Don't rely on the building's Internet

Using the Church Webcasting System, YouTube, etc. Including cameras and mixers.
michaelfish
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Don't rely on the building's Internet

#1

Post by michaelfish »

Connecting to the Internet for a Sunday lesson? You may be disappointed. It may work on any other day, but on Sundays it is better be prepared with files on your hard drive.

Let me explain why and then offer some suggestions.

The church managed network allows for only a certain number of simultaneous connections to the Internet (called leases). If you need access to the Internet, and other devices have taken the only available leases, you will get a message that you have "Limited Connectivity" (your device may still connect to the Wifi connection but cannot obtain a valid IP address).

A reason could be is that when members file into the building on Sunday, their smart-phones, tablets, etc. automatically sign on (if the member has had previous access). After the number of available leases run out, you will not be able to access the Internet. Even if you do have access to the Internet, everyone will be sharing the same connection so the speed will slow down.

Here are some options you may wish to consider for reliability (and yes, please add more suggestions to this post)


Videos:
  • Download videos to your computer’s hard drive. The church is now including a “Download” button on many videos which will enable you to save a copy on hard drive and play it on demand.
  • Try right-clicking on the link and select “Save Target As”. (does not always work)
  • Install and use software that is designed to download videos from the Internet to your PC (such as Any Video Converter – which is free)
  • Record the video using software such as Snag-It and save it to your hard drive
Web pages:
  • In your browser, click on File, Save As, (IE8: in the Save as type, select complete). Use this file to display in your lesson
  • Capture a screen print of the website (press PRINT SCREEN, then open a program such as Word or PowerPoint, and paste the screen-print {CTRL-V}). Save this file and use it in the lesson.
Any other ideas or suggestions?
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

Also note that YouTube is blocked in meetinghouses. In some cases the church site will sense that and offer the video from church servers, but you'd have to test before being sure of that.
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rbeede
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#3

Post by rbeede »

Another option is to have a cell phone wifi hotspot as backup.
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aebrown
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#4

Post by aebrown »

As long as you have the new 881W firewall, another option is to add IP addresses. You can increase the number of leases by 64, 128, or 256 (actually some number somewhat less than each of those, but I don't remember exactly), subject to stake president's approval, and the GSD's willingness to do the increase (depending on the GSD tech you are talking to, you may need to give good justification for the increase, or none at all).
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kisaac
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#5

Post by kisaac »

Most of the suggestions still require the member to bring a laptop or tablet. Does anyone use a media player as described in
Viewing Church broadcasts using USB drives

Using a Western Digital TV HD Live Media Player or Western Digital WD TV Live Plus Media Player (Americas) and included cables, the local unit can plug in the USB drive and playback videos for congregations.
While the page discusses conference to remote areas, wouldn't it have a much broader application if the stake or ward library had these, and members brought their content they downloaded at home, or at less busy times at the ward building, to USB drives?

As a stake leader once said, in frustration: "buffering kills the spirit."
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rbeede
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#6

Post by rbeede »

Members would have to bring content on usb drives in the correct format and depending on what they were bringing this would surely end up not working on those devices with some format. You'd be more versatile with a laptop.
michaelfish
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#7

Post by michaelfish »

RussellHltn wrote:Also note that YouTube is blocked in meetinghouses
An option to view/download church videos redirected to YouTube would be to instead view/download them from mormonchannel.org.

For instance, if you go to lds.org and wish to play one of the Mormon messages, the church's website will redirect you to YouTube to stream the video but if you 're in the meetinghouse, it will be blocked. Instead, get it from mormonchannel.org/mormonmessages.

I still do not recommend meetinghouse Internet to view or stream these videos. It would be best if they were downloaded on the hard drive and played for the lesson instead of via the meetinghouse Internet.
michaelfish
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#8

Post by michaelfish »

kisaac wrote:Most of the suggestions still require the member to bring a laptop or tablet. Does anyone use a media player as described in
Viewing Church broadcasts using USB drives
I have used the Western Digital Live TV Hub for playing downloaded videos. Since using a laptop required the use of a table, projector, screen and speakers I found this so much more convenient to connect to the TV on the rolling cart.
michaelfish
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#9

Post by michaelfish »

rbeede wrote:Members would have to bring content on usb drives in the correct format and depending on what they were bringing this would surely end up not working on those devices with some format. You'd be more versatile with a laptop.
...just an observation: I continually have problems getting member's laptops to work with projectors (did not have dual display capability or so full of junk or slow and they don't know how to make them work, etc.) and I'm always worried about possibly having objectional material on them.

While it is true many media centers are limited in what formats they can play, the WD TV Live Hub plays many many more formats than I have exeperienced with the Sony, Apple TV, and Roku.

It would be nice to have one of these boxes connected to the rolling TV cart. It would be so much more convenient than setting up a table, laptop, projector, speakers and screen just to play a short video segment. The member could simply bring their video on a USB flash drive, plug it in, turn on the TV and use a remote to play the video.

A media center box would be a great option for this purpose (connects to any TV, easy to use, has a remote control, etc.) I know some of the game consoles have as much or more flexibility to play various formats than the WD.

But what media center device is the best?

Have you had experience with one that does all (mpg, avi, wmv, mp4, asf, flv, swf, etc.)?
russellhltn
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#10

Post by russellhltn »

michaelfish wrote:...just an observation: I continually have problems getting member's laptops to work with projectors (did not have dual display capability or so full of junk or slow and they don't know how to make them work, etc.) and I'm always worried about possibly having objectional material on them.

Not to mention Mac users who don't know they need an adapter. (or forgot it) BTDT.
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