Ability to include video

[thedom]

What about the ability to include video files ?

It's already possible to do it with Granot's utility but it's not very flexible.

Would be nice to be able to do it directly in PTE with all the P/Z/R features.

[Igor]

Dominique,

I'm sorry, but probably it will be possible only in future.

Even for DVD quality it will requires powerful video cards, but HDTV clips will not play even high-end PC with newest video card. Because during transition effects program should mix two videos if add two video clips.

Maybe we will realize this feature but only for DVD-Video and AVI output.

Because we can't guarantee reliable playback in real-time.

[LumenLux]

Igor, without P/Z/R, without O&A, could their be easier/better use of video segments in .pte file?

[stonemason]

Hang on guys lets leave video to video applications PTE is the premier still image slideshow programme, lets keep it that way rather than try to make it a jack of all trades. We already have the superb animation features and DVD capabilities that Igor and the team have given us in PTE5. I have done several DVD's combining still images and video clips using video editing software, and find this is the best and simplest way to go to achive this sort of combined output. If you want further proof take a look at all the revisions bug fixes and updates in ProShow gold which claims to do everything, then compare the output with that of PTE which concentrates on what it does best.

Geoff

[LumenLux]

Hang on guys lets leave video to video applications PTE is the premier still image slideshow programme, lets keep it that way rather than try to make it a jack of all trades. We already have the superb animation features and DVD capabilities that Igor and the team have given us in PTE5. I have done several DVD's combining still images and video clips using video editing software, and find this is the best and simplest way to go to achive this sort of combined output. If you want further proof take a look at all the revisions bug fixes and updates in ProShow gold which claims to do everything, then compare the output with that of PTE which concentrates on what it does best.

Geoff

You certainly may be right Geoff. And I may agree with you. You having successfully integrated video gives credence to your point. I am aware that Lin has done much work in determining what is available and best in certain circumstances. Personally I have not "messed with" trying to integrate video since about 3 years ago. My determination was that a video insert in PTE was usually more novelty than need or even benefit. However, recently while taking photos of an activity, the action and audio taking place motivated me to switch my pocket camera into video mode. A quick glance at the video tells me it would be fun to drop it smack-dab into the stills of the event at that point. And as with other features in PTE - if the inclusion of a feature in PTE does not burden other users, it is nice for those who might find occasion for it. At this point, I don't find it to be "important" but others might value the feature more highly.

[jfa]

Hang on guys lets leave video to video applications PTE is the premier still image slideshow programme

My thoughts also.

There are many improvements listed under " Ideas and suggestions for next versions" that I place higher, (much higher), in importance to develop PTE than this one.

In many AV competitions the use of video footage in the show is not allowed as the show then becomes a video with still images. Let remember that PTE is a still image with sound show product. The best on the market.

[smithore]

Igor, no need to have a good vidéo quality to include it in a show, it could be really helpful, for example to insert mini-video in frames, only in a part of the main picture, as an object, like in proshow.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Stephane,

The problem is technical. Proshow doesn't hardware render images, it software renders at DVD quality then interpolates or resamples down depending on whether the user needs executable at higher display pixel count or NTSC or PAL DVD resolution so the Video Card isn't taxed, but neither is output image quality anything near PTE. With PTE the GPU is busy with processing the render request in real time thus Igor's explanation. This is the primary reason Photodex did not go to hardware rendering like they originally promised for 3.0 - it simply meant they would not be able to also provide drop-in video. Sometimes one must make hard choices about whether "features" or "quality" is preferred. Right now in the state of art of graphical processing units it's just not practical.

Best regards,

Lin

Igor, no need to have a good vidéo quality to include it in a show, it could be really helpful, for example to insert mini-video in frames, only in a part of the main picture, as an object, like in proshow.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Tom,

Quite a while back we experimented quite a bit. With a decent video card, PTE can do full resolution single frame sequences at very near 30 frames per second. In the Beta modes it would drop a few frames, but it wasn't noticeable in most cases. With the old PTE (4.x) it was very easy to do a full 30 frames per second and I think Igor has optimized the latest beta to handle faster individual frames, but there is a good bit more involved in terms of GPU loading from the standpoint of dropping in a video clip as an object. I think Igor has said he will work on this, but not to expect anything until 5.1 or 5.2. For now it might be feasible to do as a DVD rendered show, but probably not as an executable. The problem is that many, especially those in France are running on very marginal GPU units. They struggle, and sometimes will not even play some of the slideshos which have multiple large PNG files as objects. Having video clips would simply make the shows impossible for them to play.

Here's a link to one of the old samples I did with full frame 30 frame per second. The introduction, second text screen and elk in the rain with rain effects were all sequenced stills consisting of hundreds of frames.

Lin

http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/effects2.zip

PTE might not be able to play full screen high definition video in a slideshow, but maybe it could play video at lower resolutions (640 x 480?). If we could import video as an object then we could apply pan/zoom/rotate/opacity. I know it's possible to display 320x240 @ 15fps (66 mSec slide duration). I created a short slideshow a few months ago (images reduced to 50% of full screen). Right now we are limited to video frame images on each slide.

10 second video 2.8MB

http://www.humboldt.edu/~tem1/goldfish.zip

Tom