MediaShout Reviews

My favorite new feature is the in line editor. It's very convenient to be able to edit slides while still running the program.

I don't like the way the cursor jumps back to the beginning of the cue when the text wraps to a new slide within the cue.

MS7 seems to run much more efficiently on our machines, additionally once the service is prepared by staff and saved to the media storage device, the presentation has all the backgrounds and items it needs to run, thus is the network crashes the presentation will still execute (unless we lose all power like we did last Sunday).

MediaShout7 does not import MS Presentations as easily as MediaShout4.5 (the version we upgraded from). With 4.5 the import was straight forward with very limited need to reset fonts, sizes, etc. Not so when an MS Presentation is imported to MediaShout 7. Pastor has always liked using MS Presentation as he was very familiar, however he is now learning MediaShout7 Sermon Builder.

Additionally, we experimented with different font colors against the song backgrounds. Upon making our choice and changing, I found there is not was to easily make that change globally to all pages of the song cue, except via template.

Ability to quickly recall lyrics and scriptures to make a great presentation

Plagued by frequent crashes, even after applying patches recommended by vendor

I love the user friendly software. It was easy to install and the setup is easy to navigate.

No cons at this point. We are still getting adjusted to the software. The small issues that we’ve had have been easily taken care of by customer support.

We have been customers for upwards of 10 years.
The program worked with dual monitors.

We have purchased several upgrades - one because they forced us to. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

A few months ago we showed up for service as usual and our program said we were using a trial version. It started the 30 day countdown.

Eventually we dig out the registration codes for the product we had purchased and it would not accept the code. We tried multiple times but it would never go through.

We contacted tech support and eventually they just told us the company that managed the licenses for them no longer was. We asked what we could do to fix the problem.

The answer? Pay $400 to get a new version. WHAT?!? We purchase a product with the express understanding they are going to deliver on that product.

Instead, because they made an unfortunate decision to do business with the wrong company, it was going to cost US -the customer- $400. No product discount, no alternate license or work around. Just a response that would mean they succeeded at doing this to us TWICE.

I’m not happy nor would I recommend this product. It does the job. There were things we liked and didn’t like but because of the investment we had, we stayed. No longer.

We still haven’t replaced our program. We will be very diligent in reading reviews so we can get a company that is:

1) available with tech support without charging an additional fee and
2) stands behind the service they offer

I love that those of us that are tech savvy can dig into the options and have some fun with our creativity, and yet simplify the screen with volunteer mode, so that our week-end volunteers don't feel intimidated........Oh and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the updates have finally included compatibility with standard remotes.

The system sometimes freezes during service. My computer is more than capable of handling the software, so I have been trying to isolate why we get occasional glitches. At this point I am blaming it on older video background loops that are not mP4. I don't know why wmv files would cause an issue, but when I don't use them, I don't have issues.

I love the built in libraries and the ease of creating and updating the libraries to fit our needs for our church! And if I ever a problem, the support team is quick to respond and help me out!

There are a few features, like announcements, I have yet to use as I haven't found the right info to help me figure out how to fire these off and play appropriately. There also is a delay in transitioning between cues within the software that does not happen on our display screens, takes a bit to refresh.

Links with Song Select. Drag and drop arranging of lyrics. combine ALL kinds of media in one script

Can be a little temperamental with DVD's

It works, without having to spend a lot of money and time with it. We have staff that comes and go very fast getting a new person up to show a presentation around 10 or 15 minutes takes around an hour or two to for a person the be able to build a presentation. Love the facebook user group and videos.

Does not like to work with PowerPoint 365 have to log out of Media Shout we went to a feed computer when we have a full team. Our workaround for this is using a second machine which allows the worship team to check Lyrics while building the rest of the service.

MediaShout is far beyond 'just' a projection software for churches. The flexibility and ease of use make it the BEST church service projection software programs out there. We have been using it since version 3 and are now on version 6. They keep listening to consumers and improving it with making spreading the word of God the importance!

Some of the features are not quite as user friendly as they could be.

After all of my critical critiques of MS7 early releases I thought I would follow-up with a review of the latest release. I almost had to start from scratch, relearning how to build cues and formatting pages. But, I was able to build this weeks service in MS7 and it ran without any issues/aborts (unexpected shutdowns). I did not use any of my old MS7 scripts but started with a "new" script and built the entire script from scratch. I also imported a MS6 Announcement script into MS7 and did not experience any issues. The "new" MS7 announcement script ran using script control which it imported from the MS6 script.

This release has fixed the unexpected shutdown issue that we were having with the early releases. Another PRO is the support staff at Media Shout. They bend over backwards to help you solve issues or help you learn how to use the product.

Their early release of the product. There were several features that would give you a comment that this feature would be coming in a future release. With the early releases the software would shutdown in the middle of our church service. To date this version of MS7 seems to be stable.

I love the numerous features and options that help to make for a vibrant worship service. Most of all, I love the wide selection of Bible translations that are available without the need of having to purchase a separate license for each translation. This is really the main reason that we chose MediaShout above the others.

It can be a bit complicated to operate the software. Stability is a bit of an issue. Even with a powerful machine, it may crash from time to time.
I am not thrilled with the past licensing model that at times necessitated having to potentially purchase a new license if a computer crashed. It would be nice to have an option where licenses could be activated/deactivated via a secure login. However, I think that the new licensing model which makes it more cost effective just to purchase unlimited licenses will remedy this issue.
Finally, upgrade pricing is too high.

It allows me to use beautiful motions as backgrounds and I can put text over the motions. It's easy to use and very well supported by a team of very knowledgeable and helpful Christian people. I don't use/need even half of the functionality but what I do use allows me to create wonderful hour-long services in a liturgical "high church" setting. I love my work as a visual worship leader and could not even begin to do my church justice without this wonderful and powerful software.

Same thing with all software I guess ... when big new releases come out, the learning curve is very rough. Part of that is on my shoulders because I'm not a young techy ... but wow sometimes I wonder why developers don't take into consideration the stress it creates and time required to have the user interface change so drastically that the user feels lost and has to start from scratch. And you know how much time we have on our hands. But, bottom line is the software and support is awesome and I love it.

The software is generally reliable with few glitches, especially on newer versions. It can be easily customized. Resource Light compared to some other options.

There are many better options available, and MediaShout hasn't exactly kept up with competition. Upgraded versions offer little in the way of new features, and the pricing isn't appealing when you compare what you can get for the same or less elsewhere.

Ability to quickly add and edit slides on the fly.
Setup recurring events.
Plan out the service weeks in advance

Clunky would be the best way to describe it.
Rendering times could be slow especially when changing slides (usually a several second delay).
All videos were stuck on a loop and you have to manually switch to the next one (the auto-advance feature either doesn't work or requires that you manually enter the length of each video).

I have used it for many years in different churches and it has always performed very well. It was reliable. I like the features of release 6 but I hate the lack of stability. I have purchased the upgrade to release 7 (at my other church) and found it incomplete and not nearly as intuitive as advertised.

Instability and the fact we now have to pay for support for a quirky product.

It does what it is designed to do.
Learning curve isn't overwhelming.
Support people are EXCELLENT.

They rely a lot of video training. I would like to have a more in depth manual.
Although not the fault of Mediashout, Using Powerpoint slides can be problematic. We do fine with Powerpoint 2007 and 2010. Changes made by Microsoft prevent us from updating to newer Microsoft Office.

This is a wonderful tool to use to project song lyrics for our church services. There are many great options to add backgrounds, still shots, video graphics, and much more. We also use the confidence monitor for our choir and praise team members as well. This has been a huge help in boosting confidence for our music ministry.

This product crashes frequently. And often right in the middle of a service inevitably. This is a great product, but I can never fully trust it to make it through the day without some sort of hiccup. It's one of those products that you learn its quirks and just roll with it whatever happens.

My favorite thing about the software is the ability to change my presentation on the fly! Incorectly spelled words, wrong bible verse or version. This is one the main reasons we purchased this software.

The link to Songselect doesn't link. Freezing sometimes occurs in the middle of service and I have to reboot. This issue has greatly improved with the information provided under knowledge base for updates to Codec.

It will run slides.

You can import from CCLI

You can add custom backgrounds and create set lists.

Much cheaper than other competitors products (ie. ProPresenter)

No editing slides on the fly if needed.

Overall platform feels very behind the times and harder to understand than most, updating and continual learning of the program was painful

Mac version seems like an after thought that always is years behind their PC version.

Functionality. Does things I can't do with other presentation software. I like especially the timed advance feature.

Problems caused by unexpected and seemingly random behaviors. Specifically, the timed advance feature doesn't behave consistently. I get a cue set up with pages that advance perfectly, and then the next time I run the script, significant time has been added to some of the pages.

Integrations with multiple Bible translations, integrations with SongSelect and Planning Center Online, ability to streamline scripts for new volunteers. Multiple screen output.

Legacy versions tend to run cleaner than newer versions, lots of updates to continue eliminating bugs even when out of beta. Not cross-compatible with MacOS. Support for legacy versions must be purchased separately.

The feature I like most is the ability to edit a cue while displaying a cue. I like that Media Shout gives you all the Bible versions included in the cost of the software. When displaying a song we can see the complete words to each lyric so that the song leader jumps around then we can quickly see which lyric to display. I always like a company the is totally North America support. It appears all the support personnel also are Media Shout users in their local church. It is always a pleasure to talk to support, great Christian people.

There is a learning curve which requires new users to spend a lot of time learning how to use the software. The training videos don't cover all areas but a quick support call will quickly get you up to speed.

There is nothing we like about this product now. We have so many errors with the program shutting down multiple times during the services we have. We have not completed one service without the system crashing. I guess the only thing we like about the program is when it's off.

The system crashes during every service we have multiple times. As a pastor of the church, it is very hard to have a good worship service when you can't use the program to involve everyone. Very disappointed in The product we have purchased. This is not what we expected at all. We are still trying to use it because other programs are just as expensive but very dissatisfied!

The easy to use 'drag and drop script' format and pre-installed songs, video backgrounds and Bible translations are a huge help for any church (especially smaller staffed churches like mine.) Whether you utilize all of the great features or only have time to create a simple Worship presentation, Media Shout proves to be much more user friendly and cost effective than Power Point or other affordable presentation software.

With occasional 3rd party updates, I have had to unexpectedly had to contact their excellent customer service to discover temporary work-arounds to allow Media Shout to continue to work well until their patch is completed (always in a timely manner, but never quick enough for that Sunday morning). Fortunately, their customer support is available on Sunday mornings for those few but vital times needed.