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Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:13 pm
by lajackson
Gary_Miller wrote:All because the stake choose to not follow the proper channels when purchasing equipment.

On top of that the TV that was purchased was well over the maximum size guidelines for meeting house libraries.
I believe it might be more correct to say that perhaps the stake chose not to follow printed/published channels. Our stake has unpublished guidelines. But that would be a very short discussion and would belong in another topic.

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:45 pm
by Gary_Miller
mrrad wrote:Having these kinds of presentations every week may be more useful than, say, a once-a-year campout (but we're still having the campout anyway).
The youth activity program is much more than a once a year campout. Its a weekly program which if conducted properly will help the youth by strenghting the principles they learn on Sunday, you might call it a labratory. It is also the program that helps influence the youth to want to attend Sunday meetings.
mrrad wrote:In our case, new AV equipment was paid for entirely by leftover budget money from previous years which, these days, we're able to keep.
Which is not in line with the published budget guidlines for unneeded budget allowance funds. While wards and stakes may retain some unspent funds purchasing of AV equipment is not one of the exceptions.
mrrad wrote: The Bishops evaluated the absolutely pathetic assortment of outdated equipment in our library and the Stake/FM Group unwillingness to help. Then the Bishops made their decision. They've already received dozens of hours of free help (from me) to get it all put together along with managing the video files and USB drives for them. Financially, I think they got a very good deal. :) The grateful feedback I personally received from a stranger in another ward is, as they say in the commercial, priceless.
While it may have been a good with grateful feedback the purchase was not inline with the printed guidline in the handbook of instructions for the proper use of LUBA.

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:49 pm
by Gary_Miller
lajackson wrote:I believe it might be more correct to say that perhaps the stake chose not to follow printed/published channels. Our stake has unpublished guidelines. But that would be a very short discussion and would belong in another topic.
It would seem to me that the published guidelines in the Handbook of Instructions trumps any unpublished or published guidelines from the stake.

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:18 pm
by lajackson
Gary_Miller wrote:It would seem to me that the published guidelines in the Handbook of Instructions trumps any unpublished or published guidelines from the stake.
You are correct. The current Handbook does, and the former Handbook of Instructions did, trump any stake guidelines. The guidelines to which I refer do not come from the stake.

Anyone have the new 47" TV yet?

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:41 am
by bellfamily4
Has anyone received a 47" TV from their FM group? I asked someone in ours to check their meeting house order list last week, and it shows an LG 32" and LG 47" TV (good news). The only problem is that they say they can't replace our 4-year-old 22" LCD's as long as they are functional.

The consensus of both bishoprics in the building is that the 22" TV's are non-functional, in that they are way too small for class viewing. TV sizing guideline support this. And, possibly the church as well, as the 22" is no longer offered.

The initial comments I heard when reporting back that we are stuck with the 22" TVs were focus around ways to make them non-functional(slip n' fall). While no one will take such inappropriate measures, it does reflect on the rift between local units and the FM group.

I would agree that using local unit funds is not appropriate; however, when your back is up against the wall. . .

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 12:11 pm
by gregwanderson
I'm glad to see that the Law of Moses has been replaced by "the good news" but wish this news could rise above the rumor stage so that we could stop arguing about it here. (A 47" TV? That IS good news!) Plus, I'm still happy we have good equipment and it's all being used and appreciated, even if I have to come here and find out how horribly we violated spending policies to make this good thing happen.

Edit: Additional: A few weeks after our Bishops decided to buy a couple of new TVs (after we'd been told that the stake and FM group would not be helping) we had two new pieces of gear mysteriously show up (presumably from the FM group). They are 24" TV/DVD Player combo units. They have USB ports on the back but they're only good for playing audio files or showing still photos from a "thumb drive". They cannot play video files downloaded from the church web site. So, while we got a couple of good DVD players, these "new" devices are quite inadequate to support the church's download-based systems for playing new videos. Good thing I was able to make DVDs from the church's downloads. Now we have four good systems for showing videos in classes. And we're still not sure that's enough but happy with what we have. Still no regrets about the equipment we bought which CAN play videos from thumb drives.

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 1:15 pm
by gregwanderson
...and one more point. If we only had the DVD players (and if I wasn't able to make DVDs from the downloaded material) then this generous gift from the FM group would merely be an invitation to spend a lot of budget money on DVDs from the Distribution Center... since our library only has about 5 or 6 DVDs right now anyway (besides the ones I made). And we still wouldn't be able to show the Youth curriculum videos.

The short, download-able videos are amazingly useful. Who's really going to be able to show, say, the feature film Legacy (available on DVD) in a lesson? You could break it up and show it over the course of two or three Sundays but... really? The download-able videos are the way to go, for sure, and any new equipment should be selected with the idea that it can support them.

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:08 am
by bellfamily4
The 47" TV is more than a rumor. I was just wondering if anyone had successfully requested and received a 47" from their FM group yet.

I had asked our FM group to check for changes to the approved list. They pulled up the Purchase Reference Guide and we found the following to items listed in the Meetinghouse section:
1) Item 10225 -- 32" TV (LG 32LT560E)
2) Item 57447 -- 47" TV (LG 47LT560E.

Knowing it is now listed and getting it are not the same. As I mentioned, they came back and said they couldn't replace the tiny 22" TVs until they are no longer functional.

Local Media Server and Streaming

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:24 am
by bellfamily4
Considering digital media and streaming?

If so, read this tantalizing post first:
https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=14351

A local media server that is supported and automatically updated from Salt Lake? Sounds quite promising, but heed the note stating that "none of this is written in stone".

We looked into getting a Roku for streaming the Mormon channel (great content), and possibly compiling our own media server, or USB drives. However, the ongoing task of locating and updating media is in no way appealing to us, so we have tabled this until we can find out more about the above project.

Re: Replacing OLD style TV and Trolley for Meeting House use

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:37 am
by johnshaw
bellfamily4,

Ping me offline i have about 60 GB of the videos already downloaded.. anything that could be I did... including seminary, CES.... it took me all summer last year, but now that I have them, the upkeep is quite simple. If you want to send me a flash drive I'll copy them all for you.

not sure where the project went you were referring to. it's been almost a year now...