JEB

Hi, This show is now on Beechbrook. http://beechbrook.com/pte/ John

Hi, Mary and Mark, Thanks for your comments. Yes I had some dust on the lens at one point as I remember. It is a shame about the bridge but I was trying to make the best of it as it is truly the "new" "Road to the Isles" as it links Skye with the mainland. I don't know where you are from Mary but "The Road to the Isles" is a well known Scottish song title which I quite deliberately avoided using as it is just a bit too "shortbred tinny" for my liking!! Regarding pulling out shadow detail. I'm not quite sure what you mean, in particular regarding the second castle image. I am often aware that I could and have in the past done this on occasions but I wouldn't have thought that that particular image required that treatment. Perhaps this is just a matter of taste. I have to admit I do quite like contrast in an image and am often careful not to lighten shadow too much. One or two of the other images I am sure could benefit from such treatment. I hope this doesn't sound too defensive as I am keen to learn so do appreciate your comments. Something for me to ponder over! Regards John

Hi, This is a record of a quick trip to Skye and Harris with my wife. The main reason was to climb a couple of mountains. The weather started we but we were rewarded with a couple of days of very sunny though cool and dry days. If you have not been to Skye or Harris then go! It's fantastic! Regards John Link to MediaFire http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=6b356fb...cc75ff6b9490eff

Igor, I'm on a rant again! As somebody who from time to time uses titles the handling of text in PTE is driving me daft! Is there any chance that you can address this matter in time for the next issue? There are a number of things that I find annoying all of which appear to me to be fairly easily addressed (speaking as someone who has absolutely no idea as to how to go about it!). I think we all agree that it is essential to identify each text object individually in O&A and indeed the facility is there for us do do that. But would it not be much simpler if that were done more automatically by the first 10 characters being used as the object name (with the ability to over ride)? Also would it not be better if all the basic text functions were on the same tab? Can we not have some better method of sizing text across different slides? At present I cut and paste and then alter but if the original has been rasterized this leads to naming problems. It would also be rather nice, though a bonus, if the last text font used were offered the next time a text object is selected. Yours, ever in hope, John

Alan & Malcolm, Excuse me for not responding before now but I have been away from home for a week. Thanks for your time in watching and particularly for also taking time to comment. It is on my "to-do" list to do two things. One to break it down into sections as you suggest and two, to compile an abridged version of about 10 to 15 minutes in length. This was a joint effort as a summer project for club members with the objective of getting as many people contributing as possible. I then had the task of editing in such a way that everybody had images selected. It was quite a legistical excercise getting everything covered while at the same time trying to satisfy every bodies wishes of where to go. Some of those involved provided scripts for the area they covered and these were edited into the finished script. Much of the research was done as we proceeded so this obviously resulted in several re-visits to get images demanded by the evolving script. Purists would say that this would be the wrong way to go about it but we had the benefit of living within 10 miles of Edinburgh and no particular time issues to meet. Regards John

Hi, For what it's worth I have looked several times on my humble HP Pavilion set at all the screen resolutions available and detect NO difference whatsoever. John

Hi, ".........Some of the above posts have wandered away from that." I agree with the above Peter but it has been an interesting debate! Cheers John

Laszio, Thank you for the information regarding cookies. I will be looking at that and the system that Brian has suggested, hopefully this weekend. The trouble is I know enough to know I don't know enough! Regard John

Laszio, Thank you for your post. I, not being an expert, do not claim to know many, if any of the answers but like you, try to spread the word to the members of my camera club. Your suggestion is very interesting and I will try to adopt it in some form or another next season. You may be aware that there has been some debate recently about straying off topic, which clearly can be more distracting to some than to others. However, it often brings many benefits such as your ideas have on this occasion. Thank you, John

Ed, I don't understand the tech issues but I have been plaaying with it and creating .exe files from it. Should this not make things simpler? I have also tried to extport/copy frames from Wink without success. Perhaps you will have more success. John

Hi, Thanks for your input. Nobeefstu - I have had a good look at some of the help and demo pages for Wink and also downloaded it. I think it is what I am after. I did notice some not too good comments regarding voice recording but as far as I can determine they apply to "live" recording through the PC as you build your show. Just what I don't want to do. I see that you can also import MP3 to slides (rather like PTE) so hopefully that will provide higher quality and be easier in the long run. Tony - I had seen Camstudio and had it marked as an option to look at in more detail but as you can see I've given Wink the wink! Ed - I think its worth a look Regards John

Hi, Can anybody recommend a FREE screen recording software package. I have a one off need to put together an instructional presentation much of which would benefit from live cursor movement. I have been trying to work round this in PTE with screen shots but there is far too much action required for this to be practical. Ideally, I would prefer to record the voice over separately and then synchronize the video and sound later. From what I have been able to gather from a quick Google this may not be possible with a free package but then who would have thought Audacity would be free! I would be prepared to consider an inexpensive alternative. The end product would be put on CD or DVD together with other material and played back on a PC with the minimum of fuss. i.e. WMP which everybody should have. I would like it to play back at full screen size in order that actions such as typing was visible. The play back quality doesn’t have to be up to PTE standard but readable. Am I asking for too much for free? Regards John

Hi, I would like to add to this discussion hoping that I am still on topic! Ever since starting out on this AV journey some three years or so ago I have put increasing value on this community. As a complete novice in the early days, I found it very difficult to put my hands on the information I was looking for, to a large extent probably because I was not sure exactly what it was I was looking for!! Very early on I recognized how much help was available from members if the question was asked. At no time was I made to feel stupid or that I was being patronized but I did feel to some extent guilty. I would have much preferred to be able to search more accurately and effectively on my own for the answer but sadly, that was rarely successful largely, I believe, because of how the Forum is constructed. Much great work has been done in recent years (notably “The Evans” User Manual and Peter’s Q&A’s) but I think sometimes goodies like that become lost. I will cite a current example. Yesterday I made a post for help and direction on a PC issue which was totally off topic. Within a few hours I had responses from “the usual suspects” and my issue was resoled. However I felt guilty about posting where I did on the main PTE page but even more important within weeks the solutions offered are going to be lost in the depths of the archives. A section for such issues would at least help. Perhaps there is some way for “key wording” to be incorporated by members? After three years I am better equipped to dig for what I’m after but it’s still an ordeal. I have become convinced that the addition of new more focused headings would help enormously. I think that what we all have to remember is that the forum is run by a few dedicated individuals who give their time freely and yet people like me who receive more than they give have the nerve to be critical. However, having said that sometimes I think we can get too close to a subject and should stand back and think how it is for those less well exposed. It is in our interests that PTE continues to expand and find new enthusiasts to take our place when we make the last transition, as we inevitably will, into white or in my case more likely black. Got that off my chest! John

Brian, Thanks for your imput, it's much appreciated. I will certainly follow this through later in the day. I've just switched on briefly to check that all is still well, and it is, before doing other things away from the PC. Regards to all who contributed. John

Hi, All still seems to be well. I run AVG every day, XoftSpySE and RegCure a few times per week (more frequently since this issue) and have had no bad reports. Hopefully that's the end of it. One thing that was interesting about the update was that it was for Service Pack 2. I am running SP3. Could this be what is behind it? Cheers John

Good evening, Thank you all for your replies. I followed the lead Mary provided and found the solution there. A quite formal method of preventing a specific download/s from returning. I have been off and on line a few times in the past hour or so just to make sure it's working, hence my delay in getting back to you before now. Well done folks. John

My spelling is not good but I do KNOW how to spell KNOW!!!

Thanks for getting in touch folks, Yachtsman1 Been there done that - but I don't want not to receive future updates so not inclined to do this on a long term basis. Peter, I'm afraid I don't now how to go about deleting or uninstalling an update as I don't venture too far into the depths of Windows! I agree about "If it ain't broke" but as this has been going on for about two weeks and as there has only ever been this particular update offered during this time (unusual) I wonder if somehow it may be blocking other perhaps important updates. Regards John

Hi, Can anybody recommend a good Forum where I can get advice regarding a problem I have with an MS Automatic Update continually being offered each time I go online despite having downloaded and installed it many, many times? Regards John P.S. I found "Tech Support Guy" but so far no great response.

Hi, The best advice I've ever received has been KISS (Keep It Short & Simple). You've probably come back with hundreds of images, every one a masterpiece. Ask yourself how much can my audiance take and then half that. All the best and enjoy! Regards John P.S. I don't generally follow my own advice!

Hi, I preferance is the method illustrated in slide 5 which I use quite frequently but I find it less irritating if the height of the landscape and the portrait are the same. Regards John

Jim, Ed, Thank you both for your generosity, typical of this community. At this stage I am simply reading and thinking but will and always do give credit when I use anything as a teaching or demonstration tool that is not my own work. Thanks again, John P.S. I was very impressed with your club's web site and the size of your club. We have about 35 members of which a maximum of eight are interested in A.V.

Barry, If I understand your request correctly there are four questions. 1) What advice would I give PTE and/or AV novice regarding size of first show? 2) Why? 3) Why do I choose the size of show I do? 4) Screen size preferences. Answers 1) KISS. This has been enlarged on by others. 2) As has been said above there is a steep learning curve to be surmounted and a novice could easily (and do in my experience) become disillusioned. (While on the subject this is why I would very much like to see Igor and the team give some attention to simplifying the process WITHOUT compromising the flexibility of a wonderful product) 3) I make shows from three to thirty-three minutes in length. It depends totally on the subject and the proposed audience. Again much has been said about this above most of which I would go along with. 4) This is one that does give me some concern and ties me in knots! However I’m not too worried about PC screen size in itself as I make my shows for projection. I don’t find any problems with borders when projecting on a large screen. Up until recently I have been making shows at 1024x768 but now that my club have invested in a 1400x1050 projector I have now moved to this. Recently I have been quite impressed with the quality of shows converted to DVD for TV so in light of that development I may have to try to get my little mind round that. Hope this helps. Glad to see that your move to the Colonies has not meant we’ve lost you. Regards John

Jim, Please forgive me if I have got this wrong but had you intended to make public the documents highlighted in the thumbnail attached to your recent post? The reason I ask is that I am embarking on prepairing a course to be given to my club during next season and am interested in any material that can give me ideas. John (Plagiary a speciality)

MAC/WINDOWS PTE DEMO Success, my local Apple Dealer eventually came up trumps and demonstrated Windows XP on an Apple MacBook (9400 Graphics chip). I was able to run several PTE testers ( Igor’s Leaks Test, Barry’s Balloons and Lin’s PuzzlesmallRam [couldn’t lay my hands on the large Ram version]) Just as, I think it was Brian,Conflow said elsewhere, all ran very well, as smoothly as I have ever seen them on either of my Pc’s. John