jw library Using JW Library on the sound desk.

[AlexG]

Hi all,

 

Just about to take the scary leap of using the JW Library on the sound desk for the meetings (starting this Sunday) and was looking for some feedback from brothers (or sisters) who operate the sound desk at their Kingdom Hall who have already moved over to using it.  Did the migration go ok?   How do you handle brothers bringing images to be displayed as part of their public talk?  We currently use Soundbox, which makes it easy to add additional content for the meeting, but as there isn't a way to do this in JWL what application do you use?  Is the Library pretty stable on Windows 10 now?  I tested it at the start of last year and found it a little unstable (random crashes, a little sluggish response times).

 

The elders in my hall are pretty open to whatever method works so I'm considering still having Soundbox on the machine for displaying additional content, and for recording the meetings, but was wondering what methods other people have been using?

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[Jarred]

Running both currently on Windows 10.  We keep soundbox for times when custom pictures need to be displayed.

 

Soundbox has a setting for allowing both programs to run at the same time.

 

The transition has been pretty smooth, but you have to download the videos, etc ahead of time. 

[On the huh]

There is already some threads about this topic, do a search for more information.

JW Library is really easy to use on the sound desk.  Easy to train the brothers, especially if they already use it for meetings and ministry.

 

I normally click the refresh button after it opens so it has the up-to-date data, wait for it to complete (the scrolling dots disappear)  then click on meetings.  In my experience, it is at this point that if its going to crash, it will crash.  Simple matter of rerunning it.  It does not crash a second time. 

VLC is the recommend player for other media.  Soundbox is still good for that, no problems if you want to use it, both can run together.

We use Only-R and Only-T for recording and timer and my own app for displaying other media.

[AlexG]

Hi  both,

Thanks for the quick response.

 

Jarred, glad to hear that it's a smooth transition and that everything has been working the way it should.

Jonathan, thanks for the tip about refreshing.

 

I'll need to make sure we've got Soundbox set to compatibility mode.  I'll be doing a test of the system on Saturday just to make sure everything has downloaded.

 

Thanks again.

Alex

[Shawnster]

No, migration is not ok. We moved away from soundbox to JW Library applications and are having major teething issues.  

 

There is no way to import outside images into the app. You will still need to use a separate program, even if it's just the basic image viewer that covers with windows. 

 

Right now we are having difficulty playing music before and after meeting.  All the music needs downloaded first and we haven't done that yet. We also have not found a shuffle feature on the app.  Again, it looks like a third party program will need to be used for this.  Windows media player might be fine. 

 

A brother in another topic recommended using VLC player for both outside images and audio files such as random Kingdom Melodies before and after the meeting. 

[timelordrocker]

JW Library is better,  but I have notice a time it freezes at times so what I have been doing is keeping JW Library open on setting just to display text  and use sound box  between 

sunday meeting i find a little more of and issue  than  mid week meeting. It has improve alot but still lacking the flow of Soundbox . I am sure by January 2019 if not sooner  JW Library will have most bugs fix

[On the huh]

JW Library does have a shuffle feature for the music.

Go to Media > Audio > Click the Play button at top > Click the bar at the bottom, in the right corner is a shuffle button.

You will only need to do it once, it will remember every time.

Or try this

http://cv8.org.uk/soundbox/BackgroundMusic.zip

 

[Nzer133]

To be completely honest- our JW Library hasn’t glitched out since we’ve had it. Then again, the LDC were the ones who set it up. Have been using it for a year and a bit now.

 

There is a shuffle mode for theocratic music. We have assigned a brother to care for all downloads. It only takes a nice afternoon to set everything up (downloading most of the content). Videos are downloaded on a month by month process though usually new videos that would be needed are downloaded when released.

 

In regards to images. We just close the program down. And full screen the images. No biggie. 

 

The app is very easy to learn because it’s basically the same app we all have. We are well aware of how to get around the app.

[On the huh]

15 minutes ago, youthintheministry23 said:

To be completely honest- our JW Library hasn’t glitched out since we’ve had it. Then again, the LDC were the ones who set it up. Have been using it for a year and a bit now.

 

 

Would be interested to know what PC you are using, and the specs.

The LDC would have set it up the same way we all do, Go to App Store >  Download JW Library > Run app.  There is no other way of setting up the app.  So it must be your PC.  Drivers play a big part in stability as well.

[Nzer133]

At the moment our hall is going under Reno so we are in a neighboring hall. Could have a look soon at what we are using.

 

Forgot to mention, the setup (from a year ago) included a new sound desk, pc and screens. 

[Shawnster]

6 hours ago, Jonathan77 said:

JW Library does have a shuffle feature for the music.

Go to Media > Audio > Click the Play button at top > Click the bar at the bottom, in the right corner is a shuffle button.

You will only need to do it once, it will remember every time.

Or try this

http://cv8.org.uk/soundbox/BackgroundMusic.zip

 

Interesting!  Thanks!

[On the huh]

Here is a couple of tools that can help with JW Library

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar64WzzZD9T3yEPjndgGwWhP7bN2

 

JWL Launcher

A simple tool that runs JW Library.  If JW Library crashes or is closed it will automatically re-run the app.

JWL Helper

A little more advanced.  Runs JW Library, updates the catalog and downloads media needed for the meeting.  If it crashes, it re-runs JW Library.
Please bear in mind I designed this for use on my Kingdom Hall laptop and is designed to run on a screen resolution of 1366x768, so may or not work with others.

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by Jonathan77

[timelordrocker]

Thank you brother this  works great on my home pc and  should work well on the KH laptop

[luisenriquereyes]

On 1/30/2018 at 11:56 AM, Jonathan77 said:

Here is a couple of tools that can help with JW Library

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar64WzzZD9T3yEPjndgGwWhP7bN2

 

JWL Launcher

A simple tool that runs JW Library.  If JW Library crashes or is closed it will automatically re-run the app.

JWL Helper

A little more advanced.  Runs JW Library, updates the catalog and downloads media needed for the meeting.  If it crashes, it re-runs JW Library.
Please bear in mind I designed this for use on my Kingdom Hall laptop and is designed to run on a screen resolution of 1366x768, so may or not work with others.

 

 

 

Great tools. In your Readme.txt file you mention you "also have another version that checks for the second screen setup and adjusts the settings accordingly."

Is this other version in the JWL.zip download?  If not, could you please send it to me so I can try it?

[AlexG]

Hi Brothers,

 

Just a quick note to let you know that I used the library at the hall for the first time yesterday and everything worked fine.

It's not as smooth as using SoundBox (having to kick off the recording manually and having an external program for images), but at least nothing fell over

 

For any others having issues, below is a list of what I did:

Ticked the box for running SoundBox in compatibility mode.

I followed Jonathan's suggestion of refreshing the home screen before the meeting started

 

The library is a little slow, but this might be down to using a laptop with only 4GB of RAM.

 

Thanks brothers.

Alex

[Zebra555]

On ‎30‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 3:56 PM, Jonathan77 said:

Here is a couple of tools that can help with JW Library

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar64WzzZD9T3yEPjndgGwWhP7bN2

 

JWL Launcher

A simple tool that runs JW Library.  If JW Library crashes or is closed it will automatically re-run the app.

JWL Helper

A little more advanced.  Runs JW Library, updates the catalog and downloads media needed for the meeting.  If it crashes, it re-runs JW Library.
Please bear in mind I designed this for use on my Kingdom Hall laptop and is designed to run on a screen resolution of 1366x768, so may or not work with others.

 

 

 

Hey Jonathan

Tried to install your tools but windows defender reports this: Trojan:win32/Fuery.A!cl

Whoops   

Edited February 5, 2018 by Zebra555

[On the huh]

No virus.  False report.

[Shawnster]

On 2/5/2018 at 8:22 AM, AlexG said:

Hi Brothers,

 

Just a quick note to let you know that I used the library at the hall for the first time yesterday and everything worked fine.

It's not as smooth as using SoundBox (having to kick off the recording manually and having an external program for images), but at least nothing fell over

 

 

 

 

Why did you it manually? 

 

We use only JW Library.  The videos and music stop automatically and the photos that go along with the workbook or Watchtower are included each week in the media section for that week. 

 

We only need to use a separate program for any extra media not included in that week's lesson. 

[AlexG]

Sorry for the late reply.

 

We record the meetings in case any of the brothers or sisters can't make the meeting, since the Library doesn't currently have recording functionality we are still using SoundBox, so we have to start the recording manually.

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[Hedley]

We switched over from Soundbox to JW Library a few weeks ago using JWL Helper alongside JW Library :-

https://jwlhelper.com

 

So far no problems - it all works really well. We also use OnlyT for the timing :-

https://github.com/AntonyCorbett/OnlyT

 

Hope this helps!

[jayrtom]

 

 

On 1/30/2018 at 10:37 AM, youthintheministry23 said:

In regards to images. We just close the program down. And full screen the images. No biggie. 

 

It's strange that you have to close the JWL app! We just open the external image by clicking on a shortcut previwsly added to the bottom bar and it opens in fullscreen on the 2nd monitor bypassing the JWL 2nd screen with the year text. After closing the image you just need to click on the 2nd screen of the JWL app, on the bottom bar of windows and it is restored to show the year text on the 2nd screen of the hall

to be able to have the image in fulcreen on the 2nd screen automatically you create a shortcut for it in the bottom bar and then edit this shortcut to open maximized auto

 

On 1/30/2018 at 10:58 AM, Jonathan77 said:

Would be interested to know what PC you are using, and the specs.

The LDC would have set it up the same way we all do, Go to App Store >  Download JW Library > Run app.  There is no other way of setting up the app.  So it must be your PC.  Drivers play a big part in stability as well.

We have an old laptop that belonged to a brother with no spetial carachteristics whatsoever (I5 1st generation with 4Gb RAM) it very rarely crashes nad like you said only in the begining and never during the meeting... BTW I don't even remember when was the last time it crashed

I did canceled all the windows updates and all the secondary windows processes to never be executed during meeting (anti virus included)

 

On 1/30/2018 at 3:56 PM, Jonathan77 said:

Here is a couple of tools that can help with JW Library

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar64WzzZD9T3yEPjndgGwWhP7bN2

 

JWL Launcher

A simple tool that runs JW Library.  If JW Library crashes or is closed it will automatically re-run the app.

JWL Helper

A little more advanced.  Runs JW Library, updates the catalog and downloads media needed for the meeting.  If it crashes, it re-runs JW Library.
Please bear in mind I designed this for use on my Kingdom Hall laptop and is designed to run on a screen resolution of 1366x768, so may or not work with others.

 

Thank you very much for this!!

[Hedley]

On 1/30/2018 at 3:56 PM, Jonathan77 said:

Here is a couple of tools that can help with JW Library

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar64WzzZD9T3yEPjndgGwWhP7bN2

 

JWL Launcher

A simple tool that runs JW Library.  If JW Library crashes or is closed it will automatically re-run the app.

JWL Helper

A little more advanced.  Runs JW Library, updates the catalog and downloads media needed for the meeting.  If it crashes, it re-runs JW Library.
Please bear in mind I designed this for use on my Kingdom Hall laptop and is designed to run on a screen resolution of 1366x768, so may or not work with others.

 

This OneDrive link is broken for me - is there a new link available please?

[On the huh]

Sorry, I removed the app.  I've made a few change since, and didn't know if anybody was really interested.  I'll upload a new one when I get the chance.

[Hedley]

Thanks Jonathan - but please don't go to any trouble if you're not maintaining it - I was just interested in seeing it to be honest!

 

We're currently using JW Library and https://jwlhelper.com - which (somewhat confusingly!) has the same name as your app!

[Hedley]

On 1/30/2018 at 8:47 AM, Jonathan77 said:

JW Library does have a shuffle feature for the music.

Go to Media > Audio > Click the Play button at top > Click the bar at the bottom, in the right corner is a shuffle button.

You will only need to do it once, it will remember every time.

Or try this

http://cv8.org.uk/soundbox/BackgroundMusic.zip

 

The latest version of JWL Helper also has a feature to "Play Background Music" which plays random song snippets of a user-definable duration.