Samsung Tizen Player Setup | easyCMS Digital Signage

Samsung’s commercial signage displays run Tizen and can host the easyCMS player on the panel itself. There is no box behind the screen to power, mount or replace, and no HDMI cable to come loose. This guide covers the whole job, from a panel out of the carton to a screen playing your content, and it follows the same route as every other easyCMS screen: point the player at your CMS, then claim it yourself at Add a display.

The short version, if you have done this before: set the clock, set Play via to Custom App, install the player with Install Web App and https://app.myeasycms.com, choose Configure Manually, enter your CMS address and key, press Connect, and claim the screen at Add a display.

Before you start

Watch out The player runs on Samsung’s commercial signage displays, not on Samsung home televisions. A Samsung TV from a shop, however recent, will refuse the install.

A supported panel. Samsung signage running Tizen 4.0 or newer, which Samsung calls SSSP 6 and later, roughly the 2018 models onwards: the QM, QB, QH, QE, OH and similar series. If you have not bought the panels yet, send us the model number first and we will confirm it.
Current firmware. Most failed installs we see, and most of the ones on the Xibo community forum, are fixed by a firmware update. Check it under Menu → Support → Software Update and update it before you install anything.
A network connection. Wired Ethernet is best. Wi-Fi works if the signal is strong where the panel hangs.
Your CMS address and CMS key. Both are in your welcome email. If you open Add a display on your phone and sign in, it shows both, so you can read them off while you stand at the screen.
The panel’s PIN. Samsung asks for a four-digit PIN before it installs an app. Unless someone has changed it, it is 0000.
A spare display licence. Each screen uses one when you claim it. See adding a new display.

1. Set the date, time and timezone

Press Menu on the remote and go to System → Time. Turn on NTP (automatic time) if the panel has internet, or set the clock by hand, then set the timezone and daylight saving for where the screen is.

Do this first. A panel with the wrong clock fails secure connections, and that shows up as a failed install or a player that cannot reach the CMS, with nothing on screen to say why. It also makes every scheduled item start at the wrong hour.

2. Switch the panel to Custom App

Samsung panels start their built-in MagicInfo player unless told otherwise. Tell it to start a custom app instead:

Newer panels (SSSP 10, about 2023 onwards): the first-start setup asks how the panel should play content. Choose Custom App. If setup is already done, use the route below.
Earlier panels: press Menu (or the cog button), go to System → Play via, and choose Custom App. On older firmware the same option is called URL Launcher.

Tip If you press Home and see MagicInfo Player where you expected Custom App or URL Launcher, Play via is still on MagicInfo. Change it, and the right option appears.

3. Install the player

There are two ways. Installing from the internet is quicker and lets the panel update itself later. The USB stick is for panels without internet during setup, or when the internet install refuses.

From the internet (recommended)

Press Home on the remote and open Custom App settings (on older panels, URL Launcher Settings).
Choose Install Web App.
Type https://app.myeasycms.com exactly, including https://, and confirm.
Enter the PIN if asked (0000 unless changed).

The panel downloads the player from your CMS, installs it and opens it by itself. It takes a minute or two on a normal connection.

From a USB stick

We have put the stick’s contents together for you: the Samsung Tizen USB install pack on the downloads page, a .zip file. You do not need to edit, rename or open anything inside it. You only unzip it and copy one folder.

You need a USB stick formatted as FAT32. Most sticks already are; if the panel cannot see the stick, reformat it as FAT32 (on a Mac, Disk Utility calls it MS-DOS (FAT)).

Download the USB install pack (easyCMS-tizen-usb-4-R417.zip) on a computer.
Unzip it. On Windows, right-click the file and choose Extract All. On a Mac, double-click it. Either way you get a folder named SSSP. On Windows it may sit inside a second folder named after the zip; open that one to find SSSP.
Copy the SSSP folder to the top level of the USB stick, as it is. Copy the folder itself, not the files inside it, and do not copy the .zip instead.
Plug the stick into the panel, press Home, open Custom App (or URL Launcher Settings) and choose Install from USB Device.
Enter the PIN if asked (0000 unless changed), wait for the confirmation, then remove the stick.

When you open the stick on your computer, it should look exactly like this:

USB stick
└── SSSP
    ├── sssp_config.xml
    └── sssp_dl.wgt

Watch out Copying the .zip file itself onto the stick does nothing: the panel cannot open zip files and will say it found nothing to install. It must be the unzipped SSSP folder. And the folder must sit at the top of the stick, not inside another folder.

Building the stick by hand

Only if you cannot use the pack, for example because you were sent a newer player file on its own. Create the SSSP folder at the top of the stick, put the player .wgt in it renamed to exactly sssp_dl.wgt, and next to it create a plain text file named exactly sssp_config.xml containing:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<widget>
  <ver>4.417</ver>
  <size>4709508</size>
  <widgetname>sssp_dl</widgetname>
  <webtype>tizen</webtype>
</widget>

<ver> is the player version: the major version, a dot, then the release number, so v4 R417 is 4.417 and R420 would be 4.420. The panel compares it with what it already has and only installs something newer. <size> is the size of the .wgt in bytes. On a computer with file extensions hidden, a file you name sssp_config.xml can quietly become sssp_config.xml.txt, and the panel will not see it, so turn file extensions on first.

4. Connect the player to easyCMS

When the player opens, it shows Choose how to connect your CMS with two options.

Watch out Choose Configure Manually. Use Activation Code shows a six-character code meant for a different enrolment service, and it does not work with easyCMS. A code on screen means you are on the wrong option: go back and pick the other one.

Select Configure Manually.
In CMS URL, enter your CMS address, https://app.myeasycms.com, including https://.
In CMS Key, enter the key from your welcome email, exactly as written.
Select Connect.

Typing with the remote is slow. Most Samsung signage panels accept an ordinary USB keyboard, which makes this part much quicker.

The player now says Player is unauthorized. Awaiting authorization from the CMS or administrator. That is exactly right: it has introduced itself to easyCMS and is waiting to be claimed. Until then it uses no licence, downloads nothing and shows nothing. Leave it switched on.

If it says The Server key you entered does not match with the server key at this address, the key has a typo, or the address is missing https://. Check both against your welcome email and connect again.

5. Claim the screen at Add a display

On a phone or computer connected to the same internet connection as the panel, open Add a display, choose Samsung Tizen, and sign in with your easyCMS login.

easyCMS lists the players that have just checked in from your connection. Give the screen a name you will recognise later (“Reception”, “Window left”) and select Connect. The panel notices at its next check-in, usually within a few minutes, and starts playing. If it is still showing the waiting message after five minutes, switch it off and on with the remote.

If the list stays empty, your phone and the panel are almost certainly on different connections, for example the phone on mobile data and the panel on the venue’s network. Adding a new display covers that and the other reasons a screen does not appear.

Two separate licences are in play. Claiming the panel uses one of your display licences. The Tizen player software also carries a commercial player licence, which we apply and manage centrally, so there is no licence field for you to fill in on the panel. If a screen plays its old content but stops taking anything new, see player licence problems.

Setting up several panels

For a batch of screens you can skip the typing in step 4. This is the one file you do create and edit yourself. With a plain text editor, make a file named cms_settings.json and save it at the top level of the USB stick, next to the SSSP folder, not inside it:

{
  "CMSUrl": "https://app.myeasycms.com",
  "CMSPassword": "your CMS key",
  "CMSEmail": ""
}

Replace your CMS key with the key from your welcome email and leave CMSEmail empty. When the player starts with the stick in and its connection fields empty, it fills them in from the file, so you only have to select Connect. Treat the stick like a key afterwards: the file contains your CMS key in plain text.

Claim the panels at Add a display as you go. When several new screens are waiting on the same network, each row shows the last four characters of an identifier; match it against the player’s status screen, below.

Using the remote on a running panel

Press the yellow button while the player is running to show its menu bar:

STATUS opens the status screen: player version, licence state, CMS connection, what is scheduled and what is downloading. Reading the player status window explains each line.
··· offers Connect to CMS, to re-enter the address and key, and the local settings, including where content is stored.
HIDE closes the menu.

Press the yellow button again to hide it.

Tips for running Samsung panels

On/off times, picture and remote lock. Samsung panels can be switched off overnight, have their brightness set, and have the remote locked against passers-by, all from easyCMS. These live on the settings profile your account shares, so they are a change we make centrally rather than one you make panel by panel. Tell us what you need. A panel that is switched off cannot receive updates, so schedule changes reach it the next morning.
Portrait screens. Set the panel’s own rotation, and design portrait layouts at the matching resolution, see screen resolution and orientation.
Keep layouts reasonable. A panel’s processor is more modest than a dedicated player’s. Several videos at once, or a layout leaning on live web pages, run more smoothly on an Android or Windows player feeding the same screen over HDMI.
Keep firmware current. Many Tizen quirks, from video stutter to a player that will not start after a power cut, are fixed in firmware.
Updating the player. Panels installed from the internet update themselves when we release a new player to your CMS. A panel installed from USB can be updated the same way it was installed: download the newer USB install pack, unzip it, replace the SSSP folder on the stick with the new one, and choose Install from USB Device again. See updating players.

When something goes wrong

“Unable to install”, “Failed to connect to server” or the install hangs. Update the firmware, then check the date, time and timezone, and try again. Those two account for nearly every case. If the internet install still fails, use the USB stick.

The USB stick is not detected, or nothing happens. The stick must be FAT32, and the unzipped SSSP folder must be at the top level of the stick, not the .zip file and not a folder inside another folder. If you built the stick by hand, the two files must be named exactly sssp_dl.wgt and sssp_config.xml; a hidden .txt on the end is the usual culprit.

The panel says the app is already installed, or does not upgrade from USB. The panel only installs a player newer than the one it has. Download the latest USB install pack rather than reusing an old stick; if you built the stick by hand, raise <ver> in sssp_config.xml to match the player.

There is no Custom App or URL Launcher anywhere. Play via is still on MagicInfo (step 2), or the screen is a Samsung home TV, which cannot run the player. For a home TV, plug an Android player into its HDMI port instead.

The player starts but the screen stays on the connect page after a restart. It lost its settings, usually after a firmware update. Press the yellow button, choose ··· then Connect to CMS, and enter the address and key again. The screen keeps its name and schedule.

The screen does not appear at Add a display. Same connection, a few minutes’ wait, and Connect actually pressed on the panel; adding a new display has the full list.

It plays, but new content never arrives. See player connected but not updating and, if it worked for about a month first, player licence problems.

Still stuck? Send us a support request with the panel’s model number, its firmware version and a photo of what the screen shows. We will take it from there.