Media

How to show pictures, videos, PowerPoint, PDFs, windows, your screen and your camera, and how to send the finished picture to Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, OBS or a projector.

Who this is for: media teams, service operators and anyone preparing slides or videos for a service.

On this page

• Media at a glance
• Adding media to a Frame
• Images, logos and backgrounds
• Videos
• PowerPoint and PDF
• Windows, screens and cameras
• The FrameRelay camera
• Camera Looks and background blur
• Projectors and the Presentation window
• OBS and browser overlay pages
• Preparing media
• Performance tips

Media at a glance

Media Content is part of the FrameDecks picture: the finished 16:9 image that FrameDecks builds on your PC and sends to your meeting app, your projector and your recordings. Cards (questions, scriptures, birthdays) and text Content are always drawn in front of camera and media Content.

Note: FrameDecks does not carry sound. Audio from your microphone (and from a video you play) reaches Zoom or Teams through your normal audio settings. See Troubleshooting.

Adding media to a Frame

1. Select the Frame in the Frames list.
2. Select + Content and choose the type.
3. Choose the file. FrameDecks keeps its own copy in the data folder (%APPDATA%\FRAMEDECKS\layers\), so the Frame keeps working if the original file is moved or deleted.
4. Set it up in Content Settings → Media: the file, position (Centre X / Y), size (Width / Height) and Opacity.
5. When the Frame is live and the FrameRelay camera is on, you can also drag the Content on the Studio Canvas and resize it with its handles. Turn on Snap to guides for neat alignment.

Tip: The order in the Content list is the stacking order: the top item is in front. Drag items to change it.

Images, logos and backgrounds

• Image: any picture. Use it for announcement slides, sermon title graphics or a welcome screen.
• Logo / Watermark: a small image in a corner, shown on every Frame you add it to.
• Background: fills the whole picture behind everything else.

Your organisation's own logo and Meeting Name are set once in Settings → Meeting & Branding. They appear only where you put them: Branding Content, text that uses {meeting} / {org}, and cards with Show my logo on this card ticked. See Meeting Workbook and branding.

Videos

1. + Content → Video, then choose the file.
2. Set its position and size in Content Settings → Media, or drag it on the canvas.
3. The video plays while its Frame is live.

Important: Video Content plays without sound — FrameDecks shows the picture only. If people need to hear a video, play it in a media player with sound and share that (for example, Zoom's Share Screen with Share Sound), or play it through your sound desk.

PowerPoint and PDF

FrameDecks offers two ways to show a PowerPoint. Choose the one that fits the deck.

Adding a PowerPoint file

1. + Content → PowerPoint, then choose the .pptx.
2. The PowerPoint installed on this PC saves it as a PDF. This can take a moment for a big deck. FrameDecks gives it up to 3 minutes, so a stuck PowerPoint never freezes the app.
3. Set Start at slide in Content Settings → Media if you want to begin part-way through.
4. During the service, step through the slides with Page Down / Page Up, the slide buttons in the command bar, or the phone.

Tip: No PowerPoint on this PC? In PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides, use Save as / Download → PDF, then add the PDF the same way.

Show objects only

Content Settings → Show objects only makes a plain slide background see-through, so text and pictures sit straight on top of the camera picture. It works on both PowerPoint Content and live Window Content.

• It removes the colour found in the slide's corners (with a soft edge).
• Design the slides with one solid background colour that the text and pictures don't use. Pure green (#00FF00) is safest.
• Gradients and picture backgrounds stay visible. Parts of objects that use the exact background colour also disappear.

For the technical background, limits and the formats that were evaluated (transparent WebM, ProRes 4444, animated WebP, GIF, Lottie), see PowerPoint in detail.

Windows, screens and cameras

• Window: a live view of one window on your PC (a PowerPoint slide show, a web page, a Bible app). It updates as the window changes.
• Screen share: a whole display.
• Camera: your webcam, placed and sized like any other Content.

Important: Keep a captured window open and not minimised. On some graphics drivers a covered or minimised window stops updating. A second display, or a separate window for the slide show, is the most reliable.

The FrameRelay camera

FrameDecks has its own camera, listed as FrameDecks in Windows. It sends the finished picture: your webcam (with optional blur and Camera Look) plus the live Frame. Zoom and Teams then see your cards, slides and drawings exactly as you see them in the Studio Canvas.

1. Install FrameDecks with Install the FrameRelay camera for Zoom and Teams ticked (Windows asks for administrator permission once). Missed it? Use Settings → FrameRelay Camera → Install FrameRelay.
2. Restart your meeting app. Apps read the camera list when they start.
3. Choose FrameDecks as the camera:

4. In Settings → FrameRelay Camera, choose:
   • the webcam behind it;
   • the resolution (720p or 1080p);
   • background blur;
   • the Camera Look (colour style);
   • whether your cards appear on the camera.

Important: Choose FrameDecks in every meeting app, not your webcam itself. Only one app at a time can open a webcam.

Camera Looks and background blur

• Camera Looks adjust colour and warmth (Warm, Dark / Polished, Neutral / Clean, or Off). Use them to make a dim room or a lamp-lit home look natural.
• Background blur softens what is behind the speaker, using a person-detection model on your PC. No video leaves the PC for this.
• Both are in Settings → FrameRelay Camera and apply to the webcam only, never to your cards or slides.

Projectors and the Presentation window

For an in-room projector or TV, use the Presentation window:

1. On the Studio Canvas, select Share Window. A separate window called FrameDecks Share Window opens, showing only the live picture.
2. Drag it to the projector display and switch it to full screen.
3. To share it in Zoom instead, choose Share Screen → FrameDecks Share Window.

The Presentation window, the FrameRelay camera and the Studio Canvas all show the same picture.

OBS and browser overlay pages

If you already produce your stream in OBS, you can use FrameDecks's overlay pages as Browser Sources. They show the cards and text on a transparent background, so they sit on top of your OBS scenes.

• The pages are served from your PC at http://localhost:8750/ (for example http://localhost:8750/stage.html).
• The command bar's status shows how many overlay pages are open (for example OBS · 1 open).
• Each piece of Content can be limited to the FrameRelay camera or the overlay pages in Content Settings → Show on.

Note: Overlay pages show cards and text. Camera and media Content are part of the FrameDecks picture, so in OBS use the FrameDecks camera source for those.

Preparing media

Performance tips

• Keep Settings → General → Light on graphics card on (the default). The app window then uses the processor, leaving the graphics card free for Zoom and Windows.
• Close what you don't need: extra browser tabs, other video apps and unused overlay pages.
• Prefer 720p if the PC is older or the internet connection is weak.
• Settings → Diagnostics shows frame rate, dropped frames and processor use. The Studio Canvas shows the same figures under the picture while live.

Related

• Content
• Presentations
• PowerPoint in detail
• Configuration guide
• Troubleshooting
• Media team guide