alrobin

I have coincidentally placed some comments along these lines in another thread - probably at the same time as you were writing your post.

It's worth pointing out again, for the benefit of anyone opening a version 4 PTE project in the new v.5 that the method of calculating timing for non-synched shows has changed in v.5. Where previously there was no danger of timing ambiguities since the total time of a sequence was the sum of all the transition times plus the slide duration times, this is no longer the case. in PTE v.5 non-synched shows, the total time of a sequence is simply the total duration time, and this time includes the transition times. This, I believe, is a more intuitive definition of the timing in PTE than the one used in v.4. However, with this change, when one loads up a v.4 show in v.5, it is quite possible to receive a timing incompatibility error for shows which previously previewed without any problem. (see example of message below). Also, in order to maintain the previous timing, it will be necessary to go back in and adjust the timing for the entire show. If a lot of custom times were used, this could prove to be quite a time-consuming process. (the second image below indicates how this incompatibility shows up on the timeline in v.5). This message is the same one that Ralph identified in a previous posting. For example, if previously you used a duration time of 4 seconds, and a transition time of 5 seconds, where the total time from start of this transition to the start of the next transition used to be 9 seconds, it will now be only 4 seconds, and you will receive an incompatibility error message when you try to preview the show in v.5. To preserve the correct timing, you will have to go back in either to Project Options or Customize Slide and change the slide duration time to 9 seconds.

Highlight it by dragging your mouse cursor over it, and it will be more readable.

Cheryl, Welcome to the Forum! It's a little difficult to know what might be going wrong without being there and watching your process for creating the DVD. However, some further information would be helpful. How large are the images (in pixels)? How fast are the transitions? Have you actually burned a show to DVD, or is the problem showing up in the preview of the avi before you burn to DVD? Are you selecting the proper video mode (i.e. DVD mode if you are planning to burn a DVD.) Please describe your procedure and nature of the show a little more so someone can suggest a possible problem area. You might try a different show as a test of your procedure - put a test show together consisting of 8 or 10 medium-sized images (say 1024x768 px), medium-speed transitions (say 2 sec), with lots of time between transitions (at least 2-3 sec.). Use only "fade" or "quick" transitions for the test. Also, do not forget to leave the "PTE" project open while you are doing all the rendering in Nero. Hope some of this helps.

Dom, Just get them to install your old drive in your new case, boot the new computer up to the new drive, and then access the data on the old drive. I had to do the same thing today with my wife's pc.

Larry, This is a very significant first step - thanks for the info. So far we have nothing like this in Canada, but with this development, an arrangement like this should be feasible here too. It will be interesting to follow this story and find out how satisfactory it turns out to be.

Patrick, You must use some DVD's for training purposes in the hospital where you work, no?? These days, some software is even provided on DVD's, and DVD's are very commonly used for tutorials.

Larry, Don't get me wrong - I'm with you on this, as I have often tried to think of some way to automate a CD so that we wouldn't have to rely on copied music. For my purposes, I would like to have the sequence somehow synched throughout to the CD, but I appreciate your desire to automate the basic process in some way and incorporate into PTE the ability to at least start a CD and sync with the beginning of the sequence. The existing ability to provide PTE with the total time of the show, based on the total time of the CD selection, as indicated by John, could then be used to provide an approximate synchronization. Even this much would be useful, but as you indicate, it would be up to Igor to study it and indicate whether there is anything he could do to implement it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Igor is planning to change the method of timing of non-synched shows so that it is accurate over all pc's, similar to shows which follow an actual music timeline. In fact, a timeline is now available in v.5 for non-synched shows, even if there is no music backing it up. An alternate course of action would be to negotiate with the music industry to ultimately gain acceptance for the use of music selections or portions thereof in support of the themes of our AV productions. I don't know which alternative would be the most difficult.

Larry, Just think of how much time you would have then for making AV's! I sympathize with your desire to eliminate all legal risk. But I still think that if no one knows there is an underlying musical selection, because it is too muted to hear, then this case would be somewhat of an "academic" technicality. However, if exact registration with the music is not necessary, it is already possible to set up a show, giving PTE the precise instructions for each transition, and run it in parallel with a CD playing in the background, and without including any music inside the sequence "exe" file. The user might have to "fiddle" a bit to ensure a close "sync", but this would still be better than not having any music accompaniment at all.

Larry, I have been wondering, too, over the past couple of years whether something similar to what you describe would be possible, as we have the same problems here with copyright music. My application would be in sending AV sequences to competitions - if a system you described were available, one would simply send the original music CD along with a CD containing the show. One other possible solution would be to use the music selection for synching purposes, only, in setting up the show, then reduce the sound level on the selection in a sound editor to the point where it becomes inaudible, and stuff it back into the PTE project for use in continuing to sync the show. ?? However, I doubt that the timing of the show and that of the CD playback would retain their synchronization adequately. Plus, the person watching the show would have to have some signal whereby to start the playback of either the music CD or the show on the pc. There has to be a way to work around the "copy-cops"!!

Igor, Just back from a wonderful holiday in the 'Cotswolds' in England, with Maureen & Robert, Alan & Phil (from Ireland), and Ian & Elaine, and spent some time with many other avid AV'ers at the RPS "International" competition in Cirencester. We watched many excellent productions at the conference, many of which I am sure were created with PTE. One of the first things I did upon arriving home was to download and try the new PTE Beta 6. Everything seems to function well as before. However, I received the old "memory leakage" error message twice in a row (see below) when I exited from "Preview". As far as I know, there were no other programs working in the background. Just thought you might like to know. Tom, Sometimes I have detected a slight hesitation in pans and zooms at the point where a new transition starts. Try moving the end-point of the zoom on the O/A timeline to start after the end of the transition to that slide, and to end before the beginning of the transition to the next slide, to see if that makes a difference. I haven't noticed any change to the "zoom" action with the new beta, myself, but I haven't tested it very thoroughly yet.

Igor, Sounds fantastic!

Igor, This plan sounds very reasonable, and the prices are certainly affordable. Just one minor question: will v.5 (not the "Deluxe" version) still provide the ability to create a temporary video file, for those who still prefer to render their videos with their own preferred software?

Hi, Bob, Thanks for the tip - sounds like a great program, especially for anyone who doesn't already have a user-friendly CD/DVD copy program. As you probably gathered, most of the queries here on the forum are for something that will do a little more than just copy files - i.e. render to video and then copy to disk. As it stands now, the approach that Igor has taken with PTE (and I think it's a good one) is to prepare one's show for acceptance by a third-party program and then let the user choose which video program he or she prefers to use to render the show. By the way, how did your Little League slideshow turn out? Good luck with PTE!

Ernest, To back up Ken's reply, see this note (post #3) earlier from Igor in response to the same suggestion: "If we add own MPEG2 encoder it will increase prices, add 3 MB to size of program. After this we will be asked to add own DVD burner and creator of DVD menu I can't guarantee that all it will work without bugs on every PC. "

Lin, I think Jill is referring to the file name in the tool-bar at the bottom of the O/A window. The object "name" in "Properties" is independent of the file name, and I agree with you that this characteristic should be retained.

I would like to second Jill's suggestions - particularly the request to highlight in the file list the images used as objects.

Panos, Thank-you for your kind words, and welcome to the Forum! It will be great to have the contribution here of a member of your proven level of creativity. Many of us are fans of your wonderful Photoshop special effects and scripts, so it would be great to see what you can come up with by combining them with PTE! Also, any suggestions as to how to improve our AV productions would be greatly appreciated.

Barney, Welcome to the Forum! Igor is pretty good about replying to messages on the forum, but send an email to him anyway at support@wnsoft.com . However, as you indicated, you may not get a reply until after the weekend. If you don't hear back after a few days, resend, as he gets so many spam messages these days there is a slight possibility that some legitimate mail could get lost amongst all the junk. Good luck with PTE - you are in for a real treat!

His site.

Dom, Thanks for the tip - I downloaded the script (didn't even have to change the file name - it was already "jsx"), and it ran just fine in PS CS2, as you said - no error messages. Thanks for pointing this out to us! I couldn't tell you how many times I've laboriously selected a layer, saved it "to web", then selected the next one, and so on. This will be very useful.

That's great - it sounds like it will be a great festival. Am looking forward to meeting you too after all these years! Hope your show does well!

Hi, John, Looks like Ken got around to answering before I did - thanks, Ken, for the info. We're going to arrive next Thurs., and will be staying at the Agricultural College residence in Cirencester. We'll be hanging out with the Irish contingent, so you should have no problem finding us. Am looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the UK Forum members at the conference, and to tasting that "real ale"! Thanks for the invitation - we'll probably be spending most of our time in the Cotswolds, but it can't be that far up to where you live. We return home on Oct. 2nd.

John, When v.5 first came out there was a problem with the preview function in certain video cards until Igor did something to fix it. (do a search to find the particular threads). Sounds like the problem has surfaced again in your particular setup. As Ken suggested, Igor should probably have a look at it. By the way, am I going to see you at the AV Festival in Cirencester next week?

The "Sound" line option hasn't been activated in v.5 yet - however it is possible to add music in Project Options as Ken suggested.