Podium Control Cover

The updated podium controls that the FM Group is installing in Wards and Stake Centers are touchscreen systems. Unfortunately, those conducting the meeting often accidentally touch a control portion of the screen that adversely affects a broadcast--either the volume level or shutting it off altogether.

When the system is accidentally shut off, it requires about three minutes to begin transmitting again. It involves someone awkwardly walking up to the stand and making the adjustment, as the individual is often unaware that they "fat-fingered" or accidentally swiped a control on the touch screen.

We developed this plate that can be laid on top of the podium control that isolates those features necessary for broadcast quality yet still allows those conducting the meeting to adjust the height of the pulpit or the overall volume in the chapel.

This cover can be removed when a unit is NOT broadcasting and used during broadcasts.

We thank Brother Joseph J. Sines of the Ames First Ward of the Ames, Iowa Stake, for developing the cover plate. The system does not allow us to attach the 3D printing STL File. It is small. If you would like it, we can e-mail it to you. Please send us a note at james.e.taylor@icloud.com. You will receive a reply with an attachment entitled "For Broadcast Final.stl"

FWIW, I have two approaches I use to avoid the lengthy reboot issue.

1) In newer chapel AV setups there are two master on/off switches, A) the pulpit button by the bishops chair, and B) the gym AV panel. So I make sure to turn on B prior to the broadcast. That leaves the system always on, regardless if the bishop goofs and turns on or off his master switch.

2) In my AV setup, I have a master HDMI out and an AV camera HDMI out. I found the camera HDMI out responds within about 5-10 seconds of a system start, while the master HDMI out can take about 60+ seconds as everything has to boot. So I use the camera HDMI out.

Nice work, I like the creativity of this solution! Though I hope touch screen podium controls will be rolled back before they become the norm…

that cover is awesome

We use the Mevo audio and it works just as well, even when you are on the far left or right of a chapel. Also you can use the various audio controls in the Mevo App on your cell phone to make the audio even better.

This is just an idea, and may help you, hopefully.

Simon

Could someone investigate the following and verify accuracy. I was told that if the system is turned off at the podium and you immediately turn it back on that the originally requested shutdown sequence will be aborted. Apparently they have built in a delay. I am not sure what versions of the software for the QSC systems this is for. I also do not have info on how long the delay is.

I also requested that if a startup sequence is initiated that the system would suppress being able to be shutdown again until the system is fully operational. This delay is critical to prevent the firmware from being corrupted when during the boot sequence at a random time the power is disconnected. Envision a child on the stand clicking the brightly lite buttons on and off with glee.

Here is another fun one. When the system is first power cycled on it displays a diagnostic / setup screen. This screen has the ability to generate a varying frequency sine wave. If this sine wave is activated and then the setup screen is exited the sine wave will continue to be generated. We had a power failure event and in the cultural center panel came up in this mode. Someone turned up the sine wave to a low level and then left it on. When the chapel was turned on the screens reset but the sine wave kept being generated in the cultural center.

Is there a way to force a shutdown of the touch screen to resolve a frozen screen/system?

Our podium controller was replaced with the new touch screen last week. The first time we attempted to use the system we managed to lock the screen. No buttons were seen and we could not make any adjustments (volume or podium height) or turn off the system. Unfortunately, the system did not provide any sound when frozen. The first hour meetings were all conducted without any sound. After leaving the system alone during the second hour of meetings, the system had turned off and reset. When turned on again, it worked fine. Is there a way to force a shutdown of the touch screen to resolve a frozen screen/system?

Can I ask if this is going to be implemented churchwide? This is the first time I heard of such a thing.

simph1 wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 2:18 pm Can I ask if this is going to be implemented churchwide? This is the first time I heard of such a thing.

Likely when a building comes up for a refresh. But that's on a long cycle. Like 10 years or more.

russellhltn wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 3:26 pm Likely when a building comes up for a refresh. But that's on a long cycle. Like 10 years or more.

... unless a meetinghouse has a roof leak that soaks all the equipment in the A/V (formerly satellite) rack. Then, the building gets the new sound system design sooner (and the video modulators and such removed).

robinettemb wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 1:12 pm Is there a way to force a shutdown of the touch screen to resolve a frozen screen/system?

...

Not saying this is necessarily officially recommended, but one option might be to flip the circuit breaker that powers the audio rack, let it sit for ~30 seconds or so, then switch the breaker back on. I don't know how long it takes the new system to boot up to recover from a power outage.

robinettemb wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 1:12 pm Is there a way to force a shutdown of the touch screen to resolve a frozen screen/system?

This happened a few weeks ago in my meetinghouse. Since the new pulpit touchscreen controls are connected to the networking equipment, in CNM I was able to reboot the switch used for a/v to bring the touch panel back online.

I learned from our Facilities Rep that the touch screen controller is held in with a magnet. If you pull up on the screen it will come out. If you unplug the connector in the back and then plug it back in and the system will reset. I was also told that we don't want to do this too often. I'm not sure if all systems are secured with a magnet but ours is and it looks the same as the photo shared in the previous post.

robinettemb wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2024 4:16 am ... I was also told that we don't want to do this too often. ...

If I remember 5th grade science correctly, each time something is pulled away from a magnet, the magnet becomes slightly weaker.

Also, the connector may not be rated for unlimited disconnect/reconnect cycles, and there might be a slight risk of other problems from hot-unplug/plug.

russellhltn wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 3:26 pm

simph1 wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 2:18 pm Can I ask if this is going to be implemented churchwide? This is the first time I heard of such a thing.

Likely when a building comes up for a refresh. But that's on a long cycle. Like 10 years or more.

You're right on that. My building is one of those two story stake centers and I've been asking if we are on the refresh list, as our sound system is at least 15-20 years old and is dying a little more each week. The technician that was out last is just combining channels that he can for things as more and more of the input cards are going bad and my FM group doesn't want to fix the problem, but continue to add band-aids until the very end... I was told by another technician that if our system dies, they will give us PA systems to use in the chapels for the time being, and they then said if that happened, we'd be lucky to have something within a couple of years.

jnpetersen wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2024 11:25 pm The technician that was out last is just combining channels that he can for things as more and more of the input cards are going bad and my FM group doesn't want to fix the problem, but continue to add band-aids until the very end... I was told by another technician that if our system dies, they will give us PA systems to use in the chapels for the time being, and they then said if that happened, we'd be lucky to have something within a couple of years.

Wow, that's pretty extreme. When things die on our system, they'll replace the device, such as replacing the power amp. But then our system is built up from components, not a rack with cards.

We have the SoundWeb London BSS BLU-160's and a few other units, but the cards inside of them can be replaced cheaper than replacing the whole unit. I found out that the FM group manager is over his own building so if they need something, it gets done, but its like pulling teeth to get anything fixed at my Stake Center, or any of our buildings for that matter.

The FM Manager actually said to my face, that a building should represent the look of the neighborhood, basically saying that if it's a run down neighborhood that the building should look the same. Sorry, rant over.