Product Guide: Deluxe 4.5" Video Player Module with 4GB Memory and Multi-Mode

Product Guide: Deluxe 4.5" Video Player Module with 4GB Memory and Multi-Mode


INTRODUCTION

These instructions describe how to use the Brickstuff 4.5" Deluxe Video Player module.



Your player kit includes:
  1. One 4.5” video player module with speaker, USB-C input connector, multiple buttons, Brickstuff power cable, and demo videos pre-loaded

  2. One USB data/power cable with USB-A to USB-C connector

Here are some things to keep in mind when setting up and using your video player module:

  1. The video player requires a 5-volt power source, such as a USB battery bank, that is capable of generating enough power to charge a tablet or smartphone.  If using a Brickstuff power source connection, make sure the source is a 5-volt source such as our USB power source or Power Functions power source.  Do not use any of our battery packs to power this video screen.  These are not able to generate the amount of power required.
  2. Although you need to connect the video player to a computer using the included USB data/power cable in order to copy video files onto the module, the module will not play videos when connected to a computer with the included USB cable.  To get videos to play, you will need to connect the USB cable to a USB battery bank or iPhone/iPad-type charger.  Whenever the video player is connected to a computer, it is in “data transfer” mode and will not play videos.
  3. The video player will play files in MP4 or AVI format.  If your video is in a different format, you can follow the directions later in this document and use free online tools to convert the format into either MP4 or AVI.


Special Handling Requirements

Your video player’s screen is attached to the main control board with a thin, flexible cable.  The cable is orange and is shown by the blue arrow in the photo below.
Flexible cable attached to the 4.5" video player module.
To ensure proper operation of your player, it is important to observe the following special handling requirements when mounting, moving, or transporting your player:
  1. Always make sure the flexible cable is aligned straight as shown in the photo above, and also that the cable is fully inserted into the white plug on the main controller board as shown.  The cable can easily tear or break.
  2. As shown by the red arrow in the photo below, there is a clear tape covering some of the small electronic parts mounted to the flexible cable.  If the cable is bent too tightly, this tape can come loose.  Make sure the tape is pressed firmly onto the flexible cable and do not allow the tape to come off.
  3. As shown by the green arrow in the photo below, the flexible cable can bend slightly but when you mount the player into a housing or frame, do not bend the cable too tightly or it can break, its tape can come off, or the cable can tear.
  4. If you need to transport your player, make sure its main controller board is firmly attached to the screen (this was done using masking tape when your player was originally packed).  If not firmly secured during transport, the cable can tear.
Protective tape and cable bend.

ADDING VIDEO FILES

To add or change video files on the player, follow these steps: (also see the figure below)
  1. If you are powering the video player using the Brickstuff power cable, disconnect that cable from its power source.
  2. Using the included USB cable, connect one end to the USB connector cable on the video player, and connect the other end to your computer.  You should see the video player appear as a connected memory disk, like a USB memory stick would appear when connected.
  3. Open the folder representing the video player, and copy/delete files as needed.
  4. Disconnect the USB cable from your computer and connect/re-connect to your external power source.  As explained above, the player will not play videos when connected to a computer.
Connecting the video player for file transfer.
Alert
If you are using an Apple/Mac computer and you delete files from the player, you will also need to complete the steps to “empty” the trash container corresponding to the drive of the video player.  This is because Mac computers place deleted files in a hidden directory on the player and the deleted files will continue taking up space until you “empty” the trash container on the video player.

VIDEO PLAYER OPERATION

To operate the video player, connect it to a power source as shown in the figure below.  Once connected, the video player will begin playing its stored videos (depending on the selected playback mode).
Three options for powering the video player module.
As shown in the figure, there are three main options for powering the video module:
  1. Connection to a USB battery bank using the USB cable included with this kit.
  2. Connection to an iPhone or iPad-type charger (connected to mains power) using the USB cable included with this kit.
  3. Connection to a Brickstuff power source using the Pico connecting plug attached to the video player module.


Video Player Buttons

Your video player has four buttons connected to it via wires with plugs that can be disconnected (in case you want to replace with your own type/size of button).  Each button wire has a paper label attached.  The figure below shows the buttons connected to your player:
  1. Volume Up: increases playback volume.
  2. Volume Down: decreases playback volume.
  3. Power: turns the video player on or off. (NOTE that the video player continues to use power even when it is turned off with the Power button)
  4. Mode: switches between your player’s three playback modes:
  5. Normal Loop: videos play in a continuous loop.
  6. Random Loop: videos play in a random order and in a continuous loop.
  7. Play Once: videos play through once, then the player’s power turns off. (NOTE that the video player continues to use power even when it automatically turns itself off)
Video player buttons.
Info
Settings made using the buttons are saved in the video player’s memory even when power is disconnected.

FORMATTING VIDEOS

If your video files are not in MP4 or AVI format, or if they are too large to fit into the video player’s memory, you can adjust these aspects of the files using a free online file conversion tool called CloudConvert.  To access this tool, open a web browser on your computer and navigate to https://www.cloudconvert.com/.


Next, click the red “Select File” button on the main page to select the video file on your computer and upload it. (see the blue arrow in the screenshot below)
Selecting your video file to convert.

Once you have selected your video, you will have the option to select the type of video file to convert to.

Info
For maximum compatibility, we recommend converting to the MP4 format.

Once you select MP4 as the file format, you will see a wrench icon appear (see the green arrow in the illustration below).  Click the wrench icon to open the “Options” window.
Warning
DO NOT click on the “Convert” button.
Selecting the conversion format.
You will see an “Options” window appear:
File conversion Options window.
The video player’s resolution is 854x480.  To make sure your video plays well on the screen, we recommend converting your video to this resolution as shown by the red arrow in the screenshot above.

Info
If your video is very high resolution (4K/8K, etc.), the video player may have trouble playing it.  The player tries to re-size each video frame in real-time; as long as your videos are close to the player’s resolution (either above or below), playback should work well without needing to re-size.  If you notice significant lag in playback, or if the player won’t play your files even if they are in MP4 or AVI format, you may still need to run them through the online converter to reduce their resolution.  This will also reduce their file size, meaning you can fit more videos onto your player!

Conversion Errors

If the cloudconvert.com application is not able to read or process your video file, the file may be damaged.  Unfortunately we are not able to provide support for damaged or unreadable video files, or for any other specific issues related to video compression or conversion.

There are a number of online tools that can help repair damaged video files.  To find these tools, search the Internet using the phrase “repair damaged video file” and the file extension of your original video.  For example, if your video is a QuickTime video, which would have the file extension .MOV, search for “repair damaged video file mov”.

Once you have repaired your file, you can try uploading to cloudconvert.com again.

Playback Errors

If the player won’t play your video files, the most likely causes and solutions are listed below.
  1. Your video is in the wrong format.  This can happen even if the filename ends with “.mp4” or “.avi” (video files have internal configuration variables that can impact their playback ability).  To resolve these issues, try using the cloudconvert.com website to convert problem videos to MP4 format (even if the filename already ends in “.mp4”).  This will normalize the video’s configuration variables, increasing the likelihood of successful playback.
  2. Your video’s resolution is too high.  This can cause lag issues with playback, or result in a file that the player cannot see or play.  To resolve, see the top of this page to change the resolution of your video files.

THANK YOU

Thank you for purchasing this Brickstuff product!  Your support means a lot to our small, family business, and it allows us to wake up every morning and continue doing the work we love: making really cool things to take your models to the next level!

If you have any questions or problems with this product, please send us an e-mail and let us know how we can help.

If you make something really cool with this product, please share on social media and tag us (@brickstuff on most platforms) so we can see your awesome work!