PraiseAV Help

Screens and livestream

Screens

PraiseAV can drive several screens at once, each with its own job.

The four views

View What it shows Usually on
Congregation Words, verses, videos, pictures The projector or big TVs at the front
Preacher Notes, the band’s words during songs, clock, timer, prompts A TV at the back, facing the platform
Timer One big timer and prompts A small screen on the platform
Livestream The words in a strip, for a video mixer to lay over the camera A cable to an ATEM or capture card

The computer’s own screen is always PraiseAV controls: the window you work in.

Plugging in screens

  1. Plug the projector or TV into the computer (HDMI, usually).
  2. Windows must extend onto it, not copy. If Windows is copying the laptop’s screen onto the projector, PraiseAV shows a yellow message at the top: click Use it as a separate screen. (It’s the same as pressing Windows+P and choosing Extend.)
  3. PraiseAV finds it. The first screen gets Congregation, the next Preacher, then Timer.

PraiseAV remembers each screen’s job. Next Sunday, everything appears in the same place by itself.

With no screens plugged in, the congregation view opens in a window, so you can still try everything.

Choosing each screen’s job

Click Screens… at the top right.

The Screens window

Under Each screen’s job, each plugged-in screen has a list: Congregation, Preacher, Timer, Livestream, or Not used.

The screen map

At the top of the Screens window, a map shows every screen, live, with what’s on it now.

The screen map

Swapping two screens

The preacher’s notes are on the front projector, and the words on the back TV? Tap one, then tap the other. They swap.

Tap a dashed view, then a solid screen, to put that view on it.

The preacher screen

What the preacher’s screen shows, and how big, is up to you: see Sermons and the preacher’s screen. During songs it doubles as the band’s words.

Practice screens

Set everything up at home on a laptop, or show a church what the preacher and timer screens do before they’ve bought any.

In Screens…, click Open practice screens on this computer’s screen. One window shows every view side by side, live, as you go through the service. Plan the service and Save it as usual: it's all the real thing, just shown together.

A monitor for watching every screen

With a monitor plugged in (say the one you use as the preacher's screen), click Open them on screen 2 (or whichever number it has) in Screens…. The practice screens fill that monitor, so you can watch the front, the back wall, the timer and the livestream while you work. That screen's own job pauses while they're open, and comes back when you click Close practice screens.

It's handy for demos too: the projector shows the real congregation screen, and everyone can see what the other screens would show on the monitor.

Practice screens

Each view has a Show on… list, to put it on a real screen when one is plugged in. Views with no screen say Practice only.

Open a view in a window

In Screens…, under Open a view in a window, click Congregation, Preacher, Timer or Livestream. It opens in a normal window.

This is handy for a screen PraiseAV can’t see by itself (some wireless displays and USB adaptors): drag the window onto it and maximise it.

Screens on the network

PraiseAV can also send the words to OBS or vMix, or the congregation screen to a TV in another room, over the church network instead of a cable. In Screens…, scroll down to Show on the network. See Screens on the network.

Hide and Show

Hide at the top right takes all the screens away (to use the projector for something else). Show brings them back.

If a screen isn’t found