Barry Beckham

Colin Unfortunately giving feedback is a very risky business as I found to my cost recently. It is my view that feedback will be freely given if that feedback can be positive, but if you have some observations to make that are not all positive, many members will not comment at all. Some will when others have already cleared the ground by saying the same thing before them. I don't very often make comment any more for that very reason and others must have picked up the same thoughts as me. Some do want genuine feedback, some want adulation and acceptance. The trouble is in a forum like this, the author of the comments have no way of knowing until the stuff hits the fan and dummies are thrown out of the pram. It is not easy to give constructive comments to someone you don't know using just the written word. If they want to feel insulted, the words you have used can easily be found to justify it. The sad fact is that it is rare to really get honest constructive feedback because there is always that concern in the back of your mind that affects what is being said. When you think about it, constructive positive feedback is also needed as that helps a lot, but it is never given. When something is good, we should go out of our way to explain why because that can be even more helpful. By telling the audience in advance why the show was made and to what audience is was targeted sounds far too much like an excuse to me. Sort of hedging your bets in case the show is not as well received as you hoped. In any case since when do members make a show with a target audience in mind?

Almark Yes, I understand the purpose, I was just making some observations. I always find it funny when I hear a show will not be downloaded because it will take too long. Its not like waiting for a bus is it. Just click the download and forget it for a while. As I said before, you don't have to sit there waiting! You can always see the file size on the download window anyway. I fail to see how any of that information helps the feedback. You either offer it or you don't. How the show was made and for what purpose has no bearing on how a viewer sees it.

None of these are bad ideas, but a few thoughts Save your slide show images to level 6 jpeg and most shows will not be much over 30MB, then perhaps they will reach a wider audience if some are reluctant to download the same show at 70MB. Having said that downloads can trunddle on in the background as we do other things, so I have never quite seen an issue here. Start the download when you are going out or watching TV and it's done when you come back, perhaps! What does it matter what resolution the show was made in? The recipient will play it back on what ever monitor they have. A 1920*1200 show will play back on all lower resolutions fine. Those made at 1024*768 or within those sizes should have the box ticked in project options so their image quality isn't shot to pieces when the images are expanded to fill a larger machine. Many moons ago when it was more important to do so than now, I did suggest that members may temporarily change their screen resolution so they could view a slide show as the author intended. You would had thought I had suggested that members had an arm amputated judging by the response. I seem to recall being told in no uncertain terms by some that they would never do that and it was the authors responsibility to deliver the show so that all could view it. Shouldn't an AV sequence stand alone and be judged as it is presented. If information is vital to the show, should it not be a part of that show?

John A personal view only, I see no point in having two screens and see it myself as a bit of a fad. (no offense intended to anyone of course) It will not enhance your images one bit or make your slide show more appealing. How difficult is it to have Audacity, Photoshop and PTE all open together and use multi-tasking. Most of us have been doing that for years without any problems. With the larger screens some are some are now using I think it makes this two screen option even less appealing. I have done a number of one to one seminars with people who used this option and all it succeeded in doing for them was to slow them down and confuse them. Those people I have met who ask me questions about this all seem to fall into the same category. They think having the latest two screen setup is the route to success, it isn't. Unless you just happen to have a second screen lying around I would say forget it, but if you have then try it. I did and abandoned it almost as quick, because it offered me nothing and just took up too much space.

Just heads up In my emails this morning I have two contacts reporting another problem with AVG which is picking up some PTE shows as containing a virus. One is added below I am not sure whether you want to know this but AVG Anti Virus is yet again finding a virus in some of your pictures to exe AVs. I have on my computer some of your AVs which you offer as free downloads and according to a recent AVG scan the following contain a Trojan horse BackDoor Hupigon5.ARYN virus. pasteinto.exetempleof the sences.exeJack Frost.exeBlack Country 2.exe Hopefully these are all false positives but I think you might wish to know this is happening.

When you look at the prices charged for a reasonable length HDMI cable it ought to do all that and make the tea and toast too

OK I understand all that. just thought it was a shame to upgrade and buy something you might regret later.I have gone from being unsure to completely sold, but you do need them further away if they are large. Mine must be 24 inches from me and does need a fait bit of space. It was the format rather than the size that caught my eye.

Eric I have not read all of this thread, forgive me that, but am I right in thinking your going to put a 4:3 screen on your new computer system. Why are you staying with that format and resisting a move to 16:10 perhaps. The reason for asking was that I had the self same debate with myself about 18 months ago, but now, after working with a Dell 27in you would not get me back to a 4:3 for any money, yet I was very unsure at the outset.

Dan Its great you have found a solution to your DVD problem, but I would have come at this a bit different. If your TV is a 1920*1080 flat screen TV, why not just make your slide show at that format, 1920*1080. The DVD will play perfectly on your TV edge to edge with no distorition and will still play fine on a smaller monitor like a 1024*768 or even a digital projector. I also think that if you create your 1600*1200 DVD with the fixed size of slide in pixels checked in the Project Options Screen tab, that will prevent your images being stretched on the TV. If 1920*1080 is a little too wide for your liking, you could stay with the nicer format in my view of 1920*1200 and just live with a black edge left and right on the PC screen and TV

I must be a terrible writer, people always grab the wrong end of the stick. Jeff The database would be half a dozen AV enthusiasts who are willing to record a commentary for a fellow AV enthusiast at no cost. In the spirit of the forum, because they enjoy doing it. They would not be bought voices and if you ask a friend with a nice voice to help you out it has no bearing on your hobby at all. Presumable you play all your own music to protect your hobby status?

Andrew You may notice that radio adverts seem to use people with an accent far more than the upper class BBC voice of old and I think it is done to attract the listener. In fact at one time in the UK a Scots guy was doing so many voiceovers that I did get sick of hearing him. However, it was the repetition not the accent that got on my nerves. The answer to your question is, it depends on what your project is doesn't it ? There is a rather nice AV on Yellowstone National Park I saw recently narrated with a strong Irish accent and while I personally like the Irish accent I didn't think the show worked that well because I was fixated on the accent. Now the same show with Lin Evans style of voice would be much better in my view. I have an idea for a slide show here in Australia, but my own voice would be inappropriate, the slide show would need an Aussie accent to work. For general use just use your own voice, no-one likes to hear the sound of their own recorded voice, but I am sure others will think it is fine. Its not always easy to find others to read a script for you. I have tried it a few times, but sit some people down in front of a Microphone and unconsciously they try and speak differently and it all goes pear shaped. They sound wooden and the fluid motion of speech is lost. On the other hand I asked for a volunteer who had a UK North country accent to read a script for and AV and got a superb job done. Surely the best recourse we have for voiceovers is right here on this forum. Most of us have the ability to record reasonably good quality voice and there will be a range of accents. We are experienced in doing this so, the voices should sound natural. In fact we ought to be able to ask one another to do the occasional voice over just to move away from the sound of our own voice. Perhaps all those interested ought to make a one sentence recording and we could make a database of people and accents from the PTE forum willing to record a script. If anyone is interested I can host it and create the links for the moderators to place on the forum. A sentence or two will only be a few K as an Mp3.

Rob I am glad you have a sense of humour about this, I hope the straps on the chairs for the Rellies are strong. Seriously that is nothing wrong with using a lot of images from a memorable USA holiday, but what about splitting it into sections. Your audience will probably find it more watchable that way.

A simple rule I always follow is never to make any animated inset image any bigger than the biggest it will be needed on screen. (This assumes the intention is to animate the png) If you create the Png in Photoshop, use the preceeding image in layers as a reference to scale the png. The preceeding image is then turned off and the transparent edged Png created. When you import the Png into the Object and Animation screen in PTE, you will have to set the size position in pixels to 100% or PTE will expand the png to fill the screen and that will affect quality. This works in most cases unless your intention is a long zoom, but it certainly is the best way to go if your animation is only using a maginal zoom or perhaps no zoom at all. It keeps the EXE file size down, retains quality and doesn't overload recources.

Allan You have had a lot of advice here and I am not sure more will help or hinder. I don't see the resizing of 3:2 images to what you suggested in your first post as a problem at all. You have clearly recognised that to retain the format from your camera you are changing the width size to 1024 pixels and allowing the height to take care of itself. I do that myself quite a bit and you usually end up with something around 680 pixels in height. I don't have a great experience of making DVD's, but I think Peter may be right and it is just the TV you are playing it back on. Before you do anything, can you try your DVD on another TV, maybe friends or family? If it plays OK on another TV, you know where the issue lies. In the project options you could try ticking the Fixed size of slide in pixels option. That will stop the slide show being expanded on the DVD and while you may see a smaller image on your TV, the cushion effect may be gone. Worth a try maybe.

we strongly advise producers entering our events to keep most of their JPGs at 1400x1050 to 1024x768 in size Why? I appreciate this says advice and not "you will" but that would be enough for me not to bother entering. Is that advice right?

Eric Yes, your telling me anything I don't already know and only a week ago I stepped onto a beach here and was accosted by a women who asked if I was taking pictures of her kids. As I was crouched down taking a picture of a blue canoe I don't know how she deduced I was the least interested in her or her kids, but the media has whipped up these stupid people into thinking any male with a camera is a threat. Shame, but a fact of life and a few words of explanation is usually the best policy, but what about a crowded beach. I agree the climate has curtailed what we would have done 20 years ago without a thought. I was joking about the terrorist cell, but perhaps not entirely. Have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKl2sEN4yNM I watched this a year or so ago and even the so called law enforcers have no idea what the law is. So, when you go to the next Wensleydale show, don't forget to ask everyone who appears in your images permission before you use them in a public show

I wonder what the reaction would be if you walked around an airport taking photos with an SLR. I think you would quickly find yourself in the terrorist holding cell

Don Were these shot handheld or with a tripod? A bit of each, but most were on a tripod from what I recall

I have had this idea for a while and just needed the right conditions to shoot the images and that came in Brisbane recently at the Mt Coot-Tha Botanical Gardens. Bright sunlight are not the best conditions for our photograpy, but it did allow some nice shots to be grabbed. A lot of work went into the creation of the images using Photoshop and then the placing of those images within the slide show. The right music had to be found that enhanced the introduction of each image and I think I have found that with one of our own royalty free tracks called Peace of the Inner Mind from the Peaceful Album Each image was placed into the slide show individually as they were created and few needed to be changed. What animation has been included is delicate and measured and was more to make the images fit the music rather than for animation sake. I needed to hold one or two images longer then usual to fit in with the music and chose strong images and added gentle animation to hold the attention and appeal. (I hope) Best viewed at 1920*1200 it is around 20MB and runs for 2 hours Only joking about the 2 hours, how does 6 minutes sound? You will find a PC and a Mac version here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw4.htm

Though protest too much, give it a rest

DaveG Yes, although smaller monitors will play a larger slide show OK and retain format, if any textures, filters, delicate lines or some styles on titles and credits are used, they will be lost to some degree on a smaller monitor. It's not really practical to make a show like this and then make another to reduce the effect for smaller monitors. Too much time effort and TLC goes into it. They will have to live with it I am afraid until they get a larger monitor, which will happen in time. Of course the show has now been changed and the small images at the start remain on screen after the opening text has gone, so viewers have the time to see them. As they were only scene setters I don't think they need to be there long.

Eric The only problem with that is it rather messes up the whole point of the show. Andrew Of course your qualified to say. My grandmother has never driven a car in her life, but she knows when one is being driven badly. You don't have to be an expert to have an opinion.

Eric Not sure what you mean here I would have liked the transparency effect to merge to show the featured image at 100% visibility. Do you mean not have a texture on the image at some point?

I have been updating the on-line file with the adjustments suggested, so it could be Murphy's law reared its head and my updating the file caused the problem However. I have just tested the link myself and it came down OK, unzipped and played fine

Dave Yes, that was the one thing I picked up myself as I watched the sequence over and over again for the past few days. You either read the text or look at the images, but I convinced myself there was just enough time to do both, but the more I watched it myself, the more doubt crept in. Your comment has confirmed my thoughts and I will have to fix it now. Thanks for the heads up on the title too, I will fix tthat at the same time. later, changes made, the same link above will download a reworked version