Barry Beckham

Good idea, but with some problems. You can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but never all of the people all of the time. I don't know how Igor can pick up good ideas from the forum because quite often a suggestion can and often does turn into a lengthy and passionate debate on the merits of that suggestion. To keep up with all that and winkle out a good idea from the daft must be a nightmare. I think there is a lot of potentially great ideas from members and users. I think the issue is finding a way to get them to Igor in a quick and easy list form. Igor can then pick what he thinks is a good idea from the hundred that will not be or those which are not practically possible. I am not always sure the experienced enthusiasts are the best people to ask anyway. Too many axes to grindand the people that may have a valuable voice are those who don't visit the forum.

It's not clearing up a mess Dave. It's humans who sometimes make a mistake and a need for software that is forgiving of those mistakes. How it's achieved doesn't matter, but if it can, why not. In this day and age ask yourself why it is that so few people in camera clubs take up AV? I say this day and age because we live in a visual world with everything we see being more and more on a screen of some type. What better way is there for Photographers than even the most basic and simple slide show for them to show their photography to others, yet they don't. I am sure the reasons are wide and varied, but I bet one of the biggies is that they don't want to look forward to months of learning just to produce a slide show, or hours of frustration just because they are not one of the experts. Look at how people use every means they can, this forum included to bitch about the slightest problem with software. It's those negatives that always drown out the positives and those who may have thought about taking the plunge may not, because its just all seems too difficult. Well I want software that is easy to use and so does everyone else, don't they? There are no marks issued for degrees of difficulty in photography only the end result. Most people need encouragement to take the plunge and the easier you make the software the more will take the plunge.

That is exactly what I am saying. Dave... You are a PTE expert, but the one point you seem to have forgotten is the time when you were not expert at this software. The vast majority of people are not and never will be experts. Many people make slide shows twice a year and the second time they do it, they forget what they did the first time. You, me and others here live, eat and breath the software so calls for improvements like this is not so much for us. However, if experienced users like me can fall foul of this from time to time doesn't that tell you something? There used to be a feature of Dreamweaver software, I am sure it's still there. If you selected a jpeg or gif outside the web site structure you had created, a message popped up and said something like. This image isn't in your web site template and may cause problems when up uploaded to your web site. Do you want to copy it there Now ? It was a great feature because as you duck and dive among different drives it is easy to draw an image from what you think is the right folder, but isn't. If this is something that could be adjusted easily then Igor should consider it as it makes the software that little bit more user friendly, especially to those who use it infrequently. If it's something that is going to tie up his team for sometime, then forget it, but it's his call.

So what are your plans for the old machine?

Me too. It's one of those OH ---- moments when the warning message appears.

No problem sending the Disk and I will reply via email, but I hope you don't mind some feedback here so other members are kept up to date. I have been making videos for PTE8 and Photoshop CC Raw. As soon as PTE 8 is released I will have the disk done.

Dave It is a Blue Ray player that I am using and its connected via a HDMI cable. Right now I think the original poster of the question may not have a problem at all, but I will leave a little but in there just in case. It sounds very much like a discerning photographer who is a bit surprised at the difference between the quality of what our eyes have become accustomed to on our PC's and what you get on a DVD.

Lapiovra I have only just read the issue you have with creating a DVD and I have just downloaded your zipped sample. I created a DVD using your sample in the usual way using PTE 8 beta 7 and played it back on my 60in Plasma TV. What I saw was what I expect to see in a slide show made for DVD. What I mean by that is that the quality of the images were not as good as we would see on our PC or on a TV running a HD video of the slide show, but they were about what I expected. That is normal and it's why DaveG said he does not make DVD's for that reason (image quality). Neither do I for the same reasons unless they are family snaps where the quality is not the be all and end all. I assume that different TV's may render DVD pictures differently and I well recall DVD's I did make a few years ago were awful. No fault of PTE, it was just DVD quality, but now I notice a distinct improvement. Perhaps its the Plasma TV that has given me this improvement. It might handle the images better, but I am guessing here. I am currently making a memorial slide show for someone at the moment who can't really handle anything else but a DVD. The quality of that is OK and no different to yours, but if they were high quality landscapes I had spent time creating, then I would not be so happy. Also the DVD slide show I am making does not contain animation and that will certainly make a difference to the perceived quality. However, I will make versions for PC, Mac and Mp4 in case I can play them on the memorial day, because they will be far better quality than a DVD The quality I saw in your example was much the same as the slide show I have just been making. Its what I would expect from images that started off at 1920 pixels on the long side and for DVD use have to be reduced to 720 pixels. Again, that is no fault of PTE. It's just the resolution of DVD's I am wondering if the flickering you're seeing is more of a shimmer and probably slightly worse on animated images. You certainly wouldn't be the first to be disappointed enough in the quality of a DVD to believe there was some error in the software or settings, or that you had done something wrong. I have received a great deal of emails on that subject over the years and I am wondering if the DVD quality has caught you out too. I can't be sure of course, but we do get quite used to the quality of our still images and our flat screens and DVD quality can be a shock sometimes.. If you have the time and you want a further test, you can send me a DVD you have made so I can play it here to see if it differs from the one I made with your sample. You can find our contact details below. If you would like to do that I can give you feedback via email if you wish http://www.beckhamdigital.com.au/store/pc/Contact-E-mail-Phone-d10.htm I think you may already have been given the best advice and that is to find a way of playing either the exe through a laptop or an MP4 through a stick or again a laptop. Sorry I arrived at the party late, hope this has been some help. Regards Barry Beckham Digital

Yes, I have been having a bit of a laugh here with the Mac issue, but most of you have missed my point. Its not the Mac v PC issue at all that makes me smile. I have no doubt at all that Macs are great computers. Its human nature that I find funny, which feels the need to turn tools to do a job into objects of desire with bragging rights. Then those who see every sentence that contains Mac and PC as a challenge against their chosen way of working and feel compelled to respond. Some of you need to lighten up and get out more :lol:/>

The voice of wisdom has spoken.

Tom In fact you also make my point because it IS the end of the world for some Mac users. Only those who have an inferiority complex that buying and OWNIING a Mac helps them to alleviate. :rolleyes:/> I made the suggestion a number of times when I have been asked about PTE and Mac, suggesting that many Mac users use software to make the program run on a Mac. I also recall dummies being thrown out of prams on a number of occasions. Mac users who become quite offended when you make that suggestion. Many have this weird and unnatural view of their computer and they are not going to soil their superior product by putting nasty windows software on their machine. Tuff luck then I say :lol:/>

Crossfade You make my point for me by being just a bit too quick to begin the defence of the Mac. As I said it was probably all down to my inexperience anyway. I know that. I am just sick and tired of the rant from Mac users who seem to think that they have some superior product. Well, demonstrate that to me in a way that will impress me and make me eat my words is all I am saying. But if you approach me and say Macs just work. Make sure there is nothing pointed and sharp within my reach. :lol:/>/> Lets take this a few stages further. Lets debate what is best Nikon or Canon, Ford, or Toyota, Vulcans or Clingons.:rolleyes:/>/>

I have just come back from a simple job of copying some images from a Mac to a USB Stick or portable drive for a memorial sequence. I assumed (wrongly as it happens) that with my experience of computers it couldn't be difficult, but I gave up in the end and wrote the images to a disk. Even that didn't pop out on completion, I had to find out how to eject it. The Mac could see and read the files on the stick and the Drive, but would not let me copy those Jpegs to them. Now I am sure that is all down to user error and my inexperience with a Mac, but how difficult should it be to copy a few Jpeg files for someone who is computer literate, well I thought I was. A lady recently joined a Camera Club and wanted advice. Told by the resident Mac user that this is what she must have, she buys the Mac. Then she finds out it's only her and Mr Mac who owns one (and he actually knows diddly squat) Every time she turns to a club member for some technical help, they can't help because she is out of step with everyone else. A computer is just a tool to do a job, no different to a hammer, but it seems that the Mac has taken a place alongside the car in your driveway. It has become bling, a must have toy that you can brag about. Well, I am not impressed with the name Mac or the bragging. I am impressed by what Mac users produce, so more lets see more output and less Mac talk :rolleyes:/>

Peter Great Idea and perhaps to select more than one track with Ctrl+Click within the timeline

I am thinking of dumping all our PC's and moving over to Mac's. I am looking forward producing much better slide shows and much better pictures on them. :rolleyes:/>

Ron Can't do that !!! What actually suggest that their precious Mac be soiled by disgusting PC software. Oh dear some Mac users would have a hissy fit at the very thought. :rolleyes:/> I am joking of course and I have already suggested that, but not every Mac users wants to do that.

No problem and thanks for the feedback

Igor Are you able to give Mac users any update on when a Mac version of PTE may be available? I still get emails asking me about this and received the latest today, but I don't really know what to say to them? Any update would be helpful. I think it was around 2010 that it first started to be discussed

Every time I hear this I want to scream at the camera club committee for still clinging onto this ridiculous belief that because their projector is 4:3 everything must be made at that format. Barnston. You can if you wish make your slide shows 16:9 format (or any other) and they will play back fine on a 4:3 projector. I have been doing it for years.

Well, exposure is still the be all and end all, even in the digital world. Yes we can bend and shape a wrong exposure, but there is a price to that which most of us don't like much. I like these quick slide shows, shot and made within a day. They capture a moment in time. I was encouraging my wife to get out for a short walk after a hip replacement. Not bad after only 5 weeks from the surgery to walk 1.2k unaided.

A slide show shot and made mostly the same afternoon (yesterday 12th Oct) and evening using PTE8. The images were used straight from a Canon G16 camera at 4000*3000 pixels. Formatting and sharpening of images was all done within PTE 8 and both the music sound track and sound effects were mixed directly on the time line of PTE 8. http://www.beckhamdigital.com.au/store/pc/Page-5-Latest-c100.htm

I have been caught out a few times over the years, by making the assumption (which would be right in 99% of cases) that the issue I am suffering from is software related. On a few occasions after spending ages trying to track down a software problem I found it was hardware related. Could it be something like that? A fault between the ram and the motherboard had me chasing a software issue for a year till I had that eureka moment. Possible?

Yes, I suppose you can, but I was thinking about how I might apply a whole slide show with an edge effect. How good would that be if we could do that with just a few clicks. Something tells me that if I had to adjust the timings I would find a reason not to do it :rolleyes:/>

Slide Styles would be a great way to apply edge effects, lines and special effects to our images. We could apply them to one or all the slides in our show except for one thing. The Duration from one slide to the other is part of the style. So applying an edge effect after making a show would upset all the timings. The edge effects could be applied first of course, but sometimes we want to try options after the show is made. In the Slide Style window I was wondering how hard it would be to have a tick box to turn off the slide styles ability to include the duration. Just leave all effects in place, but no duration changes.

Those "PC Specialists" have made at least 6 PC's for me over many years and they have all been superb for the job. 2 of which are still in daily use and are over 6 years old