Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings

ProPresenter4 to Add Windows Support!? Yes!!

This was easily the biggest Church Tech news of the day Thursday.  ProPresenter v4 will break from it’s 10 year tradition of Mac only support and now offer a Windows version!

Here’s the pertinent info from their webpage…

ProPresenter for Windows... Seriously...

For 10 years, we've developed ProPresenter for Mac only, and have been asked repeatedly if there was going to be a version for Windows. Our answers were always the same:

• The tools that enable us to do what we do on the Mac aren't as robust on the Windows platform.
• We have nothing against Windows, but felt we could make a more powerful and reliable product on the Mac.
• We'd rather focus on making the best software for any platform, rather than divide our efforts by supporting two platforms.

All of these answers were valid, and as the marketshare of the Mac has increased over the last several years, the question has become a lot less frequent. At the same time, however, we've been troubled by some things:

• There are a lot of churches that don't have Macs, particularly overseas
• There is a great variety of Windows-based machines on the market that are seemingly very capable.
• A new computer purchase is often difficult in today's economy.
• Many PC users get excited about our product only to be let down when learning it's Mac only.
• Some organizations will not purchase a Mac just to run ProPresenter.
• If we can improve the worship experience on the Mac, why not use our expertise to do the same for Windows?

Through the years, a lot has changed. Computers have become far more powerful and technologies have evolved. We've kept our eye on Windows technologies that would enable us to create a quality ProPresenter experience for Windows users, and we now believe we have found the right tool set, and assembled the right team of people to make ProPresenter for Windows a reality!

So, the cat's out of the bag. We'll be keeping you updated via our website as this story unfolds.

But wait! There’s MORE!!  A site license is cross platform!

Site License: $799 (Concurrent use) … $399 for Site License Upgrade

Our Site License allows you to run it in multiple environments on one campus simultaneously (each campus requires it's own license). This license works on both Mac and Windows versions.

At lunch our Tech Arts Director was eager to make the purchase for v4 :-)  Our main auditorium uses ProPresenter on Macs, but all our classroom’s use Media Shout on PC’s.  The ability to standardize down to one software application is huge from a training and troubleshooting standpoint.  To date there’s not been enough ROI to justify replacing all the Media Shout PC’s with Macs running ProPresenter … and this would mean we won’t have to :-)

Of course this all HINGES on the windows version of ProPresenter4 being a solid app.  It WILL BE a 1.0 windows release which makes me slightly nervous coming from a company not experienced in writing windows code.  The upside is that I already know many churches that are eager to try out this windows version.  So if there are bugs they’ll be found quickly and hopefully addressed in similar fashion.  Start crossing your fingers now ;-)

So who else out there will be testing this windows version with us?

Studer Consoles are Live

Last night our Tech Arts guys made the final cut over to the new Studer boards ... this was one of those "no turning back" cut overs.  They were smiling once audio was actually pumping through the new system :-)

Good thing since they had to use the console for our junior high service and band rehersals tonight!  Doh!

Now the mad dash to get everything really tweaked and ready for our midweek service Thursday night and then the weekend.  Adam and team - our prayers are with you guys :-)

GCC Audio Consoles Going Digital

The AV and IT teams did a little grunt work today getting 1 of 3 of GCC's new digital Studer Vista 8 audio consoles in position ... they are much heavier than they look!

I can't tell ya the deal our guys got for these puppies, but let's just say God was all over it ;-)
I'd never heard of Studer before, but check out some of the big names running these consoles.

1 console goes to front of house, 1 to monitor world backstage, and 1 to our new recording studio ... where we'll finally be able to have a separate mix for the streaming web services.

What I find interesting is that these boards run Windows 2000 ... yup, Win2k.  So yet another piece of mission critical AV gear running Windows ... along with our Vista Spyder (Windows XP), and iDDR's (Windows XP).  This really helps prove a point that Windows really is a solid OS ... it's the junk people load on Windows that usually causes the issues ... but that's a different topic. 

Next up Adam's team will start running lots of new cables and fiber all over the place to connect this gear up ... and IT benefits by being able to get some new cable/fiber runs pulled in the process :-)

Planning Center - Online Worship Service Planner

Stumbled across Planning Center today ... wow, it's kinda like basecamp modified for service planning.

Planning Center is an online service planner that will revolutionize the way you plan your worship services. Your staff will become more organized and efficient while your volunteers become more connected and informed. Planning Center helps bring your whole team together.

It's elegant, easy, and web-based. You don't need to download, install, or configure anything (no IT department required!). All you need is a web browser and an internet connection.

A while back we had a couple brainstorming meetings with our Creative Arts Executive Pastor about what stuff he'd like to see in an online tool to help him and his team.  Our aim was to develop something with Sharepoint ... and well, we still haven't gotten anything firmly together 'cause we just don't have the time to focus on Sharepoint.

After watching the demo/walk-through of Planning Center, there's no way we can make Sharepoint do the same things with such simplicity and elegance ... without dropping a TON of resources on custom development and even then you don't get that AJAX look and feel.  I'm confident we could make something useful for our arts guys using Sharepoint, but who knows when we'll actually make that happen.

Planning Center is the brain-child of Jeff Berg, who recently resigned after 6 years as the Director of Creative Technologies at Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, CA to fully devote his time to Planning Center.  That certainly lends of a lot cred to this service vs. something written by an "outsider".  According to Planning Center's website, Willow Creek and North Point use this product so it must be pretty slick right?

I'd love to hear if any of you are using Planning Center ... or any other worship service planning apps. 

Do The Shuffle

Wow, it's been 7 months since my last "do the shuffle" post!

Today's post is brought to you by Carrie Underwood ... well, kinda-sorta.  Somewhere I recently heard her song "Wasted" ... and the chorus has been stuck in my head for days.  Finally tonight I fired up the Yahoo Jukebox, found "Wasted" and added it to my playlist and GigaBeat player (the beauty of subscription based tunes).  Of course I wondered what people would think if they knew I had Carrie Underwood in my playlist :-)

AND THUS I bring you another episode of "do the shuffle"

It's easy and fun to play.  Fire up your player of choice ... hit the random button ... and list (WITHOUT CHEATING) the first 15 songs it spits out.  You can post your list in the comments below or stick it on your blog and trackback to this post.

Switchfoot - This Is Your Life
Explosions In The Sky - It's Natural To Be Afraid ... (good background instrumental tunes)
Matt Redman - I Will Offer Up My Life
Joe Satriani - Borg Sex ... (yes, that is the actual song title. Joe has always had "intersting" song titles)
Relient K - Deathbed
DC Talk - Mind's Eye
Yes - Changes ... (this is my favorite song from Yes from my favorite Yes album. "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" runs a very close second)
Whiteheart - Independance Day
Whitecross - You're Mine ... (given my recent post on Whitecross I was smiling when this started playing :-)
Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Tree63 - Nothing But The Blood
Barren Cross - Imaginary Music ... (yes!  Now there's some classic 80's Christian Metal :-)
Diana Krall - Little Girl ... (when you need some easy listening jazz)
Daughtry - What About Now ... (this continues to be the album I listen to most these days.  Great tunes, great vocals and the family likes Chris from his American Idol days)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Who Are You People ... (I'd forgotten I added this soundtrack to my list long ago :-)

Well, nothing embarrasing this time 'round for me.  Shucks :-)

Now it's your turn ... let's see what ya got ...

New Ozzy Album?!

I was a bit surprised to see a new release from Ozzy in my Yahoo Music Jukebox player this morning.  New Ozzy?  The dude can barely speak a single coherent sentence whenever I see him on TV the past years ... and he's still singing?

Yup, and surprisingly his voice is clear and strong.

The album is called Black Rain ... and I just had to go take listen.  I've never been a huge Ozzy fan, but man can Zakk Wylde play some tasty licks ... and yes, I have a select very few Ozzy songs in my music library for the crunchy guitar riffs.

The first 2-3 songs are a nice guitar feast with Ozzy's typical "singing" ... some sweet-o guitar solos from Zakk.  Once you've listened to the first 2 songs you've heard the rest of the album IMHO.

The beauty of Yahoo Music is that I can listen to this new Ozzy to satisfy my curiosity ... then never listen to it again ... all for the same $5/mo ;-)

500 Bonus Points for the person who can guess my favorite heavy metal group back in the mid-late 80's ... ONE GUESS ALLOWED PER DAY PER USER to make it fair.

Here's a fun link to the styles that were hip back in the 80's ... too funny!  What was your favorite 80's look?

... long live ripped up acid washed jeans (pegged of course), mullets and high top sneakers! :-)

votefortheworst.com

Our family enjoys watching American Idol each week ... after it's Tivo'd so we can skip over commercials and the other time fillers they throw in the show :-)

Like most people watching we can't figure out why this Sanjaya kid is still around ... I mean he can't hold a candle to the rest of the contestants and yet each week he makes it through somehow.  Come on America, what's the deal?!

Well, I've found the "deal" ... www.votefortheworst.com
Yup, there's a very active underground movement each season to keep the worst contestant around.  You can go read about why they're doing this on the site.  They are the same group that kept Kevin "chicken little" around so long last year.

While part of me thinks this is funny, most of me feels bad for Sanjaya being the victim of a massive joke ... hope his parents have counselors standing by.  At least I now have some peace about why he's lasted so long instead of thinking American Idol voters are all smoking crack.

Details on GCC's Sound System

For those interested, here's a writeup on the Meyer Sound website about the kickin' sound system in the auditorium here at GCC ... http://www.meyersound.com/applications/story.php?type=14&id=845.  Article appears to be a year old, but it just showed up in my google alerts.

A little blurb from the site:

Using Meyer Sound's MAPP Online Pro multipurpose acoustical prediction program, Clark designed a loudspeaker system based on three hanging clusters. "We used MAPP Online Pro to ensure good sightlines," Clark notes. "When it comes to Meyer Sound applications, MAPP is essential." Each cluster consists of three MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeakers and two DS-4P horn-loaded mid-bass loudspeakers, augmented by two DF-4 dedicated downfill loudspeakers.

Smiling Addiction mp3 and HD versions

I've gotten several emails asking for details about the Smiling Addiction video that won our recent ICC Film Festival.  Until now, the only info I had was the name of the church that made the video.  Tonight I started googling and after a little digging finally found out who exactly made the video and the song ...

The music was created by Nick Kirk and Billy Wilkerson.

The film was directed by Brandon McCormick. 

Brandon actually has a blog at http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/ where you can get the Smiling Addiction HD version, and iPod version, and an MP3 of the song.  There's also links to other media that Brandon's made ... more great stuff!

I've added the mp3 to my yahoo music list ... such a great tune :-)

Brandon also posted a version of the video with ending credits on youtube ... if you've still not watched this video click the play button on the image below

Smiling Addiction

Thanks to the fine folks at LightCast Media you can now view the video clips from this year's Granger Film Festival ... LightCast donated their streaming service for this special event.

You've got to watch the winner of this year's festival ... the clip is called Smiling Addiction from Crossroads Community Church in GA.  This should be getting MTV/VH1 airplay ... yes, it is that good ... actually it's better than most of what you would see on TV!

The song is an original piece and it will leave you humming along to the tune hours later ... the video work is top notch and tells a powerful message.  I've watched this clip many times and each time I'm left with the same sense of awe.  The coolest part is that a church made this ... I love seeing this kind of excellence coming out of a church ... BRAVO!

So don't just take my word for it ... go check it out ... and see if you agree