Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

Discussions on how emerging technology can assist the distribution of media content through mobile, kiosks, Internet, social networks, etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
nbflint
Member
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:07 pm

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#91

Post by nbflint »

The iOS version of the Mormon Channel app allows for easy downloading and streaming of church content, including videos. It also has a Youth section within. This seems like a natural fit for adding a "Come, Follow Me," collection.

While iOS devices are not cheap, some Android devices can be obtained very cheaply. Example Only: http://www.obostore.com/onda-vx570r-and ... MP4+Player

I don't know if the Android version of the Mormon Channel app has the same downloading capabilities the iOS version does, but using this type of device and the app the church has already developed could be cost effective and fairly intuitive to train/learn.
User avatar
nbflint
Member
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:07 pm

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#92

Post by nbflint »

nbflint wrote:The iOS version of the Mormon Channel app allows for easy downloading and streaming of church content, including videos. It also has a Youth section within. This seems like a natural fit for adding a "Come, Follow Me," collection.

While iOS devices are not cheap, some Android devices can be obtained very cheaply. Example Only: http://www.obostore.com/onda-vx570r-and ... MP4+Player

I don't know if the Android version of the Mormon Channel app has the same downloading capabilities the iOS version does, but using this type of device and the app the church has already developed could be cost effective and fairly intuitive to train/learn.
I also wanted to add, that my ideal solution would involve the church purchases inexpensive android devices with TV out capabilities, installing the Mormon Channel App and customizing the device to auto load the app on boot. A device configured this way could cost $50 and provide the church with a platform for future AV distribution.
dannykos
Member
Posts: 298
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:26 am
Location: UK, East Grinstead

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#93

Post by dannykos »

nbflint wrote:I also wanted to add, that my ideal solution would involve the church purchases inexpensive android devices with TV out capabilities, installing the Mormon Channel App and customizing the device to auto load the app on boot. A device configured this way could cost $50 and provide the church with a platform for future AV distribution.
The trouble with that approach is that there are something like 29,000 units of the church around the world with potentially an average of say 5 concurrent classes. That would cost $7.25M to provide one device per class.
User avatar
johnshaw
Senior Member
Posts: 2273
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:55 pm
Location: Syracuse, UT

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#94

Post by johnshaw »

How is that trouble? I could throw out any number of items that if you multiply it by 29,000 units will come to a big number, $7.25M might seem high to us, but it is a drop in the bucket to the budgets the church deals with on a regular basis.
User avatar
nbflint
Member
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:07 pm

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#95

Post by nbflint »

dannykos wrote:The trouble with that approach is that there are something like 29,000 units of the church around the world with potentially an average of say 5 concurrent classes. That would cost $7.25M to provide one device per class.
You can't have it for free. Someone is going to pay for it. If we ask teachers to use their own devices they will feel pressured/inspired to purchase what they feel they need to fund their calling. I've done this before. If we tell the wards to pay for it then the other programs have less to use. If we have FMG pay for it then other equipment gets put on hold. If Salt Lake pays for it. . . .

Well, I guess in the end it's the tithe payers (mostly) of the church that are going to pay for it no matter what way you go about categorizing it.

What I'm suggesting is a stop-gap measure with the potential of a long term strategy. Members can start using the existing technology on their personal devices immediately (almost, the apps need to have the content added). As budgets allow (I don't really care whose), the customized devices can be purchased from church distribution for much less than any one ward could get them at retail.
User avatar
nbflint
Member
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:07 pm

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#96

Post by nbflint »

Here's another idea. I admit I know little about satellite transmission technology. Could the church use it's existing satellite transmission system to offer an on demand menu of media? I'm thinking about something similar to what satellite tv companies offers with on demand movies etc. If this is possible it would allow for a central setup and utilization of some existing hardware.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#97

Post by russellhltn »

nbflint wrote:Here's another idea. I admit I know little about satellite transmission technology. Could the church use it's existing satellite transmission system to offer an on demand menu of media? I'm thinking about something similar to what satellite tv companies offers with on demand movies etc. If this is possible it would allow for a central setup and utilization of some existing hardware.
I don't think there's enough capacity to serve up that many channels for on-demand. The receivers the church uses has no storage.
dannykos
Member
Posts: 298
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:26 am
Location: UK, East Grinstead

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#98

Post by dannykos »

I just tried playing one of the MP4 files on the both the LG 32" LCD TVs directly through the USB, and it played fine. I'm going to get a 16Gb stick, put them all on it and see which ones play and don't play.
joe.tandy
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:02 pm

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#99

Post by joe.tandy »

We are facing many of the same hurdles with bandwidth, etc. Not really with our building bandwidth, but I have had trouble accessing media from the Church website.....during church. One path I have been exploring is using an Apple TV and a computer with iTunes. I have downloaded all the videos in the curriculum to the computer. With *very* little editing I can organize the videos in genres: Sunday School, Priesthood, YW, etc. Turn on Home Sharing on the computer and ATV. In the parental controls section of the ATV I turned off *everything*. The main page of the ATV only shows "Computers" and "Settings". No chance of showing other content. This way the content is available locally without need for the Internet. It's fast and reliable. I've been beta testing this for the wards that meet in my building for leadership training, Christmas programs, Stake Conference, and a special visit from Elder Choi from the Seventy. My Bishop, who by his own admission is technologically inept, was able to play several movies during the introduction to the new curriculum without any trouble.

This approach, of course, does not solve the issue of the videos not available for download entirely. My hope is that with a majority of them locally available that the number of classes trying to access the Internet videos simultaneously will be reduced. Again using the ATV and a laptop or iPad I can use Airplay to stream content. I have a shared Dropbox folder with a .pdf of links, organized by month, of the videos to stream. They can be found quickly and I can update the .pdf whenever I need to and everybody has the current copy.

I have also explored the Roku, but I too found the media difficult to quickly locate, the UI was not very fast, and it often timed out when trying to load a video.

In experimenting with this I have a few primary concerns.
1. It needs to be simple.
2. It needs to be available.
3. It needs to be relatively cost effective.

So my scenario would look something like this: A Beehive teacher needs a video. Using her iPad (or an iPad mini from the library) consults the Dropbox document to find that it's available locally. Using the Apple TV remote she clicks "movies" then "Young Women" and looks through the list of videos alphabetically to find the one she needs.
Alternately, she finds that the movie is only available online. She clicks the Dropbox link and it opens the movie from the Church website. She chooses the ATV (instead of the iPad) to show the video.

The cost breakdown: $300-$400 for 1 32" TV. $99 for Apple TV. $319 for iPad Mini. Used computer varies. It's still under $1,000 for a solution that covers all the bases. Local media takes 80% of the availability issue off the table. Elder Choi had never seen Airplay before and used it flawlessly with, literally, 30 seconds of training, so it's simple.

I know the solution isn't perfect, but testing has been encouraging. I'm interested in feedback.

Joe
TinMan
Member
Posts: 474
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:08 am
Location: Bountiful, UT, USA

Re: Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

#100

Post by TinMan »

$1000.00 each for all 6 YM/YW classes?
Post Reply

Return to “Digital Media”