Song Projection Software - a review of some available packages

This artice was originally published on 20 Feb 2010.

I will make updates and note them here as the project progresses.

A Christ Church we have a new projector and now also a new laptop - with Windows 7 64-bit.  We decided that our ageing SongPro (version 3) also needs replacing.  As the new SongPro (version 4) is expensive we decided to look at alternatives.

Requirements
To project songs on to an external projector, and manage the projection from the laptops screen.
To re-order songs (start with the chorus or verse 1 for example) without editing the text.
To display the copyright license (CCL number)
To import our Songs of Fellowship words.
To display video on the projector and retain control from the laptop screen
To manage song lists (orders of service)
To report on usage

Desirable Features
To display Bible and Liturgy in the same way as songs
To display notices in the same way as songs and auto cycle through them
To take a webcam feed to the projector
To play a DVD from the Laptop to the projector
To display power points
To display open office presentations
To provide some 'branding'

Of course all these pieces of Software must also run on our new Windows 7 Laptop.
What follows is a review of each of the pieces of software I have tried. There is a matrix of features and tests at the end.

SongPro3 (we are using on the old system)
SongPro 3 is a fully featured environment.  It is reasonably easy to use and provides most of what we need. Some of the finer controls are fiddly - you have to know when to right click and what to do with the subsequence menu. The major issue with SongPro is stability.  Too often it cannot cope with the simplest tasks.  Powerpoint integration almost always causes a restart to be required.  We have taken to running powerpoints from windows, but even this can cause SongPro to hang. Some of the 'features' have never worked reliably.  Screen blanking is the most obvious.  Blanking the screen is unreliable, but worse, un-blanking it is even more unreliable.

Openlp.org
Openlp.org starts in full screen mode and presents 4 columns - Media Manager (the song library and Bibles, presentations, video and audio are here), Preview, Live and in the final column Order of Service and below it the Theme Manager.
Orders of service are set up by dragging from the Media Manager across to the Order of Service n the far right.  The preview and Live Screens can be adjusted to make this easier.  A button is also available.  Tool tips are provided when the mouse hovers over a button.
Openlp.org performed well in the display test.
Import is available from CCLI SongSelect - files and website (both are untested by me)
Export is only to an SQLLite Database.

General look and feel and usage is good, but there remain questions about reordering
 verses and there does not appear to be a way to get from verse 1 to 3 without showing verse2.
I cannot find anything on usage stats.
There are tools that can be added, but they are not compatible with Windows 7 64-bit.

Openlp.org occasionally fails on shutdown - this is annoying but doesn't appear to affect subsequent operation.

EasiSlides
Initially additional work was required to get this package to run on Windows 7 64-bit.  The software opens in three columns, with the available songs, bibles etc. on the left above the Worship Service (order of service). Followed by a preview and live column.  Its primary purpose is to provide interleaved languages, a feature I have not tested.  The interface is richly featured, clear and largely intuitive for the service operator - it is the clearest one I have evaluated.

There are a few problems with easislides:
Some screens drop off the right hand side of the monitor on my test screen, but not on the projector.  This was the only piece of software that did not faithfully reproduce the preview screen on the monitor, although the problem was not apparent on the projector.
There also seem to be problems with the importer, although I'm still trying to build the files to import the words.
Some of the less obvious features are difficult to find, and will require instructions to be produced.

SongView
SongView has a very simple interface.  It does not appear to allow the preparation of orders of service. The Help does not appear to function.  It does however have the widest range of import options available, but the export is limited.

OpenSong
Starts with the tag line 'Church Lyrics and more'.  The 'more' includes Bibles (KJV)  and a 'Slides' feature, which looks remarkably similar to the Song Editor, and an image feature.  It is quite basic and has a rather 'old fashioned' look and feel, with help information for each function appearing in a bar at the top of the windows form.  The help information itself is extremely basic.  Import seems to be only from the CCLI website, but a message informs you that the site has changed and the function is currently broken.  The version I have is 1.5.1 (2007r2).

SNAP Projection
SNAP has a friendly looking crocodile for a n Icon.It has no songs provided.  Lists of songs can be managed. and songs typed into the system.  There does not appear to be an import / export function.  Powerpoints can be displayed, although this has not been tested.In single screen mode there was some difficulty removing the display.  There were also frequent failures (GPF's) during testing.

The following matrix summarizes the features:

	Openlp.org	EasiSlides	OpenSong	SNAP Projection	SongView	SongPro 3
Feature
Windows 7	Yes	Requires modification for W7 x-64 – applied OK	Yes	Yes*	Yes	?
Help	by .pdf	Yes		by .pdf	Not working?	Yes
Import SoF CD	No, but from the CCLI website	No, EasiSlides format inc XML or Access	An importer is required and can be downloaded	No	Yes, via the supplied RTF files
Service Order	Yes	Worship Lists	Yes, via sets	Unclear whether there is more than one	No	Yes
Verse order and repeat	No	Not directly, but the capability is attached to the song and does Not require the words to be edited.	Yes, by presentation order	No	No	Yes
Bible Display		Yes, but only small set of versions supplied – No NIV	Yes	No	Yes, NIV included	Yes
Usage Stats	No	Yes	Yes, song activity log	No	Yes	Yes
Branding / Styling	themes	Yes	Yes, by presentation order	Yes, via backgrounds	Yes, via Backgrounds	Yes
Display Preview	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Screen Blanking	Yes	Yes	No	Yes – test screen	No	Yes, but Non-functional
Video Camera Display	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Video File Display	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
DVD	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Embedded PowerPoint	Not tested	Not tested	No	yes, Not tested		Yes – some versions of ppt

Conclusion
That brings me down to two - EasiSlides - the favourite and Openlp.org - if I can get the import from the CCLI website working.