alrobin

Brian ("Conflow") had some good advice on this Forum re DVD drives a couple of months or so ago.

Harry, I have Pinnacle "Studio 8" and from what I have read, "Studio 9" would not give me any significant improvement in creating shows. However, I am having a heck of a time recording more than one PTE show to the same DVD. It gives me my two sound tracks OK, but the images from the first show are duplicated over the second sound track. I cannot seem to separate the two shows and have them play end-to-end, or as selected by the menu at the beginning. Anyone have any advice?

Igor, I don't see why this option of limiting the push, etc., effects to the 4 x 3 rectangle to avoid the dark strips from moving with the image on other resolutions would be a problem to anyone, particularly if it can be "turned on" as an option. I would think that anything to avoid the moving dark bars would be a preferred option. For those creating shows in a different format than 4 x 3, would it be possible to also have an option for the maker to indicate which format is the "preferred one" in determining which portion of the screen to fix, and which one to move? However, as Ian says, it is difficult to imagine, especially considering all the possible combinations. For example, for a show set to the "full screen" option would there still be horizontal bars moving vertically through the screen on some monitors?

I agree with Gérard. I would much prefer an option that would allow the viewer to select the "fit-to-screen" option, but have as default the resolution the same as the images used by the maker. It is not difficult now for the maker to select "fit to screen" if he or she wants to, but it is so easy to forget to un-set something before distributing one's show. I also use 1600 x 1200 resolution on my 21" monitor, and shows "fitted to screen" look terrible in full-res. Even now, if the full-res option is used, then one should include a message in the intro to one's show, or in a separate text file, that the monitor should be adjusted before viewing, as there is no way of knowing now that this option has been used, and if it has, what is the ideal resolution for viewing of the show. Igor, does this suggestion have anything to do with implementation of a method for scaling of the objects? If that is the only way this feature can be achieved then I might go along with it.

Bob, It's handy to have two drives for copying from one to the other. The installation can be a little tricky with two, though, as connection to the proper controller, and master/slave considerations, are important. I don't remember off-hand what the rule is, but your installation manual(s) should tell you. Seems to me that at least one of them likes to be the "master", either primary or secondary.

Ron, It still wouldn't yield the same effect as gradually putting an image out of focus. Granted, doing it as you suggest would up with the same result, but in the meantime you would still be able to see the original in-focus image gradually fading away into the out-of-focus image. But it would still be sharp as opposed to somewhat out of focus.

Hi, Bart, Welcome to the Forum! The option you want to use is "Project Options / Main / Synchronize slideshow to music duration". Then click on "Customize Synchronization" and you can put the slides where you want them to appear in the music. You can even view the music waveform to make placing of the image transitions even more accurate. If you also want to add objects or the navigation bar to have the show stop or go back or forward, and keep the synchronization intact, check "Permit the control of show".

Dave, You have a good point. In fact a friend of mine had a similar experience with the wide-screen laptop he purchased.

Hi, Sherri, Welcome to the Forum! If you do a search on Google you will find lots of songs in mp3 format. You can even search by song title and find just the one you want.

Ed wrote: Yes, 1920 x 1200 would be a nice configuration. All the ones I looked at were only around 1200 wide - but then that was a few months ago. You should do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a 1920 x 1200 PTE show. Then bring it over and show it to me! I've done a couple of tests at 1600 x 1200, and the results are breathtaking! Myself, I don't use my laptop for photoshop as I prefer the dual-monitor setup I'm currently using. I can view the image at 1600 x 1200 on my 21-inch monitor, and still have room for all the PS tools, side-by-side with "IMatch" for previewing image thumbnails, on the second (1280 x 960) monitor - for a total width of 2880 pixels.

Thanks so much, Igor, for your hard work on our behalf. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a healthful and prosperous New Year! I'm drooling all over my keyboard with the thought of all those new features. But Christmas comes a little later in Russia than over here, doesn't it? Oh, well, I guess we can wait a little longer. All the best to you and yours!

You can recover the photos using the "print-screen" routine (also available in more sophisticated form in certain utilities such as "SnagIt", etc.), but you would have to redo the PTE parameters from scratch.

Welcome to the Forum! No, this is not possible, unfortunately. It just underlines the importance of backing up your project files.

Hi, Alan, You don't need a special laptop for output to a digital projector. Most digital projectors I have seen operate from the "VGA" output which most laptops have these days. Some projectors also have a USB connector, but I have left this un-connected as I don't think I have the software to take advantage of it. Good luck in your selection! Regarding which laptop to buy, make sure it also has a good sound card, unless you are prepared to invest in a good external module. For this purpose it is good to have either a "firewire" port, or a high-speed USB-2 port. It's a good idea to test out the sound quality before you buy. After I had used it for a while, I found that there was an annoying hum on my laptop when the AC line is plugged in. It disappears as soon as I remove the power supply and run it from the battery. Personally, I would avoid the new "wide-screen" laptops, as I have found that they do not have enough of an increase in horizontal resolution to warrant the higher price. Unless you are going to create HDTV slideshows, you don't really need the wide screen for PTE, anyway. However, look for one with the highest resolution you can afford - up to 1600 pixels by 1200 pixels if you can afford it. That's the maximum resolution of my old Dell laptop, and I work in that resolution all the time, unless I'm presenting a PTE show at 1024 x 768, even though I almost need a magnifying glass to see the print. And a higher-resolution PTE show is very nice, too! For that you would need lots of RAM, a good video card, and at least a P4 processor. Also go for the biggest hard-drive you can afford. But, as Dennis said, select whatever you can afford. Most of the laptops today come with all the important bells and whistles.

Hi, mary jane, Welcome to the Forum! In order to open the show as a slideshow, you need to first "create as ..." in the "File" menu. Then if you save the resulting ".exe" file to a cd, the show should open properly.

Tony, Have you tried to burn a dvd with Pinnacle? I have used it (Studio 8) successfully to convert a PTE slideshow to dvd. Took a couple of trys first, though. However I can't seem to get it to recognize the second slideshow although I have two instances of PTE open simultaneously. It seems to want to create a second copy of the first show. The second show shows up on the timeline, but when I "play" it, I get the first show all over again. Anyone else having this problem?

Isabel, Did you try 16 x 16 x 256?

Hi, Joerg, Welcome to the Forum! Yes, there is a way to allow users to jump to a specific slide, even in a synched show. On the first slide (or the one from which you want to jump to another slide), add a picture object or a button. In "Properties", select action "Go to slide number ..." and enter the slide number you want to jump to. Lastly, don't forget to check "Permit the control of show" opposite the "Customize Synchronization" button on the "Main" tab of "Project Options". Hope this helps! Igor has indicated that he will add object rescaling in a future upgrade of PTE.

Igor, That's very good news - just in time for the next update of the "PTE-101" tutorial! Thanks too for the information on "Run application ...". I can probably use that in the "PTE-Adjustor" model. Unless, of course, you include it in v 4.40.

Yes, Provide instructions that on second viewing the user should treat the CD like another disk drive in Windows Explorer, and double-click on the icon for the slide-show desired. Or, use one of Boxig's utilities to provide a pre-introduction and choose the show which is desired - the one with the "real" introduction, or the others without the "real" introduction. Or, simply create a one-slide introduction show, with buttons to choose the version of the show the user wants to see.

Hi, Tony, I was one of those saying I can get a surround effect through PTE. Like Kurt says, it is a "pseudo" surround effect, but sounds great, nevertheless, although, admittedly, not with all the bells and whistles that true Surround 5.1 posesses. However the original questions were how to get sound from the front speakers, and all I was trying to show was that it is possible to have sound from all 5 speakers using PTE. Maybe my sound card is equipped with Dolby Pro, but I really don't know. I do know, however, that with Cubase SX2 it is possible to create true Surround 5.1, but to this day I haven't tried it. Maybe this winter when I can find time to fiddle with it I'll report back re the ability of PTE to play it properly.

Hi, Walter, Everything works fine with PTE calling in another slideshow using "Customize Slide" if you have your music set up to cooperate, too. In other words, it must end with the last slide, too. However, the best way to start a new slideshow after another is to use "Run Application after last slide" in Project Options / Advanced. Be sure to set "Close show after last slide" in "Show Settings", too, unless you want the last slide of the first show to remain on-screen throughout so you can go back to it when the next show is finished playing.

Brian, Have a happy holiday - I envy you. I, too, am very interested in the solid-state backup device, having climbed Kilimanjaro three years ago, and having had to change batteries in my camera at the top at - 15 deg C in windy conditions, and with heavy mitts on my hands. The photos came back intact and all accounted for, however. But I wasn't shooting digital. However, I wouldn't be using film if I were to repeat the trip (also unlikely - once is enough!). But we have conditions worse than that on some of our better winter days out in the woods on cross-country skis.

I tried Autostitch on three wide-angle images indoors, probably one of the harshest tests you can give a stitching program, and the results were truly amazing.

Brian, I agree with what you are saying, but for simple image storage we are not converting them to DVD "movie" format, but just using the DVD medium in the same way as we would a normal CD, except that the capacity is much greater. When I copy PTE shows to a DVD, they are still just regular PTE shows, and not in DVD "PAL" or "NTSC" movie format such as would be the case if I used the "video" function in PTE and converted them into "movies".