Screens and outputs

Aria drives every screen in the building from one window, and each one can show something different.

The nine screens

Screen	What it is for
Audience	The main screen the congregation sees.
Stage	For the people at the front: what is coming, and any message you send.
Lobby	Foyer and overflow screens.
Captions only	Just the words being said. For accessibility and for the stream.
Verses only	Scripture and nothing else.
Images only	Artwork with no text over it.
Overlay	A transparent layer for streaming software.
Print	A printable version of what was shown.
Print notes	The sermon notes as a handout.

Getting Aria onto a projector or TV

This is the first thing to do and the place people get stuck, so it is worth doing in order.

1. Connect the screen and tell Windows to extend

Plug the projector or TV into your computer with HDMI. Windows will either duplicate your laptop screen onto it or extend your desktop across both. You want extend.

Duplicate shows the congregation whatever is on your laptop, which means they see the console, your email and everything else. Extend gives Aria a screen of its own to put the verse on while you keep working.

Press Windows + P.
Choose Extend.

If the projector shows nothing at all, it is almost always the input source on the projector itself rather than anything on the computer. Check it is set to the HDMI socket you plugged into.

2. Tell Aria which display that screen belongs to

Open the screen's layout studio, press Assign display so Aria detects what is connected, then pick the projector from the list.

Do not drag the window across yourself. Aria's output windows are full-screen and have no title bar to grab, and the picker is what Aria obeys. Choosing a different display moves the window there on its own.

3. Open it

Press Open output. The screen opens full screen on the display you assigned.

What Aria remembers, and when it forgets

Aria recognises each display by its name, its resolution and where it sits in your Windows desktop arrangement, so the assignment survives closing the app and comes back next Sunday.

It will ask to be told again if you rearrange your displays in Windows, for example moving the projector from the left of your laptop to the right. That changes how Aria identifies it. Reassigning takes a few seconds and is deliberate: Aria would rather ask than guess and put the verse on the wrong screen mid-service.

Two identical TVs are told apart by their position, so a left and right pair with the same model name stay distinct.

If a screen opens on the wrong display

Check Windows is extending rather than duplicating (Windows + P).
Press Assign display to re-detect what is connected.
Pick the right one. The window moves; you do not need to close and reopen it.

If the list shows Assigned display (not connected), Aria is still holding the screen you chose before and cannot see it right now. That usually means the cable, or a TV that is switched off.

Taking a screen back off a monitor

A screen is only on a monitor once you have opened it. Close that window and the monitor goes back to whatever it was showing. Nothing is shown to the congregation that you have not opened yourself.

If you want a screen to go black during a service without closing it, use the blackout control rather than closing the window, so it comes back instantly.

Making your own screen

The screens that ship with Aria cover most churches, but you can add your own — a second lobby screen, an extra confidence monitor for the choir, a foyer display.

Open the layout studio. Every screen is a tab along the top.
Press New.
Choose what kind it is. Screen is a normal output the congregation sees. Stage is a confidence monitor for the people at the front.
Give it a name and press Enter.

It appears as its own tab with its own layout, and you assign it to a display and open it exactly like any built-in screen.

To rename one, double-click its tab. To remove one, use the cross on the tab; Aria asks first, because its layout goes with it. Built-in screens cannot be deleted.

Churches with only one screen

Aria works on a single computer. With no second display, the output deliberately shares your screen rather than disappearing somewhere you cannot see it. Everything else behaves the same.

Sending Aria into streaming software

Aria's screens are network addresses your streaming software opens directly. In OBS, add a browser source and paste the address Aria gives you. There is nothing to install and no capture card involved.

Two kinds of feed are offered, and the difference matters in front of a congregation:

Program feeds cover whatever else you are showing. Use one when Aria is the picture.
Transparent feeds sit on top of your camera, so the verse appears over the person speaking rather than over a black rectangle.

Each transparent feed is previewed on the same checkerboard OBS itself uses, so you can see which is which before you go live. The address Aria shows is the network one, so OBS running on a separate streaming computer works without anyone looking anything up.

On NDI. The transparent feed is the same thing a broadcast desk would reach for NDI to get, and it carries everything on the screen including video and images. Aria delivers it as a web address rather than as an NDI source, so you add it in OBS as a browser source instead of picking it from the NDI list.

How many screens

As many as the computer can drive. Aria does not limit the number and does not charge per screen.

Running the service → A screen is showing the wrong thing →