Switch many screens at once with Scenes

Scenes is available for every Screenbird account. It is off until the owner turns it on, and it still carries a Beta label while we improve it.

A scene is a moment of your event, for example "Doors open", "Lunch break" or "Final score". For each screen or sub-screen you choose what it shows during that moment. Click Go and all those screens switch at the same time. They keep showing the scene until you stop it. Screens that are not in the scene keep doing what they were doing.

How scenes work together

  • A scene only changes its own screens. A screen that is not in the scene stays as it is.
  • You can start a scene while another one is still on screen. The scene you started last is the one marked Live.
  • A screen that is still showing an earlier scene is not touched by the new one. That earlier scene shows on how many screens it is still running, so you can see what is left over. Click Stop on it to clear those screens.
  • A screen that two scenes have in common shows the scene you started last.

Turn on Scenes

The account owner switches Scenes on:

  1. Go to Settings > Advanced.
  2. Turn on Scenes.

Scenes then appears in the menu on the left. Not sure where to start? Ask the assistant in Screenbird to turn it on for you.

Make a scene

  1. Go to Scenes and click New scene.
  2. Give the scene a name and a color. The color comes back on the button of the scene, also on a Stream Deck.
  3. Click Add screens and pick the screens or sub-screens that take part in this scene.
  4. Click Choose content and pick what these screens show: a file, design, app or playlist. Or click Normal: the screen then shows its own content again during this scene.
  5. For a file, design or app, choose how it fits the screen next to it under Scale: Fill, Fit, Stretch or Original.

For a split screen, choose per sub-screen. Each sub-screen can show something else. A screen that is not in the scene is not touched.

Changes are saved right away. To take a screen out of a scene, click Remove from scene on its row. Drag a scene up or down in the list to change the order. To rename or delete a scene, use the menu next to it or right-click it.

Put a scene live

Click Go on the scene. The overview under Live at the top of the page shows per screen what it shows now: a scene, pushed content, its normal content or a screen mirror. A screen that is offline shows the scene as soon as it is back online.

A few screens can be left out. After you click Go, a message tells you how many screens were skipped. A screen is skipped when:

  • it is locked, or it is showing a screen mirror;
  • the sub-screen or content in the scene no longer exists;
  • the screen is split, but the scene sets the whole screen.

The scene then shows Partly, and the row of the screen explains the reason, for example Screen locked or Screen is split.

If you change a scene while it is live, it shows Changed. The screens keep showing the old version until you click Put changes live.

Back to normal

  • Stop on a scene ends only that scene. Its screens go back to their own content. Screens that are showing another scene stay as they are.
  • Stop all at the top of the page ends all scenes and all pushed content in your team. Screen mirroring keeps running.

Start a scene at a set time

Click Time trigger at the top of the scene, then Add time.

  1. Under Repeat, choose Once or Weekly.
  2. Under When, choose the date, or the weekdays for a weekly time.
  3. Fill in Start, Stop or both.

A start time works like Go, and a stop time works like Stop. For example, a lunch scene from 12:00 to 12:45 every working day. The times follow the time zone of your account. A scene with times shows a small clock in the list.

Without internet

Times you set keep working when the screen has no internet. While the screen is online, it keeps the schedule of the next 7 days. If the connection drops, the screen switches scenes on time by itself. This needs a screen that runs a current version of the Screenbird player.

  • Starting and stopping by hand does not work without internet. This includes Go and Stop in the dashboard and the buttons on a Stream Deck. The commands arrive when the internet is back.
  • Changes to scenes and times reach the screen when it is online again.
  • When the internet comes back, the screen follows Screenbird again.

A Raspberry Pi has no clock that keeps running while it is switched off. If it restarts without internet, it can run behind and switch late. For times that must be exact without internet, add an RTC module to the Pi, or use a network with an NTP time server.

On a phone

Open Scenes on your phone. Every scene is a large row with Go, and Stop appears while the scene is on screen. Stop all sits at the bottom, and the bar at the top shows what is live. That way someone at the venue can switch the screens without a computer.

Who can do what

By default the owner and admins can make, change and delete scenes. Users can start scenes and put them back to normal. You change this per role in Manage teams.

Control scenes from a Stream Deck

With Bitfocus Companion you put every scene on a button of an Elgato Stream Deck. See Control your screens with Bitfocus Companion and a Stream Deck.

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