A visual loop is supposed to disappear into the background. The moment it hitches, flashes black or jumps at the restart point, every eye in the room goes to the screen instead of the worship. Here's what causes that stutter and how to get rid of it in the two most common church presentation apps.
First, Is It the File or the Software?
Play the loop in a normal video player (QuickTime, VLC) with repeat turned on. If it stutters there too, the file itself doesn't have a clean loop point — the last frame doesn't match the first. If it plays smoothly in VLC but hitches in your presentation software, the problem is a setting, and the fixes below will sort it.
All Talesoft Digital motion loops are edited so the final frame flows into the first, so if you're using one of ours and seeing a jump, it's almost certainly the software side.
Fixing Loop Stutter in ProPresenter 7
- Set the cue to Loop, not Stop. Right-click the media cue, open Properties, and make sure playback behaviour is set to Loop. "Stop" will freeze on the last frame; some templates default to this.
- Turn off transitions on the loop cue. If the slide has a fade transition, ProPresenter can apply it at every restart. Set the transition on that specific cue to None or set the duration to 0.
- Disable "Audio" on silent loops. Loops with an empty audio track can cause a tiny gap at the restart while the audio engine resets. In the media properties, untick audio for background loops.
- Check the Media Bin setting for "Play from start". If it's set to resume from where it last stopped, you'll see a jump the first time you trigger it after another cue.
Fixing Loop Stutter in EasyWorship
- Enable Loop in the media item properties. Right-click the media, open Properties, and tick Loop. EasyWorship handles the seamless repeat once this is on.
- Set the transition to Cut for background media. Under Options > Transitions, a crossfade applied to backgrounds will show at every loop restart. Use Cut for loops and save fades for slide changes.
- Turn off "Fade in / Fade out" for that item. These are per-item settings and are a common cause of a brief dip to black.
When It's a Performance Problem
If the loop plays smoothly for a while and then starts dropping frames — especially with several videos in the playlist — the computer is struggling to decode in real time.
- Use the 1080p version of the loop rather than 4K unless you're driving a large LED wall. Most church projectors output 1080p anyway.
- Close everything else on the presentation machine: browsers, Spotify, cloud sync apps like Dropbox or OneDrive that scan files in the background.
- Store media on the internal drive, not a USB stick or network share.
- Update graphics drivers. This alone fixes a surprising number of "random" stutters on Windows machines.
A Quick Sunday-Morning Checklist
- Loop is set to Loop, not Stop or Freeze
- Transition on the loop cue is None / Cut
- Audio is disabled on silent loops
- Media is on the internal drive and the file is fully downloaded
- Tested on the actual output screen, not just the operator preview
Looking for loops that are built with clean restart points from the start? Browse the Talesoft Digital visuals collection →