Having videos as background?

<p>Do we have a work around for this video background yet? I like the .gif format as theme as well. Good point.</p>

<p>We are all aware that this feature is an industry standard correct? I've had great success spreading openlp to other churches - but the single greatest turn off that those who chose to not go with it was the fact that creating a looped video theme for a song was not possible. I think this needs to be moved higher up on the list (or put on the list at all apparently).</p> <p>Whole buisnesses are formed around this concept (http://www.motionworship.com/free-worship-video-background/). Every other program of this nature provides for this, lets get it on the list folks.</p>

<p>Most other programs of this nature charge you a few hundred dollars at least, and only work on one or two platforms.</p> <p>They ARE aware it's an industry standard, but it's a niceity, not a requirement.  I'd rather have no motion backgrounds and a fully functional bible search, song search by topic, stable media playback in the service order, etc.  Ya know stuff that are REAL show stoppers.   If motion backgrounds are really THIS important, I think maybe we should rethink what we're projecting and why.  Even the static images we use at my church are a distraction to some, I know once the motion backgrounds work I'm going to have to use some of them, but I really don't want to because to me, that's turning worship in to a show, not worship.</p> <p>All that said, in some limited tests I did, the new media rewrite has made big strides in the replace background with video, so it's getting there.</p>

<p>pFlux, we have spent a lot of time trying to get this feature to work. This area of code has even been rewritten a couple of times in order to try and acheive this.</p> <p>Unfortunately although it might seem easy to you to put text on top of a video, doing so in a way that performs well on multiple operating systems, isn't.</p> <p>"Reminding" us won't make it come quicker or telling us what the industry standard (is this standard documented and ISO approved btw?). Remember we all have day jobs, and do this in our spare time.</p> <p>If churches really badly need video backgrounds then they have the choice of going elsewhere. We're not going to lose sleep over it. We're not in this to gain market share, we're in this to help those we can have an affordable (i.e. free) means to display lyrics etc on their operating system of choice.</p> <p>OpenLP in it's current state already fulfills the needs of many churches, and we'll continue to add new features as and when we can. It's great that you have spread OpenLP to other churches and we thank you for spreading the word. All you need to do now is spread the word to other developers to join our team and help the effort, if you want features added quicker! :)</p>

<p>It is interesting that one of the largest churches I've been at does not even use backgrounds.   Just white letters on a black background.  I wonder how badly we really "need" animated backgrounds.</p> <p>I think many smaller churches often lack musicians, and have a hard time filling in an emergency absence.  Thus, I think the ability to run tracks with the lyrics, and maybe even iWorship type tracks through OpenLP is more important to most small churches.</p>

<p>Agreed lnorbo.  We have people who are distracted by the static image backgrounds, I can only imagine when I can do video backgrounds and start being asked for them by the worship leader/choir director what we'll hear.   I think we've turned Worship in to too much of a multi-media process and less of what it's supposed to be.</p>

<p>Thank you for finally coming forward and making an official statement on the matter - something we've been seeking. Your forthrightness is appreciated. The other shortsighted comments, that attempt to limit this technology seem oddly placed in a thread purely about features that users would like to see added. Ahem, yes we would like to see them added, no its not because of ADHD or lack of content. But i suppose Jesus really should have taught the parable of the vine dresser in a dark closet instead of having all those audio/visual garden motif's around - or perhaps Moses should have taught the Israelites to meditate on God's law purely in solitude, silence and darkness instead of giving them those pesky visual aids called tassels.</p>

<p>pFlux, if you can't behave yourself on this site, I will ban you from it. There is no need to make unsubstantiated claims and veiled insults about work that is being done for free.</p> <p>I will happily develop video backgrounds for you, it will cost you US$15000 and take 3 months.</p>

<p>Perhaps you might mention this to the above posters who hijacked a very well defined feature request thread with a contentious philosophical argument? Sadly, frustration grew over the past few years as requests were made and little communication was returned, which was logically followed by posts to the effect of, "Whats going on with this?"</p> <p>If this is so challenging a thought that others must retort with philosophical insults - so be it, ban me.</p>

<p>One point you seem to have missed is that these are community forums - it is not only the developers posting here. Your frustration with OpenLP for having philisophical arguments is misplaced.</p> <p>Another point you seem to have missed is that we are all volunteers. None of the developers works on OpenLP full time. I'd gladly work on OpenLP full time, and make everyone's dreams come true, but I need to be paid to do so.</p> <p>Lastly, since we are an open source project, we do attempt to be transparent. However, we are all humans, and we don't always manage to be. And when someone posts a feature request, we do take note of it, even if we don't always respond. That's a lot better than most commercial software packages, which simply give you a sales template reply to any e-mails.</p> <p>At the end of the day, getting in touch with the actual developers, as opposed to just the community, is really simple. There is a web IRC chat on this site which allows you to pop into our IRC channel (which, by the way is not just for developers) and ask us questions. We're mostly around between 10am and 10pm UTC (GMT). You are more than welcome to pop in and ask us anything you want.</p> <p>Of course this is all presuming you've read the Frequently Asked Questions document, which we link to at the top of the download page. The FAQ contains a lot of information about OpenLP and is highly recommended reading by anyone who wants to use OpenLP.</p> <p>Lastly, I want to ask everyone to please be kind and considerate when you post here. If you are frustrated, and I know many of us are (especially the developers, who find themselves answering the same questions over and over again), please take a deep breath and speak to each other in love.</p> <p>pFlux, you are welcome to come into IRC and ask me for my e-mail address so that you can e-mail me directly, should you so desire. My nick is "superfly" and my timezone is SAST (UTC+2).</p>

<p>I'd like to thank superfly and the other developers for their work here, it is an enourmous benefit to churches of various styles and sizes. I've chatted with him in IRC and have always found the team approachable.</p> <p>This feature is obviously desired by a part of the community as evidenced by the various threads to that end. I'll end my comments with this: the scriptures example a wide variety of methods of teaching. Worship is life, we're all worshippers worshipping something (romans 1) with or without lyric projection. To that end some will desire the 'flashy' elements, not because of any lack/limitation but simply because of the greatness/creativity of God and to worship Him in like-kind.</p> <p>Additionally, i believe that the users of openlp do at times forget the team of people behind the scenes, such is sadly the nature of the impersonal beast. So, from we the users, thank you.</p>

<p>Thanks pFlux! It was really great to chat to you in IRC, and clear things up, I really appreciate it!</p> <p>To everyone: please don't forget that we're always happy to chat to anyone in the OpenLP IRC channel. You can easily hop in by going to our IRC Chat page, and chat right from your browser!</p>