still nothing. Send us a support request and we connect the screen from our side.
Licences
Connecting a screen uses one of your easyCMS licences, which never expire. If all are in use, Studio says a new screen needs another licence, with an Add a licence link. To reuse the licence of a retired screen, ask us to deauthorise it. Never delete a display to free a licence: it is irreversible and releases nothing.
Android, LG webOS and Samsung Tizen players also carry a commercial player licence, which we apply to your screens automatically: there is no code to type. It re-checks itself every 30 days; see player licence errors.
Next: give it something to show
In My screens, tap Change what’s playing on the new screen, pick a design and press Send with Always. See your first design and putting your design on a screen.
Watch it done: installing the player and an introduction to easyCMS.
Related articles: Your First Design, Adding a New Display to Your Account, Display Licences and Authorisation, Display Shows as Offline