mwoke Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 As the title suggests I am looking to use our projector to show both song words and powerpoint at the same time, so that people can join in with pre-service worship but ensures we are still displaying the notices for the week. We are a small church, and further to a recent meeting I have been tasked to find out if it is possible to use our song words software (easislides) and powerpoint (showing our "notices") to dispay together on our projector. I would imagine this to be a horizontal split i.e. song words in top half and powerpoint in bottom half. We currently just use a bog standard projector and laptop. Is there any software that we could use to do this, or is there another way of doing this. As I said, we are a small church in rural Devon so budget is relatively tight/non-existent. If there is no easy way to do it, or is too expensive we are happy to shelve the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 You don't mention what breed of laptop you have, but is this not as simple as sizing the windows to take up half the screen & putting then where you want them? Apologies if I've picked up the wrong end of the stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Can you resize powerpoint slides ? I didn't think you could change the display size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mal421 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 How about using Screen Monkey. It's free software and can do picture in picture one of which can be a PowerPoint. Certainly worth a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 I thought you could (I've got a feeling I have done it some time ago), but ratios now seem to be fixed. Now I've had a look, I can only find 4:3, 16:9 & 16:10 as options. Not ideal, I agree but it may still be large enough to be useful and is a zero cost way of doing things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 I hate to say this, but have you actually tried mocking up a couple of examples and trying them on the screens you use and seeing what people make of them? You need to think about how you are going to make a split work - are you going to shrink the song words, and if so will they still be readable at the distances required. If not then you are going to have to reduce the number of lines to release half the screen. How many slides do you have in the system as they will all need re-sizing, and since it's likely you're using the same songs in the services, then will the reduction in lines be acceptable then, or will you hold all the songs twice. Then you get into the world of actually will the combination work? You've got almost two sets of people trying to use the screen. Those that are actually worshipping will be interested in the song words only, and the notices will be a cause for distraction. For those wanting to show notices, will they be happy with half the screen and the limited space/information that offers? I suspect that if you go down this route then you'll actually just end up annoying everyone with a compromise that doesn't work for either. I would suggest using something basic like Powerpoint of even paint and try and make up some example slides. Then think about how the would look with one half cycling through at a different speed to the other. Once you've done that show them to some of your congregation (or whoever is asking for this) in location and see if it is really what they want to do. Only then is it worth considering how you might achieve this technically. It's been said before and it'll be said many more times - just because something can be done, doesn't make it worth doing. This is a case where I don't see how what you're asking for will work. The only way I can see this working is with two sets of screens (eg words on the main projector at the front and notices on screens on the pillars/side/alternative location). John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmatthill Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 As the title suggests I am looking to use our projector to show both song words and powerpoint at the same time, so that people can join in with pre-service worship but ensures we are still displaying the notices for the week. We are a small church, and further to a recent meeting I have been tasked to find out if it is possible to use our song words software (easislides) and powerpoint (showing our "notices") to dispay together on our projector. I would imagine this to be a horizontal split i.e. song words in top half and powerpoint in bottom half. We currently just use a bog standard projector and laptop. Is there any software that we could use to do this, or is there another way of doing this. As I said, we are a small church in rural Devon so budget is relatively tight/non-existent. If there is no easy way to do it, or is too expensive we are happy to shelve the idea. Why not consider trying using a Ticker Tape style system at the bottom of the lyric screen for the notices. Similar to a Sky News / BBC News headline type set up. I`ve used a programme called TEXT TICKER (Its FREE. It will happily sit on the extended desktop overlaying whatever you are displaying ? Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw1981 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 As the title suggests I am looking to use our projector to show both song words and powerpoint at the same time, so that people can join in with pre-service worship but ensures we are still displaying the notices for the week. We are a small church, and further to a recent meeting I have been tasked to find out if it is possible to use our song words software (easislides) and powerpoint (showing our "notices") to dispay together on our projector. I would imagine this to be a horizontal split i.e. song words in top half and powerpoint in bottom half. We currently just use a bog standard projector and laptop. Is there any software that we could use to do this, or is there another way of doing this. As I said, we are a small church in rural Devon so budget is relatively tight/non-existent. If there is no easy way to do it, or is too expensive we are happy to shelve the idea. Our solution to this issue was to use a video matrix and a cheap(ish) laptop running the notices, hooked up to 2 40" plasma (yes they are that old) screens position to the sides - words on main screen and notices on side screens. The identical kramer matrix to ours was on ebay last week for £40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lampygirl Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Powerpoint will give you custom dimensions in both 2010 and 2013 versions, not sure on older ones, however, you will probably find it defaults to the middle of the screen when you run the slideshow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskers Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Powerpoint will give you custom dimensions in both 2010 and 2013 versions, not sure on older ones, however, you will probably find it defaults to the middle of the screen when you run the slideshow. BUT ScreenMonkey, which was designed for worship, will not cope with PPT 2010 or 13 unless you run them together, save your PPTX as old PPT and Screenmonkey will cope with them try Screenmonkey's overlay feature for the words and frame to suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Mawer Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 A Kramer VP-770 will allow you to do side by side of two VGA or HDMI images or combination. It also has a Luma Keying function which is designed to allow lyrics to be superimposed over a background image.There would be some limitations of the side by side regarding aspect ratios, and you may be better to look at what can be achieved with software, but I would say it is worth talking to your AV supplier about the option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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