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What projection software do you use?

Started by Jords on 30 June 2008 - 1:49pm

30 June 2008 - 1:49pm

There are literally hundreds of choices out there when it comes to projection software. But which one is right for your church?

Here I would like to discuss a few products I have used for both Mac and PC. Feel free to add 'reviews' for the software your church uses.

Mac

Mac are renowned for their graphics and graphical editing abilities, yet surprisingly up to a few months ago there was only one serious choice for projection software on the Mac: ProPresenter.

Developed by Renewed Vision, ProPresenter is some seriously advanced software. Renewed Vision make software for multi-display video playback which is used in some high end locations other than 'Mega' churches. However the complexity of the software hits you as soon as you open it. The software interface feels very alien on Mac OS X. They have custom made a lot of the interface which leaves first timers feeling a little intimidated as nothing seems familiar. However the options and possibilities are extensive. So if you are ready to give your assistants some good training then ProPresenter is a great choice.

http://www.renewedvision.com/pp.php

There is only one other piece of software which I feel is necessary to mention for the Mac, and I believe it's the application we have all been waiting for.

ProWorship created by Renovatio Software is one slick looking application. Modeled off the Apple iMovie '08 interface it feels right at home on your Mac. The see and click functionality will mean your assistants are up and running in no time. Features included picture and video backgrounds, integrated Apple DVD playback and even Live Video backgrounds from your iSight camera or external camera connected to your Mac via Firewire.

I'll be the first to admit it isn't all there just yet, but this software shows some huge potential. I'm one of the private beta testers and the developer has some great features lined up the future which will make this application a solid contender in the Mac projection arena.

http://www.renovatiosw.com/proworship/

Free demos are available for ProPresenter and ProWorship so why not give them a whirl today?

PC

What, you're not a Mac user? Well if I must I will give you a few suggestions for those of you running PCs in your church, which lets face it is nearly everyone!
At my home church in Guernsey we ran Zionworx. Which I have to say is a fairly complete solution for something that's free. You have all the usual features like picture backgrounds and bible verses. It's a pretty rock solid application which isn't hard to learn and it is absolutely free, so give it a try!

http://www.zionworx.org.uk/

Here at HTB we use EasyWorship. I've used it a few times and again it's a rock solid application. The only advantage it has over Zionwrox from what I can see are video backgrounds. If video backgrounds are a must then EasyWorship will get you rocking. However unlike zionworx it does carry a price tag.

http://www.easyworship.com/

Again you can get a free trail of EasyWorship and Zionworx is free full stop. So why not give them a go?

Let me know what you think and feel free to add 'reviews' on other worship projection software for Mac or PC.
1 July 2008 - 9:53pm

hi jordan,

great post, thanks for that!

a
12 July 2008 - 9:05am

At my church we're using Presentation Manager (http://www.presentationmgr.com/). Although it does fit (almost) all our current needs, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It has a quite hard-to-use interface and customizing settings is often a very drawn out process. But despite our slight problems with it, I would agree that you should give the free trial a go, just to see if it fits your needs.

Cheers,

Dave
13 July 2008 - 2:19pm

Can someone please tell me what projection software was being used yesterday at Worship Central?

Totally loved the backdrops for Brian Doerksens set btw.
13 July 2008 - 2:25pm

Yesterdays setup was very different to a normal church setup.

Lyrics were done by EasyWorship I believe. However the backgrounds were controlled separately. The two sources were then merged to get the end result.

As for Brian Doerkens set that was actually just done by Keynote (Apple's version of Powerpoint), however this isn't a wise way to do projection as they had to pretty much stay to their plan from the start and couldn't easily get by led by the spirit onto something different... well they could there just wouldn't be any words to back them up.

I'm not sure what software was used for the graphical composition but I can find out for you?
14 July 2008 - 10:32am

We use OpenSong:

http://www.opensong.org/

It is open source software (so you are positively welcomed to give copies to all the people in your church who might want to use it) and available for Windows, Mac and Linux. I can create my sets at home on my Mac and then take them on USB set across to the Windows machine at church.

You might beat the feature set (although it does everything we need at present) but you won't beat the price (free!).

Wulf
14 July 2008 - 1:19pm

Fantastic - thank you for your help
16 July 2008 - 1:00pm

We use EasyWorship which does everything we need with one exception - you can only search for lyrics from the beginning of a slide, not for any lyric. So if a worship leader doesn't sing the first word clearly, you're stuffed! :) If you have operators who know the songs, they can generally find everything really quickly anyway, but it does cause me to pause and check who the operator is before throwing something spontaneous into the mix.
Other than that, it's so simple to use and rock solid (never had a crash in 5 years of use) that I can't recommend it enough.

www.RESOUNDworship.org
Free New Worship Songs
16 July 2008 - 9:18pm

@ JORDS - That would be great, really into all the graphics stuff etc :) wasn't there this Sat but was at the April one.

We use MediaShout. Slightly more complicated apparently to a lot of packages. I personally think it's rather simple. lol. Have managed to train someone to run the software in 10 mins.

MediaShout 3 is able to play DVD clips too. Which might have it's advantages. We haven't upgraded to MS3 yet though, still running v2.5, mainly because the interface has been updated.

A couple of years back i did speak to the guy in charge of the words at Soul Survivor, they used a free Australian program from what I remember. Name has slipped my mind though. It was something simple just Presenter or something like that.

---------------------------------
footstepdesign.co.uk
Web | Video | Graphics
16 July 2008 - 10:16pm

We use Presentation Manager Pro we've only been using it for about 2/3 months and so far suits us fine we have had slight issues with fitting all the words on the screen but as far as i know that has now been sorted. The software we had before was similar but was a bit more complicated i can't remember what it was called though.
17 July 2008 - 6:08am

We have been using Easyworship for years now and tried a few others but found this most adaptable. Can keep a good flow of worship and use images/videos where necessary. We have used less video behind words because people with epilepsy sometimes found the flickering backgrounds really difficult (even when only very subtle).

DVD works ok too and can be put into the schedule and cued up to come just in the right point in the dvd. Totally recommend this software

www.ebe.org.uk
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