Creating displays

Displays in BrandCast represent the physical screens where your content appears. When you create a display you also create the zone it lives in, choose how content plays on it, and then pair it with your physical device.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

• Display hardware — a TV, monitor, Sentinel tablet, or other browser-capable signage player
• Network access — the device needs internet connectivity
• A store set up — create your store first if you haven’t already

Creating a new display

1. Open Zones in the sidebar (the Zone Management page).
2. Click the Add Display button in the top right. The Add New Display dialog opens.
3. Enter a Zone Name (required) — a descriptive name for the zone this screen belongs to, for example “Front Window” or “Break Room TV”.
4. Enter the Zone Location (required) — the physical location within your store.
5. Optionally set a Zone Type and a Description. Zone Type scopes which Designs the screen’s week calendar will offer.
6. Click Create Display.

Content scheduling is configured after creation from the screen’s detail panel.

Note: The Add Display dialog creates both the display and the zone it belongs to. You can move the display to a different zone later from its detail panel.

Pairing your display device

Creating a display reserves the slot — it does not connect any hardware. Pairing is a separate step:

1. On your display device (TV, signage player, Sentinel tablet, etc.), open the BrandCast display app. Sentinel tablets do this automatically on boot; for other devices, navigate to https://displays.brandcast.app.
2. The device shows a six-character pairing code.
3. In the admin dashboard, open the display and start the pairing flow (the Pair a device button on an unpaired card), then enter the code.
4. The display connects and begins playing its assigned content.

For the full pairing walkthrough — including swapping hardware on an existing display — see Pairing Devices.

Tip: The pairing-code field shows a BC-XXXX placeholder, but you type only the six characters shown on the device — don’t include the BC- prefix.

Display status indicators

After pairing, your display shows one of these statuses on its card:

• Online — connected and playing content
• Offline — paired but not currently reachable
• Sleeping — inside its night-mode window; normal during off-hours
• Unpaired — created in admin but no device has claimed it yet

A display inside its night-mode window shows the Sleeping status with a moon icon and a purple left border.

Scheduling content on a screen

Open the screen’s detail panel and use the screen-week calendar to place Design blocks. Each block defines what plays and when — drag to create a block, drag edges to resize it, click × to remove it. See Scheduling content for details.

Troubleshooting

The display shows “Offline” after pairing. Check the device’s internet connection. Make sure the device can load other websites, then refresh the display app.

The pairing code isn’t working. Codes use uppercase letters and digits and roll over periodically. Double-check for typos, don’t include the BC- prefix, and use the fresh code currently shown on the device.

What’s next

• Schedule a Design on the screen’s week calendar from its detail panel
• Create additional Designs for different times of day
• Explore Designs to find the right arrangement for your screens