JRR

Igor: Thanks for your responses !!! Re the mute/control volume. If I understand it properly, it should be applicable just for the current presentation. Thx I will go look at you nav bars now

Stu: Re your posting: (I still can't work the quote feature properly) "I personally enjoy PTE as a Slide Show ... and not as a multimedia player and viewer that will be limited to specific PC requirements ... then all these files become so huge and demanding and ontop we want them to play from CD... which is creating more min requirements to many users. " I fully agree with you !! I would like PTE to continue evolving, but as a more sophisticated slide show, not as a media player. But I am sure there are others who would like a more grandiose application.

Tom: Yes, you are correct, you have manually click on the Object to start the show. I understand what you are after now, the screen divided and running separate shows. I don't have a use for that (that I can think of now ) but others might like the feature.

Fromatoz: You are right the OBJECT editor is a great tool. I am not exactly sure what you mean by "sub-shows" are running simultaneously as parts / objects of the "main-show". But here are some examples of what I have done using the OBJECT editor that worked VERY well: - I have a number of one image shows that "launch" other shows via OBJECTS on the one image. I use an image from the show to be launched as an "icon" to click on - I also just completed a PTE presentation that uses 106 PTE slide shows that launch (via OBJECTS) from either the "first page" or from various pages within the shows. So there are shows running inside slide shows at times. Is this perhaps what you meant as "simultaneously" ? There was a show on Beechbrook several months ago that used Objects extensively. The JUKEBOX, I doubt if it is available there anymore. Maybe someone will be able to direct you to where it is available.

Igor: I have tried it to a limited extent. Seems to work fine for what I was hoping it would do !!

Igor: What about being able to go to a particular slide in a presentation ? We need to be able to pause/stop presentation and then type in a slide number for it to go to. Looking forward to new effects too !! Thanks for chance to suggest Jim PS (Since I am here... how are you coming with the OBJECTS that will remain in position with different screen resolutions )

Nettleton: Glad we helped. As a general rule, I use 800x600 pixel size images as I tend to use only fades at less than 2 seconds. If your fades are longer than 2 seconds, then you can usually get away with 1024x768 pixel images and have a smooth transition. The time on screen is not important, what is important is that PTE has time to complete the transition from one slide to the next, plus a little breathing room (Al suggested 1/4 sec minimum) before the next transition starts. Hope it all works out. Once you get the hang of it, PTE is great !! (It is even great before you get the hang of it )

Merlin: Now I understand the "different" use. Thanks Cool Edit is a good package, I assume you know that it is now Adobe Audition and more $$$$$ The multiple segments make sense in terms of what you are doing and I guess not linking them together into one sound track makes it easier to change your narration. But keeping your "mix session" in Cool Edit would let you paste your changes into the original/current track. Alrobin has a PTE Adjustor that would let you adjust the timing of the images if pasting in a new segment requires a change to the timing of the images. I suspect you could use it to make the time changes without resynching the entire show by hand. You can find it at: http://www.alrobinson.com/pte_items.htm

Good morning from the colonies Nettleton and welcome to PTE Off the top of my head I suspect it has something to do with the .exe file size and/or the the speed at which the computer is reading from the CD. So a little more info might be helpful. Factors to think of are: - is the music MP3 at about 96-112kbps ? - are the image file sizes about 100-200kb ? - have you tried the CD on other computers ?

Merlin: I am biased as I do all my shows that way, but I think it depends on what you do with your show. 90 slides in one 60 minute show does seem "different". If you do present the images non-stop, then I would think that you would find the "joints" in the music much smoother if you mixed them in an editing software (If you want advice as to which one, ask. I will assume you have one for now) and then do your synch using the timeline. If you show the 90 slides in segments with physical breaks in the 60 minute show then it might not be so important. But with the Navigation controls now usable in a synched show (yeah for IGOR !! ) you can still synch it as one show and stop and go as you wish. Not sure that helps without knowing more about your show

Barb: There are three places to add the music file in PTE. - PROJECT OPTIONS> MUSIC - CUSTOMIZE SLIDE > MUSIC TAB - Main page, bottom "SOUND" Each do different things, but all should play the music for at least one image. Where did you place the sound file ? What type of file is it ? MP3 or WAV ? (or Ogg I think it is)

Bear: There have been a very few minor problems with the keys, but they are usually straightened out right away. As Igor says the "install" is easy. Hopefully you will feel much better once this is sorted out and you see how great the software is. The forum is a great place for advice

Interestingly, I told a couple of regular users/contributors that the forum is back, but they still can't get into it !

Igor: Glad you are back up !!! It is lonely out here without the forum...

Terry: I have software that I use to synch 35mm slide presentations (remember those ??) that does show the wave form. Yes it helps a little, but I find I use my ear more than my eyes with that software. I can synch as well and as fast (To my mind anyway) using the PTE timeline as I can with the wave form. (But I expect it is, as always, what one is used to using.) I find fine-tuning the synchs MUCH easier in PTE than in the 35mm software as you can adjust to the millisecond by simply typing in the numerics you want. Doing separate sound clips within a show would add its challenges yes. Why not try mixing them into one track and seeing how synching works for you. To be honest I always mix into one track, simply because I never thought of doing it as separate tracks. That does make my way right , only different.

Roger: I am not "up" on DELL laptop models, but 1. did the show run from the CD on the two desktops ? 2. are you trying to run it from the CD on laptop ? 3. Will it run on the laptop from the hard drive ? 4. What size are your images (pixels and kb)? (should be 1024x768 max generally and 200kb max) 5. What time did you set between the end of one transition and the start of the next? (Should be 50ms at least, if I remember) 6. What are spec differences between the two desktops and the laptops?

Igor: Thanks for fixing (in 4.20 Beta 3) the "hang up" when someone puts in an invalid action in an OBJECT. Muchly appreciated by those like me that make errors at times.

This won't help much, but I seem to recall a MicroSoft webpage (who knows where in their millions of pages...) that would take an internal look at your computer and let you know if it it was up to "snuff" in terms of installing XP. I seem to recall that not many computers were if they did not come with XP loaded. Not sure what it is that XP wants...

My wife has been to Vancouver a number of times on some of my business trips. She doesn't believe there are any mountains to be seen from Vancouver as everytine she has been there, it has been low clouds etc. I will show her the AV to help presuade her !

To add to Ed's note. The best free sound editing software is Audacity. It has been mentioned many times on the forum. It has many many functions. Comes close to Cool Edit in some areas, which is now ADOBE Audition and costs $$$$$$. Acoustica MP3 audio mixer is inexpensive and quite good as well. I find it a little easier to use than Audacity, but I suspect that is because I did not know about Audacity and used Accoustica for over a year. Audacity is available at: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Accoustica is at: http://www.acoustica.com/mp3-audio-mixer/ (It mixes wav files too)

Another great slider viewer is "Thumbsplus" at http://www.cerious.com/. I find it quite helpful.

Tom: It may not be "pretty" but in Version 4.20Beta you can now use the mouse and/or the navigation bar with a synched show. Set up the show with one of the mouse click, or navigation bar, options being "next slide", use that to advance past the slide you don't want to show. It ain't pretty, but it is one solution available now. Or the other way is to have several versions of the presentation ready, running off what I call a title page (one image PTE show with objects to launch other PTE shows). The choose which version of the show you want to show just before you show it. That would be smoother, but you would have decided ahead of time which might not fit your unusal situation.

another option is to change the file extension "exe" to something else; the recipient is told to change it back to "exe" once he has filed it in his computer.

Glad someone took the bull by the horns Ken !

I'll add my votes to the above. The SCVD and DVD is a key move for PTE, but, not unexpectedly given the keen interest, it has over taken the forum. This has happened before when Igor makes a major break-though or comes along with a siginificant upgrade (the internal player as an example) but the SCVD/DVD is a different fish. So yes, please put up a new forum perhaps for SCVD/DVD issues.