alrobin

Prashant, Welcome to the Forum! You are quite right about the 1-pixel black image - however, I am sure Igor will include it in the final version, as otherwise, many of us could not import version 4 files into PTE version 5. (Lin, a 1 pointblack is a black slide, 1 pixel by 1 pixel. It shows up as a black screen in PTE. You can make one, or pick one up on my website.) I don't know what a blue jpeg is, either!

rwt, Welcome to the Forum! In PTE you can also choose to create a custom AVI which can then be used in any one of the many video rendering programs, Premiere included. Or you can open Premiere and add the temporary AVI file that PTE creates, as long as you keep PTE open while you render the show. Or, you can use a program such as Nero to create an AVI file from the temporary AVI that PTE creates, and then import this "permanent" AVI file into Premiere. I use Premiere Elements, and have used each of these methods successfully. The nice thing about PTE is that it is extremely versatile.

Tom, I forgot to answer your second question. The shows' repeating was an error caused by my checking "Repeat playback of a disk" in the DVD Builder Proj Ops menu. There also seems to be a bug in the program in that if you have 2 or more shows in a menu, play goes right into the second show without first returning to the menu.

Tom, (and Nathan, too), Thanks for your kind words. Good-quality voice-over is difficult to achieve (especially when you have a scratchy voice like mine). First of all I found that singing in a local community choir for a couple of years really helped improve the quality of my voice. When one gets older, one's throat muscles tend to relax (just like the rest of the body), so regular exercise tends to improve things a lot. The next consideration is a good microphone and amplifying electronics. I use an "Audio Techniques" professional mic (ATM41HE), and an external sound card ("MAudio"), as I found a lot of noise being generated in the old one, even though it was considered to be a good card ("Audigy"). Another problem with recording quality arises when you use the mic too close to the mouth, so I made a baffle out of an old pair of panty-hose (my wife's, not mine!), mounted it so it hangs in front of the mic, and this mutes the annoying little "explosions" from "p's" and "t's", thus greatly improving the quality of the recording. A mic stand is also important as it leaves your hands free to hold the script, scratch your nose, etc. It goes without saying that it is important, too, not to shuffle one's feet or kick the mic stand while recording. I record a couple of runs at the script so I can cut and paste the best parts in the sound editor. The third consideration is room noise, as well as noise from outside. I try to record narration early in the morning when no one else is around, and before any garbage trucks, etc., are driving by. However, because I rely on a pc for the recording, I find the fan noise to be excessive, so I use a long mic cord, and close myself up in a nearby room, with a closed door separating the mic from the pc. It helps to turn off the AC or the furnace and hot-water heater, too, while making the recording. It is also a good idea to try to use a small room, with padding on the walls if possible. Some recording artists build a little sound room, with acoustic tiles lining the ceiling and walls, but it helps to just hang a few curtains or blankets or sleeping-bags near where you will be doing the recording. I don't have a proper sound room, and just make do with a small back room. The last important item is the ability to polish up the recording in a sound editor. I find a little dynamic balancing to be useful, as well as some careful equalization of the different frequency ranges to make the voice sound clearer, and more resonant. Hope this helps!

There are several excellent tutorials available from Forum members on various PZR features and how to set them up (search the threads, and also check with "theDom" who kindly accumulates these and makes them available on his web site.)

Luc, Search the Forum - you will find lots of suggestions, and also a few examples and demos.

Windows XP-2 also provides a "pop-up" blocker: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/w...pupblocker.mspx

Mike, One way is to install the Google toolbar in your browser, and then choose the "popup" blocker add-on.

John, I can't speak for PSG, but no, you can't include a video within PTE (unless, of course, you convert both to video format and play from the pc or DVD player.) One compromise might be to use PTE v.5, and do a slow pan of the river to represent motion.

Ken, When I select a file and then "Send to", I have 13 choices of destinations, 2 of which are CD-related. One is for CD's which have been set up as "Direct CD's", and the other indicates "DVD-RAM Drive (D)". If I select this option, Win XP saves this file to a temporary folder, and I get a notice asking for further instructions. If I click on the temporary icon on my toolbar, I can elect to burn the file, in which case I get a CD "Wizzard" which then proceeds to burn the file onto the CD in the CD/DVD drive. I have no idea which program it uses to do this, as it acts as if it were a "generic" program, part of Win XP. But it does burn the CD. Sounds like you have another happy customer! Congrats!

Just to add to Tom's note, both Ralph and I have problems with WMP, too, when attempting to play wide-screen DVD's created with "DVD Builder". There is both sound and video, but the images are shown in 4:3 aspect ratio instead of 16:9.

That's correct, you use "Customize slide" to set the length of the last slide. In version 4, all you have to do is sync the show to music, and make sure you have a long enough music selection to last the intended duration of all the slides. This may seem obvious, but you do need to have music installed which will last as long as you want it to play. If not, check "Repeat music after playing" in Project Options, and whatever music you installed in Project Options will keep playing until the duration of the last slide is complete.

Sorry, Peter, but I don't have any more of a direct line to Igor than you do. You can tell by his posts that he does read the Forum, so perhaps he is too busy at the moment to resolve the problem you are having with v.5. After all, it is still in "beta" mode, so eventually, everything will probably be well. As you can imagine, it's a little difficult to resolve sound problems with someone's individual equipment setup remotely. I don't believe "Ogg" files are supported yet in v.5, but will be. Best of luck.

Igor, Is the image inverted horizontally?

Sorry, idc, I assumed by fades that you were talking about fades for the slides themselves. This is quite possible with PTE. However, Dom is right in that fades in the music must be prepared externally in a sound editor such as Audacity.

Can you provide us with a screen-shot comparison of the same image, one in PTE v.5 and one in PS? I am sure this will be fixed in future betas, so that both versions behave the same way. Or, it could have something to do with your version of DirectX. Check to make sure you have version 9c. It is quite easy to synchronize fades with the music - just set "synchronize to music", and put your transitions onto the timeline. Open the waveform so that you can see the beats, and drag the transition points to where you want them. You can then preview the show right on the timeline, and watch where the transitions are occurring relative to the music waveform. These features are available in both v.4 and v.5, but you may find that there is a small difference between the timing on the timeline playback compared to the normal preview in version 5 - Igor has promised to fix this in future betas.

Our "M" is a drinking gal, too! (see photo) I'll buy you one too when you come to Ottawa! (a coffee, that is!)

Welcome to the Forum! This is not normal - PTE preserves the integrity of the images very well. Can you give us more information as to how you prepare your images for showing in PTE? (what image editor, colour space, image type, etc.). Normally, for uniform viewing on different computers, it is recommended that one use "sRGB".

My reply to Harry shows as 9:51, whereas it should read 7:51.

Hey, mate, that looks like Barbara M - the blonde in the white shorts, that is! Or, maybe you didn't realize you too have a blonde "M" down there.

Just add PTE shows to the "timeline" in DVD Builder.

According to my pc, it was posted at 05:05 PM today.

The music is played as you provide it to PTE. So, to get one selection to end sooner, you will have to truncate it in a sound editor such as Audacity or Audition, save it as an mp3 file, and re-add it to PTE. Or, better still, combine all your selections together in the sound editor as one long mp3.

Curt, This feature has not yet been implemented in v.5 - should be soon, though, according to Igor.

Hi, Dimitri, Yes, v.5 is a major improvement - but the waveform feature has been in v.4 for over a year or two. To sync in real time, empty the timeline (or add the slides without adding the transitions), start the timeline "preview", and then press "New transition" every time you want a new slide. To add slides to the slide list without adding transitions to the timeline, first select "Timeline / View" and uncheck "Auto adding of new transition points .... ". Igor has thought of everything!