Zoom, Skype Technical Q&A here:

[Qapla]

Wednesday night, after the meeting, during the "association" our WT Overseer turned on an avatar - will see in the morning if the option is still available when I connect for the PT

 

I enabled dark mode as soon as I updated my Zoom client

 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by Qapla

[Tortuga]

On 3/25/2022 at 4:57 PM, ➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone said:

The 5.10 update has (on my install) an Avatar feature. This does not appear to be automatically disabled. I stumbled across it during the meeting, and I turned into a mouse. Everyone could see it.

It may be wise to disable this feature if it is felt it would cause disruptions.

Our COBE just disabled this feature. I was hoping Zoom would add sheep to the avatars..😁

[AH173]

I just got notice of a new zoom update moments ago.

 updated to 5.10.1 (420)

 

[jwhess]

15 minutes ago, AH173 said:

I just got notice of a new zoom update moments ago.

 updated to 5.10.1 (420)

 

I noticed that Zoom on my Android phone went to 5.10.1 a couple of days ago while everything else stayed at 5.10.0 but I did not give it much thought.

 

Like you say, my Windows 10 zoom just updated to 5.10.1 also.  It is odd that Android was first.  I wonder when apple will catch up?

[Qapla]

 

 

 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I'm glad to report the latest OBS updates (27.2.4) did not trip anything out (as yet).

[AH173]

Our 6 congregations had some training today for about an hour from the operating committee tech brother on the North auditorium. For me, he gave me some insight on how he set up the system but it was not enough for handling our meeting smoothly for tomorrow with the circuit overseer visit.

 

The Coordinator and I went over to our South side of the double hall and tried to get matters sorted out for our meeting tomorrow. After about 2 hours of some trial and error we made progress for the hybrid meeting to work smoothly. I look forward to the 1st in person meeting in 2+ years.

 

Thank Jehovah all went well after being at hall for about 3 hours.

[Floyd]

9 hours ago, AH173 said:

After about 2 hours of some trial and error we made progress for the hybrid meeting to work smoothly. I look forward to the 1st in person meeting in 2+ years.

 

Thank Jehovah all went well after being at hall for about 3 hours.

Anything that you think we should be aware of? I spent about 15 minutes going through everything. It works pretty much like it does at home. The only new thing I am aware of is the dual monitor mode can through somebody if they are not familiar.

[AH173]

From the initial setup every thing went well using the JW Library app.

 

When we used VLC (which I don't prefer at all except the USA Branch requires it) to show an image for the circuit overseer JW library got out of sync with showing last song for meeting. So I had to close out VLC app and JW Library app and restart JW Library app and every thing went back to normal.

 

As I was thinking all along that I was going to operate the video and  audio for the meeting because some brothers stayed home for whatever reason and left us short handed.

 

Jehovah was with us and it was a very successful 1st meeting since 2 years and looking forward with confidence to the future.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Has anyone recently tried OnlyM (by Anthony Corbett) for hybrid meetings? It worked a treat some time ago...

Old (Downunder) Tone

[AH173]

11 minutes ago, ➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone said:

Has anyone recently tried OnlyM (by Anthony Corbett) for hybrid meetings? It worked a treat some time ago...

Old (Downunder) Tone
 

Only m would work fine, but USA branch guidance is for vlc media player. 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I did a quick search throughout this forum. It looks like this is a repeat of all the questions and problems that occurred around March 2020 when we went to zoom.
VLC was the 'suggested' (aka "Guidance") app back then too...

Old (Downunder) Tone

[More4me2do]

Sometimes the technical advise on hardware or software is not on the same level as what is available in the market. When we were asked to get the hall ready for the Bible release the suggested monitors were Sharp. Went and tried to purchase two. They were discontinued already and I though got two brand new ones from the same vendor but two different locations. They are still running just fine after almost 10 years, so it was a good purchase.

 

You can't expect the brothers to be on the same level of expertise as the vendors that are wanting to make a profit. We have VLC installed but use Media Player Classic (MPC-HT) as a "backup" for individual playback and it works like a charm especially because of quick easy to remember keyboard short cuts. In the end all you want is a smooth running meeting.

 

Also branches at one time were buying different hardware. The US branch was all in for Compact / HP while the UK got better deals on Dell hardware. But that has all now been unified for branches. However what you run in the hall, use what has been recommended and as a "backup" install what gets the job done and what the different AV brothers from the various congregations feel comfortable with as you have to teach them.

[Floyd]

21 hours ago, AH173 said:

Only m would work fine, but USA branch guidance is for vlc media player. 

OnlyM is great.

 

[-Chris-]

19 minutes ago, Floyd said:

OnlyM is great.

 

It is good.

 

Has anyone had issues getting VLC to keep the suggested Branch settings? I get it configured and working correctly and then something breaks. Playlist window gone, only the video display window showing, is the latest issue. This is after several rounds of 'Reset Preferences' and going through them one by one.

[AH173]

3 hours ago, -Chris- said:

I get it configured and working correctly and then something breaks

This is what happened with me yesterday. I had to close vlc and close jw library and then restart jw library and all was good. 

[On the huh]

I don't understand why the branch recommends VLC or insists on it.  I could never get it to work seemlessly or smoothly on the second screen like other player like OnlyM.  Many congregations I know don't use it. 

[Al_PS]

I don't like VLC so much either... but there's a brother in my congregation who loves it. I gess it's about how well you're able to manage it. Cause I can't at all... My biggest problem are the images... I can handle videos fine with jwlibrary.
A little tip I wanted to share with you brothers is about how I set some videos to be played on JwLibrary App ... For exemple when the OVerseer comes with a new video that can't be found on the app. I choose a video of a song that's not gonna be used that day, usually the last or the first one, I copy the exact name of the file (of the song) from windows explorer to rename the video (to be displayed), paste the video on the same folder where the song was (where jw saves all videos) it will replace the file, and voilá... when you hit play for the song, it will play the new video... after the meeting, I delete the file, and I'll be able to download the original song video again, or just do the reverse process with the file...

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Al_PS

[Qapla]

4 hours ago, Al_PS said:

after the meeting, I delete the file, and I'll be able to download the original song video again, or just do the reverse process with the file...

 

You can rename the song file first by simply

• select the rename option for the song (the file name will be highlighted)
• hit <crtl C> to copy the name
• hit the right arrow or the <END> key to move the cursor to the end of the file name (it should no longer be highlighted)
• add ".bak" to the name
• select the video file name and hit <CRTL V> and it should rename the video with the somg name
• then use the name for the video, play the video and delete the video
• then just rename the original song by removing ".bak"

 

easier than having to re-download the song file

 

 

[Myew]

We had trouble using VLC at the hall. I've set VLC up on my PC at home to display on my 3rd monitor with controls on the first monitor, works fine here.. trying to get it to display on the monitors at the hall, it simply isn't working, it is only outputting to the desk display no matter what I set it to. I don't want to go back to having to put the entire window on the front monitors with the controls. Might have something to do with whatever splitter they set up for the front monitors, I don't know. Also, whenever we went to share from Zoom, it would take down other windows we had up on the front displays, so I had to change it back to single screen mode and run it side by side with JW Library. Oh well. There are many other options as needed.

When it comes to copying files, you don't even have to rename. Simply highlight the file, ctrl+c, ctrl+v. It will copy it and append 'Copy' to the name automatically. Or even better, hold ctrl when dragging and dropping to instantly make a copy.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

A note by Anthony Corbett on Github makes mention of the 'fragile' nature of the monitor controls while using JW Library App on the PC.
He has written a program to address this issue. I saw this discussion a few days ago on this forum.

I hope this addresses your problem. 
For those that are ok using this patch, here is the link:

https://github.com/AntonyCorbett/JwlMediaWin

Old (Downunder) Tone
 

Edited April 6, 2022 by ➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone

[Floyd]

On 4/5/2022 at 2:41 PM, On the huh said:

I don't understand why the branch recommends VLC or insists on it.  I could never get it to work seemlessly or smoothly on the second screen like other player like OnlyM.  Many congregations I know don't use it. 

VLC is awesome. Been using it for years and years. I recommended it to congregations before the branch did.

[Floyd]

On 4/5/2022 at 2:41 PM, On the huh said:

I don't understand why the branch recommends VLC or insists on it.  I could never get it to work seemlessly or smoothly on the second screen like other player like OnlyM.  Many congregations I know don't use it. 

We used it this week with our CO visit. He had 15 pictures and 2 videos. It worked flawlessly. After each picture was done we simply clicked the year text in jwlibrary in the taskbar. We didn't click stop for the picture. Just clicked the year text. When time for the next picture just double-click it in the playlist and it covers the year text. I mean it can't get much simpler. OnlyM is great too.

 

[howudodat]

On 4/5/2022 at 11:41 AM, On the huh said:

I don't understand why the branch recommends VLC or insists on it.  I could never get it to work seemlessly or smoothly on the second screen like other player like OnlyM.  Many congregations I know don't use it. 

VLC has its own media decoders built in and doesn't rely on external decoders.  VLC runs on every modern OS. This makes it an extremely powerful and versatile media player.  Throughout the history of windows WMP has been missing support for various formats (most of which have been eventually added in), but VLC had support for them much quicker.  VLC is my go to player on every platform.

 

Additionally, the instructions never stated VLC must be used or else.  The Video System Guidelines explain what VLC is, which is followed by "This may be used..."; S-144 doesn't dictate what to use but explains how to set it up so that it works correctly.  Recommends, yes....insists on, not so much.

 

OnlyM only runs on windows.  For quite some time sign language congregations used mac.  In some countries neither mac nor windows are used.  Providing instructions for VLC allows the organization to help more congregations.

[bigvince]

Personally, I have used VLC at the hall pre pandemic and on zoom and it works very well, better than JW Library most of the time. The advantage of JW Library for me is that you download media directly into it.