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Dave, So that's what it does. Thanks! regards, Peter

Have you checked your spam folder on your e-mail system? regards, Peter

Igor, Whilst trying to set up some screenshots for yachtsman1 I found a bug in the Project Options|Music tab. The up/down arrow buttons on the scroll bar do not function - but the scroll bar does: it can be dragged up and down. Also, if you click in the space between the scroll bar and the up/down button there is hardly any movement of the track list display. I'm also baffled as to why the two tracks appear a total of four times. I have set up each track once and once only. I'm fairly sure that PTE itself has, at some point, duplicated these items. I cannot prove that this was the case and so will keep a close eye open for any repeat of that behaviour. Eric, The screen grab shows 8 Tracks with the first item in Track 1 opened in the Customized window. This item has had its duration set to 1m50s (i.e. stop playing before it gets to its end. It has also had an 8s fade out applied to the last eight seconds of that duration and had its volume reduced to 50% throughout its whole duration. Clicking the Offset radio button and supplying a time there would delay the start of the item until the offset duration had elapsed. Note that you cannot offset and crossfade the same item. I haven't explored Start Time so don't know how its behaviour differs from Offset. All items in a given Track run one after the other. The Tracks run in parallel with each other - just like Audacity tracks do unless you apply a time shift. By the way, at present I do not use these new audio features to assemble the final soundtrack - but I do use them to try out pieces of music and fade effects. regards, Peter P.S. Although the screenshot shows beta 6, I have confirmed that beta 7 is just the same.

Barry, Nice to hear that you seem to have resolved your problems. After you do install latest PTE version, please come back and post the outcome - whether positive or negative - just to "close the loop" for others reading this topic. regards, Peter

Barry, Aha, a Yorkshireman, eh! A man after my own heart and upbringing. We've definitely got to find the least cost solution for you, then. On my part, it's now a matter of Yorkshire pride! Next thought: is your operating system up-to-date with software fixes (those recommended by Microsoft as Important); and are your drivers (particularly those for the video and soundcards) all up-to-date, too? Could it be that your anti-virus software is interfering? Have you tried disabling it temporarily to see if this has any effect? What firewall do you run: Windows-supplied? other manufacturer's software (e.g. Norton Internet Security)? Also, and this is most important, are running only one firewall product on the PC? regards, Peter

Bas, Another after-thought and stupid question: it isn't a manually controlled show is it? The system isn't waiting for you to advance off the first slide by clicking the mouse or pressing the spacebar, perhaps? regards, Peter

Bas, Before you take that expensive option, how about zipping the EXE file and uploading it to a file hosting service (e.g. MediaFire or YouSendIt) so that others can check it out? (Best to get the OK from your friend first, though!) regards, Peter

Bas, One stupid question if I may: You are trying to run the EXE file on a Windows system and not on a Mac aren't you? Assuming you are not making that mistake then, frankly, I am baffled as to why a PTE-created EXE will not run on a Windows system. I've never heard of an EXE created in any version of PTE not being executable on a Windows platform. Yes, there can be problems with resource shortfalls but that doesn't usually prevent the EXE trying to run. So, what is/are the exact symptom(s) of this failure? One further thought: you say the file is on disk. Have you tried copying the file off the disk onto either a USB memory stick or onto the PC's own hard disk drive and then run it from there? regards, Peter

Paul, I was describing recording off my installed sound card (in a desktop system) rather than off the sound chips on a laptop motherboard. I use Audacity v1.3.11 beta but v1.3.12 beta is the latest version available. Hope that clarifies things for you. Peter

Bas, You cannot open a v6 PTE project file in an earlier release of PTE. Or are you saying that it is the slideshow EXE file that does not work correctly? regards, Peter

Hi Paul, From the Audacity website (audacity.sourceforge.net): "We continue to recommend the ongoing Beta series for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.6, rather than 1.2." Re: recording direct from the sound playback... What you might be recalling is discussion which took place on the forum several years ago about the sound quality achieved when using Audacity to do "open mike" recordings via the PC's jack sockets. I use Audacity 1.3.11 beta to record what's playing through the sound card (e.g. streaming radio) and get excellent results. Just one word of caution: there was a more recent post here on the forum warning of problems somebody encountered with the latest Audacity beta - v1.3.12 beta. You might want to track that down before you commit yourself to Audacity v1.3.12 beta. regards, Peter

Mickp, If this is a Virgin Media problem then filesize and browser are both potential factors. I'm a Virgin Media subscriber and have just uploaded a trivial (6K) zip file and then downloaded it again successfully. I use Firefox browser. However, I'm not convinced that it is a Virgin Media problem, or at least it isn't one that affects all users. I uploaded two files in May: one on 25th and another on 30th. I know for certain that the one on the 30th has been successfully downloaded by its intended recipient. That file was 8.05MB. Whatever the cause of this problem might be I don't think you should put total reliance on it being one that Virgin Media has to solve. I think there might be some other cause; and that might be one in your own court to identify and resolve. For example what were the most recent changes that you made to your software or hardware prior to the 13th May? regards, Peter

Don, I've sent you a PM (Personal Message) via the forum. Click on your userid at top right of the main forum page to be directed to it. regards, Peter

Igor, Thinking about how you have implemented it and how I was expecting it to work then: Yes, I think I was expecting it be saved as part of each project rather than saved as a kind of System Preference. But what do other users feel about this? regards, Peter

There was a long and detailed discussion two or three years ago on this forum about colour and colour profiles. A similar problem to this one was most reported as occuring, but only on ATi graphic cards (nVidia cards didn't suffer this problem). I seem to recall that the problem was identified by WnSoft as a bug in the ATi drivers and was duly reported to ATi. regards, Peter P.S. Here are links to three old topics on this subject http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8224&view=findpost&p=52229 http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7674&view=findpost&p=51312 http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7820&view=findpost&p=50086

Igor, I'm not sure that the new Timeline/Waveform feature is working quite as I expected. I can demonstrate the situation with the following sequence of events. 1. open PTE project A and set it to Slide List view 2. save project A and close PTE 3. open PTE project B (it opens in the Slide List View) 4. change to the Timeline view 5. the Waveform gets displayed automatically 6. save project B and close PTE 7. open project A again 8. it opens in the Timeline view and automatically shows the waveform I wasn't expecting the Waveform to be shown automatically at step 5. I wasn't expecting the Timeline view at step 8. I was expecting to have to ask for the Waveform at step 5. I was expecting the Slide List view at step 8. regards, Peter

Claudia, For those slides, or those objects on the slides, which show the Moire shimmer try ticking the "Anti-shimmering (mipmapping)" option in the Properties tab of the O&A window. regards, Peter

Ken, Having read the other folks posts I now realise that there should be some voiceover - and I haven't heard any. So is not well for me either! However, a thought has struck me... This isn't by any chance another manifestation of a problem that has happened with other users where the music is stereo but the voice is mono, is it? If it is, the temporary solution is to re-work the voice into a stereo track using Audacity and then use stereo for both the music and the voice. I don't know for sure but I guess converting the music to mono would also work as I think it was mixing both stereo and mono that was causing the problem. So I guess that an all mono combo or an all stereo combo will work but a mix of mono and stereo will not. regards, Peter

John, The others have been added to slides 2 and 3 via "Add Sound" at top right on main window. Peter

Ken, This isn't going to help you one little bit, pal! Your sequence seemed to play just fine on my Vista PC using PTE v6.5 beta4 in Preview. Slide 1 - 1 piece of music; slide 2 - two pieces of music mixed; slide 3 - one piece of music: four different pieces of music in total. regards, Peter

The choice of method is yours. Either way is possible and I know of AV workers who use both methods (and also mix and match the methods). There is no "right" solution except the one that feels "right" to you. The images should be sized for the dimensions of the medium being used for playback. If several different sized playback devices will be used, size the images for the largest expected and allow them to be downsized by the others when needed. For example: If being played back on PC monitors 1024x768, 1280,1024 and 1920x1080 - make the sequence at 1920x1080 and let the others do the downsizing. regards, Peter P.S. Have you downloaded and read the User Guides and have you visited the FAQ section of this forum? There is a wealth of advice on many topics already available to you.

Ken, When I wrote the FAQ there was a "problem" in that sound added via Customize Slide|Music, when coupled with sound added via Project Options|Music, didn't respond correctly to "Synchronize music and slides". As I recall, the sound added via Customize Slide|Music either started playing immediately or didn't play at all; whereas sound added via "Add Sound" behaved perfectly. As you have indicated, PTE is in the middle of a major re-write of its sound handling capability. This re-write will not be fully complete in v6.5; Igor has indicated in personal e-mail exchanges that there will be more to come in v7.0. Therefore, all advice in the FAQs about adding sound to a sequence should, at present, be read as "applies to PTE versions prior to v6.5". Once the dust has settled and we know exactly what we have and haven't got in PTE v6.5, I intend to review and modify the FAQs. Until then, we're all learning together. regards, Peter

Brian, You should be able to carry out a simple test by setting your PC monitor's resolution to 1400x1050 and then playing your sequence. I have had one of my HD sequences (1920x1080) played back via both a 1400x1050 projector and a 1024x768 projector and both played fine (with black bands top and bottom, of course). The sequence was very heavy with animation and all the elements lined up correctly. The objects were all in complex parent-child relationships but the top parent was independent of the slide's main image object. I think you should be OK just leaving it to the playback PC/projector to sort out the downsizing. regards, Peter

Geoff, I cannot speak for the Mac fraternity but with regards to menu sequences and hardware acceleration as it affects Windows PCs... If the target sequences are being launched with the "Run application..." command then there will be two instances of the PTE code active at the same time (the menu sequence and the target sequence). Therefore there will be the potential for them to conflict for use of hardware acceleration. Therefore it would be wise to turn off hardware acceleration in the menu sequence. If the target sequences are being launched with the "Run Slideshow..." command then there will only ever be one instance of the PTE code active. (This is why all such sequences have to be created using the exact same version of PTE). Therefore there will be no potential for any conflict for use of hardware acceleration. Therefore it should not be necessary to turn off hardware acceleration in the menu sequence. I say "should" because I have never used animation in a menu sequence and so have never needed to have hardware acceleration turned on in the menu sequence. But what I describe is my understanding of how PTE operates. I may be wrong! regards, Peter

That's better!! So we're still talking 4:3 aspect ratio. I suspect that 1400x1050 is the native resolution of the digital projector being used. If so, I think I would leave well alone and let the PC/projector combination do any upsizing for you at playback time. But that is a very personal opinion. I have had some of my 1024x768 sequences projected via various PC/projector combinations and the only time things looked seriously poor was when the sequence was being shown via a PC/projector pairing whose native resolution was full HD (1920 pixels wide) regards, Peter