Beamer Software Comparison Table
This is an
informative collection of test reports and links regarding
the "presentation of lyrics in church".
The main point here are free programs, the commercial section is cut down to german programs as I speak German natively. For more non-free programs see "More Links". If you miss a program, please drop me a notice!
The tested programs are made for installations with two screens. NVidia names this "DualView" or "TwinView", ATI's name for it is "HydraVision"... The important thing is that you can control two screens separately. If you use a notebook, you probably already have two screens (one in your notebook plus one which you can connect to the back of the computer). If not: Instead of buying a graphics card with two outputs you can add another card to your existing card. Caution: You cannot use an AGP card because your first card is likely to use the AGP port already! With utilities that are part of Windows you can set two cards up to work nicely together. If there are questions left, you are invited to ask me.
The programs were tested on an Intel Pentium 4 System with NVidia GeForce4 MX 440SE dual head graphics.
The OSes were Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and .NET 1.1 or Debian GNU/Linux "Sarge" with Kernel 2.6.13.1 respectively.
Test was last updated on December 16th, 2005.
The main point here are free programs, the commercial section is cut down to german programs as I speak German natively. For more non-free programs see "More Links". If you miss a program, please drop me a notice!
The tested programs are made for installations with two screens. NVidia names this "DualView" or "TwinView", ATI's name for it is "HydraVision"... The important thing is that you can control two screens separately. If you use a notebook, you probably already have two screens (one in your notebook plus one which you can connect to the back of the computer). If not: Instead of buying a graphics card with two outputs you can add another card to your existing card. Caution: You cannot use an AGP card because your first card is likely to use the AGP port already! With utilities that are part of Windows you can set two cards up to work nicely together. If there are questions left, you are invited to ask me.
Tested Free Programs
| name
and tested version | size | platforms | languages | import from | export to | printing possible | remarks |
| Beamer 0.8 |
2 MB |  |
 |
remote controlling via network is possible |
|||
| BeamIt 2.3 |
6 MB | |
 |
RTF, DOC |
remote controlling via network, ticker messages |
||
| DreamBeam 0.5 | 21 MB |
|
| sermon notes, Sword bible quotes | |||
| e7impress | 2 MB |
|
|
||||
| EasiSlides 3.2.0 | 7 MB |
|
|
MDB |
interface also in
Chinese |
||
| Foil Presenter 2.4.2 | 3 MB | 
| | TXT | 
| Linux version not working yet | |
| Free Worship 04-06-2005 |
6 MB | |
|
TXT |
|||
| Live Words 1.4.1.38 | 1 MB |
|
| TXT |
| messages on beamer screen possible | |
| Open Lyrics Projector 0.994 |
5 MB |
|
|
messages on beamer screen possible | |||
| OpenSong 0.9.9 | 4 MB |
|
| HTML |
| messages on beamer screen possible | |
| Song Database 1.14 |
19 MB |  |
|
RTF |
PDF |
|
guitar chords
can be managed too |
| SongDisplayManager | 1
MB |
|
| TXT,
HTML | needs a MySQL server |
The programs were tested on an Intel Pentium 4 System with NVidia GeForce4 MX 440SE dual head graphics.
The OSes were Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and .NET 1.1 or Debian GNU/Linux "Sarge" with Kernel 2.6.13.1 respectively.
Test was last updated on December 16th, 2005.
Commercial Programs
- SongBeamer (60 - 200 EUR; german; Windows): http://www.songbeamer.de
- PowerPraise (250 EUR; german; Windows): http://www.powerpraise.ch
- Praise Master (250 EUR; german and english; Windows): http://www.praisemaster.com
- PraiseBox (80 - 480 CHF; german; Windows): http://www.praisebox.com
More Links
- The Peat Group (comparation table of english software - the free programs are in the above list): http://www.thepeatgroup.com/MforM/presentation.html
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