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Forums > SSP Forums > The 'Wave Pool'

Laptop for use with SSP

Last Post 23 Jan 2006 03:28 PM by Matt Edwards. 23 Replies.

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Rod Luhrs

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Posts:547

29 Nov 2005 03:42 AM
Posting this on behalf of Adam, Who is using a laptop to run SSP in duel monitor mode? What are the specs? Need to purchase a laptop to run SSP on, want an idea of what combinations, (brand, model etc) That defininatly work and run.. SSP in duel monitor mode. All feedback from laptop users would be great, to give us a general idea of where we need to start looking. (PC is not an option... ) Thanks Rod

www.salvos.com/fuel

Gary Presley User is Offline

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29 Nov 2005 09:37 AM
I have a Dell Latitude D600 without any special upgrades, and it works fairly well. I noticed at the Charleston, SC training that several others had either D600s or the Insperon equivelant. I would check NewEgg.com to see if they have a customizable laptop that allows you to specify the video chip and system memory. Doing so will allow you to order just the software you want, and not have the system preloaded with resource hogging adware (or programs that want you to buy the full version). I know you can check Dell.com for "refurbished" equipment, and then customize it. I believe you can also do the same with HP/Compaq. You should look for something with at least a ATI 9200 or NVidia 5600 chip and 1GB of RAM. gap

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Joel Osborn User is Offline

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29 Nov 2005 01:05 PM
The video card is probably the most important piece to watch for in a laptop. If you can find a laptop with a 128MB or 256MB video card, the rest is probably in line. Another fun place to shop for laptops with high end video cards is Alienware They have laptops with 256MB nVidia 6600s. But they only come in gray, now.

...Joel Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church ______ "I'm working on my 5 year plan. I just need to pick a font." - Chuck

Keith Coleman User is Offline

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Posts:24

11 Dec 2005 07:00 PM
I have a laptop and can say the faster the better. I have a 3.2 ghz processor and a Radeon 9800 256 mb video card. You will need at least a 2.0 128 to run it but again the faster the better. With the above config. I have not had any hardware problems just a few problems with some other software that does not play nice. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Matt Edwards User is Offline

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Posts:6

18 Jan 2006 02:41 PM
Did you purchase a laptop? If so what were the specs and how does it run SSP7? Our church is looking to upgrade the laptop we use for SSP 5.5 but I want to go ahead and get one that will not have a problem with SSP7. Most dells come with the X300 ATI card and 128 MB. Has anyone tried this chipset with SSP7 and had good/bad results?

Saint Mark UMC - Seneca SC - http://www.saintmarkumcseneca.org

Joel Osborn User is Offline

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18 Jan 2006 02:51 PM
Should be Ok. I have a dell desktop that had an ATI Radeon X300SE that we had lots of problems with. But upgrading the drivers helped and we found out that the VGA cable to our projector had problems. The problem you might have is getting timely driver upgrades from Dell. With laptops, R-Technics says you should stick with the laptop manufacturer drivers, not drivers from and video card manufacturer. I would look to see (or ask) what kind of DirectX support they have and then compare it with the SSP requirements.

...Joel Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church ______ "I'm working on my 5 year plan. I just need to pick a font." - Chuck

Matt Edwards User is Offline

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Posts:6

18 Jan 2006 03:00 PM
While we are discussing laptops. We use one at our church becuase we have multiple volunteers who work on the slide shows each week and we take the laptop home each week. The laptop we use is the projection computer as well. I was wondering how possible it would be to move to a situation where the volunteers make the shows on their computers and then burn the show to a CD or put on a USB drive and import it onto a projection PC. Does anyone do that? Or do you have any suggestions of ways to get away from a laptop in our situtation?

Saint Mark UMC - Seneca SC - http://www.saintmarkumcseneca.org

Karen Lynch User is Offline

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Posts:730

18 Jan 2006 03:17 PM
I make all of my shows at home and then package it to go and then take it to church. However, you have to have a very fast computer at home in order to be able to run Songshow Plus at home. If you are talking about only the slideshow portion, it would be easy though to make that at home and save it to a jump drive or CD and then bring that to church.

Because He Lives, Karen

Lee Menningen User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 10:01 AM
Another consideration is the location of your background files and song database. Package-to-Go may have a problem if your data files are not located on the same computer. For instance, all our background files are on two NAS-drives on a network (240GB and 500GB drives), not on the local c: drive. All of our SSB and SSP programs link to those files. I had to use Package-to-Go once on SSB but the finished package was too small, indicating to me that the contents of the background files didn't get copied, only their paths. And Package-to-Go knew all of the file paths correctly, it didn't lose any of them. I expected it to have copied each file into the "package", but it didn't. I wonder about scripture and song databases with SSP, but I have never tried it. Many people use both the SSB and SSP Package-to-Go features successfully and it might work for you; just be aware of this caveat.

Lee

David Rencher User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 11:15 AM
Regarding Laptops and SSP: The one thing that laptops just don't do well is the graphics card. You're stuck with what comes in it so I would suggest paying the extra money for a high end unit from the get go. I'm talking specifically about the nVidia 7800 Go video card or an equivalent setup from ATI. Using such a high end graphics chip now ensures that next year you're not trying to buy another laptop because it just can't keep up. The X300 chipset does not work well with SongShow Plus. Many people use it but frankly, it causes lots of problems and lockups. It's basically the lowest end of the X300 lineup and really should not be considered for purchase in a new system to be used with SongShow Plus. Another problem with laptops is the lack of driver support. While ATI and nVidia both release new drivers on a nearly monthly basis you have to go to your laptop vender and download their updates. These updates can be as much as 18 months apart which makes it highly likely that there will be bugs in your drivers that simply can't be fixed. In other words if we find a problem that's fixed by updating your video drivers you may be stuck dealing with that problem for a year or more. In short, you should probably look for a pretty high end Laptop that incorporates a video processor of the 6800/7800 line from nVidia or the 1600/1800 line from ATI. As always 1 gig of RAM is recommended as is a fairly fast processor. Is there a particular reason that you wish to use a laptop as the projection machine? You could use a much lower end laptop as a workstation to build your programs on and then use a PC as your projection system at the church. This would allow you to work from home and still have a nice projection system that can be upgraded easily.

David

Joel Osborn User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 12:26 PM
If I use a lower end machine to create the programs, I don't see how I can include the higher end effects and transitions in the program. I'd have to go through, after I import it the the projection machine, and add all the goodies.

...Joel Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church ______ "I'm working on my 5 year plan. I just need to pick a font." - Chuck

David Rencher User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 01:16 PM
Actually, if you use a lower end machine that supports DirectX you can apply all the goodies you like. They may not run well on the lower end workstation but you can at least set your program up to use them and not have to apply changes later.

David

Joel Osborn User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 01:34 PM
OK. That's what I thought. Thanks for clarifying. Too bad Dell seems to have such a love affair going on with the X300.

...Joel Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church ______ "I'm working on my 5 year plan. I just need to pick a font." - Chuck

Matt Edwards User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 02:17 PM
Mainly the reason for the laptop is beacuse we have 4-5 volunteers that take a turn each week to create the slide show. They take the laptop home every week to complete the show and then bring it back on Sunday to project. Since we don't have someone on staff to do this full time that is the only way I know of to do it. Would our SSP license allow us to load it on 4-5 volunteers computers at home and then take to the pojection machine at the church?

Saint Mark UMC - Seneca SC - http://www.saintmarkumcseneca.org

Joel Osborn User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 02:34 PM
I've always been told that you can have as many "workstation" licenses as you want. It's the projection licenses that cost.

...Joel Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church ______ "I'm working on my 5 year plan. I just need to pick a font." - Chuck

Karen Lynch User is Offline

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Posts:730

19 Jan 2006 04:52 PM
Posted By medwards on 01/19/2006 2:17 PM Mainly the reason for the laptop is beacuse we have 4-5 volunteers that take a turn each week to create the slide show. They take the laptop home every week to complete the show and then bring it back on Sunday to project. Since we don't have someone on staff to do this full time that is the only way I know of to do it. Would our SSP license allow us to load it on 4-5 volunteers computers at home and then take to the pojection machine at the church? Every volunteer can load SSP at home and unlock it as a workstation. If they have exactly the same files as the church does as far as the images, etc. then they don't even need to package it to go and SSP will recognize the program. However, they have to have very fast computers to be able to see the motion backgrounds. Why do they have to put it together at home? I put our program together for years while I was up at church and I'm a volunteer. When I am out of town and others need to put it together, they do it up at church also. On another note, when I purchased my Dell laptop, I had them upgrade the graphics card and the memory because the graphics card that came with it just wasn't fast enough. SSP has the specs posted that you will need on your computer. I have found that a PC desktop is cheaper than a laptop and the desktop will hold more memory and a larger graphics card. Do you really want 4 or 5 people taking a laptop home with them? I would think that would be difficult to keep the projection computer working properly. We are very picky about who does what with our projection computer.

Because He Lives, Karen

Florin nusyo User is Offline

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19 Jan 2006 06:17 PM
aslo keep in mind that Centrino cpu's perform better ... so a Centrino 1.6Ghz will be equal to a 2.4Ghz or 2.6Ghz P4 desktop ... I can't remember exactly, but they are better, less heat & power consumption.

Dave Galloway User is Offline

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21 Jan 2006 12:32 PM
Posted By Karen39 on 01/19/2006 4:52 PM We are very picky about who does what with our projection computer. I have to agree with Karen on this one. I would be a bucket of nerves if I knew that 3 or 4 people were taking our projection machine home with them. The thought of what could happen makes me shiver! But then again... ours is not a laptop. We are VERY protective of our projection machine with only a very limited number of people having access to it. We don't want ANY surprises during a service. SSP allows an unlimited number of workstation licenses when you purchase the projection license. This is how our programs have been put together since day one using package-to-go and transfering them via a thumb drive. As a backup to the thumb drive, we have also created a Gmail account and we email them to that account so they can be downloaded to the projection computer if the thumb drive should fail for some reason. Taking the projection computer home???? I don't think so! Just my $.02 Dave G

Gale Leger User is Offline

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22 Jan 2006 08:04 PM
I have to agree here. Unless your volunteers are all real computer techs (and even then I'd think twice), I'd have a heart attack if people were taking the projection machine home.

Matt Edwards User is Offline

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23 Jan 2006 08:31 AM
We have been doing the service at our church for going on 4 years now and have never had a problem and we do at least one projection service a week sometimes 2-3. And they are not computer techs. We find that people pick up SSP very quickly.

Saint Mark UMC - Seneca SC - http://www.saintmarkumcseneca.org

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Forums > SSP Forums > The 'Wave Pool'

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17 Mar 2010 10:27 PM
RE: How to Revert from Beta to Official Release by CFC in User Support - V7

Posted By Gary Presley on 31 Jan 2010 03:26 PM

You should be able to just re-install the 10/21/2009 version by using that complete executable. The program will tell you that you have a new version installed, but you can still install the older version.

Could you please elaborate on this? Where is this complete executable is located?

17 Mar 2010 09:08 PM
RE: March 2010 Edition Available for Beta Testing by Cleber Caldas in Latest News

I had the very same problem while I was trying out the December Version with the Windows 7. After some "trial and error" process, I found out the problem is related to the "Cinematic FX" collection.

Try to uninstall and reinstall it without the Cinematic FX option (unselect it when reinstalling SSP). It worked fine for me. Good luck.

Cleber

17 Mar 2010 10:00 AM
March 2010 Beta - How to use Color Improv link is missing by George in SongShow Plus Beta Release Articles

Color Improv is included as part of the new Improv Collection and it appears in the Plug-ins panel that is typically at the bottom of the SSP Control Panel. This tab is supposed to have a "How to use this plug-in" link similar to the Background Improv with basic instructions. This omission was an oversight and it will be added later.

The Color Improv is an advanced effect that allows on the fly hue adjustment and can be applied from the advanced effects tab in the display properties anywhere it is present.

One thing to keep in mind when using this is that Color Improv is a Hue adjustment and not a color filter so when applying this the result may be very subtle depending on what the original color or colors are.

This is pretty cool so have fun with it!

16 Mar 2010 09:51 PM
RE: Computer Setups by fbcgoshen in The 'Wave Pool'

built
Asus rampage MB
Intel Pentium dual core 2.6ghz
4 gig Kingston Ram
130gig Maxtor system drive
1TB Western Digital Data drive
EVGA Nvidia 8800gt 1gig ram and 8800gts 640mb ram
17 wide screen for windows 22in wide screen for Work window 17in standard to match projectors
2 Mistsubishi Projectors
2 Kramer Scaler switches and Distribution Amplifier

16 Mar 2010 04:30 PM
March 2010 Edition Beta Available Now - Please Read before posting by George in Beta Test Support

The March 2010 Edition of SSP is now in beta testing and is available to current subscribers.

You can download the beta test installation from within SSP using the menu command Update > Check for Beta Version Updates or by going to http://www.songshowplus.com then to the Download page.

Read What's New for a more complete list of new features and enhancements.

We encourage and appreciate users posting to the Beta Forum regarding possible bugs and comments. When posting bugs or comments to the Beta Forum, please make a separate post for each possible bug to make it easier to maintain continuity when discussing bugs in the forum.

If additional information is needed or a remote session is desired, a representative may contact you directly regarding a possible bug you have submitted.

Please review the recent postings in this Beta Forum to see if there is already a thread on your issue and the Beta Knowledge Base area to see if it has already been addressed.

16 Mar 2010 04:25 PM
RE: Unstable for me by iamgap in Beta Test Support

I haven't yet updated to the latest release. Was this resolved? If not, it just happened again on the 2/24 beta.

It hung when switching from one song to another. One had the clouds animation with an image overlay @ 25% transparency and 100% size. The next had a Shift Worship MPG file (praise in cliff).

In order to get it to pop an Alert!, I clicked the SSP task (on the Windows Task Bar) three seperate times. The second reported Not Responding, the third popped the Alert!.

3432 - Hint: Ssp: Unable to use fill type: Video File. Reason: Unable to use video file due to it's slow response time

I have a pretty long trace file if you would like it. The video file is in the SSP Video directory, on the local HDD.

EDIT: I edited the file type from WMV to MPG, as I realized it was one of the few MPG types we still had. I also downloaded the WMV version, and used that after restarting SSP, without issue.

15 Mar 2010 04:12 PM
RE: Recommended Professional Level Video Cards (DI009) by George in Display Issues

*******ALERT*******

There has been a reported fan speed issue related to the NVIDIA 196.75 video driver. Consumers are reporting low video card fan speeds, overheating and hardware failure.

LINK TO NVIDIA DRIVER NOTIFICATION

This particular driver is not one that was recommended by the SSP Team, however there may be cause for concern if you recently updated your video drivers.

NVIDIA has removed the 196.75 driver version from the download area but it is worth checking your system to ensure you do not have it installed. If you have this driver installed the recommendation is to uninstall it immediately and install an older driver.

14 Mar 2010 03:41 PM
RE: some avi's kill SSP by Rick Everingham in User Support - V7

I have seen this to some extent, however once I installed the K-lite code pack, this issue seems to have gone away, as it is pretty inclusive in containing all the codecs.

13 Mar 2010 10:22 PM
RE: LogMeIn.com by fbcgoshen in Tips & Tricks

I use logmein every week to set up my program. As a matter of fact i just got done setting up the service for tomorrow using this. It comes in really handy if you are unable to attend a service and they are having issues. I have corrected monitor settings and what not from my office or lazyboy.

The other thing is we have a digital mackie mixer hooked to a different pc. I am able to run the board from home. I am able to work on the live audio feed from home since you don't always know what is going on with the feed at the church. I can also help other sound techs when they have issues.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. It is free unless you want the advanced features. It is also a good way to keep office computers going.

12 Mar 2010 11:11 AM
RE: Does December 2009 Edition Support Unicode? by dreece in User Support - V7

We understand the need for this, and work continues under the hood torward that goal. We will be sure to make it well known once this capability is supported.

12 Mar 2010 09:49 AM
RE: Bug in 2/26/10 build by akins in User Support - V7

I might add to what George said by directing you to "presets" for songs and other items. We use somewhat similar formats for songs and scriptures each Sunday and I have "preset" these for quick application. I then can make modifications as desired for a particular Sunday.

12 Mar 2010 09:44 AM
RE: How to use ssptimer files by akins in User Support - V7

Just select the type you want (5 min, etc.) from the list and place it in the program. You can then edit the timer changing font, size, color (just two), placement, and two lines of text. Actually, the editing choices are fairly limited and have been the subject of wishes for sometime, but you can usually play around and get a decent look. Right clicking on the timer in the program and selecting "display properties" at the top of the list will allow you to add background color, images, and/or videos and you can apply "advance effects" to any of these.

11 Mar 2010 11:18 AM
Right-Click copy/paste menu does not work in PPT song import panel (TS098) by George in Troubleshooting

Symptom:
During a Song import from PPT the right-click menu is no longer available in the Slide Text box when importing song text from a PPT. This may cause difficulty in editing content. Import is still possible and text entry and deletion are possible, only the right click menu is affected.

Possible Cause:
Unknown - the root cause of this is still under investigation.

Possible Solution:
Import is still possible and text entry and deletion are possible. The CTRL-X, CTRL-C and CTRL-V keyboard shortcuts work as well. If a significant change in the arrangement of the text in the PowerPoint file is needed, this can be done using Microsoft PowerPoint.

(TS098)

10 Mar 2010 05:37 PM
December 2009 Edition - Bug Fixes (SSP070) by George in SongShow Plus Issues

There are some previously reported bugs that have been fixed in the December 2009 Edition:

Drag and drop in Win XP was broken and fixed in the Beta cycle.
Quick Message was broken and fixed in the Beta cycle.
Live Video was broken and fixed in the Beta cycle. This fix was an improvement of the previous patch that was required to use the Live Video Plug-in.
An issue with nvidia driver version 196.21 that broke the SSP Beta on XP was corrected.
Print Slideshow and song list selection spinners grayed out
Builder re-run error causing file browser to open unexpectedly.
H.264 issue with playback of .m4v, .mp4v, and .mpg4 video corrected.
Path displayed incomplete when adding sub-folders to panels.
Snowflake Wipe transition not working as expected.
Font selection when editing text in the Slide Show Builder not working as expected.
Background Improv folder navigation and state save corrected.
Monitor options placements selector not working as expected.
CTRL-V does not paste copied objects as expected in Slide Show Builder.

(SSP070)

10 Mar 2010 03:05 PM
H.264 videos or thumbnails may cause SSP to be unstable and lock up (TS097) by George in Troubleshooting

Symptom:
H.264 Video or thumbnails may cause SSP to be unstable and lock up when added or viewed.

Possible Cause:
It appears that there are some H.264 video that can cause trouble in SSP. At this time this is very rare, however, the root cause of this is still under investigation.

Possible Solution:
This was discovered using movie trailer files that would play fine in applications other than SSP. At this time there is no solution but it is best to try a different file to make sure it is not a wider issue. Please contact the Support Team and provide the video file for analysis.

(TS097)

10 Mar 2010 11:56 AM
RE: Audio clip doesn't restart when slide show restarts by George in User Support - V7

Hmm - Interesting...

I just tried this using blank slides entered as program elements and got the same expected behavior I described before. Are you using "blank" blank slides (default blank slide is black color only) or do you have something else set for your blank slides?

I would say at this point if the behavior persists and you can duplicated it, contact the support team so they can do a remote with you and actually see what is going on.

09 Mar 2010 05:59 PM
RE: SSP Version 5.5 with SongSelect Online by iamgap in User Support - V5.5

I too would recommed that you backup/archive/zip your current R-Technics folder and install the evaluation of version seven. If the PC cannot handle it, which I doubt, do a complete uninstall of Version 7 and go back to version 5.5.

It is my understanding that version 7 is much more stable, and can function more efficiently on an older machine than version 5.5 can.

09 Mar 2010 05:52 PM
RE: 32bit vs. 64bit by iamgap in User Support - V7 on Windows 7

To add yet another fly into the ointment...

I didn't realize that my MoBo has a 4 year old (2 yr older than the mobo) chip on it (intel 945). So even though the processor and motherboard can support up to 4 GB of RAM, the chipset can only address 3.2 GB of RAM.

What I am most upset about is that the board advertised that it could support up to 4 GB of RAM, but didn't say it could only address 3.2. Had I known that, I wouldn't have bought this board. Time for an upgrade. Now I gotta find a board that supports the RAM that I just bought for this board.

09 Mar 2010 10:47 AM
Video file types supported in Video Chain (MI016) by George in Media Issues

The video file extensions that are supported in SongShow Plus^TM for the Video Chain tool are a subset of the video file extensions that are supported in SSP globally.

Keep in mind the required codec/filter still needs to be available on the system for proper playback of these file formats.

Video Clip (*.avi)
Video (*.mpg4)
Video (*.mp4)
Video (*.m4v)
Video (*.mp4v)
Video (*.mov)
Movie Clip (*.mpg)
Movie Clip (*.mpeg)
Movie Clip (*.mpe)
Movie Clip (*.m1v)
Windows Media Audio/Video File (*.wmv)

If some of the listed types do not appear in the Video Chain panel, review the instructions for selecting visible video types in the KB article MI010.

(MI016)

09 Mar 2010 08:11 AM
RE: SSP loses audio when run with PowerDVD by norvilles in User Support - V7

Ah. Never would have thought that those two things would go hand in hand.

SSP News

17 Mar 2010 09:08 PM
RE: March 2010 Edition Available for Beta Testing by Cleber Caldas in Latest News

I had the very same problem while I was trying out the December Version with the Windows 7. After some "trial and error" process, I found out the problem is related to the "Cinematic FX" collection.

Try to uninstall and reinstall it without the Cinematic FX option (unselect it when reinstalling SSP). It worked fine for me. Good luck.

Cleber

09 Mar 2010 07:30 AM
RE: Cinematic Effects Collection: Easter Special from GoFishMedia by osborn4 in Latest News

And if you have multiple projection licenses, one purchase covers all of them.

03 Mar 2010 12:10 PM
RE: December 2009 Edition Released by norvilles in Latest News

No problem.

Also I tested on Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP 64bit.

05 Feb 2010 08:13 PM
December 2009 Edition, 2/4/2010 Candidate Release by dreece in Latest News

The 2/4/2010 candidate test release of the December 2009 Edition of SongShow Plus is now available to current subscribers.

XP/nVidia driver problem is resolve.
Single core use is now the default. Users can still switch to multi-core mode.

Read What's New for a more complete list of new features and enhancements. Subscribers can also visit the Beta Test Support forum to post feedback and questions regarding the beta version.

You can download the beta test installation from within SongShow Plus using the menu command Update > Check for Beta Version Updates or by going to http://www.songshowplus.com then to the Download page.

29 Jan 2010 03:40 PM
December 2009 Edition, 1/28/2010 Candidate Release by dreece in Latest News

The 1/28/2010 candidate test release of the December 2009 Edition of SongShow Plus is now available to current subscribers.

Various bug fixes.

Read What's New for a more complete list of new features and enhancements. Subscribers can also visit the Beta Test Support forum to post feedback and questions regarding the beta version.

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