Our church is finally ready to enter the 21st century and use a PC and Projector rather than our 35mm slides.

Does anyone have any advice on what we need to buy, equipment recommendations, sites to go etc?

We are of course looking to do this on a small budget, so could not afford a professional installation.

Graham

B&H photo supply is a large national resource for Video, A/V and photo equipment. The prices are great and customer service is outstanding. We use them as the source for all our video cameras and editing equipment.

We have helped clients set-up the kind of thing you are doing...mostly restaurants and hotels who offer meeting service. The deliverable is usually power point, so a church would have to buy the right software to create the media.

The restaurants simply provide the screen and projector, and train someone to assist clients interface a PC. Some have also used DVD media. Cost for the restaurants, less the PC is usually in the neighborhood for $900-1100 for a set-up which is fine for an audience of 100. I'd get hold of B&G and " pick their brains".

I'd caution against starting with sound/video companies that specialize in church installations. Generally, these guys sell installations which end up costing twice or more than what a knowledgable person like you can pull off with a little professional coaxing like the folks at B&G offer. For instance, I was recently asked to advise a friend on the purchase of a large sound system for his church. They had been working with a firm that specializes in church customers. When looking at the equipment, we found Peavey equipment in wooden cabinets priced at over three times the retail price of Peavy equipment in tolex cabinets. We were able to assist them in getting a far superior
and professional installation for less than half the price for the equipment and 25% of the design/installation fees.

Now, if we can just get them to remember to turn the wireless mikes off so the battereies don't drain....

Hope that helps...GOOD LUCK!


Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 09-14-2006).]

Graham....Everything Capt. Russ stated is true, however and this is nothing against my good friend Russ, here is all you need... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&item=320024765425&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 along with a vga cord from your computer....check it out,
it will work great....good luck...
TR

Graham,

Even if your church doesn't have a lot of money, make sure you do your homework before taking this big step. Get all the info you can.

You may find this helpful in your information gathering:
http://www.fowlerinc.com/contact/packet.php
Fowler is a good, reputable company who knows and understands the needs of churches.

One thing I would strongly suggest is that you TRY the projector in your church before making a commitment to buy it. When we installed our projector at our church, the company we purchased it from brought it in and demoed it for us to make sure it would project a strong, clear image in full-lighting conditions. You don't want to have to turn out the lights or dim the lights every time you use the projector.

Another consideration is your projection software. We have been using 'Easy Worship' for the past several years. It is an extremely easy, user-friendly software for worship song projection. You can go to their website for more info and even download a demo - www.easyworship.com

Just to repeat...do your homework. You will be glad you did.

If you want to discuss this further, send me a private email at coastertim@juno.com

Best regards,
Tim