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Jean-Claude, I also tried one of your videos and had no difficulty understanding your excellent English and enjoyed your French accent - a delight to listen to! However, when I clicked on the Return button whilst the video was playing I got an error 500 in my web-browser (Firefox on Windows Vista Home Premium). regards, Peter

Yorky, Whatever your problem is, it is unlikely to be a problem caused by PTE itself since, as you say, immediately after your first install you were able to burn a DVD successfully. It will more likely be a problem within Windows itself, and possibly caused by the clutter left behind by your activities to date. Indeed, I am slightly concerned that your manual interventions in the Program Files folder and such like, could have resulted in anomalies and errors in the Windows operating system registry. Therefore, if you haven't already done so, I would strongly recommend running a reputable "PC Cleaner/Registry Cleaner" program to get rid of any clutter left over by your numerous attempts to install/uninstall the program. Also, have you run a full hard disk scan with your anti-virus software since these problems began? With so many different problems all happening at once, in your place I would want to be certain that they weren't being caused by the presence of malware. regards, Peter

Can you not use the existing audio manipulation features to "envelope" the background sound level down for the duration of the video clip? regards, Peter

Igor, Thanks for the clarification. regards, Peter

Tony, All the forum posts stay available and retrievable via the forum Search tool long after they have passed their "use-by" dates. regards, Peter

Igor, This is not a new v7 bug. The actions of Slide...Rotate Clockwise and Slide...Rotate Counterclockwise are not Undo-able. I found this in v6.5 also. regards, Peter

Mick, Norton Sonar is, indeed, aggressive. It can be turned off through the Norton control panel - but that would expose you to a higher risk of infection. If you are currently trying to copy the EXE file onto the laptop's desktop - don't! Try copying it into a folder. Alternatively, use the links in the Norton pop-up window to retrieve the file and to tell Norton to bypass checking on this particular file. regards, Peter

Dom, I agree that the file sizes have to go up by an order of magnitude, but I find that the visual quality of a HD MP4 played back on my TV set via a USB device is impressively good. It's not quite up to the standard of an EXE played back on the desktop monitor - but very, very close! regards, Peter

Igor, Re your post #17 above, I accept your views on the "AB" button. The problems for the other languages had crossed my mind, too! But a further thought occurs to me: you no longer need the "Customize Slide" button. The "AB" button takes the user to the same place. Why not simplify the user interface, especially for new users. And if you were to add another button at the right side of each slide = "O&A", you would not need the big "Objects & Animation" button; and you would have a consistent user interface. regards, Peter

Although I haven't finished exploring this subject yet, I thought I would share my early thoughts with you all. As part of my checking out of PTE v7, I have been building up a sequence of increasing complexity: "stress testing" my graphics card (nVidia 8400GS) to find the point at which it is unable to cope with the demand I am placing upon it. My method was to add the same video clip (HD 1920x1080, Medium quality - produced by VideoBuilder from PTE v6.5) as multiple objects on a single slide, and subject each of these video objects to some pan, rotate and 3D transforms. With just one or two copies of the video object, the system ran everything nice and smoothly. With a third copy, it has arrived at the point of visible overload: all three copies now show very noticeable stuttering. But in doing these tests a further idea came to me. What if I now rendered this PTE project into a new output video (again HD 1920x1080, Medium quality)? Would that show the stuttering performance of the graphics card? or would it produce a smooth-running video? And the answer?... It produced a smooth running video (without sound, but I've reported that to Igor as a possible bug). The next question was: what would now happen if I took this new video back into a PTE project? Would it still run smoothly? And the answer this time?... When I play the newly created MP4 file through VLC and through QuickTime it plays as smooth as silk! So, those of you who fear that your PCs may not be able to handle video within your PTE projects, try producing HD Video output rather than EXE file. Based on my limited testing, you might be very pleasantly surprised. regards, Peter

Igor, I have used a video that was produced by PTE Videobuilder (HD 1920x1080 Medium quality) as an object on a slide. In order to find the limits of my nVidia card I eventually added three copies of the video to the slide. At that point I could see that the playback was now stuttering. All three copies of the video object were also doing some pan, rotate and 3D transforms, so I wasn't surprised that the graphics found it a bit too much to handle. I then wondered what whould be the result of rendering this project through Videobuilder to a new single video stream (again HD 1920x1080 Medium quality) and then bringing that back into PTE as an object on a single slide. The rendering seemed to work OK but I could get no sound when playng back the MP4 file through either VLC or QuickTime. When I took the file into the new PTE project, it also had no sound. Because there were three copies of the video in the original project I had muted the sound on two of them. Has PTE not spotted that one of three was unmuted? Has it reacted only to the status of the third, and last copy, and rendered the video stream as a muted sound? regards, Peter

Some thoughts on the layout of the new main window. Why do we need three "toolbars"? I believe it would be possible and, arguably sensible, to have just two - an upper and a lower. The upper toolbar, positioned as now, just below the Command bar should have on it all those items which are relating to the project as a whole: the existing icons for New, Open, Save, the drive selector, the slider, plus the Publish, Preview, "Preview from here" and Project Options buttons from the lower toolbar (and the waveform button from the middle toolbar, perhaps?) The lower toolbar, positioned immediately below the mini player should have on it (not necessarily in this order): Customize Slide, O&A, X, Comment, Change image file, Add Sound, New Transition, Cut Transition, Timed Points (and the waveform button?) It would also carry the Slides/Timeline tabs. Such a grouping would present the controls in a more logical manner (Project level tools all on one bar; Slide List/Timeline specific tools all on the other bar). The space occupied by the third bar would then be available to be shared out among the other parts of the main window. To keep the contents of the toolbars within a single bar each it may, in the future, be necessary to use more icons and fewer text buttons. An alternative would be to give the user some control over which buttons are displayed. For example: I never use the New Transition/Cut Transition buttons so, if there was an option, I would happily deselect these two buttons. regards, Peter

Some thoughts on the improved Slide List. This is a wonderful useability enhancement: being able to edit the slide time and transition time directly in the Slide List. I think it would be a further improvement if, instead of always showing "AB", the transition effect button changed its text to indicate what type of effect was being used. I realise there are a huge number of different transition effects, but at the top level there are not so many. I suggest the following as possible abbreviations: FIO - Fade In/Out HH - Hour hand Cir - Circle Rho - Rhombus Rec - Rectangle GHV - Gates Horizontal/Vertical GDG - Gates Diagonal PHV - Page Horizontal/Vertical PDG - Page Diagonal AHH - Advanced Hour hand MOS - Mosaic PSH - Push SLD - Slide PCL - Page Curl PCD - Page Curl Diagonal F3D - Flip 3D S3D - Swap 3D regards, Peter

I'm using MP4 (H.264) created using Videobuilder. I don't own any video-capable camera gear. Peter

I've set about exploring the limits of my nVidia GS8400GS. I can successfully run two copies of a video at the same time: one doing +360 degrees 3D rotate about Y axis, the other doing -360 degree 3D rotate about Y axis. The first one also does +360 degree rotate in two dimensions, the second one doing -360 degree rotate in two dimensions. The first one also pans from the centre of the screen to (-60, -60) and the second one pans to (60,60), All that motion happening at the same time during the 2m20s of the MP4 video (itself produced from one of my shorter PTE sequences). So far it all seems to run as smooth as silk. Impressive!!! Now for the chrome plate. I think I am right in saying we can have our video play back with a reflection. How is that done, please? I cannot find a appropriate option box to tick. Peter, that feature has not yet been implemented - it's called video tracks and should be available in the next beta... Lin regards, Peter

I've just finished preparing a demonstration of the features of PTE (6.5) for our AV Group meeting on Friday - and now you've gone and released v7.0 beta 1. There's no way I can master all the new stuff and prepare a demo of v7 in time for Friday evening. But I'm not really complaining; there's a big smile on my face. It's been a long wait but I'm sure it will prove to have been worth it. Now... It's PLAYTIME! :) :) Peter

If these sequences have worked in the past but aren't working now, that implies that something has changed. The first thing to do is to think back over the software installs that you have done in the last few months. It could be that one of these has brought the problem into the open. This can be investigated by uninstalling such software and trying to run the sequences again. It could also be that an upgrade to WinXP has introduced conflicts with the device drivers for the sound and graphics cards. If that is the case, updating these drivers might resolve the problem. Since you found the second question too technical, I would advise you to get a friend to help you update the device drivers. Also, as you seem not to be technically minded where the PC is concerned, it might be worthwhile having your friend perform some simple "maintenance" on the PC. Just as a car needs regular servicing to keep it operating at its best, so does a PC. Over time it amasses a lot of redundant code that occupies space on your disk drive; and a lot of redundant entries in the registry (the master catalogue) that can cause problems. I "clean" my PC of redundant files and registry entries once per week. It takes only a few minutes when done that frequently. It may take significantly longer on a machine that has never been "cleaned". regards, Peter

Please provide some details to help us form our opinions: - what version of PTE was used to create the slideshows? - what hardware is being used to play them back (CPU, ROM, graphics card)? - what operating system does each of the machines use? The more detail you can provide, the more likely that someone will find the right solution. regards, Peter

Richard, I now build all my sequences 1080 pixels high (HD compliant) with a width that fits the aspect ratio (1620 pixels for a 3:2, 1920 pixels for a 16:9). My JPEG files are all produced out of Photoshop Elements at quality level = 8. This is ample to preserve the visual quality both on the computer monitor and when projected through a digital projector. Image quality when zooming in (magnifying) drops off rapidly if the software has to start adding in (interpolating) pixels that were never there originally. Therefore I, and many others, use the original image size for the zoomed image (in my case that would be 3008 x 2000 pixels from my Nikon D70). Hope that helps you to understand things a little better. regards, Peter

Support for templates made by TheDom is, I believe, provided by him through his own website and not through the PTE Forum. regards, Peter

Paul, "...ambient noise in my study..." What kind of noise is this? The noise of the computer's cooling fans? Or some other kind of external background noise? If you are going to try recording directly into the PC (irrespective of the type of mic) you will always have to contend with the ambient noise of the computer fans. You could try getting a mic with a good long lead that will allow you to speak the voice-over in a different room; but then how are you going to be able to see your sound levels without the assistance of someone else? It was my desire to avoid these problems, allied to a desire to be able to do location sound recording, that led me to get a digital sound recorder. For me, the best way forward, having tried all the other options, was to use a device that records totally independently of the computer; and which then transfers the recording, as a data file, via a USB connection. You've listened to Howard Gregory. You live within relatively easy reach of Wilmslow. I would, therefore, strongly support the advice of Contaxman: get as much advice as you can from Howard Gregory. If you haven't already done so - join Wilmslow Guild AV group and pick Howard's brains for everything he knows about sound recording. What he doesn't know about sound recording isn't worth knowing. regards, Peter

If you still have your old PC and it is in working condition you could download nobeefstu's PTE Key Copy utility to extract the keys from the old PC's registry. regards, Peter

Hubert, Luc's start sequence will be what is also sometimes called a "Menu" sequence. He will have a slide with several objects on it (perhaps images, text or buttons) each of which has been programmed to perform "Run application or open file..." when clicked with the mouse. The sequence may have several slides or just the one; it depends upon how many different sequences he wants to be able to launch from the menu. regards, Peter

Paul, Prior to getting the Zoom H4 recorder, I had tried one of Howard Gregory's pre-amps. When using it I still got masses of hiss and hum when trying to record directly into the PC. My diagnosis, using known, clean analogue recordings as input, was that the noise was being added by the PC itself. What I'm saying is that you will not know where your problems are going to be until you start tring different equipment out. Be prepared for a potentially long and bumpy "learning curve". But rest assured, the additional interest arising from a good voice-over plus location sound is well worth the effort to master the equipment and techniques. Good luck! Peter

Luc, Do you have D3D enabled in your Start sequence? (Project Options|Screen) I don't guarantee this is the cause of the problem but it might be worth turning it off to see what happens. Obviously, if your start sequence uses animation then you will need to leave it turned on. regards, Peter