Skype to missionaries

[JeffReckart]

To All,

My pastors wife is very involved with Missionaries, and her ministry is helping support missionaries kids. We would love to skype some missionaries in to our Sanctuary screens. Plan on putting them up on the big screen. I understand all the technical issues in doing this, have a miniDV cam firewired to the projection computer, audio out to the mix consoleso we can hear him, feed from console to projection computer so he can hear us.

Question is this: Is skype the best software to do this? I know about ustream, etc

What i want is the best quality video with out buying lots of equipment, ie using what we got, with the slightest amount of lag possible?

2nd thought: skype/whatever with the projection computer puts extra load on the projection computer. We have a reltively decent fast computer running Easyworship 2009. maybe be better using a second pc to skype, and maybe streaming this to Easyworship somehow, so that i could do a pretty transition to the skype image, versus minimizing EW, and draging skype over?

Thanks Jreckart

[bpalermini]

I've done this. I would definitely recommend a second computer for the Skype call. You will want to be connected early to test the connection. I think then you will just want to switch to that computer when you want Skype up on the big screen.

Also, have a backup plan which may be Skype without the video. It is difficult to predict how things will work.

[JoshGuerette]

Skype is the best choice for this kind of scenario, hands down. It has excellent auto-adjustment features that keep your connection from dropping, and it looks great.

Like bpalermini said, having an extra computer to cue the call up on would definitely be better, but if you don't it's not the end of the world. It won't be nearly as seamless, but it should work.

One major issue we've had with calling missionaries at our church is the internet connection. Ours is of course great, but in Uganda it's hit or miss. That's why having a just audio call through Skype as a backup will be useful.

As far as streaming through Easyworship for transitions and such, I personally would recommend against that. It can be done, but that kind of thing usually turned out to be choppy for us, plus it put a strain on Easyworship, and even with ProPresenter. Does your projector have a picture mute that doesn't attract too much attention (ie. no "Picture Muted" flashing across the screen)? If so, fading to black in EW and then muting the picture could give you time to drag it over and fullscreen it.

[JeffReckart]

if the video stinks, just end call, and then place audio call?

Allso when i drag the sype window over It looks great, but when i go full screen it goes very choppy, like 1 frame per 2-3secs, any suggestions?

No picture freeze on projector that i know of, will have to double check

JR

[JoshGuerette]

Originally Posted by JeffReckart

if the video stinks, just end call, and then place audio call?

Yep. You could also have video going only one way, so you can see the missionary but you're not hogging bandwidth trying to send your video back.

Originally Posted by JeffReckart

Allso when i drag the sype window over It looks great, but when i go full screen it goes very choppy, like 1 frame per 2-3secs, any suggestions?

What size graphics card are you running? Maybe turning off live in EW (I'm assuming you can still do that, it's been a while) so it's not using as much of your computer's resources?

[JeffReckart]

1. true, but until going full screen it works fine ( granted this was just a laptop with a webcam > to EW proj computer with a minDV cam plugged in
on the same LAN) but have good results considering the quality of equipment involvded.

2. just skype running, no EW during the test. but comp on has 512mb ram, and 128mb video card. (plan is to upgrade to new Mac, but not for a month or two.)

JR

[JoshGuerette]

Originally Posted by JeffReckart

1. true, but until going full screen it works fine ( granted this was just a laptop with a webcam > to EW proj computer with a minDV cam plugged in
on the same LAN) but have good results considering the quality of equipment involvded.

2. just skype running, no EW during the test. but comp on has 512mb ram, and 128mb video card. (plan is to upgrade to new Mac, but not for a month or two.)

JR

Hmm, that's on the low end as far as computer power goes, but I don't know why fullscreen wouldn't be working properly, unless it's some random error. Other than making sure Skype is fully updated, I don't know what else to recommend.

[JeffReckart]

Originally Posted by JoshGuerette

Hmm, that's on the low end as far as computer power goes, but I don't know why fullscreen wouldn't be working properly, unless it's some random error. Other than making sure Skype is fully updated, I don't know what else to recommend.

Right I'm thinking the comp doesn't have enough juice!

Skype is the latest download!

JR

[andrewc2]

Check out the article Mike Sessler did on skype. Note this does utilize a mac but it may provide some extra ideas for products to look for that are windows based.

http://www.churchtecharts.org/home/2...ig-screen.html

[bpalermini]

If it were me I would want to find a newer, more powerful laptop to use for Skype. I would want it connected via a cable to the data network and I'd want a similar setup on the other end if possible (I know that might be asking to much). I would figure out a way to switch the projector to that machine when I went to the interview and be sure that you can test the call before you put it up. That means you need to be able to see the video, hear the audio and send audio during the service, without disturbing the service.

I would not send video from the church to lower overall bandwidth and cpu use.

If full screen video doesn't work then I'd setup the laptop with a blank, black desktop, set the taskbar to hide itself and do the best I could with Skype in a window.

[EricE]

I dunno if EasyWorship has a live video feature the same that ProPresenter does - if so, this works great: http://support.renewedvision.com/ind...h-propresenter

There is a similar program to CamTwist for Windows, I just can't think of the name of it off the top of my head...

[cjsebes]

You'll also need to set up a mix-minus for his audio if you're routing everything through an audio board. If you don't, the missionary will hear himself because you'd essentially be sending audio from the board (to hear what the pastor is saying) back to him because the board's mix also contains the missionary's voice. Use an aux send to send audio from the pastor or whomever to the missionary and nothing else. This will ensure that he only hears the pastor and not himself. On your computer, you may also need to install a second audio interface. I use a Behringer UCA202. This way the audio in and out of the computer doesn't feed back on itself.

Peace.
Chris
www .fpcSparta .org