9/12/2019 2:23:38 PM

Am I the only one that cant stand the new look.  Everything is muddy in the monochrome look.  Would it be that hard to have a "classic look"?  I wont update to this unless this changes.  Quite frankly I would rather have the quirky things fixed in current versions rather than expanding to new and grander things.  Thank You, Tod Anthony

9/12/2019 7:39:41 PM

I agree. Basic stuff like running the demo slide shows causes ssp to crash. Was hoping for better quality... Or the ability to layer screens like pro presenter does. Disappointed.

9/24/2019 12:06:26 PM

Hey guys,

Sorry to hear that you do not like the new themes.  The Dark themes in particular have been requested for some time to accommodate those in a dark media booth.  

There are currently a total of 10 themes to chose from, including 3 light themes.  The icons in all themes are monochrome but if you are looking for a little splash of color, I might suggest the Dark, Panel theme.  You can preview and change the themes in the Preferences panel.  From the main tool bar select Settings > Preferences > Presenter Window to view and select a theme.

SSP 9 is still not production so there are both known and unknown bugs that we are working to resolve.  If you are have a particular issue we encourage you to use the Version 9 forum as intended and give us some details about any issues you might be having so that we can replicate and resolve them. 

Stan - please elaborate on your comment regarding the "ability to layer screens like pro presenter does".  SongShow Plus does already have the ability to generate multiple layers on one or more displays.

Thanks again for your interest in SongShow Plus 9.

10/16/2019 7:06:32 AM

Thanks for the pointer to the Settings -> Preferences -> Presenter Window -> Themes.   I would have never found it without your help!  The Windows Theme works for me.  It would be great if you had a Classic Theme for the folks who are used to the existing icons.  I am constantly searching for the icon that does the same thing as an 8.5 icon that I know.

When I load version 9.0 it says Candidate Build.  Does this mean it is in a place where we can feel comfortable with using it for morning worship?  Is it functionally complete with just packaging left to do?

It seems to be as good as 8.5 and a little faster.  Still quirky, and crashes at times, but as long as I remember to restart SSP 9.0 after any edit, it seems to run okay.  I think there is a persistent memory leak in the edit process that eventually causes it to crash.

Stan

10/16/2019 7:17:56 AM

Just to elaborate on Pro Presenter's ability to layer.  SSP has a few layers available for songs.  Title, Copyright, Lyrics, Author, Reference.  Pro Presenter has a Library of layers for songs, including previous and next screen, and can position these layers anywhere on the song, verse, slide, etc.  If you merged your Slide Show and Song sections, and made them both run on the same engine, and make each slide independent, we could approach what Pro presenter does.

  Some requirements that I cannot do with the current SSP.
1) Change the background automatically at certain places in the song (like the chorus)
        2) Put up the next slide at the bottom of the current slide on the stage display.
        3) Have triggers that scroll a prepared message across the bottom of the screen instructing the congregation to stand, sit, or pray at a certain place in the song.

  I hope this helps with capturing the wish/frustration with the current way SSP works.

10/16/2019 10:25:42 AM

Hi Stan and thanks for your feedback.  I will respond separately to your posts...

Regarding Themes:
There will be no theme available with the prior icon set, however, the default icon/control placement has not changed nor have the toolbar hint pop-ups.  hopefully these two things will ease the transition to the new icon set.

Regarding the Build name:
This means that we are getting close but additional changes are still possible.  Additional bugs are still being gathered and resolved.  We do not currently recommend SSP 9.0 for production use for all users, however, everyone has a different tolerance for issues that may crop up.  I do know that there are many folks using this on a regular basis after testing it with their specific process/environment with great success but this is not for everyone.

Regarding your issue(s):
If you are experiencing specific, recurring bad behavior, please post it in this forum (separate post per issue please) with steps to replicate and we will resolve it quickly.

Thanks again.

10/16/2019 11:18:48 AM

Hi again Stan.  Thanks once again for your continued feedback.  Engaged users are our best allies...

A quick note for transparency - It is not our intention to "be like Pro Presenter" or copy their application, but some features/tools can be universally applicable to the song presentation arena.  We do solicit and incorporate feedback from users, in as much as it fits into the SSP ecosystem and makes sense with our current feature set(s).  We are always growing and learning with the goal to provide the best solution for our customers.

That said - With varying degrees of effort, all three of the items you mentioned above are possible in SSP 8.5 and later.

1) Change the background automatically at certain places in the song (like the chorus)

Using the right-click menu in the Songs Panel, a song can be converted to a Slide Show with a single click and then edited using all the Slide Builder tools available.  Once this is done, the user is prompted to use the Slide Show by default.  Alternatively, if the user wanted to change these backgrounds on the fly, they can set the Background Improv from the Improv Collection as the background and select anything in the media list real-time.

        2) Put up the next slide at the bottom of the current slide on the stage display.

From the Display Setting panel and using a combination of the Stage and Preview Displays and precise adjustments to the associated Display Window Specified Area settings, users can set up a split screen to go to their Stage Monitor with both the Stage Display and Preview Display.

        3) Have triggers that scroll a prepared message across the bottom of the screen instructing the congregation to stand, sit, or pray at a certain place in the song.

There are two distinct ways to do this in SSP.  For triggers on the fly, use the Instant Message panel in the Improv Collection and create, save and present canned messages to the screen.  For instructions tied to a specific song part, the above described Slide Show conversion of songs can be further edited to add an animated text box to any slide you want and control when it appears and disappears.

Hopefully these notes will point you in the right direction but if you need additional assistance, please reach out to the support team.

Thanks again.

10/22/2019 7:49:08 AM

Hi George,

   Thanks for the input about the Preview Display.  I completely missed that feature in 8.5.  I was able to use it on Sunday with only minor issues.

  Our Stage Display is on the top 2/3 of the screen in black background and bold white text.
  Our Preview Display is on the bottom 1/3 of the screen in navy background and bold yellow text.

This works pretty well and the worship team was very excited to be able to use it.

I found a few small bugs in 8.5 that are still in the 9.0 version.

1) Each song, the first slide does not show the Preview of the second slide.  However, once I move to the second slide, everything begins working as designed.
2) Once I am on the second or following slide, when I move back to the first slide, the Preview Display shows whatever screen was up prior to the move back to the beginning.

Another question, our worship team leader asked if we could put a small line between the two displays and leave the background black.  I have no problem leaving the background black, but could not figure out an easy way to put a line across the screen between the two displays.  Any ideas?

Thanks for this new feature.  I could not find any documentation about it in the user's guide, and did not see any training video about this either.  Where would I go to find out about the nuances of this feature?

Stan

2/5/2020 7:32:12 PM

Posted By toad1986 on 12 Sep 2019 02:23 PM
Am I the only one that cant stand the new look.  Everything is muddy in the monochrome look.  Would it be that hard to have a "classic look"?  I wont update to this unless this changes.  Quite frankly I would rather have the quirky things fixed in current versions rather than expanding to new and grander things.  Thank You, Tod Anthony

I agree with you about the new look. SongShow's UI has definitely taken a step backward in 9.0, which is sad to see. Hopefully if enough users feel that way, they'll re-evalulate.

2/6/2020 9:00:11 AM