Displaying hymn lyrics

[harmerweb]

Most of the posts I found regarding displaying hymn lyrics are either very old or very elaborate, and most involve a rather pricey video mixer. Although I'm a fan of hardware over software, I'm wondering if there is a newer consensus recommendation for a cheaper, perhaps software-based video mixer. I guess I should have used the money I spent on the video monitor on a PC video input interface instead.


I found a small unit from Ambery Corp. out in California that worked very well at our most recent Stake Conference. It is on their Video Processor page and is a PC VGA to video converter with Chroma Key overlay. Run your camera video through the unit and connect a PC for the lyrics and the overlay is done on the unit video output. I put the lyrics on a Powerpoint with blue background although they have some simple text processing software that comes with the unit. Cost is under $250. I used a simple amplified video switch from the Shack (already had this) that had dual switched outputs so I could drive a preview monitor. This also allowed me to use two cameras in addition to the lyric overlay. The switch output video tears briefly on a camera switchover (since cameras are not synched) but the result was not objectionable. Ambery also has a video mixer with fades and wipes for multi source switching for under $500 but you would also need a PC to video converter for the lyrics on this method. Many places have these for under $50 (Monoprice.com for example). Any questions on what we did, let me know.

Paul

[michaelfish]

One thing I wish we had that general conference does is light only the speaker but darken the choir. I don't think the two podium spots are sufficient for this.

You could try placing plants behind the poduim just high enough to hide the choir when they're sitting. In the past, we've used a shelf supported by the paino and organ.

[craiggsmith]

I found a small unit from Ambery Corp. out in California that worked very well at our most recent Stake Conference. .... Paul

Thanks very much, great info, I'll check it out.

[craiggsmith]

Very interesting idea. Did you move the plants when they sang or just leave them? I could see that if you did it just high enough to hide the first row they could see over them when they stood, but I don't know if they would like it. And if you put them high enough to hide the back row it might be too high for the front even when they stand. But I guess all I can do is test it out and see. Thanks!

[ldsrussp]

It's pretty clear that what matters most is the audio. If the audio is clear a cruddy picture is well tolerated.

As for expensive switching equipment and all I cringe equally when I see Stake's spending the amount of money that some have reported. Yes, it's all nice but really hard to justify especially given the economic climate. I think hard transitions even using a push-button switcher are acceptable given the intent and level of production. I sometimes cringe when I hear our ward choir sing but would never complain about it since it's perfectly adequate given it's intent.

All of this being said, however, I would gladly accept any donations from someone wanting to donate equipment or money to the Stake to improve the broadcast but if I'm using Church funds I'm going to go simply with what is "adequate".

[Aczlan]

It's pretty clear that what matters most is the audio. If the audio is clear a cruddy picture is well tolerated.

Sometimes I wish there was a mode where it ran an audio stream and then did a still picture every 10 seconds. At the last broadcast (YSA fireside with a member of the Quorum of the Twelve) there was NASTY weather (bad enough to shut down the interstate for a few hours), so we did a webcast on short notice and there were a couple of people who's connection was such that they would have been better off with still pictures every few seconds and decent audio.

As for expensive switching equipment and all I cringe equally when I see Stake's spending the amount of money that some have reported. Yes, it's all nice but really hard to justify especially given the economic climate. I think hard transitions even using a push-button switcher are acceptable given the intent and level of production. I sometimes cringe when I hear our ward choir sing but would never complain about it since it's perfectly adequate given it's intent.
All of this being said, however, I would gladly accept any donations from someone wanting to donate equipment or money to the Stake to improve the broadcast but if I'm using Church funds I'm going to go simply with what is "adequate".

Good point. There is a point of diminishing returns with such projects beyond which it will look nicer, but it isnt really worth the extra cost and most (99%) of the people wont notice the difference.

Aaron Z