This is a work in progress

so please be patient and check back frequently for updates. Feel free to share the link to this blog with other MediaShout users. Leave comments as you go along. There is a lot to cover here, so I may miss things that average (I fall into the category of power-user, so things that seem obvious to me, may not be to someone else less familiar with the program) users struggle with.  Thanks for your patience.

Screens Menu

The Screens menu gives you quick access to how your screens are set up. Whether you have one, two or three monitors, TVs or projectors connected to your computer, this is the place (you can also change the setup from the other toolbar that is right below the menu bar) to turn on or off those displays.

Overlay Display allows you to quickly preview your output at full-screen (or partially full-screen). Think of it as a larger version of the Program/Current Viewer.

Single Screen only turns on your laptop screen or desktop monitor. Enabled by default when no external displays are detected.

Dual Screen turns on your external monitor or projector.

Triple Screen turns on a third output that functions as stage display. The third display is only for stage display.

Display on Secondary Monitor is the default setting (assuming your video card is set up correctly) when you have a second monitor or projector connected. In this mode, the main MediaShout screen is displayed on your local (computer) display and the output is displayed on your secondary display.

Display on Primary Monitor flips the two displays. This is useful if the cables coming out of your video card (desktop only) are reversed or something has been switched in the video card control panel. This is also useful if you are doing a presentation on MediaShout and want to put the control screen on a larger display (such as your projector screen).

Windows Display Properties links to the display controls built into Windows. This allows you to turn on Extended Desktop or identify your displays.

Playback Menu

The Insert menu is best used as a reference tool, and not an actual place to go to execute the commands. You’ll notice that each of the menu items has a function key assigned to it. The first three are grayed out in this screen shot because I had a blank script when I took the screen shot. Normally the buttons would be blue and the text black.

Of all the menus, this is the most obvious as to what everything does. The first three make a cue appear on screen, the next three make a pre-defined image appear (aka, Panic/Bail Buttons) and can be customized, and the last one stops whatever is currently happening in your script.

And here is a picture of my keyboard so you can see how I’ve translated this menu to my keys.

I took small squares of white electrical tape (easiest color to see in the dark; you can also use board tape; I don’t recommend any tape other than those two types) and places them on top of the function keys that I use all the time. Then I made marks on them so I could remember what each button does. I also marked my space bar which advances to the next cue/sub-cue so that I could easily find it in a dark room. Not pictures here is how I marked my line-out jack. My line-out (headphone) is right next to the line-in (microphone) jack on the front of my computer below the keyboard. I put a small piece of white tape with an arrow pointing to the line-out jack over the line-in jack so that I could plug in a 1/8″ cable to my computer in the dark.

(FAQ: I used Photobooth on my MacBook to take the picture of my PC keyboard then used a free, Mac-only, program called Skitch to add the titles. This is the same program I use to add the arrows.)

View Menu

The View menu allows you to make a few changes to the overall look of the main UI. Starting with Workspace (which I talked about here), you can make broad-stroke changes to the look of what you see on your computer screen. You can use either of the default Workspaces provided, or you can customize the layout of your screen by adding or removing decks (instructions on that later), moving the viewers around, etc. To save a new Workspace, layout your control screen the way you want it to look, then come to this menu. Click on Workspace then select Save Workspace from the sub-menu. This will bring up a simple box that asks you to name your Workspace. On my personal PC I have a workspace called “Chris Rouse” that has a couple UI tweaks that I prefer. If you want a simple, clean workspace for your operators, simple close all of the Decks on the left hand side of the screen, then save a new Workspace called “Simple” (or whatever you want to call it). If you decide you don’t like the Workspace anymore, simple active that Workspace, then choose Delete Workspace. You’ll be asked to confirm the delete before it is removed. As you can see in the above screen shot, my custom Workspace is listed at the bottom of the menu. The active Workspace has the check mark beside it.

Full Script shows thumbnails over all the cues/subcues in your script. This is more useful if you have a larger screen since it takes up more screen real estate. This is set by default when you install the program. If you don’t like having the thumbnail, you have the option of using Compact Script.

Compact Script shows a single line for each cue/subcue and no visual representation of that object. This is more efficient if you have a smaller screen or like to see more of what’s coming up. I prefer to use this because I either use a single background for my cue, or I’m using one of the Viewers as my Next or a Preview view (I’ll explain that later as well), so I don’t need to see individual thumbnails and waste all that space on my laptop screen.

Collapse All collapses all of your expanded (officially, Compound Cues) cues such as songs or Bible passages.

Expand All does the opposite of Collapse All. This would be useful if you’re using the Full Script view and want to quickly scroll through and look at all your cues without having to click on each of them individually.

Auto-Scroll allows your script to scroll based on a setting in a different menu. This saves you the trouble of having to use the scroll ball on your mouse or moving the scroll bar down.

Toolbars shows you a list of the toolbars set up for MediaShout. Standard is the default toolbar, and it’s located immediately below the Menu Bar. You can also create custom toolbars, which I have done on my computer. (More on this later.)

Status Bar is the bar at the bottom of your screen. It provides some basic information that isn’t too important. It will indicate that your Caps Lock is on (in case you didn’t realize you were typing in all capital letters on your own) and has a progress bar on the far right-hand side.

Insert Menu

Welcome to the Insert Menu, one of several locations where you add different types of cues to the script. To insert a cue type, simple click on the menu item and it will be added to your script. With the exception of the two menu items listed below, this menu functions basically the same for all of the cue types.

Lyric and Bible open up a window to select the song or scripture passage you want to insert. From the new window, you can select multiple lyrics or passages at one time and insert them after you are done selecting.

Text opens up the cue editor with a blank page. To get started with a new Text cue, you simply start typing. I will be explaining the Cue Editor in great detail later.

Graphic opens up a file browser where you can select graphics to add to your script. MediaShout supports .eps, .gif, .ico, .cur, .iff, .jpg, .jif, .jpeg, .fpx, .pcd, .mac, .pct, .pict, .msp, .pcx, .psd, .pnm, .pbm, .pgm, .png, .ppm, .ras, .tif, .tiff, .tga, .emf, .wmf, .bmp, .wpg, .xbm, and .xpm.

Animation opens a file browser that allows you to insert a Macromedia Flash file. Officially, MediaShout only has built-in support for .swf. However, there is a way to get it to handle .flv files as well, which I will cover later.

Video gives you three additional options. Video File opens up a file browser window that allows you to locate video files on your computer and then add them to your script. Video DVD will only appear as active if there is a valid DVD in the DVD drive of your computer (**Note** You also have to have a DVD drive for this feature to work. Most computers ship standard with a DVD drive.) Video Feed is one that is the least used. It is only active if you have a webcam or external camera attached to your computer. If you have a built in webcam on your computer, this option will always be available. You may have to do some work to get an external camera to work depending on the camera and how it is connected to your computer. As a general rule, if your computer recognizes the camera, MediaShout should. There will be a very visible lag between the live event and the video displayed on your projection screen due to the conversion and rendering processes that take place. Supported file types are .mpg, .mpeg, .mov, .wmv, .qt, .avi, .m1v, .m2v, .m4v, .mp4, .mp3, .divx, and .asf. QuickTime formats require a third-party plug-in to work. I will post details on this later. Protected files (purchased with DRM protection) will not work in MediaShout.

Slideshow allows you to import a .ppt or .pptx file. You must have a full version of PowerPoint installed, or PowerPointViewer 97. I’ll provide a link to that later.

Web opens up a window that allows you to browse the Internet from MediaShout and insert Web cues into your script. This feature strips the menu bars from your basic browser and displays just the page and scroll bar (if necessary) on your display screen. So no more having to download Youtube videos, you can now just play them straight from the web. I’ve also used this feature to play embedded clips on news websites or Flash animations on websites that I couldn’t download the file from.

Sound allows you to insert a sound or music file. If you need to run sound effects or have audio files you want to play or want to have your pre-service music in your script, this allows you to do all of that. (Although I recommend playing pre-service music from Windows Media Player or iTunes or an iPod.) Supported file types are .aif, .aiff, .mid, .rmi, .mp3, .snd, .au, .wma, and .wav.

Section cues are new to V4. Have you ever had to add a lot of pictures for a quick slide show in the  middle of the service? And then you had a really long script and a lot of cues to scroll through? A Section cue allows you to put all of those cues into a single Section cue and collapse that cue. When you want to use it, simple expand the Section cue and click the play button or double click the first cue. You can also put all of your message graphics or scriptures in a Section cue.

Control allows you to insert a Script Control or Sound Control. A Script Control provides the ability to automatically start a cue, or series of cues, at a specific time or based on a specific action. This type of control is extremely useful if you want to make sure announcements or other pre-service cue starts at a certain time. I’ll provide more examples of how a Script Control can be used in a later post. Sound Control allows you to set actions for sound cues such as playing, pausing, fading or advancing after a certain number of plays or set amount of time.

Comment cues are a non-active cue. They are only there to provide additional comments for the operator and can’t be shown on screen. I use them all the time to break up my script into parts such as worship, message, offering, etc or to make notes about special events in the service such as a skit or presentation.

Edit Menu

Undo let’s you go back one or several steps if you messed something up or accidentally deleted a cue. To Undo something, click the Undo menu option, or press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the Z key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

Redo is the opposite of the above. If you undid one too many times, Redo let’s you undo your undo. To Redo something, click the Redo menu option, or press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the Y key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

Cut deletes a selected cue from it’s current position and copies it to your clipboard. To Cut something, click the Cut menu option, or press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the X key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

Copy allows you to make a duplicate copy of a cue without removing the cue like Cut does and places it on your clipboard. To Copy something, click the Copy menu option, or press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the C key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

Paste allows you to put what is on your clipboard where you want it. If you Cut or Copied a cue, using Paste will place it where you want. (**Note** If you are pasting cues in your script, click on the cue that you want your cue to go below. If you have five cues in your script, and you want to make a copy of number five, and make it number two, click on cue one before pasting. If you don’t click anywhere in the script, the cue will be pasted at the bottom of your cue list.) To Paste something, click the Paste menu option, or press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the V key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

Delete, well, deletes whatever you told it to. And you messed up, you can use Ctrl + Z to undo it. Click on Delete in the menu or press the Delete key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

Select All selects all of the cues in your script. To Cut something, click the Cut menu option, or press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the A key on your keyboard. This can also be accessed by right-clicking on a cue and selected from the menu.

The above keyboard shortcuts function in the cue editor (not the menu options, though) and in most basic word processors or other editors. It will speed up your life on a computer to memorize these key combinations.

Clone does exactly what it says, sort of. It is only active when you are using a Text cue. Basically, it makes a copy of your Text cue and pastes it right below it in the script and adds the number one to the end of it, indicating it’s the first copy. It’s a legacy feature that initially filled in for copy/paste and for whatever reason, has remained in the program.

Select Cues allows you to select all instances of a cue type. Let’s say you have five songs, 23 message slides/illustrations, eight video clips, and a couple audio clips thrown in for good measure, and none of them are grouped together. The Select Cues sub-menu allows you to select all of a single type of clip at one time instead of having to hold down the Ctrl (Control) key on your keyboard and left-clicking with your mouse on each item before you can make a universal change or delete them at one time. Simple Click on Edit>Select Cues and pick the type of cue you want, and it immediately selects all of those cues. Now you can make universal changes to the selected clips by right-clicking on one of the highlighted cues and choosing Cue Editor. (**Note** Make sure you right-click and don’t left-click, or accidentally click somewhere else, or you’ll have to redo the selection.)

Convert gives you seven different conversion options that are selectively available based on the type of cue you have selected in the script. The first three convert a background of a cue to a stand-alone cue. If you have a graphic, animation or video running as a background, and you decide you want to make it an independent clip, you can do so with these options. The next two options do the opposite. If you’ve inserted a graphic, animation or video file as a cue, you can chose to make it the background of a Bible or Text cue. (**Note** You can’t make it a new lyric background since new lyrics are entered through a wizard and not the cue editor.) The sixth option let’s you export the foreground text of a text cue to an RTF file that can be opened in a third-party text editor like Microsoft Word. The last option takes an entire cue (foreground and background) and makes it a single, flat graphic file. If you are using an animation or video file, it will export the thumbnail for that file as the background image.

Repaginate Text Cues allows you to automatically resize text cues (Text, Lyric, or Bible) to a new resolution. If you are editing your script at home and your external monitor has a resolution of 1024×768, but your projector at the church is only 800×600, there will be a slight difference in the proportions/scaling of the projected image. If you make a resolution change in MediaShout (Tools>Settings>Screens>Intended Display; more on this later), you may have to manually repaginate your text cues. Most likely if your setup is similar to the one I’ve described above, you’ve encounted a popup message every time you open the script in MediaShout that says something like “This script needs to be repaginated”. This is MediaShout’s way of handling the changes of the intended resolution of the cue. You can avoid this step all together by matching the intended resolution between your editing station and presentation station, which I’ll cover later.

Edit Cue opens up the cue editor for the selected cue(s). This is for people who don’t trust their right mouse button, or just like to use menus. Either is fine. You can access this same feature by right-clicking on a cue or by clicking on any of those icons to the left of the cue name.