goddi

============ Lin, I think we can agree to disagree with this one. Then to be consistent, a '5 sec' should be put in the Crossfading in the Audio Clip Properties, too? At least be consistent? But then, Unsharp Mask has a '0'. Not to mention Line Space and Sharper/Smoother. So it can be done. And I would think that if you don't have any Crossfading being used, zero makes sense to me. And aren't we most always being 'forced' to put in some value in most menus? As long as they fix the fade-in problem with Crossfading, it is no big deal now. Gary

============= Peter, Ok.....let's call it bugelogic? Sorry, I could not resist... Gary

========================= DG, It makes sense to me that if I have not added any Crossfading, I would not expect to see '5 secs'? What if someone clicked on the 'OK' in the little Crossfading Duration window that has the '5 secs'? It would input the 5 secs of Crossfacing by accident. If you put in 1 sec, it will input 1 sec., or if you chose 2 secs, it would input 2 secs. So why not start out with what it actually is and should be, which is Zero. It won't allow a negative value, so I don't see the resistant to Zero. Can you explain more why "0:00.000" should not be used? I don't see why '5 secs' helps. If that is Igor's 'suggested amount', then it should be put in text, as a suggestion. Gary ADDED LATER: If you change the '5 secs' to '0', and click on OK, nothing happens. Everything stays as it was, with no Crossfading. So why not start out with '0' instead of '5'?

Greetings, And, remove the 5 secs 'suggested value' that appears when you open Crossfading. If you have not added any seconds to the Crossfading, then it should show what it actually is, and that is '0'. Gary

========================= DG, Actually, the only time Crossfading works properly is when you are using the Audio Clip Properties/Crossfading radio button and you have selected the second of two audio clips (or any other audio clip except the first one, in that Track). If you selected the first audio clip, you only get it to fade-in. And if you select both audio clips, you can't make any adjustments to the seconds. I think it is a bug AND a logic problem. Gary

===================== Hi Gogs, I liked Jing too, but the big reason that I now prefer BBFE is that I can output the file as an AVI, and the highlighted cursor. And with AVI, you have more choices to play it back. Yes, the editing features are not available with BBFE version. But I just open the AVI with Freemake Video Converter and that allows me trim the beginning and end and cut out sections I don't want. And, I can then re-save the AVI as a smaller sized file by choosing lower bit rates, or no audio, etc., or in other formats. Really is a nice combination. Gary

Greetings Peter, et al., After looking at your two screen shots this morning, I now see why you were not seeing the fade-in of the first audio clip when you applied Crossfade. There are two ways to get into Crossfading. When you applied your Crossfading, you clicked on Customize which revealed the Audio Clip Properties. When this happens, you can actually select either of the two audio clips that you want to apply the Crossface. However, when I applied the Crossfading to my two audio clips, I just clicked on Crossfading button in the Music tab. (I did not get into the Customize window). When this is done, both audio clips are automatically highlighted. And we can get different results. I think the problem with all of this is the definition of Crossfading is not being followed. The definition that seems to be accepted, and is in Jeb's excellent Tutorial (page 10), is as follows: Crossfading is when the end of one clip and the beginning of the following clip are faded out and in respectively and the faded segments are overlapped and merged together. Note that this does not include the fading-in of the beginning of the first audio clip. When one uses the Customize/Audio Clip Properties/Crossfading approach, you can choose which audio clip you want to apply the 'Crossfading' to. If you select only the first audio clip, and apply 5s of Crossfading, what you actually get is only the fading-in of the first audio clip. This is really not Crossfading. The total length of the combined audio clips do not change. If, however, you select only the second audio clip, and apply 5 s of Crossfading, you do get the crossfading that you should expect. The ending of the first audio clip and the beginning of the second audio clip are crossfaded and the beginning of the first audio clip is not affected and the total length of the two audio clips is reduced by the 5s, as expected. Now, if you happen to select Crossfading in the Music tab, both audio clips are automatically highlighted and you get the Duration window that initially defaults to 5s. First of all, I think this should show Zero, not the suggest value of 5s. If you accept the 5s, or input your own number of seconds, the two audio clips do get crossfaded, but the first audio clip also get faded-in. This is not following the definition of Crossfading that is only supposed to affect the end of the first audio clip and the beginning of the second audio clip. I think the entire Crossfading menus need to be reworked so that Crossfading only allows the overlay of two consecutive audio clips at a time. Under the current system, if you have more than 2 audio clips, all of them are automatically selected when you choose the Crossfading in the Music tab. The Crossfading function should be changed so that you can only select two consecutive audio clips and apply the crossfading only to them (without affecting the beginning of the first audio clip). If you highlight the two audio clips in the Music tab and try to set the Crossfading seconds in the Customize/Audio Clips Properties window, it will not accept any seconds. Here is where I would expect to be able to do the crossfading of two selected audio clips, but you can't. Perhaps the Crossfading buttom in the Music tab should be removed and only allow for Crossfading in the Customize/Audio Clip Properties window, and only two consecutive audio clips can be highlighted and only those two audio clips are affected with Crossfading. Just my thoughts....Gary (rat terrier) ======================

Peter, This is very interesting. If I understood it correctly, I think that DG agreed that Crossfade produced a fade-in on the first mp3. So we need more 'rat terriers' to track down the rabbit!!! Every time I try it with different mp3s and different versions of PTE, it showed the same results. Even if I put in a single mp3, the beginning gets faded-in. Did you see my AVI? Did I do something wrong? I have Win7 Prof., 32-bit. Gary ADDED LATER: In his last post, I see DB gets the same results as I do. ADDED LATER: Peter, I assume you clicked OK to get the waveform to refresh after changing the Crossfade to 9s. ===========================

============================== DG, Thanks for addressing one of my original questions. I think it is illogical because you can apply your own fade to the beginning MP3 if you want to, whenever you want to. Using Crossfade as it is now, affects the beginning audio of the 1st MP3, and it should not. While you were making this posting, I created an AVI to demo my point, for others who might not see what I am trying to show. See the attached for the demo. Thanks, Gary CrossfadeTest -1.zip

=================== Peter, Yes. I have tried different versions of PTE (7.04 and 7.03), and different mp3s and even Lin's mp3s and each time the beginning mp3 is affected. I see it does affect where we expect, overlapping the two mp3s.I will try to make up an AVI that will demonstrate my point. Give me some time... Gary

Peter, Attached is what I see when I create a new slideshow and just open Crossfade for the first time. It shows 5s. Seems to me it should be Zero. I understand how Crossfade is supposed to work, overlapping the end of the 1st mp3 with the beginning of the 2nd mp3, and that you should apply it only to the 2nd mp3 (on the same Track). But, take a look at the beginning few seconds of your 1st mp3 and see that it too has been affected. Gary ===========================

Lin, I certainly didn't want to turn this into a dissertation. I am just trying to get answers to what I am seeing that does not make sense. You gave me an explanation but it seems that you are only talking about the effects between the 1st and 2nd mp3s. I understand where the Crossfade should happen. However, my question has to do with why is it affecting the beginning of the 1st mp3? I don't think you have responded to that. I tried using Crossfade on another show with 2 mp3s and, again, it affected to beginning of the 1st mp3. I don't think that is what it is supposed to happen. Greetings Lin, No, they are not 'eliminated'. But the beginning drum beats of the 1st mp3 are definitely reduced in sound level with your Crossfade of 10s. In the .gif I had attached, you can see that the waveform barely shows about 4 of the beats when your 10s of Crossfade is applied. If you bring Crossfade to 0s, there is an increase in the number of drum beats you can see in the waveform and you can actually hear the difference when played. I see all of this 'inside' PTE using its waveform in the Timeline. I still don't see why it should be affecting the 1st mp3. I gave you my explanation - I can do no more..... OK I have just noticed another problem with Crossfade. The default setting seems to be 5s. If you bring it down to 0s and then go back into Crossfade, the setting goes back to 5s. Should it not stay at the 0s you set it at? No, it should go to the default. Why would you expect to have Zero in a crossfade? Zero is "no crossfade" so you wouldn't check crossfade if you didn't want it. I would expect it to stay at what I set it at. If '0s' is 'no Crossfade', what is '5s'? If I can make a change from 5s to 0s, it should stay there. Does 5s = 0s? If it does, then it should not let me put in a Zero. Another problem with Crossfade: I am working on a new slideshow that has 2 mp3s. Both are in their own track so I can apply Offset to the 2nd mp3 to have the beginning of the 2nd mp3 overlay the end of the 1st mp3 for a few seconds. If I happen to change the Crossfade of the 2nd mp3 to any other setting than its default of 5, the 2nd mp3 disappears from the wave form and so does the Offset setting. I don't know why I would fiddle with the Crossfade in this instance but I did and it did something weird. Any you can't get it back to where it was unless you close PTE and reopen it without having save it. I don't know why you would fiddle with it either. Gary, you're like a rat terrier worrying a carcass. If you pull the sparkplug wire from a high performance engine while running it will foul the sparkplug. You're not "expected" to pull the sparkplug wire. Crossfade is designed to work with two song selections on the same track. You shouldn't use crossfade if you don't have both selections on the same track. Developers can't possibly account for all the exigencies which users "might" do. If you really think this is a "bug" then report it to Igor as such. Sometimes you just try out menu items to see what would happen. Things happen that aren't expected. I think that is why we have Beta versions. You need the 'rat terriers' to see what happens when developers don't account for what a user might do. The fact that I cannot undo the results of clicking on a menu item that I 'shouldn't' have makes me think the developers weren't good enough 'rat terriers'. I should have been able to put back the default and return it back to where it was. A fix would be, if there is not a second mp3 in that Track, then it should not allow an entry into Crossfade. Gary ('rat terrier'?-- I take that as a complement). This started as a question about how to do crossfade and is developing into a dissertation.... LOL Best regards, Lin Gary

Greetings Lin, No, they are not 'eliminated'. But the beginning drum beats of the 1st mp3 are definitely reduced in sound level with your Crossfade of 10s. In the .gif I had attached, you can see that the waveform barely shows about 4 of the beats when your 10s of Crossfade is applied. If you bring Crossfade to 0s, there is an increase in the number of drum beats you can see in the waveform and you can actually hear the difference when played. I see all of this 'inside' PTE using its waveform in the Timeline. I still don't see why it should be affecting the 1st mp3. I have just noticed another problem with Crossfade. The default setting seems to be 5s. If you bring it down to 0s and then go back into Crossfade, the setting goes back to 5s. Should it not stay at the 0s you set it at? Another problem with Crossfade: I am working on a new slideshow that has 2 mp3s. Both are in their own track so I can apply Offset to the 2nd mp3 to have the beginning of the 2nd mp3 overlay the end of the 1st mp3 for a few seconds. If I happen to change the Crossfade of the 2nd mp3 to any other setting than its default of 5, the 2nd mp3 disappears from the wave form and so does the Offset setting. I don't know why I would fiddle with the Crossfade in this instance but I did and it did something weird. Any you can't get it back to where it was unless you close PTE and reopen it without having save it. Gary =====================================================

DG, Exactly. Can I vote twice??? Gary ============================

Greetings Peter,

================= Lin, Take a look at the attached gif. If you look closely at the Timelines, you will see what I see. The Timeline without the Crossfade has more 'blips' at the beginning than the Timeline with Crossfade. Something is being removed. And I can hear the difference when I play each. This is in the new version 7.4. I think I understand what you are doing but I don't think you are actually laying the beginning portion of the 2nd mp3 over the ending portion of the 1st mp3. Maybe I am wrong but the fading of either end is taking out some of the music. I don't want to do that. I just want to blend the ending of the 1st mp3 with the beginning of the 2nd mp3. Gary

============================= Lin, I checked out your sample. Thanks for the quick reply. What I don't like about using Crossfade is that it affects the beginning of the 1st mp3. If you notice the beginning of the first mp3, it is not exactly like it sounds if you remove the Crossface. The Crossfade is affecting both the transition between the 1st and the 2nd mp3 AND the beginning of the 1st mp3. The Gerry and the Pacemaker's (G&P) mp3 is losing the very beginning drum section with the Crossfade. And, your sample is fading out in the middle of the G&P mp3. I don't want to fade out of my first mp3 because it is already fading out. That means I would be fading-out a fade-out. I just want to put the beginning music of my 2nd mp3 on top of the already fading-out end of my 1st mp3. So if you take out the Crossfade from your sample, it is just a fade-out and a fade-in, no overlapping, but at least you don't lose the beginning drum beats from G&P. So I think my method works a bit better to actually get the overlap between the two mp3s, without the deficiency that the Crossfade introduces. Do you notice what I mean about the Crossfade affecting the first mp3s music???? Is that a bug??? Gary

Greetings, I am trying to adjust two mp3 files so that they blend together as one ends and the other starts. I want the second mp3 to start playing while the first mp3 plays its last few seconds, or in other words, to overlap. I tried Crossfade, since that at least sounded like what I wanted to do. But it deals with getting the music to start playing gradually. Then I tried Offset (both mp3s in Track 1). But that made the second mp3 start only after the end of the first mp3 by the amount of time added to the Offset. Then I put the second mp3 in Track 2 and used its Offset setting so that it would start playing a few seconds before the first mp3 ended. If the first mp3 was 2:50, I put the Offset for the second mp3 to be 2:45 go get an overlap of 5 seconds. This got the beginning of the second mp3 to start and to play with the ending of the first mp3 for 5 seconds. Once I got the hang of it, it seems to be a workable solution. My question is, is this the only way to do this in PTE? I don't want to use Audacity to do this. I want to be able to make these adjustments with the audio as I do the editing of the show, within PTE. Wouldn't it be easier if we could just put both mp3s in Track 1 and be able to put in a negative value in for the Offset for the second mp3 to accomplish the overlapping of the mp3s? Gary

========================= DavyC, Very nice show; I liked the music. But...you took me on a trip and I did not where I was! How about some introductory text? After a while I recognized the rocks but I can not remember exactly where they are. More info in the slideshow, please. (Also, I'd prefer manual controls to be included) Thanks... Gary

Nobeefstul, Yes, Peter's advice is good. But most of the time you just can't point to something you might have done in the past that is causing a problem. I do create backups, but, as you point out, that does not tell you what caused the problem. I always prefer to find the cause, so maybe it won't happen again and you might actually learn something. I have been doing the tests you indicated and that is what has been getting me 'worn out'. Peter thinks that that is the problem but doing these tests over and over to try to nail down what exactly is causing the sporadic problem is needed to be done and it does wear on you. And I think I have found what can cause the problem on a routine basis. But I don't know why the problem is occurring. The uninstall/cold boot/reinstall has been done but that did not stop the problem from occurring. Here is what I have found: I have found that if I open the PTE program by clicking on a .pte file in MyComputer, and then try to replace the exe file using Publish, the error message consistently occurs. If I open the PTE program directly first, then open the same .pte file, and try to replace the exe using Publish, the error does not occur. I tried this with several different slideshows and it seems to be a consistent theme. For some reason unknown, opening PTE by clicking on a .pte file seems to cause a change in the Security tab or Permissions settings in the exe file. I don't know why but opening the PTE program clicking on a .pte file seems to be the trigger of the "Unhandled Exception..." error message. But at least now I can reproduce the problem consistently. Gary

Peter, I understand what you are saying. And, I have gone through all of the processes you have mentioned. The difficulty with my situation is that there are two problems occurring at the same time. And both were sporadic and I was not sure if they were related or not. One is with PTE and the other is with downloading a file off the Internet. But both seemed to be tied to Permissions. But many times the error message has nothing to do with the actual source of the problem. So I have had to do many different tests many different ways to try to get to a point where I could consistently cause the problem to occur. Maybe you misunderstood my comment that "I have been trying so many things so many different ways, I am getting worn out..." When the problem is not consistent and redo-able, it is like trying to hit a moving target. I get your points. Been there, done that. But I use my PC far more than the average person, I am sure, so the cause could be from many, many different things that might have started these problems. These problems have been going on for quite a while so that is why I mentioned I am getting 'worn out'. But I do not give up. I find them to be a challenge. I think I am getting closer to being able to reproduce and undo the PTE problem. A little more testing of my theory and I'll post it in a reply to Nobeefstu. Gary ====================================

========================= Greetings Nobeefstu, Sorry, I did not respond about uninstall/reinstalling PTE. Yes, I did try that, but I may not have done it in the sequence you outlined above. I will do it again using your sequence. I have been trying so many things so many different ways, I am getting worn out. I have also been emailing back and forth with my local computer group for insight into this problem. But I am willing to try/test any suggestions. This is really an interesting problem than I hope I can get to some good results. Thanks... Gary

=============== Yachtsman1, Yes. The only versions on my PC are the 6.5.8 & 7.03. But I am not sure what that would have to do with this problem. This is such a strange problem. Gary

Greetings, My last posting said the problem came back. So I did some more testing. The problem seemed to return after I opened my PTE program by just clicking on a .pte file in MyComputer instead of the using the shortcut to the main PTE program. I have both 6.5.8 and 7.03 on my PC. So, with PTE now back to causing the problems, I decided to open 6.5.8. I made a test.pte. I then created a test.exe. No problems. Tried creating/replacing the test.exe several times, no problems. I then opened this test.exe in 7.03. I Published the test.exe. I Published/replaced it several times and the problem did not reappear. Now, with the problem not occurring, I opened the PTE program again by clicking on a .pte file in MyComputer (as opposed to clicking on the shortcut to the main PTE program). The problem came back. I went back to opening 6.5.8 again; created the test.pte and the test.exe. No problems. I opened 7.03 and opened the test.pte and tried Publishing/replacing the test.exe. The problem disappeared....again. Does this shed any light on this problem???????????? I notice, too, that the listings in Security tab for 6.5.8 is quite different than for 7.03. The 7.03 Security tab has 4 Account Unknown..., Batch,, Interactive and Service listed that are not in the 6.5.8 Security tab. I can do a screen capture of this if needed. Gary

I chose Run As Administrator to open PTE, and tried to replace the Cheow Lake.exe file, and I got the same error problem. Also, I again tried to save the Cheow Lake.pte to the C: drive and got an error message, "A required privilege is not held by the client." I got the same error message when I tried to Publish the exe to the C: drive. Now, something strange just happened. After doing the above (trying the Run As Administrator), as I closed down PTE, it gave me a window saying something about Compatibility problems, and I close the window choosing something like Run as Administrator (I forget the other choices-I'll make a screen shot if it happens again). Then I opened PTE again, and tried about 6 times to Publish the exe to the E: drive as normal and I had NO problems!!! I closed down PTE and reopened it. Tried doing it again....no problems Publishing the exe. Then, I tried to Publish the exe to the C: drive, where it caused the error message "A required privilege is not held by the client" before, and had NO problems. I tried several times replacing the exe on the C: drive and No problems. Now, what can I make of that???????????????? I will let things alone for awhile, reboot, and see what happens. Gary :blink: ADDED LATER: Well, it didn't take long for things to go downhill again. I noticed that now when I start PTE, the UAC window comes up. I am sure it did not it come up before when I opened PTE. It does not with Excel, Word, Photoshop, etc. Anyway, the problem seemed to have disappeared...until. The problem did not show up when I would start PTE using my PTE shortcut. I would click on the PTE shortcut, say Yes to the UAC window, and it would open and I could Publish the exe with not error. Then...I opened PTE by clicking on the .pte file in MyComputer. Then the problem started all over again. Duno... I just don't get it. Gary