need advice for software

Jo1967 · 05-23-2007, 07:04 AM

Well, we had a bit of turmoil at church this week and our sound/video guy (only one trained) decided to leave our church. Unfortunately, the laptop and software we used for the projector were his so they are gone, too. We will go back to projecting our lyrics the "old fashioned" way with transparancies for a few weeks, but we need to purchase our own laptop and software now. None of us have any idea what software he was even using (I'm thinking just Power Point). In any case, could anyone direct me toward an affordable, easy to learn, easy to work with worship program(s)?

I'll be out of town for a week, but would appreciate advice you can leave on this!

gtrdave · 05-23-2007, 07:44 AM

Even though the title requests hardware info, the thread includes some info on software as well:
http://www.christianguitar.org/forum...d.php?t=148999

We currently use a WinXP-infected Dell tower running Song Show Plus.
I don't know if I can advise you strong enough to avoid this software if you can...by far the most non-intuitive interface of the three or four media applications I've ever used.
Media Shout and Sunday Plus would be my recommendations.
Song Screen Liquid might be worth a look, too, and it's available for both Mac and Winders.

My plan for the future is to switch to a Macintosh platform and run an applicable software on it.

PowerPoint can be used but I'm not a big fan of it for interactive use. The good thing is that it's dual OS capable (granted, you'll need Office for Mac).
Keynote is Apple specific and I haven't yet used it but have heard great things about it when compared to PP.

psalm63adam · 05-23-2007, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jo1967

transparancies

Ouch. That's a curse word for me.

There are some free presentation programs out there, let me try and dig some up.

Dave H · 05-23-2007, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psalm63adam

Ouch. That's a curse word for me.

There are some free presentation programs out there, let me try and dig some up.

Open Song is one free program.

opensong.org

For about the same amount of time you would invest in power point, you get a much better presenter and you can keep your entire library in consistent chord charts. It can be a bit quircky at times but for free it seems to be pretty good.

niangelo · 05-24-2007, 11:35 PM

Got money?

Get a Macbook and Mediashout. The only way to fly. I know you said affordable, but there's no sense wasting money on something you're going to want to replace in six months.

**thesteve** · 05-25-2007, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niangelo

Got money?

Get a Macbook and Mediashout. The only way to fly. I know you said affordable, but there's no sense wasting money on something you're going to want to replace in six months.

why not get a desktop and spend half as much?

telecasting · 05-25-2007, 04:31 AM

We use easislides which is a lot like all the other software out there. Not amazing, but its free and does the job. Its chinese though so you get loads of songs in chinese as well as most of the contemporary and old english songs. Cool!

gtrdave · 05-25-2007, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

why not get a desktop and spend half as much?

Some churches might use the media machine in multiple locations on one campus at different times.
We used to operate this way and hauling a desktop, keyboard, monitor, etc back and forth might present a bit of an inconvenience as it did for us.
Sure, you might be able to get 2 desktops for the price of one laptop but, again, moving and storing 2 desktop setups may not be feasable vs. 1 portable all-in-one laptop.

**thesteve** · 05-25-2007, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtrdave

Some churches might use the media machine in multiple locations on one campus at different times.
We used to operate this way and hauling a desktop, keyboard, monitor, etc back and forth might present a bit of an inconvenience as it did for us.
Sure, you might be able to get 2 desktops for the price of one laptop but, again, moving and storing 2 desktop setups may not be feasable vs. 1 portable all-in-one laptop.

very true...also I know some churches have a dedicated tech guy who will take the laptop home in to put things together for it (videos, presentations, etc.)

**Fandrew** · 05-25-2007, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

very true...also I know some churches have a dedicated tech guy who will take the laptop home in to put things together for it (videos, presentations, etc.)

Try four tech guys with 6 computers, 4 with powerpoint, 2 with open office, 3 of which are mac. 3 of which run Mediashout, 5 of which run EasyWorship.

And you should see us work on Video Editing.

It's amazing how effecient we are on Sunday, and how scatterbrained we are the other 6 days of the week.

trpullen · 05-25-2007, 03:41 PM

We are in the process of moving off of MediaShout and back to PowerPoint. Way too much going on in MediaShout to keep a bank of Volunteers up and current.

trpullen · 05-25-2007, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtrdave

My plan for the future is to switch to a Macintosh platform and run an applicable software on it.

PowerPoint can be used but I'm not a big fan of it for interactive use. The good thing is that it's dual OS capable (granted, you'll need Office for Mac).
Keynote is Apple specific and I haven't yet used it but have heard great things about it when compared to PP.

We just bought a MacBook Pro for teleprompters and are using Keynote. I will report back when i have real data...so far, very cool.

farmer_boy_sa · 05-26-2007, 01:33 PM

Hi form South Africa !!

My 5 cents worth......

I have been using Opensong for about 2 years now and I am extremely happy with it. It does all it it supposed to do, and does it well. You will not be disappointed. Best of all, it's FREE and it has a support forum where the guys really take an interest in what the users have to say.

Sing a joyful song unto the Lord.

trpullen · 05-26-2007, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmer_boy_sa

Hi form South Africa !!

My 5 cents worth......

I have been using Opensong for about 2 years now and I am extremely happy with it. It does all it it supposed to do, and does it well. You will not be disappointed. Best of all, it's FREE and it has a support forum where the guys really take an interest in what the users have to say.

Sing a joyful song unto the Lord.

can you put moving backgrounds in it like MediaShout?

farmer_boy_sa · 05-28-2007, 12:45 PM

No Thomas, Opensong does not support moving backgrounds yet (like jpeg etc), but it is a feature request.
Please visit http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=373378 and check out the forum. Become a member and have a say....

God bless
Ronnie Hayes