Complete guide to the PlayTVi dashboard

Getting started

PlayTVi turns any TV into a communication channel: you build your content here in the dashboard, from your computer or phone, and your screens update on their own over the internet. No need to touch the TV once it's installed.

What you need before you start

The full path, in four moves

1. Register the screen in the dashboard

   Each screen is a "location." When you create the location, the dashboard generates a 6-digit code.

2. Install the app and enter the code

   On the device connected to the TV. This is what links the TV to your account — it's called pairing.

3. Upload your content

   Videos and images go to the Media Library. You can also create designs in Studio, without leaving the dashboard.

4. Build the schedule

   Choose what plays, in what order and at what times. Save it, and the screen receives it on its own.

Getting to know the dashboard

When you log in you land on the Dashboard. The menu on the left is the same on every screen of the system:

Install the app and pair your first screen

Pairing is the handshake between the TV and your account. In PlayTVi it starts in the dashboard: first you create the location, then you enter on the device the code the dashboard showed.

1. Create the location

   Go to Screens and click Add New Screen. Fill in:

   • Location Name (required) — use something you'll recognize in the list later: "Downtown Store — Window" is better than "Screen 1."
   • Address, Neighborhood, City, State, Phone — city and state are required and appear on the screen card, which helps when you have many locations.
   • Screen Format — Horizontal (1280×720), Vertical Right or Vertical Left (720×1280). "Right" and "Left" indicate which way the TV was rotated.

   

2. Write down the 6-digit code

   Once the location is saved, it appears in the list with a code at the top of the card and the notice Screen not yet set up - Waiting for pairing. There's a copy button next to the code.

3. Install the app on the device

   Download the APK at connect.playtvi.com.br/apk and install it on the TV box or Android TV. Since it doesn't come from the store, Android asks you to allow installs from unknown sources — that's normal.

4. Enter the code on the TV

   Open the app: it asks for the activation code. Enter the 6 digits. Within seconds the card in the dashboard changes from Waiting for pairing to ONLINE and starts downloading whatever is scheduled.

Media library: upload videos and images

Everything that goes to your screens passes through the Content. Each file you upload once can be used on as many screens as you want.

1. Click Add Media

   Drag the file to the indicated area or use Choose File.

2. Fill in the settings

   • Media Name — this is the name you'll use to find the file in the schedule.
   • Folder — organize by campaign, client or month. Without a folder, it goes to Root.
   • Duration — how long the image stays on screen. For video, the file's actual length takes priority.
   • Video Audio — With Sound or Muted. In places with their own music, leave it muted.

   

3. Upload and keep an eye on storage

   The Storage bar shows how much of your plan you've used. If you go over, delete what you no longer use or add extra space.

Accepted formats and sizes

Automatic content: news, weather and lotteries

Besides your own files, the library includes categories that update on their own — News, Lotteries, weather and other widgets. You just add them to the schedule; the content arrives up to date without you doing anything.

Schedule the screen

This is where you define what the TV shows. In Screens, click Schedule on the screen's card.

1. Choose the content

   On the left are the Available Media, separated by category (your media, News, Lotteries, Instagram). Click a category to open it and click an item to send it to the playlist. There's search by name and filter by folder.

2. Order the playlist

   On the right is the Current Playlist, with the Total Duration of the cycle. Drag items to change the order. SHUFFLE randomizes the order; CLEAR empties the list.

3. Schedule what needs a time slot

   Each item has a calendar icon: use it to set the day, date and time range when that content can appear. Outside the window, the item is skipped and the rest keeps playing.

4. Save

   Click SAVE. The screen gets the change within seconds if it's online, or on its next contact with the server.

Layouts: split the screen into zones

A layout is a split screen: a large video on one side, news scrolling along the bottom, a logo in the corner, a clock. Each piece is a zone with its own content, and all of them appear at the same time.

1. In Layouts, click New layout

   Start blank (horizontal or vertical) or from one of the 12 ready-made templates — full screen, main + footer, main + sidebar + footer, columns, quadrants and vertical versions for kiosks. The editor opens with the zones in place. Give it a name and check the RESOLUTION: 1280×720 for horizontal screens, 720×1280 for vertical — it must match the location's format.

2. Add zones

   Each click on ZONE creates a rectangle that you position and resize using the handles. AUTO adjusts the zones to eliminate empty gaps.

   

3. Fill each zone

   Select the zone and click the content you want — video, image, news or web page. A zone can hold several items and rotate between them.

4. Check the duration and save

   The top shows the Duration of the layout. Use the Preview in the layout list to see the result before scheduling.

In the layout list you also have Edit, Duplicate (to create variations without starting over), Preview e Delete, plus the filters Recent e Most Used.

Video wall: several screens as one

A video wall combines 2 to 6 synced screens . In Layouts, use Create Video Wall.

1. Choose the wall's screens

   All of them must have the same orientation. Screens that already belong to another sync group appear locked.

   

2. Set the arrangement

   Tell the system how the screens are physically mounted (side by side, in a grid). This tells it which slice of the image goes to each TV.

3. Choose the content type

   • Wall content (stitched) — a video or image is sliced and spans all the screens as if they were one.
   • Per-screen content — each screen shows its own content, but they all change together.
4. Adjust the audio and publish

   On a wall, only one screen should play audio — the others stay muted. Save as a draft and click Publish when you're ready.

Studio: create designs without leaving the dashboard

O Studio is a visual editor for people who don't have a designer on hand. You start from a ready-made template or a blank canvas, and the finished design goes straight to your library.

1. Start with a template

   In the Templates tab there are dozens of templates organized by industry: Promotions, Retail/Supermarket, Restaurants/Food, Beauty/Barbershop, Gym/Fitness, Pet Shop, Automotive, Fashion, Real Estate, Health/Pharmacy and Services/Corporate.

   

2. Build with elements

   On the left are Text, Title, Rectangle, Circle, Triangle, Line, Table, Price, Arrow e and Badge. On the right, the tabs Props (color, size, alignment), Layers (what sits in front) and Elements.

3. Use widgets that update themselves

   Under Dynamic Widgets: Clock, Date, Weather, QR Code, Ticker (scrolling text), Countdown e YouTube. A design with a clock and weather never goes stale.

4. Check resolution and time, then save

   At the top you set the resolution (1280×720 for horizontal) and for how many seconds the design stays on screen. Save sends the design to the library, ready to go into the schedule.

Groups: schedule several screens at once

With many screens, repeating the same playlist one by one doesn't scale. In Groups you build the playlist once and, when you save, it goes to all the screens in the group at the same time — ideal for store chains, branches, franchises and kiosks.

1. Create the group

   Click Create New Group, give it a name that describes the set ("Health Pharmacies," "Reception Areas") and check the screens that belong to it. The selected screens appear below so you can verify them; then, Create Group.

2. Build the group's playlist

   On the group's card, click Build playlist (or Open playlist). On the left are the media by category — only those that match the group's format —, with a folder filter and search. Click the + to add and drag items to change the order. The total duration shows how long one full loop takes.

3. Schedule what you need (optional)

   In each item's calendar, choose the period, time and days of the week. With Priority on, the item only appears at the scheduled time.

4. Save to the group

   Save to group sends the playlist to all screens at once: screens that are on receive it right away and those that are off get it as soon as they connect. Group items are added to each screen's own schedule.

Smart Tags: schedule dozens of screens with one label

A tag is a label you stick on media — Gyms, Drinks, Christmas. With it the system does two things on its own: spaces out media with the same tag in the lineup (two never play back to back) and delivers the tag to the right screens, without you opening each one's schedule. It's under Tags, in the dashboard's side menu.

1. Create the tag

   Under Tags, click New tag. Enter the name of the category (not the media), an optional description and a color. Under Distance, leave Automatic — the system calculates the best spacing for each screen's lineup size — or choose Fixed and say how many media items play in between. Time and days of the week are optional. Click Save tag.

2. Put the tag on media — 4 ways

   One media item: in Content, click the tag icon on the media card and choose the tag.
   Several at once: check the boxes on the media, open the button Tags in the top bar and choose the tag.
   When uploading: in Add Media, click the tag in the field Tags before uploading.
   When editing: in Edit, check the tag and save.

3. Schedule on screens

   On the tag's card, open the menu ⋮ and click Schedule on screens. Choose where: one screen, a group or all screens with a label; and the mode Include. If you want, schedule days and times. Click Save and apply: from then on, every new media item with the tag goes onto those screens on its own — and comes off when it loses the tag. Another way is the tab Screen tags: click the screen × tag cell and it starts receiving right away.

4. Check in the simulator

   Open the Simulator, choose a screen and compare the lineup before and after. If it looks good, click Apply to this screen. It only changes the order — no file is downloaded again by the TV.

Monitor and diagnose your screens

Under Screens, each card already gives you the essentials: code, status ONLINE/OFFLINE, the WS badge (real-time connection), how many items are scheduled, last access, city, device model, Android version, app version and free space.

What each card button does

The full diagnostics

The ⓘ button opens the screen's file: scheduled items, last access, activation code, download status, app version, location, model, system, device identifier and the usage of RAM e and storage.

Further down, the same panel shows real-time health: whether it's Playing, the total of downloads completed, the quality of the network, o and free space e o Download Status item by item — this is where you find out whether any file didn't arrive.

Reports: prove what was displayed

O Report answers two different questions, each in its own tab.

Media Statistics — how many times it played

1. Choose the media

   The Media filter accepts several at once — useful for adding up an entire campaign.

2. Filter by screen and period

   Location limits it to one screen; Start Date e End Date set the window. Click Analyze.

3. Read the numbers

   You get Total Plays, Total Display Time, Peak Hour e Active Locations, plus the daily trend charts and the hourly distribution.

4. Export

   Export PDF to send to the advertiser, Export CSV to open in Excel.

Screen Availability — how long it stayed up

The second tab answers "did my screen work?" The table shows, for each screen: current status, days online, time online, days offline, o availability percentage e a last time online.

Sub-users: give access without handing over the account

Under Administrator Management you create additional logins and choose which screens each one can access — the branch manager only touches their own screen.

1. Add New Administrator

   Set the login, email and password.

2. Choose the permissions

   Click the administrator's login to edit. You define the locations they can see; the list shows the count in the column Screens.

White label: dashboard, app and domain with your own look

Under System Settings there are three tabs. They mainly matter to those who resell digital signage to their own customers.

Visual Identity

Upload the dashboard logo (recommended size 282×66px) and set the footer text. The change appears throughout the system and in the apps.

App

You can upload your own APK (.apk format, up to 100 MB) for your customers to download — the link appears on the Dashboard.

Custom Domain

Set up your domain so your customers can access the system through it, with a login page under your brand. Enter only the domain (without http:// nor www) e o name of your brand, which replaces "PlayTVi" in page titles.

Billing: plan, charges and history

O Billing opens with the summary: monthly amount, current plan, active screens,, billed screens, price per screen, status, billing cycle and next due date.

Payment methods

The plans

Need more storage? Just let us know. The Payment History, at the bottom of the page, lists the date, amount, status and method of each charge.

Troubleshooting

Always start with the screen's card in Screens and the diagnostics in the ⓘ: 90% of cases are explained there.

If none of that solved it, contact us through WhatsApp or by contato@playtvi.com.br — tell us the screen name and, if possible, what appears in the diagnostics.

FAQ

Have a question the guide doesn't cover? Send it through WhatsApp — your question may become a topic here.