Media
Shout 3.5
Ahh, Media Shout. I'll confess right up front that I've not been a huge fan of the software. I've used it for about 2 years now, and gotten pretty good at it, but haven't been crazy about it. It is pretty popular, however, and while we're taking a close look at ProPresenter in the near future, I felt it would be a good idea to run down what's new in v. 3.5. A ton has already been written on the program, so I won't delve into a complete description of what it is or how it does it. Instead, I will talk mostly about the key differences between 2.5 and 3.5, what I like and what I don't. My reasoning is that the initial launch of v. 3.0 a few years ago was a big disaster (videos wouldn't play, there was a huge lag between advancing a cue and a change on screen, etc.), and there are probably a bunch of users out there still using 2.5 because it works reasonably well and they are leery of an upgrade. This I will say upfront: If you're still using 2.5, you should upgrade (double check the system requirements first to make sure your machine can handle it, however). If you're new to the presentation software game, read on.
The Interface
Personally, I find the interface overly populated with buttons. I just counted and there are 53 buttons on the screen. Personally, I prefer a less cluttered look and keyboard shortcuts. Maybe it's just me. The main interface is roughly divided into 3 parts, though you have a lot of flexibility in how you set it up. The default set up comes with a script window occupying the bulk of the screen, with 2 or 3 monitor windows taking up the rest. The monitor windows are tabbed, so you have access to more modules and features should you need them.
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I started programming slide shows back in 1986 using a top-to-bottom script type program. Cues were entered in the order you wanted to execute them, and ran from the top to the bottom. Because of this, I was able to get the concept of a Media Shout script very quickly. The cue on the top of the list plays first, advancing to the next happens with the spacebar, down arrow or clicking on the cue, or you can set up an auto advance based on time. You work your way from top to bottom, firing off cues as you go. Pretty straightforward.
Cues can be made up of song lyrics, Bible passages, text slides, graphics, videos, animations, slideshows, sound files, control elements and comments. You insert cues by right clicking, choosing "Insert ->" and selecting the appropriate option. Some of the aforementioned 53 buttons will accomplish the same thing. With all those options, this review could go on for a while, but I'll focus on what most churches are likely to use most: lyrics, graphics, videos and presentations (PowerPoint).
Lyrics
I think this is the module that Media Shout has improved the most from 2.5 to 3.5. In the old version, if you had to change a word in a song after it was paginated and formatted, you had to launch Shout Singer, make the change save it, hit "Refresh" a few times, and reformat your entire song. In 3.5, if you want to make a change, you open the Properties window, click the song part that needs tweaking (verse 1, chorus 2, etc.), and make the change. Improved in 3.5 from other 3.x versions is that you no longer have to decide whether or not to update the song library when you make simple changes. You will when you save, but at least it doesn't slow down a quick edit.
The really good news is that your formatting stays in tact, as does pagination. Pagination has also gotten simpler; you no longer have to go into another interface to do it. All pagination happens right on the main properties window, which allows you to see the results over the background. Applying formatting is easier now as well. Another bonus shows up when paginating repeating sections of songs, such as a chorus. Once you paginate it once, that pagination is reflected in all other instances of that song part. This is a great time saver for songs that have a lot of repeats.
There are a host of other improvements, such as the ability to step through a song using forward and backward buttons in the "Properties" window, and the ability to format down to the letter if you wish. Overall, they have vastly improved the workflow and usability of the software, even if it's not terribly pretty. Another improvement is the ability to dissolve text over moving backgrounds. You can even (with additional hardware), key text over a live video feed, and smoothly dissolve it from cue to cue. This goes a long way toward making worship more distraction-free.
There are a few bugs, however. When you add a song part to the song order, the current formatting is not automatically applied. The good news is that you need only hit the "Text Style" button, then "OK" and it updates. This is better than doing it by hand, but it's two clicks too many. Applying changes is also inconsistent. Sometimes, when making a change hitting "OK" updates the cue, other times it requires hitting "Apply" then "OK" for the changes to stick.
As previously stated, if you're using 2.5, the changes in the lyric module alone are worth the upgrade.
Graphics
There are no real changes to report here. It's easy to insert .JPGs and well over a dozen different formats into the program. You can advance them manually or by time. We use graphics primarily for pre- and post-service announcement loops and announcements. They work as expected with no surprises.
Videos
There are some big changes in 3.x on the video front. Namely, the ability to play DVD videos through Media Shout. This is a good feature to overcome one of the inherent, and in my opinion biggest, problems with the program; it's limited range of modern video files. Media Shout will accept only these formats: M-PEG 1, QuickTime (CinePack only), AVI and WMV. With the exception of WMV 9, all of these file formats are getting pretty long in the tooth. While AVI files can be built with a number of codecs, none of them really look that good, especially with type. You can get away with the DV25 codec in an AVI file for video, but when you add type, it breaks up badly. WMV files fare much better, especially when using the newer v. 9 codecs. The problem arises if you're Mac based in your video workflow. Producing WMVs require additional steps. If you're all Windows based, this is less of a concern.
I have been using the DVD playback feature, with generally good results for the last 3 weeks. To insert a DVD cue, you load your DVD into the drive normally. Insert a "Video -> DVD" cue and it's a simple matter of setting in and out points and naming your cue. In actual services, it plays back flawlessly. Getting there can be a challenge, however. I don't know if it's a Media Shout problem, or a Windows issue, but our DVDs take about 2-3 attempts before being recognized by Media Shout. Typically, this means a restart or two. Once MS finally sees the DVD, the process works as advertised, though it is truly frustrating to get there.
I already mentioned the live-feed ability, which will be beneficial to those doing IMAG. MS 3.5 will also dissolve your video in and out. This is a huge improvement over 2.5, which would ungracefully cut from graphics or other cues to video. Remarkably (I'm not sure how they do this...) if you have 2 DVD video cues, you can even dissolve between them. That's pretty cool.
One issue to be aware of is that MS 3.5 requires the latest version of DirectX 9. Your graphics card must support that, and you need to update the drivers. This isn't rocket science, but it's not a two click process either. If you're hardware or software configuration doesn't support the new video requirements, the MS 3.5 installer will warn you and recommend an update. Heed this advice.
Presentations (PowerPoint)
Also new in v.3.x is the ability to play PowerPoint presentations within Media Shout. This eliminates the step of creating text slides (as in v. 2.5), which had limited formatting options and were really a pain to do, or creating the message slides in PowerPoint, then exporting as JPGs. As with many MS 3.x upgrades, this is generally a good thing, with some caveats.
You insert a PowerPoint presentation like any other cue (assuming you've created your ppt). Media Shout builds thumbnails and in playback, it acts like a lyric cue—to a point. Most of the time, it works quite well. If you need to change a slide, simply edit the ppt, save it, open the cue in MS and click "Refresh." The challenging part comes along when you add animation, such as builds. MS only gives you a single thumbnail of the slide, not the build steps, and provides no indication that it is a build. So it's easy to accidentally overshoot a cue, or miss one altogether. Having some indication of the number of build steps would be really handy.
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Find the build slide! Can you tell which one is a build and how many steps there are?
We've also found that MS tends to blow past the last slide in the ppt deck. It simply auto-advances to the next cue, especially if your last slide is a build. This means you have to be sure you put a spacer slide at the end of your ppt deck.
Conclusions
Media Shout contains many improvements that are very welcome. The enhanced lyric module and ability to handle PowerPoint are going to be reason enough for people to upgrade. Bugs remain, however. The initial problem for me with v. 3.x was the long delay between hitting the spacebar to advance a cue (as in during a song lyric), and the actual change on screen. This delay was variable and seemed to be anywhere from .5 to 1 second. For a live performance software package, this was clearly unacceptable. When leading worship with a fast song (People of God comes to mind...), you need the lyrics to advance right now, not in a second. Sadly, at v. 3.5, the delay is still there. It's shorter, and more consistent, so at least we can anticipate the delay, but it's still there. Version 2.5 changed instantly, as does ProPresenter. I'm not sure why this has not been corrected.
While the interface has been arguably improved from v.2.5, it still suffers from the typical Windows cluttering of buttons and icons. Icons are great, but when you get to 53 of them, it's tough to remember what they all mean. Sure they come with tooltips, but those take 2 seconds of hover time to display. I still think the interface is a bit daunting to volunteers who may run it once or twice a month. I base this on observations of our presentation team and watching how long it takes them to find what they're looking for. Generally, it's too long.
Another annoyance is that when you are sequencing through a song, the script auto-scrolls, placing the currently live cue at the top of the list. I like the auto-scroll part, but I don't like it's aggressiveness. This may never happen in your church, but once in a while, we have a worship leader, who upon reaching the pre-determined end of the song will go back and sing the bridge and chorus again. With Media Shout, the problem is that those are now off the screen. Sure, you can scroll back and find them, but in a long cue, you're scrolling and reading, trying to find the right phrase while the worship leader has already moved on. It would be nice to keep the current cue in the center of the list so you can quickly jump up or down as needed.
Ultimately, it's in the details where I feel Media Shout 3.5 falls down. Overall, it's a solid, serviceable program. The new version seems less crash-prone than previous ones (still, "Save early, save often" is a good motto), and I welcome the improvements. If you're committed to a PC-based presentation package, Media Shout 3.5 is worth a look, and definitely worth the upgrade. The time you invest learning the somewhat cumbersome interface will be well spent, and it will work well for you. It's not the only game in town however, so check out the competition before spending the money.
 The Verdict
The improvements are vast, and the program does what it sets out to do reasonably well. Maybe it's my Mac bias, but I really don't like the interface. It's not fun to use, but it does get the job done. If you want to stay on the Media Shout bandwagon, by all means upgrade. If not, look around some. There are certainly worse options out there, how well this works for you depends on what you like.
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