Conflow

Kieron, You wrote..."I have purchased a used Shuttle small form factor Computer from my local computer guy at a very reasonable price. It is very light and it runs the program smooth as silk"... Kieron that was a clever move and it's the proper way to go. Best of luck with the Shuttle PC and the Galaxy and should you want any help with these just send me a PM. As you know we Manufacture Sound Systems for Irish Railways so we can advise on the most 'bizarre' of Auditorium Installations ~ we have seen them all. (Photo below). I see your're from Sarnia Ontario, by any chance do you know Ken Cox he also lives in Sarnia ? he is one of the 'Founding Fathers' of this Forum and a great source of Pte 'knowhow' should you come unstuck. Best regards, Brian.Conflow.

Davy and DaveG, Guys, have you forgotten that Kieron is a long way from the Sound-Booth in this Auditorium and its that Booth which controls the Amplification etc; The 'resistor-pad' solution is only good for a few feet before it picks up Hum & Noise from the Auditoriums' electrics...thats not good !! Brian.

John, Its only a few days ago we had a similar 'Celeron' problem (Single-Processor type). Attachment below and Forum Link here:- http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9634 To try and help you, perhaps you could sell the Sony and buy a 'Factory-Refurbished' Hewlett-Packard V-5000 or V-5500 15" Laptop with Centrino-Duo Processors. These are excellent Laptops and can handle anything Pte 5.6 throws at them. They are in perfect condition, fully refurbished, with all Discs & Manuals and Factory New Cartons. We have 3 of them here in our workshops. The V-5500 is marginally better than V-5000. (Prices are about half Retail Prices and sometimes lower) If you wish to find out how they work with Pte 5.6 just examine this New Thread:- http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9651 Here is a link to the Factory-Refurbishment Division - They also have a U.K Division:- http://www.hp.com/sbso/buspurchase_refurbi..._computing.html Hope this offers some alternatives for you... Brian.Conflow.

John, You wrote..."Brian - I assume you mean doing "File -> Save" before doing the Preview. I've just double-checked this,etc"... John you should use 'Save-As' not just 'Save'... 'Save-As' copies over the original .pte Dat File ~ that Icon which opens the Show for Preview which you will find in your Show Folder. This 'fixes' all timings,effects.Images and the Base-Timeline whereas 'Save' simply saves any work in Progress until you re-write a new .pte Dat File with the 'Save As' function. Hope this helps. Brian. _______________________________________________________________________ Postscript:- John, Since writing the above Post I had an oppurtunity of chasing up on the Sony-Viao NR31Js ~ Not good news I'm afraid. As it uses 'Vista Home Premium' with ONLY 2.Gb of RAM you have a problem straight away with access speed. The absolute minimum amount of RAM required to operate Vista is 1.Gb ~ thats a Microsoft Specification and that does not allow for Anti-Virus nor the Radio Chip-Set nor the 'bundled' Programs which come with the Laptop. And there is further bad news:- That Duo-Pentium Processor is based on the 'old' slow Celeron Processor know in the Trade as the 'Celery Processor' which had the slowest L2 Cache-Memory in existance. Although this machine has a large L2-Cache its been smothered by slow Buss-Speed and lack of Ram-Memory not helped by the demands of the NVidia 8400 Video-Chipset. I'm sorry to say that this Laptop suffers from severe constipation (there is no other word to describe it). Sure it will run a Video O.K but when it comes to 'Hi-End Graphics' like Pte 5.6 it's simply not at the Races...it has serious timing difficulties. You neeed to read the following (one of many) but look under News-Reviews-Blogs:- Link: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/computing...s-437165/review Sorry to be the bearer of bad News but at least you won't be tearing your hair out tonight !! Brian.

Gary (Goddi), I had another look at this problem -sure is interesting- so I spent a few minutes with my Drawing Program in order to put it into 'real-world' context and it would appear there is a definite phase-change within the 2nd.Image. It seems to me that the Zoom portion of the 2nd.Image has either flipped over by 270.degree thus ending up on the bottom of the Image or it has slipped down 90.degree ending up in the bottom. The 'chopped-off' piece seems to be outside the Frame area. Either its a 'Program-glitch' or to do with the Processor working with its VGA Adapter - very strange. See 'attachment' below which might give a clue in helping to resolve the problem...I'm stumped with this one! Brian.

Hi Igor, Smooth as silk on this Hewlett-Packard Laptop (Presario 5500) ~ Intel Duo-Centrino Processor ( 2 x 1.66 Gb). Using the Intel-Intergrated 945 North/South Video Chipset. (All Tech-Specs below -plus- I Full Screen Image). No special Graphic-Card installed. (L2-Processor's Cache are 2 x 2.Mb). Your 'You-Tube Show' was tried in native You-Tube Format and also in Full-Screen 15" (see Screen-Shot). Barely perceivable ~ was a tiny amount of pixellation on 2 Frames ~ this would not be seen by the Public. Some comments:- (a) Except for (Duo & Quad Core-Processors) owned by 'The Dom' ~ Scorpion ~ Bmccamon ~ BHarkins and myself and a few others ~ All other PCs are Single-Processor Machines which are showing some degree of stress. ( Recently I was making the argument to retain Pte 4.49 (or similar) for low performance PC's such as the Pentiums V.1 and II and III. I think this great 'You-Tube Show' may have proved that point when comparing the performance of Pte 5.6 (+HD) on a Multi-Processor PC against the very best of Single-Processor PCs such as PentiumIV etc. As you are aware there are many other PC's with much lower stability and performance than the 'top-end' Pentium's. . Hope this report is useful too you, Brian.Conflow.

John, I know this is a stupid question...but did you 'Save' the settings of your Test prior to 'Previewing' it or is it simply free-running ??...that would certainly cause your problem. Brian.Confllow.

Xaver, I don't want to waste time with our 'side-discussion' ~ its unfair to Goddi and his particular problem. The point I was trying to make to Goddi was:- ..."If you decide to Edit an Image, that edited Image is saved to the Clipboard before a Save or Save-As command. The only way of clearing the Clipboard is doing it manually or if you superimpose another action on top of the origional"... Some Photo-Editors make an 'auto-copy' of the origional Image once editing is under way. "Photo-Filtre" does this, but it asks for a 'Duplicate' in case you over-write the original Image then it saves as:- Image(01) in same format as the original. I had thought this had happened in Goddi's problem and somehow it had inserted the 'Edited-piece' as a partial Image into the Pte Slide list as the next ascending number. (I had made this error many times in the past). To say the least its getting that 'partial Image' from somewhere and to do that it must part-replicate from the original ??? thats the problem...but how ? Brian.

Xaver, Below is an 'attachment' showing Image 'A-02 Jpeg' which I decided to Copy and IT IS IN THE CLIPBOARD as I had said. You can clearly see the 'Clipboard Image' superimposed on the origional Image A-02 as proof of same. If you decide to Edit an Image, that edited Image is saved to the Clipboard before a Save or Save-As command. The only way of clearing the Clipboard is doing it manually or if you superimpose another action on top of the origional. Brian.

Kieron and Stateside Members, I have found an excellent 'Sound-Mixer' at one of our suppliers "B&H Photo Video".New York USA. You Photographers might like to have a look at their Home Page ~ prepare to be surprised!! Link:- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5262...#specifications It far exceeeds the quality of the UK.Maplin Mixer (shown above) and at $79 its a 'steal'. It also has Headphone-Output and Professional XLR-Connectors and is Battery powered. This Unit can also handle Phantom-Powered Microphones as well as Pro-Stereo Mics and Line-Level Inputs. (B&H Photovideo also have a 'UsedDepartment' and they ship all over the World). Brian.Conflow.

Goddi, It was just a thought ~ I also used the 'Office Shortcut Toolbar' ~ it is good, except I deleted it after having problems with an Autodraw-Program called SmartDraw-D3. I found it was making 'Images' on the PC.Clipboard which I had not commanded. Just ignore my reply, as I said ~ it was a shot in the dark !. An Example Below is a Copy of my 'Clipboard' WHICH I HAD NOT COMMANDED and as you see its made a Copy of this reply superimposed on a previous reply and it done it automatically ~ thats what I'm talking about and I thought it somehow might be your problem. Brian.

Goddi, I have no answer to this ~ but I have a question ?...Why are you using the (overlay) Short-Form Office Toolbar on the side of the PTE Window ?? If this is 'live' whilst creating your Slideshow it may be the reason for the 11th.Slide because Office 'auto-saves' everything in progress to the Clipboard-Viewer....just a thought !! Brian.Conflow.

Kieron, The fact that the 'Auditorium Sound-Booth' is some distance from your PC and from the Projector can give problems with USB Interconnect-Devices particularily from 'Lighting-Controllers' in large Auditoriums in the form of contineous transient-spikes and Hum from these Controllers. What you need is a DC.Powered 'Floating-Mixer' powered from its own internal Battery and can also be powered from a Mains-Adaptor. (These work best from their own internal Battery ~ very low noise). A 'Floating-Mixer' presents equal load on all Input cables so its a (self-cancelling) Anti-Noise System somewhat like Professional 600.Ohm (Balanced) Sound-cables. In the past I have used the 'Maplin 4-Channel Micro-Mixer' to great effect. It has 4 Dual-Channel Inputs which can be organised as 2x Stereo Mic Inputs and 2x Stereo Line Inputs or as 8 Channel Mono Mixer It has individual Vol.Controls per CH. and 2 x Stereo Master-Faders. I checked up, its still available in Maplin. The beauty of this little Tool is that you can 'trim' the Volume of each CH and Master-Fade the Soundtrack whilst you are giving a 'Voice-Over Commentary' ~ all in Stereo. (The Unit is quite small and handy). It does require some additional Cables and the lad's in Maplin-Electronics can 'knowledgably' advise on these. Tip: You should fill in your Personal-profile as we don't know what Country you live in, reference to Maplin) Hope this helps... Brian.Conflow. Product Sheet below...

Kieron, To try and answer this will you describe the 'connections' you are making betwen your PC and the Projector ~ in other words how are you connecting your PC to the Auditorium Projector System. More details are needed and Make & Model of your Computer. Brian.Conflow.

Ken and Dave, Ken, that was also my understanding about Pte 4.48 leading into 4.49 ? But over the past few months have you noticed the amount of Pte-Users who are having problems running Pte 5xx on 'older' PCs ~ I don't mean Win '95. In particular certain 2/4 year old 'single-Processor' PCs and (entry-level) Portables/Laptops are also having difficulties running V.5xxx - irrespective of the Op-System installed. This situation is going to escalate more and more as cheaper PCs/Laptops hit the Markets at very low (recessionary) Prices. This is not the fault of V.5xxx ~ It's due to PC-Hardware limitations and users who 'dream' of creating Slideshows with Pan-Zoom-Rotate and other higher function on unsuitable Hardware. If this 'trend' continues I am afraid V.5xxx will attract (unfair) criticism from those who simply dont know any better. Why should they? - as Computers are now a "Domestic-Utility" expected to work straight out of the Box. In these situations I always recommend 'Pte 4.49 Basic-Program' and when 'Purchasers' acknowledge the limitations of their PCs they usually upgrade to more powerful Hardware and having gained practical experience on 4.49 they also move up to 5xxx ~ Now we have a Happy Customer ~ not a dissapointed one !! This alone is a very practical reason for keeping Pte 4.49 alive ~ apart alltogether from those who use it regularily. This is my final Post on this topic. Brian.

Peter, I don't believe it myself ~ some achievement after +40 years trying to win.It certainly was a close call at 17-15 and you are right, Dublin has erupted. Unfortunately on Saturday nights I'm afraid its gone like most of the U.K Towns with 'hooligans' creating trouble for ordinary Dubliners who would dearly wish to celebrate this Win. I do know for certain that our contingent in Cardiff will join in with the Welsh and have a damn fine Party just as the Welsh lads do when they visit here. I wish them well ~ Brian.

Peter and Dave, Thanks for that offer concerning Pte 5.56 and I shall pass Avie over to you if this is the case. However Avie is using an 'Intel Celeron Processor' which is an entry-level product based on the more powerful 'Intel Pentium III or IV Series' ~ the Celeron (depending on version) was never designed for Video-Graphics such as Avie is trying to run with this particular Slideshow. It's quite good with 'Business-Applications' such as Documents, Spreadsheets, Excel and such like and it will handle basic Video functions and simple Slideshows - but thats it. Thats the reason I asked for a 'Dynamic Memory-Test' so I could look at the uP's performance and then advise on how to improve the situation. The Celeron-uP has a proven track record with such problems so there is not much point chasing the higher functions of Pte (which are not used) nor going after Screen-settings etc,etc; until we know how the uP is performing. Should Avie get back to us, then we can proceed a little further into this particular problem. Brian.

Avie, XP.Pro with Sp2 ~ I need you to check your Memory Usage with and without the Show running because XP-Pro consumes the guts of 475.Mb before you do anything else with it. (XP-Home uses 350) Have a look at the 'attachment' below before you proceed with the 2 Tests I am requesting. 1) Without any Show running and you are looking at your Desktop ~ RH.Click in any free space in your 'Taskbar' on the very bottom of this Page. When the little Window opens up--->select--->Task Manager. When 'Task-Manager' opens--->select the Tab marked 'Performance' and write down the numbers as shown in the sample 'attachment' below. 2) I hope you can do this--->Open up your PTE Program with the 285 Slides--->select--->Preview and let the Show run on. While the Show is running reselect the 'Task-Manager'-->Performance Tab and observe the changing numbers as shown previously in the 'attachment' example. Note down these numbers. If everything runs O.K you will have a set of Memory figures before and when running your Show. These will tell you whats going on and if indeed you have a Memory problem ~ if not at least thats out of the way and other approaches to the problem can be made with confidence. (You can save this Page by going to 'File' in top left corner and select 'Save-As' or select Print) Please get back to us on the Forum and let's know your findings. Brian.Conflow. Postscript:- You will need to run the Show in Windowed-mode to do these Tests. 21-3-09

Avie, Thanks for that confirmation and I was aware you were using Full-Screen mode which gave you problems and then you used Windowed-mode which worked O.K. I had assumed you were not using PZR effects so it was a standard Show although it's outside the normal Slide-Timing bracket of 4~5.secs per Slide and some 1.0~1.5.secs per Effect. May I ask what Operating-System are you using, is it XP or Vista ? and what Anti-Virus are you using ? and yes there are things you can do to improve the situation ~ but its a little too soon to advise on those. Brian.Conflow.

Ronnie, I agree with you, and I'm sure Ken does also ~ But in parting from this thread I would like to remind our newer Members of the 1000's of Hours invested (for free) by the Founder Members of this Forum in helping with the development of PTE and in helping Igor achieve his goals. This is what good 'Shareware' is all about, and its the fruits of that past work they are enjoying today, ...Least they forget that fact! Brian.

Phil, Nobody is asking for 'support' of Pte 4.49 ~ We are simply asking that it be 'left on the Books' for those who use it and considering that its 'Shareware' thats a very reasonable request. Its nothing to do with New Technology/Old Technology nor Sales-Returns, its a simple program which works well for hundreds who are still using it, thats the point. Brian.Conflow.

Xaver, I appreciate what you are writing and what you are saying, there is no arguement with that at all. But irrespective whether you have never used V 4.49 and never intend to, there are those of us who would like it to stay 'On the Books' because we use it.... Thats the simple point I and others are making ~ surely thats not too much to ask ! Regards, Brian.

Avie, Following on from Xavers reply I have done some calculations,viz:- You wrote:- You have 285 Slides running against 14 minutes of Music which is 840 seconds. If this is correct?...and you allow 1.5 secs for each Effect thats 285 secs out of 840 secs which is = 413 secs for all the Slides, which is approx 1.5 secs per Slide..... Are you absolutely sure of the details in your Post ???...if so, yes it will run in Windowed-Mode but it certainly will not run in Full-Screen ~ because even with 1.Gb of installed Memory you will only have access to 600.Kb of that when you allow for all the other "running processe's" on the PC. Even at that I doubt very much if your single Celeron 2.8 Gb Processor could keep up with that process demand with that limited memory availability. Could you please verify your details again, perhaps you have made a simple error somewhere ? Brian.Conflow.

Xaver, There are no improvements needed with V4.49 ~ it is as is ~ it only has one simple fault in Object Editor namely the screen placement of 'Buttons' which tend to move around depending on Image Size. One can live with that and select the best 'compromise' placement of Buttons after a little experience. There is no need to update the 'old Code' it works on all Op.Systems even 64.bit Systems running in 32.bit Mode. And dare I say - there are hundreds of other good Programs still using 'old Code' and running perfectly and I very much doubt we are all going to drop the 32.bit PC architecture within the next 10 years !!. You wrote:-..."Should WnSoft really adapt version 4 to future operating systems, wouldn't that be a waste of resources?"...unquote. Nobody is asking WnSoft to do that ~ nor to waste resources ~ just leave the Program as it is and let those who use it, enjoy it. As to support, how many times have you seen queries about V 4.49 on the Forum? rarely if ever because thats how good it really is. This Program fulfills a critical need for Business people in a hurry to get a job done knowing it will work on all Win Op.Systems irrespective of the PC set-ups. V 4.49 is a good introduction to PTE for the Novice who will move on to V.5 when they have the confidence to do so. These are important 'simple' things which we on the Forum tend to forget. We also forget that others can not afford the time investment in V.5 to get the same job done in the same time as V.4. (V.5 has a very steep learning curve). And yes there is a major need for V.5 for the 'creative' Photographer and the Business Photographer and those in CC.Competitions where PZR and other effects are now the emerging criteria ~ but one has to have the time to invest in these activities, unfortunately the bulk of Business people simply don't have that luxury so we tend to use V 4.49. Regards, Brian.

Ken, Your're spot on target about V4.49 ~ there are very many Private and Business users who simply want WnSoft to maintain a 'basic' simple reliable cross-platform Program such as V4.49. Lets be honest about this, it is the best Slideshow Program available for general Business purposes. (For more advanced 'creativity' purposes you have Pte.5.6xx for those who need that). In my opinion Pte 4.49 is a 'Classic-Program' which ranks with the 'Classical WinAmp' and the now famous 'Classic Media Player 3-2-1' originally designed by Gabesk (recommended by Igor). I do hope the WnSoft Team realise what they have in Pte 4.49, a 'Classic-Program' equally at home with the Novice beginner and many Private & Business users. Brian.