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Dave, Is your problem perhaps associated with missing or mis-matched "codecs"? Does PTE v5.6 use the same default codecs that earlier versions used? regards, Peter

Hi Mike, On days when I have a show to give I always power-up the laptop as soon as I get up and leave it on all day so that it can download whatever it wants to. I check it every hour or two to see if it wants any intervention by me. I also ensure that, when I get to the venue and get set up, I switch off the wireless link. On one occasion when giving a show to an audience, my laptop found an unprotected wireless network, connected to it, downloaded both Windows updates and Norton updates, applied them all and did the auto re-boot to finish the install. Thankfully all that activity took place between me getting everything set up and the start of the evening's entertainment. I always aim to give myself a clear 15 minutes between being set-up and the start of the evening's programme - that is my "contingency" allowance. regards, Peter

Hi Ed, I've never tried building an entire sequence in a single O&A window but I did hit a problem with a single O&A window that had a large number of objects in it. Because of the way PTE's "Undo" history stack was implemented, the sheer number of edits I tried to do between saves exceeded the available RAM in my 2GB desktop system. Because of this problem (which was also encountered independently by Lin Evans at about the same date), Igor introduced the "Auto-Save" feature. Your friend had better ensure that he/she establishes a "frequent saves under new name" policy when developing this single O&A sequence. From the way you describe it, there shouldn't be more than a couple of objects under "animation" at any point in time - and that "animation" is going to be time-controlled opacity changes rather than PZR effects. I don't think this will stress the graphics card/chipset unduly - if at all. Good luck to him/her. regards, Peter

Hi Barry, To some extent I agree with you. I know I've been guilty of wandering off-topic in the past. But I think it is something of an inevitablity. A new topic on this, or any other forum, is just the start of a conversation that will involve several people. As with any conversation, it will have a tendency to wander away from the original subject. I'm sure you are correct in your view that it must be hard, at times, for newcomers to find the information that they need. Perhaps some of the problem lies in the structure of the Forum. Perhaps the "Tutorials and Articles" section of the forum should be renamed to "The Chat-room" and a new "Tutorials and Articles" section created whose content was strictly moderated to include only real Tutorials and Articles or links thereto. The likes of Lin Evans, Ronnie West and yourself have produced some very useful material that should, rightly, be in or linked-to from such a section. Unfortunately all the useful material has become swamped by a morass of general chatter. An alternative approach might be to establish a sister-site to the forum where the genuine Tutorial and Article material was held - with the content being tightly controlled. regards, Peter

Barry, Thanks for opening up this debate. This is a fascinating discussion. It is giving me food-for-thought in respect to my approach to sizing my images and sequences. regards, Peter

In a different thread (see here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....showtopic=9732) Ed Overstreet made the following statements: I might be mis-understanding things again (it's happening quite frequently at present) but Ed seem's to be implying that it is PTE that down-sizes the 1400x1050 image to 1024x768 when it goes via an XGA resolution projector. Is that really the case? Or is the down-sizing getting done by firm-ware in the projector? I've always fought shy of making sequences at a resolution greater than my projector because I had assumed the projector would be doing the down-sizing and, unlike Photoshop, it doesn't have any Unsharp Mask capability to restore sharpness after it has discarded those unwanted pixels (or does it?). Does anyone have any hard facts on this aspect of digital image projection? If not, what is the experience of other users? Can an over-size image be presented for projection through a smaller resolution device with no - or an acceptable - loss of visual quality? regards, Peter

Andrew (trailertrash), All opinions are welcome. As a newbie you are better placed to tell us, experienced, old hands what it is that you would like to know. Barry, Sorry, I mis-understood what you meant by size. I interpreted it as = duration whereas you clearly had in mind = resolution. All my sequences are built primarily for my own pleasure: to me - building AVs in PTE is great fun! But they are also built with my end audiences in mind. Therefore they are built to suit my current projector - which is 1024x768. Unlike Eric (yachtsman1), I don't distinguish between my audiences. With each show, I try and create the best possible sequence that I can knowing that it will then satisfy an AV Group, Camera Club or Photographic Society - and will more than satisfy any other general interest audience. Leaving aside the laptop which I use with the projector to deliver the shows to the audiences, I have only one monitor at home - a 17 inch, 1280x1024. I don't consider this when re-sizing my images. Nor do I try and "future proof" my work. Over the course of a thirty year career in IT, I learned a long time ago that it is impossible to "future proof" in the world of technology because of the continuous and ever-increasing rate of change. Sure, HD is today's buzz-word but what will it be in a couple of years time? When (that really should be IF) I decide to change my equipment, then I will consider what to do with my existing repertoire of shows. I have the original ex-camera image files. I have the ex-Audacity WAV and MP3 files. If necessary and desirable I can, at that future date, rebuild any sequences that I want to at that new standard - whatever that new standard might then be. To answer your specific questions in post #5: Do I create them to fit my monitor, retaining 1024x680: Yes. The answer to the subsequent questions is, in every case: No. regards, Peter

Barry, What an excellent set of questions! What size slide show should I make and why? For a newcomer to AV I would suggest that they pick a short piece of music that they like and set some images to that. I would advise them to think in terms of needing 10-15 images per minute, to use simple fade transitions of between one and two seconds duration and to start and end with a black slide. I would also suggest that they should aim to start with a stock of slides that is between two and three times the number that they will eventually need; to give plenty of scope for editing down. I would point out that they need not be worried about throwing out images since, every time they remove one, the overall visual quality should go up because they should be discarding the weakest image. Finally I would advise them that, for this first sequence, every image should be in landscape orientation and of the same aspect ratio. Keep it simple! Why do I choose the slide show size that I do? I build various types of sequences: those that tell a story, those that interpret a piece of poetry or a piece of music, those that explore a subject or a place. The duration can be constrained by many factors: the length of the piece of poetry or music, the time taken to convey all the details in the voice-over, etc. For sequences without voice-over, I try to find a single piece of music that captures the same mood as the images and then build to the length of the music. For sequences with voice-over, I use as many different pieces of music and sound as I feel that I need, with some complex editting in Audacity when necessary. My sequences currently range in duration from 1 minute 20 seconds through to 16 minutes. Do I try and fill the screen? Yes and no! If the sequence contains only my own, digitally-captured images then I will retain the original aspect ratio of 3:2 from my Nikon D70. If I am not using any animation, I will present these at 1024x681 (to match the 1024x768 of my digital projector), with a two pixel white outline. If I have used animation, especially zoom-in, then I overlay each image with a windowed mount so that the growth of the image vertically is hidden from the audience. However, one of my interests is local history. When building a sequence on this theme I will often be using historic images as well as my own. These old images can be in any aspect ratio and sometimes are of poor resolution. This kind of sequence will be set on a coloured background so that the illuminated area of the screen stays constant despite the changing shape and size of the superimposed image. There are my thoughts on your questions. I hope you, and others, find something of interest in my approach to digital AV. I'm happy to elaborate further if required. regards, Peter

Stu, You were absolutely correct, Create backup in ZIP doesn't include the hidden file. Igor, From what you have said in your posts above, this hidden file seems to be essential in certain circumstances. Shouldn't it therefore be included in the ZIP? regards, Peter

Stu/Igor, Having now spent some time reviewing the contents of these files I can accept that each of the images mentioned was, at some stage, renamed within PTE. I'm now happy that I understand: - why the files were created in the first place - why only certain specific image files were mentioned - why it is only recently that I have become aware of them I think the aspect that was really puzzling me was that I could not explain to myself why only some of my sequences had one of these files and why only certain slides got a mention. I couldn't see any pattern to the existence of the files or to their contents. But now I can. And it makes sense. Thanks, both of you. regards, Peter

Igor, Thanks for the explanation. The contents are of the kind you describe. But I'm still baffled. Your explanation suggests to me that only images rotated in Slide List or File Panel will cause these files to be created. But I have never rotated images inside PTE except via Objects & Animation. So I don't understand why these files exist on my system. regards, Peter P.S. I understand why it is that I see these files when other folks don't. A couple of weeks ago I had "lost" a file and activated "Show system and hidden files" in order to track it down. These are "Hidden" files, aren't they?.

Ken, See attached screen-grab for details (It is the result of running Windows Search for WnSoftFolderInfo) regards, Peter

Hi Igor, I've been doing some much needed "housekeeping" on my hard-drives (deleting files and folders that I no longer need) and have noticed that I have some files called WnSoftFolderInfo in some of the folders that I have used to build AV sequences. The oldest such file is dated 26 July 2005 and the most recent is dated 7 February 2009. There is at least one such file from each year from 2005 through 2009. I'm not unduly alarmed since I'm assuming they were produced by diagnostic/debug routines that you had left in some of the various beta levels. I'm just alerting you to this situation in case you've left some debug routines active in the definitive release. regards, Peter

I knew Harry only through his activity here on the forum. Through our occasional dialogues I came to think of him, as I do all those who participate regularly here, as a friend (an e-friend, as I call such folks). My thoughts and prayers are with his family at this sad time. Peter

Ron, Try following the link Dom gave us and then: - click on Current Location PHP link (top left) - click on Tutorials & Tips (middle of page) - click on Introduction to PHP (middle of page) and explore from there. regards, Peter P.S. I know nothing about PHP or creating web pages, but that's how I got into the basic information.

Chris, You will never get the same image quality from a DVD-burnt sequence that you will get from an EXE file. See here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8703 regards, Peter

Hi josephm, Whilst RayC's suggestion will, perhaps, get you a show that is close to what you want, it doesn't help you understand how you got to where you are. PTE recognises two different durations for your sequence: - the total length of the music files (i.e. your soundtrack length) - the total length of the image durations Please check these following points: - in Project Options...Music tab is there just the one piece of music listed? - and is its duration displayed there as 3m 09s? - under the bottom-right corner of the mini-player is displayed the total duration of your images Now you have identified the two durations, you know which area you need to look at. One simple possibility is that all the excess time is attributed to the last slide. To resolve this go into the Timeline and click on the Timed Points button. Click on Set End of Last Slide at End of Music. Just to clarify things for you: Synchronise music and slides causes the music to be positioned at the correct place if you do a Start Preview from the current slide using the little icon just to the right of the Preview button. regards, Peter

Eric, I'm in complete agreement on this. I posted on this matter sometime last year. However, there is one huge draw-back... It is generally accepted in the world of Computer Programming that, for every 10 hours spent writing the code, it takes around 100 hours to debug it thoroughly and 1000 hours to document it properly. This is what makes the big software products so expensive: the man-hours needed to document the product properly. We certainly wouldn't get PTE for under 100USD if it had Help and User documentation of the same detail and quality as, say, Adobe Photoshop. I would love to see PTE have good, context-sensitive Help - but I don't think it will ever happen. Unfortunately, as the product gets more features added (= more complex to use) the need for good, context-sensitive Help just gets greater and greater. I fear that the time will come when new users (and even some existing users) might get put off the product because it lacks a good, context-sensitive Help system. regards, Peter

Eric, Nothing could be further from the truth. We all of us have to work within the limitations of our present equipment and our financial constraints. But it is only by pushing our knowledge and equipment to the limit that we "super-users" (a term I detest) find out just what PTE can and cannot do. And that is also how we discover just what resources are needed to do all the fancy "gee-whizz" stuff. You did have! Version 5.6 co-exists along side version 5.5. If you didn't like v5.6, you should have uninstalled it and stayed with v5.5. So are most of us, I expect! Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Be satisfied with what you have; and learn how to get the most out of it. Xaver, I couldn't have put it better myself. 95% of all my transistions are simple fades. If the "third image" is a messy one, then I'll try "Page - Top to bottom", "Page - Left-to-right" or "Circle - From centre". I have over 30 sequences and only five of them have any animation. It isn't the "chromium, bells and whistles" that make a good AV: it is the story being told and the quality of the images and the suitability of the accompanying music that makes for good AV sequences. regards, Peter

I get just a little tired of hearing the repetitious grumbles, from various forum members in this and other posts, about the features of the new versions of PTE not working on older equipment. Allow me to make one very obvious, but all too often overlooked, point here, please: nobody compels anyone to exploit all the new function of each new release of PTE. If there's a particular feature of PTE that your system can't handle, then don't use it! But if you are desperate to use that function, accept the fact that you will have to replace your system or upgrade it to a level that is appropriate. regards, Peter

Gary, Thanks for the clarification. Now that I understand what you would like to achieve, it sounds not unreasonable. What would meet your needs would be a new option on Customize Slide that allows the user to Lock slide to here on the timeline and then for Auto-Spread to operate only on the "unlocked" slides. Whilst the number of users of "Auto-Spread" might be quite small, I suspect the number of users who could make use of Lock slide to here on the timeline is much, much higher. regards, Peter

Gary, Having done your adjustments and got the pan running on one slide (but now having one slide too many for the musc), why not simply delete one of the other slides? Seems simple to me, but perhaps I'm missing something. regards, Peter

The trial version of PTE should allow you to burn a DVD via Video-Builder. The only restriction is that it places a scrolling text along the bottom of the video to the effect that it was created with a trial copy. I don't burn DVDs myself but that is how the previous version behaved when I tested it. regards, Peter

Hi Gary, You sure do come up with some unusual problems! I see that Lin has given you a steer in the right direction so I'll not offer additional advice on what to do (that might simply add confusion). With regards to your last post about observed resource usage... Although all computers try and keep everything they are working on in RAM, there comes a time, inevitably, that they run out of RAM. At this point they ship some of the contents of RAM out onto a special file on your hard-drive. That frees up some RAM for them and away they go again! When a RAM-hungry task (such as the "Create" of a large, complex PTE sequence) has finished, there are still some loose ends to be tidied up: the RAM contents that were sent out to the hard drive being just one of these loose ends. So it is, perhaps, not unexpected that you hit your problem only when you try and do two complex actions back-to-back. Think of it like asking an athlete to set off on a second race just after they cross the line at the end of the first one! They want some recovery time - and so does your PC (it only needs a minute or less, they might need a hour or two). Fitting more RAM, provided that your PC has space for it physically and your Operating System can exploit it, would ease the strain; but even that might not totally resolve this problem. As Lin indicated in one of his replies, it all depends on what else is running (anti-virus, etc.) regards, Peter

Hi all, I confirm Al's findings. No problems at all with any of the actions on mouse click in Brian's test file. And yes, that French site is slow, slow, SLOW! If I hadn't been doing the test I would not have waited for the complete download. I would have taken my business elsewhere! regards, Peter