Ken Cox

From my notes and some of Hawk's notes -- as i have said before we do work together to solve problems --BTW the old adage " 2 heads are better than one" is true the results of my tests At Al Robinson's urging/hints http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3943 re making a dvd formatted to 16:9 aspect ratio to show on widescreen TV. I started with 2 p2e shows -- p2e set at full screen synched first the one I will call PUNTA has 228 picts that were as taken and ranged in size from 800 kb to 2.5 Mb - dimensions were 2048/1536 the EXE was 318.7 Mb incl. mp3's the p2e temp AVI was 218.6 Mb second show was 29 picts off the web - neat net picts- all less than 100 kb in size and none greater than 700/468 the EXE was 4.5 Mb the AVI 30.1 Mb in MP3 I imported the AVI/vid's to Nero 6.6 vision express 2 and set aspect ratio to 16:9 other values were set to automatic other than I set the return to menu trick that Hawk discovered the resulting show was not to my expectations - a bit soft and with borders and the right side border wave problem so I started dvdsanta Ver 4 and set aspect ratio to 16:9 the default setting is high quality 720/480 in the essence of time I stayed with PUNTA and made the dvd -- showed same on my standard 29" Toshiba TV -- was perfect in my eyes - changed aspect ratio of dvd player - - tried all 3 settings 16:9 had rock steady top and bottom border and same filled screen horizontally DvdSanta runs a show in a loop which I did not want so now I restarted Nero and vision express 2 and imported the contents of dvdsanta's video_ts folder Nero asks questions - I answer yes to all and Nero starts - it throws out unnecessary files as necessary -- make my background and button selections etc. auto aspect ,quality, sample, encoding. hi quality 2 pass and lpcm setting for audio and burned dvd perfect show c/w menu and does not loop Now I have to try on a widescreen TV so made one using same method for fella that has a widescreen TV -- same uses picts as taken with his digital camera 600 kb to 2 Mb size most are 2272/1704 EXE incl. MP3 = 269.5 Mb AVI 177.6 Mb 12 dvd blanks used real impressed at this point btw I use the p2e default settings to make the AVI but I do check the sharpness and interlaced boxes http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3943 ken -- Ken After reading Al's post I am about to attempt, in the next day or two a small sample show with just about the same settings as you have mentioned. Nero Vision - 2-Pass I was going to try an Custom AVI - not sure what width and height ? I may also Crop images right from camera - not sure what size ? as I think it may at this time a trial and error to get proper proportion for HDTV I think when it comes to 16.9, I am at a loss with image size if it does make a difference, or as you mention - right from camera size and let it do its own thing. and see what it looks like. No doubt it will be more than a one shot trial. As I mentioned to you and Al before Christmas, I took one of my (normal)(1024x768) shows to my daughters and viewed on her 42" Plasma HDTV - " Whoow" impressed. Yes she adjusted to 4.3 & 16.9 at the TV level so I could see the difference and 16.9 slight stretch normal. However I think with proper settings the proportion could be rectified. If there is a certain setting you wish me to try - let me know. I will let you know my results - or send you the coasters. Ralph/Hawk on WnSoft forum. I went to our City's top independent Audio Video Dealer that I deal with this morning and asked to use a 42" widescreen setup. The senior salesman -Jim directed my grandson's and I to a Samsung 42" Plasma TV being fed by a Denon dvd player. I explained to Jim what I was trying to accomplish this time. We started with the "PUNTA" show. It was fantastic in my eyes - the kids were excited as well seeing themselves on a big screen. By this time the owner of the store -Grev- came over and he asked if I done the show. I explained to him my daughter had with her 2-3 year old $300 +- HP point and shoot digital camera and I had put it together using the software "Pict to exe" - I asked if there was anything wrong with it -- all said it was perfect. We then put the other show in that was made the same way - [600 kb to 2 Mb , size most are 2272/1704 EXE incl. MP3 = 269.5 Mb AVI 177.6 Mb] Again perfect in my eyes but the audience thought some scenes were slightly squished -top to bottom but all in all negible effects. I asked if we could now try a wall set and Jim led the way to one of their projector rooms and put in the PUNTA disc- the kids were bug eyed as well as me when they seen themselves on 100" screen - image was being projected with an Epson 550 projector. Again I asked Jim if it was ok -- nothing wrong with that. I felt we had taken enough of their time and we left. These people have worked with me during my time of making sideshows from my early experimenting on tape right up to this latest adventure to provide equipment and people to assist me -- when a show was not too good they told me plain and simple - they must take after me:) ken refer to http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3943 5:58 PM 1/7/2006 AT HAWK'S SUGGESTION I picked another "as taken show" and made a 16:9 using winavi 6.2 to convert the AVI and Nero 6.6 to do final encoding to dvd - - made a one button show c/w background - made no other setting changes to Nero show details as follows CEDAR POINT 2004 - HP PHOTOSMART 735 CAMERA EXE = 153.3 MB PICTS RANGED FROM 500 KB TO 1800 KB - 2048 X 1536 DIMENSIONS 103 SLIDES 2 - MP3'S TEMP VID/AVI - 76,245 KB 720 X 540 DIMENSIONS FROM P2E I set WinAvi to highest quality 16:9 screen dimensions resulting video_Ts was 288 Mb in future this 16:9 procedure may be the way to do all shows as the dvd player can be changed to the recorded format and maybe we will all have widescreen TV's in the future 4:54 AM 1/8/2006 Hawk suggested I try http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....st=entry25180 potwnc Ray's suggestion "yes I've done this successfully. After rendering from PTE to AVI at 1920x1080 (NTSC, non-interlaced, 29.97 fps) (I believe I used the standard PTE codec, but I'm not too sure about that). so using PUNTA again I made a custom AVI 1920/1080 same was 218.6 mb It took 3 hrs +- to encode in Nero to 16:9 + the burn time Resulting video_Ts was 1.41 GB. Then using PUNTA again I used WinAvi 7.1 to encode the custom AVI -- time was +- 1 hr and the resulting video_Ts was 714 Mb I then imported the video_Ts to Nero vision express put in a button background and text and left all other options as is and completed the dvd in 16 1/2 mins the video_Ts was .99 GB The picture seemed to be richer than the first 16:9 tests What I did not do was deselect the interlaced box Back to the drawing board, but not for a bit. With my TV's the results are just fine. I do not know why the very first Nero Test was not successful - maybe because of the 2 shows - and they were different quality Ken

ms just issued a patch for the wmf problem see http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopic...,107500,00.html ken

well i said buy me one and iwill make it:)) ken

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...t=ST&f=4&t=1350 her sons lcd would be a wide screen tv i imagine drop her a line k

Buy me a widescreen and i will try with my cobbled up tools if you read Carol Thomas's entries "Rooskidiver' http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...t=ST&f=4&t=1350 she did it eons ago ken

from the forum http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...ct=ST&f=2&t=299 http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...=medwyn+goodall and Barry is away at present Jan 4 06 but http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/ http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/royaltyfreemusic.htm many forum members are satisfied with quality of his music havent heard of anything new on the subject so top 2 threads are still relavent and the problems wedding photographers are faced with has been discussed many times i still say that if you get enough money upfront and deal with honest people [not relatives ] you will avoid unnecessary problems ken

Craig see http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...t=ST&f=2&t=1791 and see http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/index.asp for some shows/ tutorials ken

so damor Dave Bill says he will help when we are talking picts they will be easily emailed i would suggest you write to Bill , set up a depositor for the project and lets start gathering the flock:)) ken http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....st=entry25118

using yahoo no problem welsh flag - http://www.data-wales.co.uk/flag.htm skeeter http://ronstadt-linda.com/skeeterdavis/ http://www.irishcountrymusic.com/johnnyloughrey.htm msn http://www.irishcountrymusic.com/johnnyloughrey.htm http://www.ultimateflags.com/int/wales.html 'Skeeter Davis' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeeter_Davis no problem here in the colonies:) ken

Bill see http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3916 for eta your other questions will be best addressed when ver 5 comes out ken

Ron send me the url your trying - i will try over here and email the results ken btw i have been using google and yahoo engines with no problem it could be your isp -- have you asked the what the heck is going on?? and have read nothing on my various newsgroups

when this production starts to roll, and the producers are decided[volunteered] upon we send them the picts they pick the music and produce the show and if we dont like the end result that is too bad but judging from the quality of the shows i have reviewed since my indoctrination to this forum i do not feel we will be disappointed what i would like access to is all the parts so i can make a dvd out of it for my personal pleasure if we are willing to put our picts up we should be able to trust the producers without voting ken

a few years back [win98 era]i was introduced to this piece of freeware -i use it extensively with the r mouse function open with of xp --- using this piece of software makes my life a lot easier ken OpenExpert 1.40 (für Windows9x/ME/NT/2000/XP) Free for use at home! Copyright © 1998-2002 BAxBEx Software Contact: info@baxbex.com Internet: http://www.baxbex.com ______________________________________________________________ OpenExpert adds "Open with" to the context menu of any chosen file type, using any applications you decide. So you can easily open your graphic files with your favorite paint program, or view your HTML files in either Netscape or Internet Explorer, just with a few clicks of the mouse. ______________________________________________________________ http://www.baxbex.com/downloads.html - they also have a shell piece tht connects to irfanview http://www.baxbex.com/products.html Shell Extension for IrfanView IrfanView Shell Extension is a Freeware Dll that adds the ability to call some IrfanView functions from within the Windows Explorer. IrfanView itself is a fast FREEWARE image viewer/converter for Win9x/NT and Windows 2000. You could find IrfanView at http://www.irfanview.com

i have obtained the URL for the newsletter from Jake see http://www.jakeludington.com/digital_lifes...0_new_year.html ken

Ed the reason i did not mention your method is back in my windows 95 days i screwed up royally making a change that way and had to get MS support to help me --since then i use software to make association changes. there is a vulnerbility floating around at present see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...ory/912840.mspx http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp...&virus_k=137760 > Here's a link to a "temporary" patch for the WMF vulnerability. I have > *NOT* yet tried it, so YMMV. > <http://www.grc.com/sn/notes-020.htm> > > Here's some tech info [by the guy that made the patch, I think] on how it > works and what it does: > > <http://www.hexblog.com/2005/12/wmf_vuln.html> > and from Jake Ludington's newsletter I normally leave the Windows security warnings to the security sites, because I simply can't keep up with everything, but it's worth pointing out the most recent security flaw. According to Microsoft and the US Computer Emergency Readiness team (CERT) a vulnerability in the Windows graphics rendering engine could allow remote code execution. The good news is the only way this exploit can harm your system is by actively clicking on a link to view a Windows Metafile with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Don't assume this means you are out of harms way. Like other deceptive attacks, the most likely way this security flaw will enter your computing world is through your email. An attacker may try to convince you to click on a link taking you to a page containing potentially hazardous code. If you get email from an unfamiliar source or if you get an email asking you to do something you wouldn't normally expect, err on the side of caution and ignore the request. You've likely already seen phishing emails purporting to be from banks you don't do business with, Paypal, Amazon or other large Web sites. Delete the suspicious emails and no harm can be done. You can minimize the risk of damage by changing the association of WMF files to some other application or disassociating them from any all applications on your system and using due diligence when reading your email or clicking on links from site's you aren't familiar with. Changing the file association for WMF files will make it harder for your computer to be exploited, because you'll need several extra steps to initiate the exploit. To change the association, open Windows Explorer, choose Tools > Folder Options and open the File Types tab. Locate WMF in the list of associations, highlight it and click the Delete button. You can always reassociate the extension after a fix is issued. in the newsletter there are pictures to guide you thru, but i have not made the change if you wish to have the newsletter , email me as i cant find the url to include in this ken

Bill is the Cottage upload facility working again ? ken

Bill are you saying that we could send you individual pictures for this project, note's music etc [ in a zip of course] and when same was all collected the "put together crew" could download the package, put the show together and send it back to your site for access by all ?? ken

George you have to have for exmaple jpgs opened by your assigned graphic editor you would have to associate jpgs to be opened by Photoshop which must be installed on your system in my case jpegs are opened by irfanview but gifs are opened by internet explorer by default tiffs by another graphic program bmps by windows fax and picture viewer ken

maybe Barry or Guido wll donate the music from their royalty free collection ken

damor says Al has already offered his site. What are supposed to do fwd picts to alrobin with some background data damor says Lets have some "chocolate box" landscapes etc, would a larger version of my sun shot avatar qualify ken

JP what DaveG and i have done is explain our way of avoiding future mishaps, i never mentioned a template because i have never felt the need so have never done one, but i do have s/c's to threads containing info on them if the need arises. i segregate into folders within the main folder as required. "Different strokes for different folks" ken

I might add to my earlier entry, "the Hawk" and i converse quite frequently and we think nothing of sending a complete folder to each other c/w all settings and files in order to solve problems -by having the complete folder with all the pieces we are both in the same "playing field"-- the file can be as big as icq will bear:) and we also talk thru the show using yahoo messenger 2 heads are better than one:) and we learn from each other ken

Luc welcome to the forum do you mean this http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...f=2&t=2605&st=0 ken

But JP, many people on the forum have asked many times for a "workflow" of a project what easier way when starting a project than to create a new appropriately named folder, and put copies of all picts, icons, music, notes etc in that folder then start to bulid the show -- as you proceed and you find you are missing something, you get a copy of it and put it in said folder. if you modify the show you dont have to hunt for anything because it is in that folder -- when project complete burn all components including the folder to cd workflow = logical thinking Daniel, Igor made provisions quite some time ago to handle this problem of yours by having the program recognize that the "folder" was moved to another drive as DaveG said ALWAYS keep EVERYTHING in the same folder? Images, Sound, Project - EVERYTHING. ken

JPD i was able to download the program from cici's supplied url and the zip opened -- did not try install i also found a pdf file of instructions from university of chile i would send if i had your email addie -- it is +-10 meg file ken