Conflow

sndrec.32 Hi Guys, I don't know if I am stating the obvious ~ but for those who don't know ~ sndrec.32 is the generic (inbuilt) Sound Recorder embedded in all Microsoft Op.Systems. Available throught Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->Entertainment. It has a few unique facilities like Echo/Reverb, it usually copes with most 'sound-input' formats, regretably it only 'Records' for 1 minute. Hope this is of some use... Brian.Conflow.

PICTURE RENAMER Hi Guys, Talking about Picture Renaming, below is a 'Screenshot' of a Program called 'Picture ReNamer. The Program is very compact, very stable, offers many options and a small footprint of 2.4mB and comes complete with an 'Uninstaller'. Available from "Night-Owl" The Author runs a nice Website with lots of "Bit-an-Pieces" (mostly freeware) and its clean. When you hit the Web-Site go to Main Index and select Computing, the Program is about ½ way down the page. By the way its a 'Lady Owner' named Anastacia ~ very classy Website and certainly knows 'Flash' Have a look at her Photo Galley, excellent ! Brian.Conflow. Link:- http://www.the-nightowl.net/index.htm

Hi Marjon, Welcome to the Forum ~ In answer,you have not given enough data. Members would need: Laptop Make ~ Model ~ What Graphic Card ? and what Vista version ? Did you import your Pte.Shows directly from your XP to your New Laptop ? Once that data is known there are many Members who would give you assistance... Brian.Conflow.

Hi All, From time to time I come across a New Product which I consider would be relevant To Forum Members. Well, here is the latest:- * Digital Stereo Sound Recorder using SD-Photo Cards as the recording medium. * Records up to 4 Hours on 2 x AA Batteries and accepts Rechargables. * With 'Stereo Mics' and a full battery of Sound Effects and External Sockets. * Backlit VU Meter for Night working and will accept External Mics for better Quality. Price:- From $269 which is Euro 197 or (British) £ 133 pounds. Available from:- WWW.ZZSounds.Com (USA) Brian.Conflow. Attachment below~

Mario, Compliments to Fred - he saved me a "root around" 1) To answer your question ~ One has to go outside the PTE Program and consider 'other people and their PCs'. Most PCs today can handle 1024x768 pixel Images ~ however small Portables and small Screen Laptops of 10" inches or less are usually limited to that Image size.....so one has to compromise ! 2) Then if you want to publish to the Web you are usually limited to a Max: 800x600 pixels. Thats not your fault, its to do with your Web Provider and his desire to conserve Bandwidth (more paying Clients) and good upload performance.....so one has to compromise again ! 3) And if you want to send Pte.Shows over the 'wires' as Attachments to EMail you have to be careful with your File Sizes as its very easy to "exceed" your allotted upload limits.....so another compromise ! 4) But if you have none of those constraints, start off with 1024 x 768 pixels and gradually work upwards in Image Sizes to get the best personal quality choice. 5) As to Image Formats, be careful with Gif's and Bmp's as they can be limited to 8bit and 16bit pixel format where in fact your best lower limit is 24bit and better again at 32bit and the new 64bit coming on stream. So in reality you're into JPeg, PnG, Tiff, Targa and RAW Formats. The latter by far gives the best Images but RAW Images take a lot of Editing Work and PnG is really a Graphic Format with Transparency attributes so you are left with the old reliables JPeg, Tiff, Targa as everyday working Formats. Many will disagree with me, but thats the nature of Photography...it's an Art Form of very much a personal choice. Hope this helps. Brian.Conflow.

Minstral, We are getting somewhere with this problem and apart from any "Defective Files" you appear to have a: - Program Management Problem - 1) It is an absolute requirement that all 'PTE Show Media' MUST be contained within a Root Folder.Thats ALL Images and Music Tracks and other Media, and most important copies of 'Remote Media' must be contained within that Folder. (I will explain later) 2) The Students use "Drive H" as the (main) PTE Program Source Drive and "Drive J"as a remote access source of their other Media such as Midi Music. 3) Any "Solitary PC" will go to the appropriate Files or Folders or HD or Remote HD and extract all Media and run a Show as a *pte File. Because all Materials are somewhere on that PC the System is guided to those sources by a *pte File which appears within the Root Folder as:- Icon Apr (clk-on properties). 4) When you try to run this Show as a Non-Exe File on another PC (even if it contains a *pte File) it won't work because the new Host PC will not be able to find the Media because it doesn't exist within a Root Folder on its HD and quite simply it cant recognise this alien *pte File (with lost Files) and most likely it will "hang itself". (Black Screen - Violation of Rule.1) 5) Worse still~ this crippled *pte File will attempt to 'overwrite' any existing *pte File on the New Host because the PC thinks its a new 'work-in-progress'. (No doubt the origional overwritten *pte File wasn't "Saved As"..in the 1st instance, so its lost also) Note The *pte File contains Data Instructions as to the location of ALL Show Media and works as a type of compiler to 'fetch-all' for the Show to operate within the PTE Program. Its a 'work-in-progress' File (File size<20kB) Note Now when an Exe File is made this contains ALL Media within itself and works as a 'Self-Extracting Archive' so the Show will work on any PC's ~ thats quite different to the *pte File above. Note Students should ALWAYS make a Template of their Project and that Folder can be freely exchanged and edited without Administrator permissions for the Network which would be required for an Exe File. Note You quoted:-Student's create all their projects on their personal Network Drive (H Drive) . And the music files are linked from a seperate drive. Sometimes R Drive or they copy them to H drive and link them there Just above is the kernel of your problem (Note:inconsistencies). The rest explains the basic elements as to how PTE works. (see Attachments) Brian.Conflow.

Mario, Seems that you have resolved your problem by "re-sizing" your images ~ thats good news. Ignore my Post (above) Brian.Conflow.

Minstral, Many thanks for the reply, now let me see if I have this analysis correct:- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Show-Y is running on PC1 and is OK Show-Z is running on PC2 and is XX --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now PC2 ~LogsOn~ to PC.1 and attempts to run their Show-Z on PC1 and it is again XX Now PC1 ~ReLogs~ and find that their origional working Show-Y....IS NOW XX --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Analysis:- You have a 'Program Corruption' or a 'Virus' on PC2 which is wiping out your good PC1 and its Show-Y 2) Question:- How are you 'Loading' the Show-Z on to PC1....is it via a School Network or from a Disc or Memory Device ? Need Answer 3) Recommendation Because you have a 'Global-Problem' and so many Licences I would recommend that you make a simple "Test Show" with 4/5 Images and a Midi-File (known to be good) ~ make this on an external Computer and burn it to a CD-Disc or to a Floppy. * DO NOT use a Memory Pen for this job as it can be written to by an infected PC. * If a Floppy make sure its Locked and keep size below 1.2mB. 4) Now do This * Test CD/Floppy for functionality. Now check every PC in the School and "mark" those that won't play it. * Should this Disc/Floppy work on all PCs' then you have an 'incorrect' Set-Up with the PTE Program. This method will not cause any semester disruptions ~ Let me know how you get on ? Brian.Conflow. P.S This is a common problem in Schools when students bring in Media and play it on School PC's !!!

Mario, Before you start altering PC.Settings ~ pushing buttons and generally going down 'cul-de-sacs' you might like to know that PTE has gained an International reputation for its superb quality of Image and Sound renditions and is the envy of many a Competitor. Some 4000 Forum Members will endorse that... So lets make things simple:- Start with downloading Pte V4.48 ~ (forget PTE5xx for the time being, it has a very steep learning curve). With V4.48 make a small "Test Show" with image sizes of 1024x768 pixels using not more than 8/10 Images which should be good quality JPegs of some 150-200kB each...leave out the the Music Track for the time being. Make an Exe of this Show and put it on a CD-Disc or Memory Pen. 1) Review this "Test Show" and check your 'Image Quality' ~ if there is a lack of sharpness/focus then the problem can be resolved down to your Video Card or Monitor. 2) To check the Monitor hook it up to another PC or a Laptop (a few minutes work) then download the Exe to that Pc....and check again. If the fault is still there then its the Monitor if the fault has cleared its the Video Card on your personal Host PC. 3) This "Test" takes but a few minutes, borrow a friends PC or visit a friend with a PC and download the Test Exe to his PC and try out your Monitor there ~ this will save you days of 'poking' around.... Brian.Conflow.

Minstral, Forgive me, but this is a "Wildcard Question".....You say (quoted)..We are currently using version 4.46 and..."some people are expereincing issues playing MIDI files" and..."Media player will play MIDI files on their computer. What are we talking about here ? One Computer ~or~ Many Computers ? Can you be more specific in your question, or give more details, then I am sure many Members can offer solutions to your problem, but your question as posted is like asking "How long is a piece of string"... No offence meant. Brian.Conflow.

YG, If you have a "New Dual-Core IMac" ~I don't doubt that you have produced Shows on it~ thats not a problem, the problems start when one "imports" Windows material(s) into the IMac...if its an older Apple-Mac, PTE.5xxx won't work on it without loading "Parallels"... Please read my Post again. Keep me informed as we have 6 Mac's in our sister company 'Micronetwks Ltd' and despite having 2 of the latest IMac Quadcore 24's there are still compatibility problems between the Mac's and the Companys Windows 2003 Server System which is supposed to be fully Mac compliant....it isn't ? Note If you have the IMac 20 its my opinion that the ATI Video Card may be responsible (Many complaints on this Forum about those Cards with PTE.5xxx). However as a "Test" I personally would reload PTE 4.48 then make a small Show with 8 or less Images (4 of "Old" and 4 of "New") size to 1024 x 768 pixels. Forget the Sound Track and work on that small project and let's see what happens ?..... Small Shows usually reveal the root causes of problems because they don't tax any OP.System and they can also be Zipped up and sent off elsewhere for analysis, that should be of some help to you. I hope we can get to the bottom of this as many Forum Members wish to use the new range of IMac's. Brian.Conflow.

YG, Thats the point I am making ~ It's a Mac Boot but if you check the Windows Segment, in all probability its a "Virtual Windows XP" on that segment, meaning that it runs within that environment and if P2E is within that segment of course it will run and I might add that a version of "Parallels" creates that Virtual PC. BUT IF YOU IMPORT IMAGES made on a Microsoft Windows PC you face failure of those and you did say you had "Old Images" which you had edited ~ where did these come from ?. This problem arises because the MAC Machine Arcitecture is based on a version of Unix Op.System this irrespectrive of partioned segments, whereas the Microsoft System is a Windows Platform which has a completely different architecture and totally incompatible ~ excepting to create a "Virtual PC" Would you please check with the MAC Forum to see if this is indeed your problem ~ If you are using the "IMac 20" it uses the ATI Ratheon 1600 Video Card ~ ATI have known problems with some of their Video Cards. Some IMac Links below, the 2nd Link brings you to various Video Problems. Brian.Conflow. http://www.apple.com/imac/graphics.html http://www.macwindows.com/

Lumenlux, It is an Outlook Express 'Utility' which is a pain in the neck ~ every time Microsoft do an "Upgrade" they auto-switch this 'Utility' back on. It works both ways, if you try to send certain Zip Files, Outlook Express 'strips' them from your EMail and also for Incoming EMails it does the same thing. See "Attachment" for cure... Brian.Conflow

Peter, I for one COMPLETELY AGREE with you on this topic ~ its so easy to 'Highlight,Copy and Paste' into a Reply ~ in fact I wish the 'Reply Button' was removed completely as the ADD REPLY Button is more than adequate for the purpose intended ! Brian.Conflow.

Yp, You said quoted as follows...."I have already produced presentations on v5.0 successfuly on this computer. I am using a Mac laptop. I have nearly 6 GB of 31 GB available on my hard disc. XP system 1400 @ 1.83 Ghz ~ 988 Mhz and 0.98 GB of RAM"... How are you running PTE.5xxx (A Windows Program) on a Mac Laptop, it's completely incompatible ? Also can you give details as to how you are using "Win-XP" on a Mac Laptop ?...Its not compatible with the Mac OP.System. Are you using Virtual PC or Parallels to run a "Virtual XP OP.System" on the Mac ? If thats the case any 'origional creation' made with Virtual PC or Parallels on the Mac will run O.K ~ but anything imported via a CD-Disc or Memory Pen or direct connection will be in the origional 'Win Format' and will not be incompatible as its not in the required 'Virtual PC Format'. Check this out ! Brian.Conflow.

Markoc, Strange one that...but on reflection I had a CD-Disc from South Africa which would never play Track 13 in sequence after Track 12 on any PC, there were 15 Tracks on the CD ~ but the CD played perfectly on any CD Player and you could copy the Music to a Cassette on a CD-Cassette Player Unit. Then I "twigged" it ~ it had a CDDA Tag on Track 13 to prevent copying of the CD. If you tried to copy the Disc, it read the Tags and promptly ejected the CD ~ that was clever, but bl**dy frustrating ! Brian.Conflow.

Hi Markoc, Well the PC is well up to it ~ regarding the defective Mp3 File ? was this edited and stitched to another Mp3 File or Copy File:- for instance to lenghten the File ? One must be vary careful when Editing bitrates together and make sure the File(s) Bitrates are similar (128kB wont mix with 192kB) unless VBR (Variable bit rate is turned on) dont' mind the quality Factor of 22kB or 44kB etc; as these are brought down in quality to suit the lower bitrate in the Wave Editor... I've lost count on the amount of times I made that mistake in a rush to get a Show completed ! Just curious ? Brian.Conflow.

Markoc, 1) What Win Operating System are you using ?... 2) What User RAM do you have available ?... 3) What Sound Format are you using ?... (Wav-Mp3-Wma ?) Very often the PC System itself can be playing up particularily on older Op.Systems like '95-'98-'98se-ME and memory starved PC's. 'Exception Violations' usually point to Memory problems or corruptions. Brian.Conflow.

Ken and Dofminster, Going over "Dofminster Post" many times, it seems to me that he doesn't have a "Main Folder" ~ just random images in various Folders on his PC and of course his SlideShow Exe's..... It seems that his intent is to get everything into a "Holding Folder" named XX....and that creates tricky problems when when one moves Folders... ~The *pte File Associations are lost ~ and the PTE Program won't be able to find them. Workaround I would suggest that he creates a 'New Folder' directly on the Hard-Drive named XX, then put a 'shortcut' to it on his Desktop. Now open the Pte Program Folder and find Templates and COPY everything from there into the New Folder. If its empty he has a real problem. Here is a "work-around" go to each of his Image Folders and COPY the Folder complete into the 'New Folder' (Copy Folder: Just drag it into the New Folder with the RH.Mouse now RH.Click & Copy) now open the Pte.Program and guide it to the "New Folder" this should fool the Program into thinking its looking at the origional (old) Folders & contents. Now open each Copy Folder in turn and verify that the *pte File is within that sub-Folder ~if its missing~ search for it within the 'Old Origional Folder' ~if its missing~ do a PC search for *pte XXX (name) if its found copy it into the new sub-Folder, run the Show from it and make a Template. If the *pte is missing~ that Show is lost except for the Exe.File which he can copy to the new sub-Folder within the 'New Folder'. DO NOT RENAME those Copy Folders. This takes some care and time to execute ~ but once things are up and running from the 'New Folder' round up all the "old origionals" and park them somewhere out of harm's way ~ a sub-folder in My Documents would do. Finally when he is confident enough, delete all those "old origionals" and learn a valuable lesson ~ MAKE TEMPLATES ! Hope this helps... Brian.Conflow.

Jeff, I absolutely agree with you ~ it ain't easy to get this thing right ~ I spent many sleepless nights wrestling with it but eventually got it down to the 'Grey Scale Tests' ~ if they ain't right forget it. However this is dependent on all other things being equal and for those unfortunates who own an ATI Video Card ~ throw it out ~ they won't fix it, they will simply bring out a New Model which remedies the hardware issues. Had that been a 'Software Fault' they would have created a new 'Driver Set' a long time ago ~ need I say more ?? As to the expertise available on this Forum, it's phenomenal ~ ranging from Software Developers, Program Writers, Pro-Photographers & Musicians to PC Application Engineers and Systems Engineers like myself and all types of Professionals apart from the general body of Forum Members ~ we are a really lucky bunch.... Brian.Conflow.

Use Full Screen to Read Music Track Dead Time Hi Guys, Have just been reading the 'Postings' on this subject and having been down that road for many years perhaps my contribution may be of some help.Viz:- I will keep this simple:- The Music Industry whether it be Vinyl Disc or CD-Disc adopted many conventions years ago in this particular case we are talking about the the "Music Track Pre-pause Standard" If you buy a Music LP-Disc or CD-Disc you will notice "Inter-Track" pauses of some 2 seconds between Tracks. This is deliberate (subject for another day) ~ If you use Nero Burning or another quality Program you will find many hidden attributes within these which can cause problems. One such is where the Programs can remove "Silence" Tracks and another is where they can insert the ISO Standard of 2.Second "Inter Track Pauses" ~ Nero is notorious for following Conventions ~ perhaps rightly so, but its a pain in the neck at times and I suspect its Rogers' problem ? The "Attachments" will show you how to circumvent these utilities and get the Files to play as you designed them. Mp3 Encoders:- There are 2 generic types, the "Lame Mp3 Encoder" and the "Fraunhofer Mp3PRO" ~ the latter is by far the better in sound quality, but:- It costs money, it obeys the ISO Studio Standards, it can be inflexible and its usage is 'time limited' and subject to Copyright Licence ~ believe me thats strictly enforced. (Sample shown) The "Lame Mp3 Encoder" is by far the most flexible, it gives very good results provided a Loudness Filter is used and provider you have 'ticked' the VBR window (VBR=variable bit rate) its also highly tolerant of us Guy & Gals chopping up sound files like a Cook. The important thing about Sound Files, if they are a 'stand-alone File' make sure you have a 'silence lead-In' of around 500ms and a 'lead-out' of about 1sec. If its a contineous file make sure VBR is switched on to accomodate different Mp3 Formats and allow some lead-in/out times. Brian.Conflow. Attachments below:-

Hi Jeff, Just a quick reply to your Post above, I apologise for the delay... Jeff you said:-...."So are you saying - "Don't buy SpyderPro but get the Nokia Test Card program instead? If so, does this depend on adjusting your monitor visually? Because, if so, I have tried that and it is a very subjective adjustment which I was not satisfied with. Also it will not deal with the projector problem"..... Now Jeff I did not say that, nor did I in any way allude to your 'deduction' quoted above...What I said was:- Members are wasting their time with Colour Adjustments if the "Grey Scale" is not calibrated in the 1st instance prior to any other Colourmetric adjustment's. I also said that the PTE Show must be made to a very high quality standard suitable for Projector Usage, which means that Colour Standards must be implimented and 'personal viewing preferences' must be abandoned in order to achieve those Standards for that usage... Confusion cleared, I hope.. Brian.Conflow.

Please View in Full Screen Colour Monitors -v- Colour Projectors Lets keep this simple and try and resolve a few issues, firstly lets look at "Light" 1) Light can be viewed from a direct source 'A Monitor' or from an reflected source 'A Projector Screen' ~ so we have direct and incident sources of light ~ of vastly different Lux magnitudes. 2) Both of these 'visual circumstances' are entirely different as light obeys different Laws for each circumstance. 3) Because of this its impossible to "transfer" a Monitor Calibration over on to a Projector ~ it simply wont work. 4) The best you can achieve is to 'set-up' your Monitor so that all subsequent 'Photo-Graphic Editing' is executed to Standards of:- Brightness - Colour - Contrast - Purity and consequently your PTE Show will be of a quality suitable for Projector applications. 5) The secret in doing this is the "Grey Scale Test" whereby the Monitor is forced to resolve the Black-to-White Scale from 5%Black to 95%White in an 11 Bar Test. The 13 Bar Test resolves from 1%Black to 99% White. 6) Why Black to White ? ~ because it encompasses the entire Colour Spectrum ~ where if all Colours were added together you would have White Light. The Monitor CAN NOT resolve Colours correctly if the Grey Scale is defective. 7) One the "Grey Scale Test" is set-up correctly only then can you start into Colour Correction, Hue etc,etc. 8) Thereafter the Projector must be set-up for Luminance & Focus and Washout Correction if that's supported. These of course depend on Screen Quality and throwing distance. 9) The PC 'set-up' will be very bright with lots of colour contrast and it will be uncomfortable to view this for any lenght of time 10) At this "work in progress" stage one must resist personal preferences temptation's and do whats necessary. 11) Thereafter when you have made your PTE Show Exe of course you can turn down the Brightness & Contrast in the certain knowledge that what you have done will be up to Colourmetric Standards. 12) Tip: In our Workshops we use 'stik-on' de-polarizer Screens to reduce the Brightness to comfortable levels. Tip: We also use the 'Nokia Test Card Program' because it has a superb Grey Scale Test utility from 1% to 99%. I hope this help's in explaining what you must do, compared to what you want....your personal preferences ! Brian.Conflow.

Hi Ed, I completely agree with you concerning 'Projector Set-Ups' and personal visual preferences ~ but like all things in life, you can lead the 'Horse to Water' but you can't make him drink ! It always amazes me when intelligent and gifted AV Enthusiast's create an excellent AV Show and then blightly expect it to run perfectly on a AV Projector. After the resultant disaster they blame everything except their 'own mistake' in that a Projector must be set-up like any PC for it to work properly. Then when the Show is set-up properly on a PC for Projector usage, they don't like it because it offends their own 'personal preferences' but they fail to realise whats on the PC is that suitable for the Projector not what suits them. You just can't win..... Brian.Conflow.

Hi Steve, There are a few issues here which break down into 3 essential catagories,viz:- 1) Your personal preference as to the "Visual Renditions" most pleasing to you. These are personal choices depending on the goodness of your Eyesight. 2) Monitor Rendition which should be set to an 'ISO Calibration Standard' which is alltogether different from your personal preferences. This set-up is designed so that the Pte Exe Show will perform to a common ISO Standard which means it will give the same Brightness, Contrast, and Colour on other user Monitors provided they are set to the same Standard or nearest to it. 3) Projection Renditions, which fall into a league of their own but you won't go far wrong if you stick to a proper 11 Bar or 13 Bar Grey Scale Test and then afterwards adjust the Projector for Colour etc. Summary So you have your own preferences, which will not be the same as other users because we all have different eyesight. But if others are viewing your Pte Show they are not concerned with your preferences, more likely they want to see a bright Shown which they can adjust to their preferences !! To get it right You must execute a 'Grey Scale Test' and perform adjustments to same before you execute any form of Colour Adjustments, Tests or otherwise. To perform any Colour Adjustments without the prior Grey Scale Test is putting the cart before the horse. Hope this helps.... Brian.Conflow.