Just went to my training tonight to help out un the audio/video video streaming of our church services and they are using Windows 10. At one time they had a Mac back there but it got tossed for some reason and I wonder why since I am far more familiar with them. But we live in a Windows world I wont get anywhere in the market place just knowing the Mac. I wonder why the Mac got tossed? Is Mac not as compatible with projector equipment, and church live stream software and websites or something? Is Apple equipment more expensive? I notice they were using both MS Edge and Chrome, and I know how Safari can be flaky with some sites that work just fine with PC browsers so perhaps thats why. Or perhaps it got tossed because Apple tossed the CD/DVD drive of their desktops and I know we use those to burn CD's/DVD's of services for people. But I bet the main reason is because of cost. Anyone?
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Can Macs be used for Audio/Video to broadcast in a church?
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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It really depends on the platform that your church is using and whether there is Mac support, or if the Mac experience is better than the PC experience even with the same software.
My church uses ProPresenter. That actually started off as a Mac-only app, so I convinced the AV team to buy an iMac specially for the purpose. ProPresenter has since developed a Windows version and I believe they have since flipped back to using a Windows PC.
One of the cons of using a Mac was that guest speakers and other visitors would often bring a PowerPoint formatted slide deck on a USB stick. Sometimes the slides didn't render on Mac Office exactly like it did on Windows -- slightly different fonts, etc. In one extreme case the guy brought in a file that was made on a really old format, the kind of legacy format that the Windows version is able to open, but the Mac version wasn't.
Another con, of course, is cost, though it's probably less of an issue now than it was 10 years ago. Back then you needed to buy pretty much the latest hardware in order to have the horsepower to smoothly display video with transitions, real-time overlays, etc. Nowadays, any used Mac or PC could do the job.
What software does your church use for presenting? That's the first question to ask.
My church uses ProPresenter. That actually started off as a Mac-only app, so I convinced the AV team to buy an iMac specially for the purpose. ProPresenter has since developed a Windows version and I believe they have since flipped back to using a Windows PC.
One of the cons of using a Mac was that guest speakers and other visitors would often bring a PowerPoint formatted slide deck on a USB stick. Sometimes the slides didn't render on Mac Office exactly like it did on Windows -- slightly different fonts, etc. In one extreme case the guy brought in a file that was made on a really old format, the kind of legacy format that the Windows version is able to open, but the Mac version wasn't.
Another con, of course, is cost, though it's probably less of an issue now than it was 10 years ago. Back then you needed to buy pretty much the latest hardware in order to have the horsepower to smoothly display video with transitions, real-time overlays, etc. Nowadays, any used Mac or PC could do the job.
What software does your church use for presenting? That's the first question to ask.
I dont know. It was only my first day of training. But as I ease into the duties I will know what software they are using. I know they have a iMac that they use to present DVD's (external USB) in SS so maybe that is where the Mac went that used to be in the A/V station.
>>>Sometimes the slides didn't render on Mac Office exactly like it did on Windows -- slightly different fonts, etc.
As someone who's made a living creating slide decks for executives, I can tell you this is not a church-only problem. Even in a large corporation, with all kinds of enforcement on font styles, event templates, and so on, there was always an issue with font and graphic anomalies, even with only the latest versions of PPT for each platform (and in some cases the same platform). IMHO the only way to proceed is to check first, and make adjustments as necessary.
As someone who's made a living creating slide decks for executives, I can tell you this is not a church-only problem. Even in a large corporation, with all kinds of enforcement on font styles, event templates, and so on, there was always an issue with font and graphic anomalies, even with only the latest versions of PPT for each platform (and in some cases the same platform). IMHO the only way to proceed is to check first, and make adjustments as necessary.
The difference from one version of windose and office to another version of windose and office can be dramatic. I've seen the presentation change from day to day on the same machine but for more complex presentation. Keeps an army of tech pubs folks employed 
. We used to have some presentation flexibility and could innovate, but that has been squashed. Thanks to office... not that I'm bitter or anything By the way, it is a worse situation with documents and publishing. The boss has to pull creative folks off the job so he can pay tech pubs to may it look like the way the boss wants.... or more for better publishing and presentation tools.
. We used to have some presentation flexibility and could innovate, but that has been squashed. Thanks to office... not that I'm bitter or anything By the way, it is a worse situation with documents and publishing. The boss has to pull creative folks off the job so he can pay tech pubs to may it look like the way the boss wants.... or more for better publishing and presentation tools.
In my experience at churches, things get tossed when they cease to work or cease to perform the functions required. Unfortunately this means that it can be 8-10 years before equipment is updated and by that time different people are often in charge and would choose different systems based on their preferences.
It is also possible that thing were updated, but software was changed and allowed for a computer change. Currently I’ve got one windows only program running our stage lights. One Mac program doing our live-streaming. As was already mentioned by another user, Propresenter is our projection software. It works on both Mac and windows and we have one of each to handle different use cases.
Are you just looking for ideas/information, or are you in a position to be buying new equipment and you get to decide on that equipment? Either is fine, but it will help guide the conversation more along the lines of what will be helpful.
It is also possible that thing were updated, but software was changed and allowed for a computer change. Currently I’ve got one windows only program running our stage lights. One Mac program doing our live-streaming. As was already mentioned by another user, Propresenter is our projection software. It works on both Mac and windows and we have one of each to handle different use cases.
Are you just looking for ideas/information, or are you in a position to be buying new equipment and you get to decide on that equipment? Either is fine, but it will help guide the conversation more along the lines of what will be helpful.
I believe they went from Mac to Windows based on the preferences of the guy in charge who is a PC/Android guy. Yes he does not like apple products. I am just looking for information and ideas. I doubt he will listen to them, so I am just educating myself.
Sound like normal. It’s not good or bad, just the way it always tends to work out. Whoever is in charge at the time something needs replaced always recommends what they are more familiar with.
As was stated previously, if you can just gather some information about the specific programs you are running that will help. Maybe the next time you are at church just go to the AV area and find out exactly what is in there now and what programs are used to do things.
Obviously I prefer Apple products and if the choice is available, then I will probably choose a Mac, but our light control software is pc only so we have a pc for that. I also am glad to have a pc in our projection setup for the occasional times where windows programs are required (just recently at a funeral this happened). So there is certainly preference involved, but it’s also important to consider the software you are using as well as potential benefits vs downsides of changing to a new software just to fit your preference.
Since your just starting out with church AV I will also advise you that the best workers are proficient at one thing, but capable of doing multiple things. Ask if you can observe different people and get information from them on doing different things. Eventually you will probably find one position you like most, but you will be capable of doing one or two more.
Thanks for the background. I don't believe there's a fundamental reason why a PC over a Mac. Though rest assured that if I were in there (and I am not raising my hand) I would be plugging to replace any PCs with Macs. The platform and tools are what I am familiar with - I suspect this is the situation there, as stated above.