Media Shout for Mac

[Kevin Rector]

Hey, so I just went to Media Shout's website and I've learned that Media Shout for Mac has come out. When I looked last week it still wasn't released.

We've been planning on getting a new presentation software package, and we were in a bit of a quandary because the staff all use Macs and we're getting a new computer for media presentation and were hoping to be able to just go to an all Mac shop. I liked the look of Media Shout more than any other presentation software I saw, but we were going to have to get a PC. Now I can just get a Mac and a copy of Media Shout and it will all be good.

[Paul DeBaufer]

I haven't seen Media Shout for Mac yet, but I really did prefer Media Shout to Pro Presenter. There is software that would allow you to put Windows on a Mac and run Media Shout, but now that isn't necessary.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

What makes Media Shout better than simply using Keynote?

[Doug Kitchen]

Hey, so I just went to Media Shout's website and I've learned that Media Shout for Mac has come out. When I looked last week it still wasn't released.

We've been planning on getting a new presentation software package, and we were in a bit of a quandary because the staff all use Macs and we're getting a new computer for media presentation and were hoping to be able to just go to an all Mac shop. I liked the look of Media Shout more than any other presentation software I saw, but we were going to have to get a PC. Now I can just get a Mac and a copy of Media Shout and it will all be good.

openlp.org and opensong.org have free presentation software (similar to easy worship) that work on a mac and pc. I've only experimented at home and it seems to do easyworship quite well - just a little differently.

Doug

[Jim Chabot]

What makes Media Shout better than simply using Keynote?

I'm not familiar with keynote, I'm guessing that it is apple's version of power point?

Media Shout allows for easy arrangement and display of song lyrics, audio and video clips even a live camera feed can be sent up as a background. It comes with a song library with a couple of thousand songs already loaded, and it also comes with a bunch of bible versions also. Bible texts and songs can be brought up on the fly with ease, or they can be integrated into the script. The script is available for insertions and edits while presenting also.

The control screen is laid out very nicely allowing for flexible control of the presentation, all tools and libraries are available while presenting. There is also an instant message function which allows an inset message to be sent to either the main screen or the stage displays. The text formatting and effects are optimized for song presentation. We use a white text with a heavy black underline and drop shadow, this creates good readable contrast with almost any background, I make use of this freedom to select pictures that help bring the songs message forward.

I'm not sure what all else it does better, it is an incredible tool. Almost forgot, it allows for power point integration. I prepare my presentation with everything except for the sermon slides, JR brings the sermon on a memory stick and we import it right into the script on the fly, then we add in the scripture readings again we can do this on the fly.

[Jim Chabot]

Hey, so I just went to Media Shout's website and I've learned that Media Shout for Mac has come out. When I looked last week it still wasn't released.

We've been planning on getting a new presentation software package, and we were in a bit of a quandary because the staff all use Macs and we're getting a new computer for media presentation and were hoping to be able to just go to an all Mac shop. I liked the look of Media Shout more than any other presentation software I saw, but we were going to have to get a PC. Now I can just get a Mac and a copy of Media Shout and it will all be good.

I think that you are going to be real happy with Media Shout!

[Zach Wingo]

I've used Media Shout and Song Show Plus a lot and recently used our churches Easy Worship. My impression is that Easy Worship is the best choice for most churches, especially ones with non-technical users. Media Shout is the best for Media (ie., live video of the stage, motion backgrounds, ppt imports, etc.) and Song Show is the best if you need both.

Having said all that, having Media Shout for the Mac is a huge incentive IMO

[Kevin Rector]

Well, as I noted in this post we've been really disappointed with Media Shout for Mac. However, I have to give big kudos to the customer service at Media Complete (the company that makes Media Shout). Even though we've had Media Shout for longer than the 30 day return period, they are going to give us a full refund.

So today I bought Pro Presenter 4. It's just so much better.

[Jim Chabot]

Well, as I noted in this post we've been really disappointed with Media Shout for Mac. However, I have to give big kudos to the customer service at Media Complete (the company that makes Media Shout). Even though we've had Media Shout for longer than the 30 day return period, they are going to give us a full refund.

So today I bought Pro Presenter 4. It's just so much better.

My apologies once again for recommending Media Shout. It worked real well on the PC, apparently not so good on the mac.

I've been running Pro Presenter for almost a year now using the Ipod remote app and the Ipad stage display apps. Can't believe how versatile this program is! And I can't believe how much better the mac is vs. PC.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the children's Christmas play as I type this. Pro Presenter has given us the ability to integrate everything. We have all of the audio files built into the script complete with timed slides for the words for the children. All of their words appear on the Ipads with a Title block at the top indicating which child is speaking, while graphics are displayed on the main screen without words.

There is also a feature that allows for multiple stage display formats which are selectable within the app. I have a format that I use to lead the worship, when I'm done, a couple of taps on the screen and they are reconfigured for the children's format.

Incredible program! Or maybe it's just the intuitive interface that mac users have long enjoyed?

[Mike Schutz]

Could I once again attempt to approach this question from the perspective of our finance committee:

(We currently use PowerPoint for song lyrics and sermon notes, download videos from Work of the People, Vimeo and Youtube)

What is the benefit of making a major purchase of a dedicated presentation software package? If the benefit is solely to make life easier for the video/audio team, but will not change the experience for the congregations, is the benefit worth the cost?

[Jim Chabot]

Hey Mike: If you can give me a couple of days to get back to this, I'll do my best.

I can say a couple of quick things.

I couldn't possibly do what I do without this software and hardware package. Much of it can be done with powerpoint, but the time commitment is greater and I frequently would lack the time to get it done. Powerpoint falls short in one key area that I will try to outline later.

Probably more important is whether you have folks who can or will exploit this technology to it's best advantage, and whether your worship style lends itself to this sort of thing.

In my case, I would be lost without it. I can only sing, I can't play an instrument and there are no instrumentalists in our church. This software is an incredible crutch to overcome some pretty severe limitations.

[Doug Kitchen]

Could I once again attempt to approach this question from the perspective of our finance committee:

(We currently use PowerPoint for song lyrics and sermon notes, download videos from Work of the People, Vimeo and Youtube)

What is the benefit of making a major purchase of a dedicated presentation software package? If the benefit is solely to make life easier for the video/audio team, but will not change the experience for the congregations, is the benefit worth the cost?

At my church, I am on the finance committee, worship team, church board, and apparently I am in charge of the video/audio team. I end up approving my own suggestions.

if you want to use multimedia and the video/audio team is switching software during the service adequately, then I doubt that nearly $1000 is worth it. In my opinion, people don't come to a worship service to see flashy, high-tech multimedia presentations. But if you try to offer that level and can't deliver, then it is really embarrassing. I think I would concentrate on getting the powerpoint words to match what the song leader is singing, first. Or switch back to song books.

i.e identify the technical problems with your worship service first and see if it a simple purchase will solve that problem. You can spend money on software but if the team can't really take the time to figure it out then it is probably a waste of money. Does switching to video bring the service to a screeching halt half the time? In that case, if you want to use a lot of video then you probably need better software or hardware to match the skills of your team. But it could be a hardware problem, too.

From Jim's endorsement, nearly $1000 (probably 800 for a site license from the site) or 400 (single user) might be a great investment (mostly 1 time + 50% for upgrades in future years) if it makes the worship service flow more smoothly. Before you buy anything, I would try openlp.org as a presentation software because it is free. If it works for the multimedia team but they thirst for more, then consider buying something (but I wouldn't buy easy worship, spend a little more and get propresenter which seems to avoid the problems in slightly less expensive software).

We are using easy worship which is sort of ok for us but we run into a lot of glitches. Easy worship is only marginally less expensive. However, I wouldn't suggest in our situation to replace what we have. I think we need to live with it and/or learn to use it better. From what I am reading on this thread, if you are buying a product, I would go with propresenter since it is only a little more expensive and sounds like it works well for some people. Therefore, consider whether your team would be able to spend enough time making the software work. Some glitches are software limitations and some glitches are user errors.

Doug

[Mike Schutz]

But if you try to offer that level and can't deliver, then it is really embarrassing. I think I would concentrate on getting the powerpoint words to match what the song leader is singing, first. Or switch back to song books.

i.e identify the technical problems with your worship service first and see if it a simple purchase will solve that problem. You can spend money on software but if the team can't really take the time to figure it out then it is probably a waste of money. Does switching to video bring the service to a screeching halt half the time? In that case, if you want to use a lot of video then you probably need better software or hardware to match the skills of your team. But it could be a hardware problem, too.

What you may not know is that Doug has been in my services (since his niece is on our staff) and he is making painfully obvious comments about the technological issues in our services. "Does switching to video bring the service to a screeching halt" - That's really cold, Doug. Really cold.

[Doug Kitchen]

What you may not know is that Doug has been in my services (since his niece is on our staff) and he is making painfully obvious comments about the technological issues in our services. "Does switching to video bring the service to a screeching halt" - That's really cold, Doug. Really cold.

Actually, Mike, I have never been in one of your services! I have been in our church's services when the technology got waaaay ahead of ability. At those points it must have just felt like I was in your service. It is simply one of those "weep with those who weep moments". I wasn't trying to be cold - it just came naturally.

Doug

ps I have heard Mike speak and he is great! I doubt he needs all this flashy video stuff.

[Jim Chabot]

What you may not know is that Doug has been in my services (since his niece is on our staff) and he is making painfully obvious comments about the technological issues in our services. "Does switching to video bring the service to a screeching halt" - That's really cold, Doug. Really cold.

But he's speaking the truth in love...............right. You know Doug loves you!

I think that Doug hit the nail on the head with this one

I think I would concentrate on getting the powerpoint words to match what the song leader is singing, first. Or switch back to song books.

I think that we can all identify with the early days when we transitioned away from the hymnbooks. There was an overhead projector down front and maybe a screen, or a white wall or possibly even a sheet to project the words on. Someone would change the slides as we sang. But all too often the slides would get put up upside down, backwards or both. After a few tries we were back at it again. Or the slide changer would get carried away singing and forget to change the slide until halfway into the next verse.

Fast forward and place the same human controller behind 10K worth of technology and the result is the same! I've seen this in so many places and on so many occasions that I've lost count. The software and technology is great, but without the people who have a passion for this ministry, and it is a ministry, then we have wasted a bunch of money.

[Jim Chabot]

I have heard Mike speak and he is great! I doubt he needs all this flashy video stuff.

Same here! My impression is that anything other than very subtle and tasteful graphics would tend to take away from Mike's presentation. From my limited experience, I would say that Mike's listeners are best served when they can focus on Mike.

[Mike Schutz]

Is it wrong that I smile when I visit a large, wealthy (at least relatively), and technologically advanced "worship center," with multiple staff, and video monitors everywhere, and a large group of competent-looking young adults in the audio/video control center, and they still can't get the words to match the music?

I'm sorry - but it makes me smile. Then I feel bad for them.

Then I smile again.

[Doug Kitchen]

But he's speaking the truth in love...............right.
I think that Doug hit the nail on the head with this one

I think that we can all identify with the early days when we transitioned away from the hymnbooks. There was an overhead projector down front and maybe a screen, or a white wall or possibly even a sheet to project the words on. Someone would change the slides as we sang. But all too often the slides would get put up upside down, backwards or both. After a few tries we were back at it again. Or the slide changer would get carried away singing and forget to change the slide until halfway into the next verse.

Fast forward and place the same human controller behind 10K worth of technology and the result is the same! I've seen this in so many places and on so many occasions that I've lost count. The software and technology is great, but without the people who have a passion for this ministry, and it is a ministry, then we have wasted a bunch of money.

I'm usually not such a good carpenter.

Those old acetates were a very wasteful and expensive way to get rid of hymnals so that people look up while they sing.

Besides the operator, a common problem is to have the words placed on a screen that does not match the musical phrasing; or to use a pretty background that obscures many of the words. We usually now use ccli to get the lyrics (makes it very easy to set up) but someone has to be extremely conscientious to ensure that the words are the same as in the music books. One approach we have been trying to do is to buy a rear projector so the worship team sees what the congregation sees. But that is more technology and expense which we have already been using for 10 years. And we need sound system repairs. And we need to wire our nursery so those people can hear/see the service and we need other things too. So Mike, this is always my argument with myself (as manager, consumer and approver of purchases) about buying cooler software and hardware. As Jim said, we could easily spend 10K and the result will be no better.

Doug

[Kevin Rector]

Well, we are going live with ProPresenter today. Probably a fools errand since we've only had it since Friday. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Doug Kitchen]

Well, we are going live with ProPresenter today. Probably a fools errand since we've only had it since Friday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well it could not have gone worse (technology-wise). The video didn't work at all (easy worship). Then the desktop showed up on the screen when it should have been blank. Today was christmas program sunday and it would have been nice to have the tech-part not interfere.

However, our entirely low tech christmas caroling in the neighborhood was pretty successful. We didn't even bring words this year.

Doug

[Jim Chabot]

Well it could not have gone worse (technology-wise). The video didn't work at all (easy worship). Then the desktop showed up on the screen when it should have been blank. Today was christmas program sunday and it would have been nice to have the tech-part not interfere.

However, our entirely low tech christmas caroling in the neighborhood was pretty successful. We didn't even bring words this year.

Doug

Sorry to hear that Doug. Ours went great, although I did crash on the couch for a couple of hours from mental exhaustion. I set up our children's play in it's entirety on pro presenter. Ended up with nine sound files, forty some odd pictures and three video loops spread across a hundred and ten screens.

I typed in all of the narration and song words in so all of the children could look out to the congregation while reading and singing. We even had a scene where two of the girls were reporters sitting at the anchor desk. While they read we displayed video footage of two reporters above them on the screen with inset pictures to cover the subject material. Everything went off without a hitch or glitch, the responsibility of Making sure that the children had there words in front of them in perfect time is awesome, frightening and exhausting.

We had record crowd this morning. 44 people attended this morning, our attendance was 18 eight months back. Well worth the extra work!

[Kevin Rector]

Well, we are going live with ProPresenter today. Probably a fools errand since we've only had it since Friday. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm sorry to hear yours went bad Doug. Ours was flawless. ProPresenter is exceptional and stable and fast and wonderful and I love it.

[Doug Kitchen]

I'm sorry to hear yours went bad Doug. Ours was flawless. ProPresenter is exceptional and stable and fast and wonderful and I love it.

I should clarify, it was only one video segment which was an advertisement for financial peace university. unrelated to the topic of thread, our wireless mic has a broken cover which prevents the battery from properly seating and someone used this defective mic stand with one of our older mics. we had a mic stand that kept sliding down.

The kid's program was low tech mostly. The two cd backgrounds that we used played well through the computer but were not embedded in the easy worship. Overall, the program went well ( we have a few very small children who had no speaking parts and some teens). As the kids get older we are going to have to have some sort of rear projection system or go back to poster board.

In my thinking, this is the embarrassment factor that I mentioned in an earlier post. If replacing the presentation software would fix all the problems, it might be a no-brainer. It sounds like Jim took considerable effort to prepare ahead of time (with his own system of hardware - i.e. he is extremely knowledgeable). And Kevin, I know you are pretty savvy on electronics, how much effort did it take you (and/or someone in the congregation) to get your Sunday morning prepped? Would someone who can use easy worship learn propresenter? And is routine Sunday morning prep, fast: uploading lyrics, arranging order of service, using one video/week randomly during the service, etc?

Doug

[Kevin Rector]

...Kevin, I know you are pretty savvy on electronics, how much effort did it take you (and/or someone in the congregation) to get your Sunday morning prepped? Would someone who can use easy worship learn propresenter? And is routine Sunday morning prep, fast: uploading lyrics, arranging order of service, using one video/week randomly during the service, etc?

I am rather tech savvy, I find my way around a computer pretty easily. However, here's how ours went. I downloaded ProPresenter (you can download it and use it free - it just had a watermark) and then I spent about an hour or two watching the video tutorials (http://www.renewedvision.com/propresenter.php?page=tour). After watching the tutorials I went ahead and bought the program and three bibles (NIV, NLT, NRSV). After that I made the Sunday morning presentation, it took about an hour probably. One caveat is that we subscribe to CCLI's SongSelect service which allowed me to quickly import all the lyrics, if I had to type them it would have taken longer. However, if you don't have SongSelect, ProPresenter does allow you to cut and paste lyrics for easy importing (like from a text file or a web page). All in all, I found ProPresenter to be extremely easy to use.

I went back on Saturday evening and made a slide presentation for our Sunday Night Children's Christmas program. I just put the lyrics for the songs (we have a rear projector). Sunday afternoon I learned a guy in our church would be singing a special. He had an accompaniment tape that sounded really bad, so I was able to quickly find and buy a digital download mp3 of the same accompaniment track and slid it into the ProPresenter presentation at the right spot. It all worked without a hitch.

Sunday morning, I had a few minutes before service so I made a three slide "pre-service announcment" presentation (the advance slides tutorial walks you through how to do this). We put a timer over this so that the timer would get to 0:00 when it was time to start.

The guy who runs the computer got a fifteen minute tutorial from me, and then the whole service ran perfectly.

[Jim Chabot]

Would someone who can use easy worship learn propresenter? And is routine Sunday morning prep, fast: uploading lyrics, arranging order of service, using one video/week randomly during the service, etc?

Doug

I would say yes, while there is a learning curve especially since you have already learned one program and there are things that will work differently and require a little unlearning.

As Kevin has already said, their program is available on a trial basis for free with no time limitation, and they have a bunch of decent training videos on their site.

I tried propresenter on a pc initially and it didn't go smoothly. I'm guessing that perhaps the pc wasn't up to snuff or fully compatible. On a mac, I found propresenter to be incredibly stable, relatively easy to learn and incredibly easy to use once I got used to it. I have gotten it to crash a couple of times while trying to jump around while editing, then again a couple of crashes over a years time is almost never. It has never malfunctioned during a worship service, not even once.

[Jim Chabot]

I went back on Saturday evening and made a slide presentation for our Sunday Night Children's Christmas program. I just put the lyrics for the songs (we have a rear projector).

I found a trick a while back that may help if you are using a rear projector with a separate feed. I place either lyrics or readings and what not on slides that are appropriately times to run with a video or soundtrack using the "go to next" timer function available on each slide. Then I shrink all of the text that I don't want displayed down to 1 point and slide the text box off the bottom of the slide. The text displays on the stage monitor feed where I can see it while remaining hidden from the congregation.

[Jim Chabot]

Could I once again attempt to approach this question from the perspective of our finance committee:

(We currently use PowerPoint for song lyrics and sermon notes, download videos from Work of the People, Vimeo and Youtube)

What is the benefit of making a major purchase of a dedicated presentation software package? If the benefit is solely to make life easier for the video/audio team, but will not change the experience for the congregations, is the benefit worth the cost?

The benefits of presentation software must be weighed against the folks available to use it and the extent that graphical presentation plays in your services.

Doug has already chimed in on the most important aspect of graphic presentation. The words must be in synch with the music, and the words must be phrased properly on the screen. Presentation software isn't going to help here at all, this is entirely a function of those behind the curtain. The video/audio team must realize that what they do is ministry and that it must be taken very seriously. In some ways we haven't moved past the days with the overhead projector, and it is painfully clear when the screens don't change properly or the words are phrased in such a way as to make singing difficult.

The first question would then be; is the above being accomplished with a sense of ministry and professionalism? Closely followed by the question of need. Are there things that presently cause a distraction in worship, or are you able to accomplish what you want to do in a professional manner. If so, than presentation software is a waste of money.

Do you have issues where you would like to show a video while deleting the attached audio and substituting something else?

Do you have issues with contrast making the text difficult to read?

Do you seek the freedom to use a variety of backgrounds while maintaining readability?

Would it be advantageous to display messages on the screen which do not interfere with a song or sermon note already displayed, such as a nursery call?

How about messages and notes displayed on screens that are not viewable by the congregation, would this be helpful?

And finally do you have issues whereby video does not display properly, are the transitions awkward or heaven forbid, does your congregation occasionally see the computer desktop?

Presentation software may be the answer for some of these questions. This software is written specifically for worship, thus every element of your service will most likely become integrated into a single script.

Showing the computer desktop on the main screen should become a distant memory. Video, audio and graphical presentation becomes integrated, thus everything shown on your screen will come from one program source.

Since every item in your service is incorporated into a script, you a/v team will have advance warning as to what to anticipate. This can help to make them partners as may be needed to get people into place at the right times.

Textual formatting controls are generally superior to power point. An outline and or shadow may be added to the text. The color of the text and outline are separately selectable as is the thickness of the outline. Many programs also allow for control of the shadow darkness, size and position. An outlined and drop shadowed text will stand out against backgrounds that would devour simple text.

There are controls to independently adjust the brightness,contrast,saturation and hue of picture elements and backgrounds as well. Recently I had an issue where I was displaying a salmon colored text. One of my background slides had a predominately yellow/brown hue. A quick jump to object properties and I had the hue adjusted for better contrast with the text.

Kerning and Leading may also be adjustable, this is a powerful text arranging tool that makes phrasing and uniformity between screens with varying word counts much easier. So the third verse of a song is making your life difficult because it has a greater word count that the rest of the song? Tighten up the kerning and leading and make it fit without reducing the text size, or splitting it up into two screens. Just as an even meter is important musically for congregational singing, and even meter textually is important as well.

How about scripture readings? Many programs include built in scripture resources either as part of the program or as add ons. A reading can be selected and inserted into the script with ease. Media Shout actually comes with and bunch of graphics that will display an open Bible as a background, actually opened to the appropriate book. How about a reading that hasn't been planned? No problem, a god operator can get it onto the screen before folks can get there own.

Integrating video with the script is easy as well. Some programs allow for individual presetting of the audio gain on video clips to avoid unpleasant surprises. Most programs will allow you to preset in and out points should you wish to show only a portion of the video. If you want to get fancy, you can display your church logo superimposed on the video, or add subtitles. The subtitle screens can be timed to run with the video as well.

Most programs will read power point presentations in native format which allows you to develop your sermon illustration graphics independently. When we were in New Bedford, I would bring the script for the service and JR would bring his sermon slides. We would hand off the two thumbdrives to the team and presto we had integration. There were times when the sermon slides were delivered after the service had started. No problem!

There are other features which I may be forgetting or some that I've not used as well.

[Jim Chabot]

Messaging! I forgot messaging.

Most of the current programs allow for separate video feeds. The worship team can have an alternate format to aid them. Messages can be sent to the stage screens which do not appear on the main screen.

Did you forget to turn on your wireless mic? A message can be posted to the screen to alert you as opposed to the wild gestures or call outs that would otherwise be used. Are there elements in the service which may need to be delayed or cancelled? A message can be sent to alert you of this. What if you are the one who is late? A message can be sent to the worship team alerting them to sing a couple of extra songs because Mike forgot his sermon notes in the car or at home.

Messages can also be displayed on the main screen as an overlay that doesn't interfere with the primary text or video. Such as a nursery call, your lights are on, your car is being towed, you are wanted by the choir director, the police or whatnot. These things can be helpful if not abused.

I've been able to make good use of the stage display as it shows me what is ahead. For instance we use contemporary music videos in our service which display the song lines one at a time for the congregation. I arrange them in paragraph form for the stage display to give me an advance copy. Some of these videos have long intros and/or long tails associated with them, I can insert readings to be shown on the stage monitors. For the ending of "Christ is risen" I have the Apostles Creed displayed with a countdown timer so I can read it as a declaration while the music winds down.

The stage display can also be formatted with clocks and countdown timers.

My mom attends a large church with seating for 3500-4000. They display live video of the worship team with the words placed below while singing. Live video is show of the pastor with notes displayed below while he preaches. Sometimes they will show live video of folks entering the sanctuary in a corner of the screen along with announcements before the service and between. Their pastor preaches from the stage monitors. He has five of them located strategically, so that his delivery appears natural.

[Bud Pugh]

Their pastor preaches from the stage monitors. He has five of them located strategically, so that his delivery appears natural.

I'd bet a certain president would like that.

BTW, I like the rest of what you describe in this post as well. The ability to have different information on the platform screen(s) would be a helpful thing.

[Rich Schmidt]

When we started our church 11 years ago, we used PowerPoint, because that's what we had. It was OK... but back then, it didn't have any kind of "presenter display," so the person running the laptop had no idea what slide was coming next, etc. We had to print out the slides every week so they could know where they were going, could jump to specific slides, etc.

Five or six years later, I bought a MacBook Pro, and we started using Keynote. It was a huge improvement... but it still wasn't designed for worship services. For example, there was no way to have a moving background behind multiple slides, as with a song.

A few years later (2007? 2008?), I had some money left over at the end of the year, so I bought ProPresenter 3. It's great. We still use it. I hope to upgrade to version 5 in the new year, partly so we can use the "stage display" feature Jim's been talking about that they introduced in version 4. (Plus, we have a donor in the church who wants to pay for us to hang a flatscreen on the back wall for it, so the vocalists in the band can see the lyrics without their music stands.) It's simple enough that I've had volunteers run the laptop for a service with about 30 seconds of training.

One feature I've used a handful of times is the iPhone app, which lets me control it from the stage. I've used it when I need to be greeting everyone at the start of the service, but the volunteer is running late.

Anyway... I'd echo what has already been said in this thread. If what you have is working for you without too much pain, keep using it. If you're buying something new, I happily recommend ProPresenter.