Quick Start Guide

For Your Numedia Monochrome Led Sign.
Initial Setup Procedures

You should make sure you have all the following information, especially if you need online, e-mail or phone support:

- Serial #(s), Model name, Sign size (w x h), Communication type, Controller #, Software Type, Purchased from and date, Sign Installer, Invoice #.

Some of the information you may know, and some of it you may not. The information that you do not know, I’m sure your sign installer would (especially if the sign was purchased through a third party and not directly from us). We strongly advise to get this information, so that when or if you do need to contact us for support, we will be able to troubleshoot appropriately.

Initial Setup Procedures:

Install the Nu-Media software that was provided for you on CD or via the download instructions given to you at the time of installation, onto your Desktop computer or Laptop.(CD's have been discontinued and the download link for your software is available only for 6 months
IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED TO KEEP A BACKUP OF THE ORIGINAL ZIP FILE FOR FUTURE USE AS IT WILL BE ADDITIONAL COSTS FOR US TO SETUP AGAIN.
(see the Getting Started section in the Help File Contents)
Confirm you have an existing COM Port available on your computer to establish communications to the sign.
(unless you have otherwise purchased and planned for the installation of a device server to make the sign accessible Via the TCP/IP computer network)

If you do not have an existing Com Port, then you will need to the install the one that may be provided, if you had ordered it in advance. OR you can purchase your own “USB to Serial Converter” however most on the market do not work with our hardware. Please consult us prior or purchase from us directly.
(name brand specific that we know works is the Belkin, or NexTech-available at The Source).

Once your communication device (Wireless WM200 or DIGI RF Modem, Numedia converter box, or Dial-up Modem) is connected to the com port of your PC, open the Nu-media Software.
When you open the program, the first thing you see is a window of what is being displayed on the sign.
Go to the “Edit” Menu, select “Configuration”, and then select “Sign System”. Verify that the baud rate is set at 9600, and the com port is set to what your computer will be using. If unsure what com port you are using, contact your systems administrator or go to the Device Manager of your Computer and look under the ports section and confirm.(usually the highest number com port)
When you are finished choosing the port, press the “OK” button at the bottom of the screen and select “Yes” when asked to “Save configuration settings?”. If using a Dial-up modem or TCP/IP Network, then you will need to set the phone number or IP address up in the “Comm. Device/Settings” section on the “File Organization” Tab (see #7 below, BUT press the "Cancel communications" button to set this up).
Go to the “Help” menu, and select “Contents”.Review all of this when needed, but currently you will need to read the section on “Text File Editor”. Once if you have reviewed this section, we suggest you print those pages.
You need to now verify that you can communicate to the sign by right clicking with your mouse in the window that displays the sign messages, select “Sign Properties”, and then go to the “File Organization” tab. This will initiate a second window on the bottom left of that screen that is minimized and showing only a “Details” button and a “Cancel Communications” button. Depending on what kind of hardware you are using, this window will remain up for 10 to 45 secs. When this window disappears (and presuming the sign itself is powered on, and your comm. settings are correct) you will now see some files in the “SIGN FILES” section. If so, then your “Sign System Configuration” is correct. If nothing appears and the communication window does not stop, then you have a problem with the configuration of your communication device/settings. If using a Dial-up modem or TCP/IP Network, then you will need to set the phone number or IP address up in the “Comm.Device/Settings” section, which is just above the “Sign Files” section.

Basic Procedures for Creating/Editing Messages:
(these procedures do not use any of the other options/fonts/font sizes/wipes(effects), than what is already used by default. See pg.3 for advanced procedures)

Go to “Edit” in the toolbar, and select “Sign File”. This will open the Editor for making messages.
Go to “File”, select “New”, and type a message – then go to “File” “Save As” and name it up to 8 letters or numbers, with no spaces or symbols. You can also edit a file you have already created by selecting it from the drop down list on the right side of the toolbar.
Then you will want to “Simulate”(preview) this before sending it to the sign.
Look for the “Simulate” button in the toolbar, and select the first option - “Simulate entire file on PC”.
(NOTE: simulation may be very slow if using Anti-virus software on your PC, but will be faster on the sign itself. To remedy this , please add the entire Program folder to the Norton A/V exclusion list.) If satisfied with the simulation, continue to the next step, otherwise make changes, re-save, and simulate again.
Then there is a “Send Current” button in the toolbar, that when pressed will send that file onto the sign. This will open the “Sign Properties” window, and the “File Organization” tab, and you will see the communications window open in the bottom left of it. When the communication window disappears and closes, you should see all the files that are on the sign in the “Sign Files” section, specifically the one you just sent, with a date and time stamp of the present.
You now need to press the “Save Files” button on the left of the “File Organization” screen, under the file options section. (the reason for this is if the sign goes off, then just like a computers RAM Memory , and if not saved it won’t be on the sign later when the power is back on. It will however still be in your “Computer Files” so you can put it back in the “Sign Files” if needed by dragging the file from the computer files section over to the sign files section, and then press “Save Files").
When this is complete (and you will know this when the communications window closes) check the “Current Sign Status” section to see what the sign is doing. (It should say—“Playing all files not starting with @.....Eligible files = <your filenames>”………….) (If using a schedule, or would like to, then see pg.4-Advanced procedures-Using a Schedule.Do not use a schedule until you are comfortable with the basics)
Once you have completed these steps, close the editor, and look at the start up screen window in the software which should be displaying what is on your sign. (You can also go out to the sign and verify this).
You can now close the Nu-media Software and the sign will continue to display the messages you have sent and saved to the sign.

NOTE: every time you try to communicate to the sign, the sign will stop displaying messages. So don’t be alarmed when you see nothing on the sign when communicating. When finished communicating the sign will start up again, and you can verify this by confirming step 6 above.

Advanced Procedures for Creating/Editing Messages:

The only differences between the basic and advanced procedures are the use
of all the fonts / wipes (effects) / graphics, & using schedules.

Part 1 – Fonts:
When you are in the “Edit” window and making a message, you have the option of to change the font size and style from their drop down lists. You should know the size of your sign (as Width X Height) which is displayed in the “Sign Properties”, and selecting the “Sign Parameters” tab and looking at the “Sign Width X Height” section. Font sizes are listed as “5w_7h” which means 5 pixels wide by 7 pixels high. Therefore if your sign is only 7 or 8 high then you cannot exceed this height or your message will not display correctly.

Also, if your sign is LESS THAN 16 in height (which means 16 pixels- or 16 led’s HIGH), then there is no need to use the Tall function, as the font sizes list accommodate this. However IF your sign is 32 high then you can use that style selection.

Highlight the text and select the font size. You can mix and have different fonts for different pages or lines.

Part 2 – Wipes: (& effects)
You can leave the default selection to “Auto On” & Auto Off” and your message will automatically choose a wipe to open & close your message with, Or you may select your own. These effects take some fine tuning,and will require some trial and errors for the first time user to find their desired result.

The included “NuMedia- Text File Editor-Toolbar Descriptions” file describes each button’s use.

Of all the effects- “Travel” is the most common and Wipes most commonly used is “Scroll Up”on & off.

These 2 settings should have either a travel /scroll speed of Medium or Slower (fastest will be way too fast on the sign for someone to read).

We strongly suggest experimenting with this until you have a desired result, and save the file to use as a template for making new messages later on.

Part 3 – Graphics:
See the “Help” file for more info.

Part 4 – Schedules:
By selecting this tab from the “Sign Properties” window, it will display the following screen. From here you can schedule when any file is to be played. The message scheduler is a very powerful tool. With this you are able to schedule up to 1 year in advance as well as you can select to display a message for a period of time every week. You select the file name, and select the starting and ending criteria for the message. Do NOT change the priority from low or it will cause scheduling problems-It is used for special programming features for the advanced user. (The priority of a message is very important. A low priority message will only play with other low priority and medium priority message. A high priority message will only play with other high priority and medium priority file messages. A low priority message will not play with a high priority message). If you want a file to ALWAYS PLAY, then Do NOT give it any start or stop date & time. It is best to be as non-specific as possible when scheduling. Files will play in the order that they are set up in the schedule.