tom95521

Hi Lin, I think the last drive in movie I watched was "Easy Rider" back in 1969 when I was about 13 years old. I have always been an early riser so I would usually go to sleep around 8 pm. Unfortunately the drive in movies didn't start until after dark which was about 9 pm during the summer so I always fell asleep before the movie was over. Glad we now have HDTV with streaming video so we don't have to leave the house. Thanks, Tom

Hi Lin, Haven't used XP in a few years, but it was a good stable operating system. I started out using CP/M, then DOS, Windows 3, Windows 95, ... My CPU started with 8088, 286, 386,486,Pentium,... My next CPU I think is going to be AMD Ryzen. Maybe do a reset to default in Chrome. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3296214?hl=en Tom

Thanks for thinking about this idea. I know expensive software like Moho Pro can import SVG but it lacks many other features of PTE. Tom

You can check what IP address your operating system is using for wnsoft.com compared to the DNS servers. Get the IP address from one of the sites below and then open a cmd window and ping wnsoft.com. https://viewdns.info/propagation/ https://www.whatsmydns.net/ C:\Users\Tom>ping wnsoft.com Pinging wnsoft.com [92.222.74.42] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 92.222.74.42: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=49 Reply from 92.222.74.42: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=49 Ping statistics for 92.222.74.42: Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 174ms, Maximum = 174ms, Average = 174ms Control-C ^C C:\Users\Tom> Tom

It has been up the few times I have checked today from Northern California. I created a monitor page that checks every 5 minutes. https://stats.uptimerobot.com/5LRjKFP07 Tom

Another reason to have a standalone player for data files so you can just send the data file. Sometimes if you rename the extension to something other than .exe it will trick the email server into not scanning the file inside a zip container. Sending a YouTube or Vimeo video links is probably the safest option. I know from past experience dropbox scans .exe and if they think there is a virus will block file sharing for the folder. I have been testing https://wetransfer.com/ and it's pretty good. Tom

It would be nice to have SVG import support since we are missing graphic primitives such as lines, triangles, circles. I know there are alternatives like masks to make circles. The ability to zoom graphic objects without pixelation is my wish. If it works for fonts maybe it is not too hard to add? Thanks, Tom

I noticed there is a new option in the chrome web browser to cast local files instead of casting a tab or desktop. It seems to work great with PTE created mp4 files. Now I can watch slideshows and use my PC at the same time. The average bitrate used by Chromecast in my limited testing is about 5 Mbps. The quality seems decent and right click to select loop video. https://chromeunboxed.com/new-cast-file-feature-headed-to-chrome/ Tom

My mistake. 4 TB Hitachi is my favorite. I blame it on my 9 month old kitten who likes to keep me occupied while I try to type. I better stop now before she sees me typing. Thanks, Tom

That system looks really good. If you do any video editing or high resolution photography then 4 TB is not too big. Even larger 8 TB drives are common now. If I had a choice of HD I would get a Hitachi. Even though they are owned by WD I think they are still a better drive. Unlike owning a Mac it's not that hard to upgrade your system later to add more RAM and larger SSD/HD. My personal system is a 512 GB SSD + 4 GB data drive. I only have 128 GB free on the SSD. Tom

I have the Nvidia 1050 card and it works great with PTE. The prices of the high end graphics cards like the Nvidia 1060 or higher are inflated thanks to the cryptocurrency miners. My next computer will probably be an AMD Ryzen APU. If anybody has experience with PTE slideshows and the Ryzen AMD APU I would like to know how well they work. I'm going to wait for the Spectre/Meltdown to settle down a little longer before I buy another Intel CPU. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3253306/computers/ryzen-apu-review-ryzen-plus-vega-saves-budget-gamers.html Thanks. Tom

Hi Ken, The technology is amazing. I could watch the boosters fall back to Earth over and over again. Thanks, Tom

+1 for render slideshow on multiple monitors. Currently screensaver limited to primary 1 monitor. I have a screensaver that has option to extend or duplicate (serene screen marine aquarium 3). So maybe this is possible, not sure how difficult. Thanks, Tom

Hi Lin, Elon mentioned after the launch how the Tesla looked like it was fake. He said CGI animation could have generated a much more realistic Tesla in space. Thanks, Tom

SpaceX recently launched their new Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time. The double booster landing is surreal. This 2 minute slideshow was created with PTE, Bandicam screen recorder, and Bandicut video cutter. Backup of slideshow here (80 MB). http://tommendenhall.com/pte/Falcon_Heavy_1.zip Thanks, Tom

It could also be that the CPU is slowing down while on battery power. I have an older Lenovo IdeaPad with a mobile i7-3610 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M and it does appear the CPU frequency drops when on battery power. Also I don't *think* that PTE utilizes all the hardware capabilities of newer GPU chips. It supports older GPU that do not have decoding/encoding capabilities. DirectX 9 is getting old. Tom

Even if you force Windows to use the Nvidia GPU it might lower the clock frequency or maybe automatically switch to Intel GPU while battery is discharging to protect the battery. Are you disabling the Intel GPU in the BIOS?. They suggest buying a Li-po battery but that seems like a costly solution. https://superuser.com/questions/855372/why-are-my-games-slower-on-battery-power-even-with-the-power-plan-set-to-high-p Tom * In Windows 10 Fall Creator release update you can monitor GPU in task manager. It might show you what changes when you switch from charge to discharge.

I think the DVD engine is licensed. Maybe a good compromise is to keep the option to build the .iso image and then use an external burner like imgburn. I have not burned a DVD slideshow in probably the last two years. I rarely watch movies from DVD or Blu-ray. Almost everything is streamed these days. Tom

Interesting. I didn't think anybody would be using a time or number limit. I thought a professional photographer would use a copyright watermark on their images. Thanks, Tom

I wonder if anybody really uses this feature. I think it was for designed for professional photographers who wanted to demonstrate their photos in a slideshow? The problem is that computers can now use screen capture software that can record high quality videos of the slideshow. I have tested capturing slideshows with Windows 10 Game Bar, Nvidia ShadowPlay, Bandicam, D3DGear, and AverMedia hdmi capture. They can all capture at 1080p 60fps (except for my older Avermedia hdmi capture is 30 fps). Even if HDCP is enabled the new digital cameras can record video directly from the HDTV screen. I think this feature is a false sense of security that your slideshow is protected and maybe it's time to remove time limited usage from PTE? Thanks, Tom

I don't think Affinity Photo will ever replace Photoshop but I prefer to spend my money on other software. For the majority of my hobby needs Affinity is adequate. It will be interesting to see how well the select subject works. I know Apple is having problems with their new face ID detection. I guess neural networks are just like humans, not perfect. Thanks, Tom

I purchased Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer when it was on sale. I really like the apps. I mostly use Designer to make logos and objects that I insert into PTE. I have Topaz Labs plugins that I still need to install after my SSD upgrade today. http://www.miguelboto.com/affinity/photo/plugins-support/win/ I really like their Vimeo tutorials. https://vimeo.com/affinitybyserif Tom

Installed update last night. It required about an hour to install. Interesting to see the GPU listed under task manager now and watch it when a slideshow is running. Today I'm migrating my 1 TB C drive to 500 GB Samsung EVO 850 and 4 TB Hitachi drive. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/directx/2017/07/21/gpus-in-the-task-manager/ Tom

That is a good idea. Other programs like VideoRedo and Bandicut allow you to trim at keyframes without encoding again. If the trim point is not at a keyframe it only encodes the section between the frame and keyframe and then joins them together. I was hoping the graphics hardware could encode in video converter application to speed things up but I believe the GPU encoders only work on H.264 and H.265, not MPEG-4 codec. Tom

Allow file explorer drag and drop into video converter task list. Display information about input file size, duration, frame size, average frame rate, and average Mbps. Not sure where to display information. Maybe right click on filename in task list. Display estimated output file size and average Mbps based on current conversion settings. Support HEVC/H.265 conversion. Thanks, Tom