I regularly run VGA over 100 feet. I have seen some laptops that cannot operate over that length. I have an Extron P/2 DA1 which is a VGA line amplifier to boost the signal. Most good splitters also have buffer amps built in. I have not seen this problem in the past two years so it may no longer be an issue.

Be aware of cable and connection quality. On a short run it doesn't make much difference, but on a long run it makes all the difference in the world. Once I was triggering sound effects for a live stunt show at Disney World. Midi is only supposed to go about twenty feet but I made midi to XLR adapters and ran it about 250 feet over an audio snake. It worked perfectly! It saved all kinds of work since "plan B" was MUCH more complicated! You'll never know untill you try. If it doesn't work well, a little inline amp might be all you need.

We've got a 175 foot run in our church from the projector to the control booth, and we often add another 50' to allow a laptop right at the pulpit. We still get a crystal clear picture even through 225' (68.6m) of cable.

We've worked with Clark Wire and Cable (www.clarkwc.com, 1-800-cable-it) on a problem we had running shielded audio wire from one studio to another. They're great folks -- very helpful and competatively priced. Markertek is also a good source for long runs of cable.

A laptop at the pulpit!

Amazing. In the past we had issues with Catholics versus Baptists; now we'll have further issues with Macs versus PCs.

And I thought it was pretty high-tech decades ago when our church began using those new-fangled wireless mics.

Eh, no laptop at the pulpit for our pastor. If he wants slides projected during his sermon he'll give me a marked up copy of his notes and i'll run the projector from the control booth. He doesn't want to be distracted by mundane mouse-clicking while he's preaching. ;) But, we've had many visiting pastors and speakers who want to run their own presentation while they speak. I'm more than happy to let them click!

The only issue we've had with it is people complaining about the big ugly white screen covering up the organ pipes. We solved that by simply having a nice pretty nature picture up on the screen whenever nothing else is being shown. Everyone's happy now.

> now we'll have further issues with Macs versus PCs

My pastor said that Mac’s were the work of the devil. ;-)

I went to a Portuguese mass while on vacation once and not only did they have a rock band (guitar, keys, bass, and drums) but they had the words to the songs projected on a big screen beside the altar. You can bet that whole church was rockin’ and singing. I thought it was a great idea.

~jr

As long as we're on the subject...

I may be old fashioned, but I feel that some churches overuse multimedia elements in their services. When I was a kid (granted that was a looonnnggg time ago), I learned to read music by following the notes in the hymnal. For the majority of people, this was the only musical training they ever received. A few of the kids learned to play piano so that they could play in Sunday school, and later in the santuary.

How many great performers began their career in church? With the introduction of pre-recorded music, midi pipe organs and pianos, and lyrics on the projector screen, we're removing an opportunity to learn and perform from our young people. Perhaps new opportunities are being created.

I'm not a purist who is against technology in a worship setting, but it is something to think about.

Well, we don't have a MIDI pipe organ yet. We have a few skilled keyboardists who still manually play the pipe organ and the baby grand in our sanctuary. We do, however, have some pre-recorded music and we project the lyrics on the screen. Maybe once a month we'll open up the hymnals for a song, but it's rare that sheet music is ever shown in our church anymore. Most everyone learns the tunes by ear (except me with my 85% hearing loss; i sorely wish we still had printed music).

However, even with all that, every year we still have one or two teens come forth, join the praise & worship team, learn an instrument, and end up becoming worship leaders, and darned good ones at that. Some of our teens go on to music colleges or Bible colleges and take up music or leadership as full time careers. Not many have become composers, but quite a few have become top-notch musicians. Most of them got their introduction to music performance during our modernized praise & worship times at church. So, i guess it's still working.

Besides, it doesn't really matter what our skill level or musical ability is. Sure, we may enjoy music that is well performed, but that is only important to us. What really matters is our attitude and purpose. We can hum along out of tune on kazoos if that's all we can do, as long as our music and our actions are pleasing to God then we've served our purpose.

> as long as our music and our actions are pleasing to God then we've served our purpose.

Amen Kelly!

I play by ear. I had the guts (or was it stupidity) when I was younger to audition to get into the Westchester Conservatory of Music. I wailed on this classical piece that I had memorized. When I was done, I was told that "my playing was a collection of bad habits" and promptly rejected. Still, my chops carried me through playing 5-nights a week during the 70’s and plenty of studio work. It’s the feel and emotion that’s important. I went to school with kids that could read music like the morning newspaper. But ask them to jam on a 12 bar blues and they were lost at C. (pun intended)

I can appreciate Michael’s point of view. I asked my children to learn to read music and I frown at them when they cheat and write the letters next to the notes. But in the end, music comes from your soul, not your fingers.

Now we are way, way off topic: Beyond religion and on to philosophy. ;-)

~jr