Tony Falla

Thanks for that Bill, Idid reply when you first answer but suspect I forgot to press the Post button. Have now downloaded 7.5 and am trying to get my head round the changes that have been made. Suspect I will be asking a few questions in the next few days Tony Falla

I have been inactive for well over a year now due to a couple of family bereavements and am just starting to get back into my photography. I see the latest version is 7.5.8 whereas I am still on 7.0.3, is it OK for me just to download this and update or have I missed something in the time I have been away. For example do I need to do have updated to some other version before I can go to 7.5 or is there any extra payment involved? It will be a new leaning curve as I expect PTE has advanced significantly since I last used it Tony Falla

Igor No problem downloading PTE in IE9 running under Fusion 4 on an iMac. I did have the same message a few weeks back when I bought a new piece of HDR software, I can't remember how but I somehow said OK download and it did download fine. Tony Falla

DG I only read your posting as factual information, which again should be borne in mind when creating sequences. Apologies if you thought I was directing my comments at you. Tony Falla

Prehaps I am just getting to be an old Fuddy Duddy but I get quite annoyed at people telling me what ratio I should or should not be creating my sequences. As I have been trying to say, the equipment is only a consideration, I tend to use 4:3 as that is the projector I use. I do however feel that we are too hung up on it must be 16:9 because modern equipment is produced at this size. As I said most cameras produce a 3:2 so why not make a sequence in this size? I have created sequences that are 4:3, 16:9 and 1:1, it is not the equipment that determines these sizes, but what I want to achieve with my AV and the content that determines the ratio I use. I prefer to let my own creativity determine what ratio I use rather than the equipment, that is what I was originally trying to say but obviously failed miserably Tony Falla

BEB The whole point of my comment is that you should consider where you are going to output your AV sequences and that has an influence on the ratio of your show. If you are going to show your sequences on TV's, computer monitors then I agree you should aim for 16:9. If however, as I do, the majority of your shows will be shown on a 4:3 projector then make them this way. I do not see the point of making 16:9 sequences if you are mainly going to show them at 4:3 and vice versa. I know as pointed out in my second paragraph that it doesn't matter what ratio you use your sequence will still be displayed. Funnily enough the PC I use for creating my sequences has a 16:10 ratio and if I use my iMac to create a sequence then that has a 16:9 ratio so I do have experience of running sequences of different ratios. I would also add that I personally do not particularly like 16:9 ratio, I find that the images I have taken in my 3:2 ratio camera do not crop very well to 16:9 they crop much better to 4:3 but as I say that is a personal thing. It does not mean that I haven't used 16:9, I have as well as other ratios. The main point of my comments to Kim was not to get hung up on ratios, consider where you are going to output your sequence, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter what ratio you use it will still play no matter which piece of equipment it is shown on. Tony Falla

Hi Kim One of the problems that has always existed in photography even before digital AV, is that the ratio of the camera image was usually different from the ratio of the output. Although the 3:2 ratio of the camera image is now almost a universal norm, cameras do exist with 4:3, 1:1 and various other ratios. Even in the days when your only option was to print your images, you had to decide whether you were going to crop your image or print with uneven borders as a most papers were a 5:4 ratio. As has already been said there are currently two popular ratios for outputting AV's 16:9 and 4:3. What you have to do is decide where you are usually going to show your AV's. If you are intending to use a 4:3 projector then obviously this is the size to go for, if however you will normally be showing on a TV, computer monitor or 16:9 projector then obviously that is the size to go for. However don't get too hung up on all these ratios and the equipment you are using. Look at the images you want to include in your sequence and decide from them what size will best suit the sequence you want to create. If it means that the ratio being chosen is different to the equipment, in my opinion, that doesn't matter, the sequence you are creating is the main consideration. Although there will be a black border it isn't noticeable when the sequence is being played. This gives you plenty of scope to express yourself so even if you use a ratio that isn't 4:3 or 16:9 as long as that ratio fits the sequence it will still play no matter what equipment you use for showing. Tony Falla

Thanks for replies, DG's answer does exactly what I wanted. Eric the people who will be using this it will be difficult enough to get them to use a forward and backward arrows that are part off the presentation without having to find things on their own keyboards. Ken turning the speakers off will not make any difference as I don't intend to have any sound on this presentation. Many thanks again for the replies Tony Falla

Thanks for that, silly me read that as if you wanted keyboard control of the show, didn't think that it could also apply to the mouse. I knew there had to be an easier way. Tony Falla

I want to produce a slide show where somebody viewing the show has complete control over when to go on to the next slide or go back to the previous slide. I have managed to do this by using the Navigation Bar but the only way I have been able to stop automatic transition to the next slide is by setting a slide duration time of 10 minutes. Is this the way to do this or am I missing something? Tony Falla

Hi Ronnie Sorry not on Skype but will send you a PM. Tony Falla

Hi Ronnie I run VMWare Fusion on both an iMac and a MacBook Pro, in both cases I bought Windows 7 Home Premium to run with it. I run PTE on both machines but it depends on how complicated or otherwise your PTE sequences are as to how successful this is. Simple sequences I have no problems with but a large complicated project which I recently finished did cause me some problems. When running Fusion the amount of memory, number of processors and graphics card memory is limited, the default settings are 1GB memory, 1 processor, 128K graphic card memory. You can change these to half the memory of the host machine, half the number of processors of the host machine and 256K graphic card memory if you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7. Changing my settings I did manage to complete my project on the iMac (for more details see Configuring VMWare Fusion 26 Jan 2012), but due to the size and complexity of the sequence it would not play on my MacBook Pro which has only 4GB of memory (i.e. 2GB for Windows). If you want more details please feel free to contact me. Currently I still have a PC which I normally use for developing PTE projects, I am hoping that before this comes up for replacement there may be a PTE for Mac available but my impression is that is not likely to happen. Tony Falla

Thanks for that information Bill, it is nice to know that there is a a piece of AV Software for the Mac that can be recommended. I will explore further as I see that the Home version can be bought fairly cheaply from the App Store. Obviously having sent a few years learning PTE it would be better if a Mac version of that was to appear before I give up PC's entirely. Tony Falla

This is a fantastic manual, I only have a limited knowledge of French but I am sure with this manual and my trusted Larousse dictionary I will be able to get a better understanding of some of the areas that I haven't tackled yet. Tony Falla

Barry I am sorry Barry but I take exception to your remarks, I did not give any reason for transferring to Mac's all I was doing was was enquiring about the progress or otherwise of the Mac version of PTE. I am not aware that I suggested a Mac is better than a PC or otherwise. Over the last 12 months I have been transferring to Macs and gradually running down my PC's and as and when buying replacement software. Where available I prefer to buy the Mac version of the PC software as it is easier than having to learn new software. I have, in some instances, had to buy an equivalent software but was aware of this when I started to convert. I am not whining as I am aware that there is limited availability of AV software for a Mac I am therefore trying to establish when or if a Mac version of PTE will be available. Originally the Forum was told that a Mac version would be available late 2010, this never materialised, we then had the statement from Igor that appears at the start of this post. I realise and respect that Igor and his team at WNSoft have to make commercial decisions as to their priorities for development of PTE, but it would be helpful if I had an update on the availability or otherwise of PTE to Macs. Please respect my decision to convert to Macs without making snide remarks Tony Falla