New Home for Clearpoint Presentations

I have moved this blog to its own site to provide you with a more complete resource.

Please visit http://clearpointpresentations.com/ to get the latest information and tips on making a better presentation.

Thanks.

Quicktime playback in MediaShout

MediaShout is capable of playing .mov h.264 and mpeg4 as long as the Quicktime alternative is installed. There have been many updates to the QTA but the one I prefer to use and send to clients is Version 1.81.

Ideally, installing one codec pack to cover all file types that are MediaShout friendly would be best. This is why I often recommend the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack found in the Instaling Codecs pdf that is sent out to every user needing codec related fixes. The pdf specifies selecting Profile #5 from the Select Components window of the installation. This is because Profile #5 includes the QTA all in one install. With the K-Lite Mega Codec pack properly installed you should be able to play video files with the extensions .avi .mpg (1&2) .wmv .mov h.264 .m4v .mp4.

Those of you who are creating content on a Mac or can render to an mov file with your editing software will find h.264 and the Sorensen 3 codec to be the best option for quality and playability in MediaShout, especially with the KLMC installed.

ShoutWriter Vs. TED

I thought I would address the issue of Text cues in MediaShout because of the number of calls taken recently about ShoutWriter. There are still a few users who do all of their Text cues using ShoutWriter instead of Ted. I personally have used it only a handful of times and only then because I needed bullet points.

ShoutWriter has not changed since the completion of Version 2.5 and is a carry-over into V3. Ted, which was not available in V2.5 allows you to type directly into the text box and see exactly how your cue is going to look in relation to the background image and position on the screen. This becomes especially important when your background media contains focus features that you would not want covered with text. You can still highlight portions of text and change the font, color, size and alignment.

My biggest issue with using Ted is the lack of support for bullet points. Text copied from ShoutWriter or Word does not retain formatting. The bullet points are removed or replaced by hollow squares in the place of the intended bullet design. One alternative is to manually type a symbol into the the field that would act as a bullet point, such as a -, *, >,~

Many churches are still inserting PowerPoint presentations for the pastor's sermon outlines and announcements. This is perfectly understandable, especially when you have a pastor that has been doin his sermons in PowerPoint for years.

Another option to both Ted and ShoutWriter is to create a Word Doc, .rtf, or .txt file and setup your page to be 6" high by 8" wide. This will give you the same aspect ration as your 4:3 display screen.

Perhaps the most common reason users are still utilizing Shoutwriter instead of Ted is so that they can save those text files and use them again later. Well, you can still do that in Ted.

• The first way to preserve a Text cue with embedded text rather than text from a file is to drag the Text Cue into Boxer and save that Boxer script.
• The Second way to preserve your text is to select the text cue then click on the Edit menu. Choose Convert > Export to RTF file. This will allow you to save the entire Text cue and its sub-cues to an RTF file that you can access and use again at a later time.

If you have any other ideas I would love to hear them.

Bugs and Such

First an apology for the silence between posts. I want to talk about something that effects everyone who uses a computer, BUGS. Simply put, bugs are the the things within an applications programming code that cause problems or errors.

The inspiration for this post came as I updated my web browser to the latest version. The browser automatically opened to a page listing the "fixes" and feature add-ons.

That's when I realized that the famous children's book was right."everybody poops!"

When I get calls about bugs or errors within MediaShout I sometimes get the sense that the caller has never had an issue with an application before, and that's when I wonder how long they have been using computers.
As I read the list of fixes that Flock instituted in their latest version updates, I felt pretty good. Then, I had a pop-up announce that my updates were ready to be installed from Microsoft. These updates are sent out because something needs to be fixed or changed. Some programs do a better job of releasing software then others but regardless of how much beta testing was done, once it hits the public there will always be somebody who finds the variable that was never tested.

MediaShout Recently released the update to Version 3.5 and I have not had to deal with many bug related issues. The few that I have dealt with have already been fixed by a build that is now available in Beta on the User Forums.

So here are some things to think about when you encounter a bug.

1. Did it behave this way before I updated?
2. What other changes have been made on my pc recently that may be involved?
3. Can I reproduce the issue?
4. What information can I gather about the issue that would be helpful to tech support?
1. OS
2. App Version and Build Typically found under Help>About
   
3. Can it be reproduced.

So although software bugs can be an aggravation, gather the info you need and contact Tech Support or check the FAQ or User Forums for answers. There's a good chance that you could help solve the issue with the detail you can give.

Later,

New Distributor

For those of you who have visited our store you may have noticed that I only have one computer available. The distributor I used for Asus computers decided not to carry the notebooks and not to tell me. You can imagine how surprised I was when I went to check the prices and found nothing there.

I should have a new distributor set up in the next day or two. As soon as that goes through there will be a large number of products available to me which will means there will be some interesting new products available to you at a great price. Again I apologize for the absence of Asus products. Stay tuned for fresh updates and postings here.

MediaShout is still the driving force behind the store and all that is offered, but there will be some non-presentation related offerings available.

Prostar has some great machines and which is why I offer their products. They are able to be customized to meet your needs.

I am very excited about the great products we will add to the store.

http://cart.defycreative.com/

MediaShout 3.5

MediaShout has released the beta of version 3.5 bearing some of the most requested features of all time. The biggest feature is the ability to have multiple backgrounds for each song. MediaShout 3.5 will allow you to set a different background for each stanza if you desire. We will address the details of this in a later blog. The other big deal is the addition of dissolve transitions for text over video for subcues.

Here is the list of features in the registered user beta forum.

• page text dissolves (Text, Bible and Lyric cues)
• stanza-specific BGs (Lyric cues)
• new stanza types (Lyric cues)
• in-text verse numbers (Bible cues)
• enhanced songselect downloading (ShoutSinger; in Express now)
• select and fire cues by number (Script window)
• Get Shoutable Media link (Help menu and main toolbar; in Express now)
• Song Group assignment in Import Songs wizards (ShoutSinger)
• "One verse per paragraph" pagination option (Bible cues)
• Bible selection controls in CPB (Bible cues)
• insert Bible passage into text from CPB FG tab, Insert button menu (Text, Bible and Lyric cues)

I am also excited about the fire by number feature. I look forward to seeing how it will impact typical operation and efficiency. I will be testing 3.5 over the next week or two and give you my feedback and the opinions of users trying it out.

Look for a final update to be released to the public soon.

A Word About Resolutions

I wanted to touch on the topic of resolutions. Those of you on laptops will usually run your primary (laptop) screen at 1280X800 or close to it. Your options for screen one should typically be set at their highest, unless your screen goes to 1920X1200. Desktop users will probably want to run the primary monitor at 1024X768 or 1280X1024. It is recommended that your secondary monitor, your audience's display, should be at 800X600 or 1024X768.


The purpose of running the secondary monitor at these resolutions is to not overwhelm the video card. The higher the resolution the more work for the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), which could lead to poor video playback and lag.

There are problems that could arise from resolutions that too low or high. If your primary is lower than 1924X768 your Cue Properties Box will not be fully visible and and you will not be able to see all of the buttons at the bottom of the window. If your secondary is set to high, the video may not load or it will play with jitters and pauses.

A note about widescreen: Widescreen primary and secondary displays are becoming more popular and affordable. A high resolution primary screen will give you more landscape to customize your control screen layout. Just be sure that if you are going to run the secondary in a widescreen format that you have a great video card.

So, check to make sure you have your resolutions set properly if you begin to have trouble and as always be sure that you have recent drivers for your video card.