Visual (ProPresenter)
The visual portion of the A/V system consists of 3 TVs connected to HDMI splitters connected to the SABTSs-MBP running ProPresenter 6. ProPresenter 7 exists, but it's lame and makes everything more complicated and harder to use. Also it's really expensive.
So we should continue to use ProPresenter 6, and with that in mind, the MacBook has auto updates disabled and care should be taken to ensure it stays on MacOS Monterey. ProPresenter 6 is EOL, but still works fine, however MacOS updates now have the potential to break it.
The system has been configured so that there are two HDMI outputs - one via the adapter, one via the onboard HDMI port. The adapter output goes to the Atem Mini, and the onboard port goes to the TVs. The settings have been configured so that it mirrors the two outputs. Attempts were made to get the Atem and TVs on the same HDMI splitter, but they don't behave and a whole bunch of issues show up when you try that.
ProPresenter
We use ProPresenter 6 for all the slides. It has a library of thousands of hymns, songs, and other documents that's been built up over the years of use.
The best way to handle PowerPoints is to export them to images, then drag and drop the images into a document in ProPresenter. You can import a PowerPoint into ProPresenter, but it can be finnicky, and has many more moving parts than just images or a video.
Terms
Document - Documents are groups of slides, for example, an hymn will be a document. This is very similar to an entire PowerPoint presentation.
Playlist - A playlist is a group of documents, for example, the whole service.
Slide - (While probably redundant, it might as well be documented) A slide is a single image or text or both. It's like a PowerPoint slide, but backgrounds can be run behind slides.
Background - The backgrounds are independent of the slides, but can be linked to slides by dragging and dropping the backgrounds onto the slides. They are located in the bottom window in ProPresenter. Clicking on them will switch to them.
Setup
For smooth, trouble free operation, it's recommended to first power on the A/V system, turn on the TVs, then plug the HDMI cable and USB-C to HDMI adapter into the MacBook, in that order. Then launch ProPresenter, and finally, hit the output button in the upper right corner of window to start displaying on the screens.
If there will be any audio played during the service, plug in the 3.5mm cable to the corresponding port on the MacBook.
Controls
ProPresenter has several very useful functions mapped to the function keys on the keyboard.
F1 - Clears all - the slide, background, audio, etc.
F2 - Clears just the slide
F3 - Clears just the background
F4 - N/A
F5 - Clears any audio. This is pretty rarely needed
Creating / Editing slides
Creating
Slides can be created by first selecting the document you want to add a slide too, then clicking the small + button on the bottom left corner of the document window.
Editing
Slides can be edited by right clicking on the slide (two finger click on trackpad) and selecting edit which will bring you to an editor window in place of the slides window. Text, images, shapes, and more can be added and removed in the editor.
The standard formatting for lyric and other text slides is Metropolis font at 90-95 font size when the slide resolution is set to 1080p.
User Manual
For further instructions on different functions and abilities of ProPresenter6, the user manual for can be found here: https://renewedvision.com/downloads/pro6userguide.pdf
Or in case the manual is taken down, a copy hosted on this site can be found here: Pro6 User Manual