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EST daylight savings time and the brightsign players

  • Nov 4, 2026 1:45 PM UTC
  • 3 replies
  • 11 views
Explorer
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We have historically used advanced registration to create autorun.zip files to put on our brightsign players (for new and sometimes a wipe of the SD card and reinstall if there are issues).

We use our own time server and select our timezone - but GMT-5 is now the only one you can select in the registration setup so when we have daylight savings time kick in the players do not change. 

Some of the players have have the older EST and work fine - but anything we have refreshed with an autorun.zip or a new player are all GMT-5 bound. 

So wondering what other people’s methods are for managing this - as the limitation of the advanced registration method is not ideal going forward. 

    3 replies

    Dawn Wayland
    Employee
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    • Dawn WaylandEmployee
    • Community Manager
    • Nov 4, 2026 5:45 PM UTC

    ​@Trish managing time settings across a large BrightSign deployment can be tricky. The key distinction here is that GMT-5 is a fixed offset and does not adjust for daylight saving time, while BrightSign’s EST setting represents US Eastern Time and observes DST. NTP keeps the clock synchronized, but the correct time zone is still needed for seasonal adjustments.

    For your deployment:

    • New or rebuilt players: Configure the BrightSign Setup with EST and your existing NTP server instead of selecting GMT-5.

    • Existing players using GMT-5: Apply a new BrightSign Setup through reprovisioning. The BrightSign diagnostic web server cannot directly change the player’s time zone.

    • Ongoing management at scale: Consider provisioning through Appspace.BSN.cloud using Partner Application mode. This preserves the BrightSign Setup and automatically reinstalls Appspace after an SD-card replacement. Devices are then registered in Appspace by serial number.

    If Advanced Registration only offers GMT-5, we recommend opening a Customer Care case so the team can review the available options for your environment. Review the Dynamic assistant for information needed but be prepared to provide at the very least the following: a screenshot, your Appspace environment and version, player model, and BrightSignOS version.

    These guides provide more detail: Configure Appspace on BrightSign · Appspace.BSN.cloud provisioning · BrightSign time-zone definitions

    Dawn Wayland, Community Manager
    Explorer
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    • TrishExplorer
    • Author
    • Explorer
    • Nov 4, 2026 6:46 PM UTC

    Advanced registration does only offer EST 

    Dawn Wayland
    Employee
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    • Dawn WaylandEmployee
    • Community Manager
    • Nov 4, 2026 10:00 PM UTC

    ​@Trish thanks for the response.  If you select EST in Advanced Registration but the player shows GMT-5 and doesn’t adjust for daylight saving time, I’d recommend submitting a Customer Care case  so they can investigate how the time-zone setting is being applied.  Be sure to follow the dynamic assistant on the page, so you can provide all the information necessary to expedite your case.  At the very least have this available to submit to them: screenshots of the option selected in Advanced Registration and the player’s resulting time zone to help the team identify what’s happening. I apologize I could not be of more assistance to you.  

    Dawn Wayland, Community Manager
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