PGA

The one I use is Effect > Change Tempo. Select the piece to change (doesn't have to be the entire clip); open the Effect window; note the total length of the selection; key a new length and observe the percentage change that will occur. Changes under 5% will usually sound OK. Changes between 5 and 10% will still often sound OK but you will be more aware of the speed difference from the original. Of course, your audience will not have the original available to do an immediate compare. regards, Peter

Dave, Shouldn't your first check be: does my camera actually fill this field? That is something the maker should be able to tell you. regards, Peter

From conversations with some UK AV workers, this is a potential minefield. If you want to be as certain as you can that the graphics-intensive applications are using the dedicated nVidia card then use the right-click menu to make the assignment. BUT... on at least one occasion in the UK, doing that still left the system using the integrated graphics. The hardware was eventually returned to the supplier and even their specialists couldn't work out why that particular system refused to switch the graphics over as it had been instructed to do. regards, Peter

Take a look at this website and work out how the laptop graphics fares against the existing desktop graphics: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ regards, Peter P.S. Thanks to Lin Evans for bringing this site to my attention, some years ago now, and through this forum.

The concept of the Frequently Asked Questions section was that one of the moderators would decide that a particular subject was being asked about repeatedly by different people and would prepare some "model" questions and answers. Anyone can add further posts to an existing topic in that section, but only a moderator can start a new topic in that section. regards, Peter

Why not accept the presence of the logo, and then give credit to the Imperial War Museum as the source of the historic video in your credits at the end of your sequence? regards, Peter

We already have a forum section "Video" where all matters relating to video files can be discussed. Perhaps there should also be a separate section "Audio" where all matters relating to audio files can be discussed? If, as I understand it, the next version of PTE is going to provide significant changes to the way in which the user interacts with their audio files, now might be the right time to introduce this new section. regards, Peter

Jose, What is the real risk (not the perceived risk) of retaining stable hardware and stable software? I run two systems: a desktop on which I do all my day-to-day work, including the development of new PTE sequences, and a laptop which I use, connected to my digital projector, to present the finished work to an audience. I have always tried to ensure that the laptop is of a better spec than the desktop. If the desktop suddenly develops a problem, I can always finish any time-critical work on the laptop because all my data is stored on external hard drives. Because I work in this way, I do not have to ensure that I keep both systems up to the latest standard. I can safely let the desktop fall behind because I can always, for a short period of time, do the day-to-day work on the laptop (until I get the desktop fixed, upgraded or replaced). I'm actually in that position right now. The desktop's video card is such a low spec that it cannot run even mildly complex animations smoothly. I need to get a better video card fitted at some point in the future. But for now I live with the "problem". regards, Peter

Joy, You haven't stated whether you moved or simply copied the folder to its new location. Which is it? Do you have Settings > Preferences > Project > Project file > Load last project on start up selected (i.e. ticked). If you do, and if you moved the folder, then PTE is trying to find the project file where it used to be - and it isn't there any more. If you are using the history of previously opened files to open a project that you have moved, that project also will no longer be where it was last found by PTE - and, I guess, you will get some sort of error. Please remember that we cannot see your monitor. You need to give us precise and comprehensive information: exactly what did you click on? exactly what did you key in? and into which field?, and most important of all, exactly what is the text of any error message (all of it from the first character to the last, complete with details of what button options you have at that point)? regards, Peter

Erno, Are you sure your PC is totally free of all "malware"? The apparent random deletion of files worries me. A couple of less worrying possibilities: have you deleted or renamed or moved any drives, folders, or files yourself recently? Were the "missing" items stored on an external device that isn't now connected (e.g. USB memory stick, CD, DVD)? PTE does NOT store any copies of any files in the project file (in the .pte file). It navigates to where they were last time you told it to use them. regards, Peter

Joy, Let me check that I have understood what you have done and what you are now seeing... You have carefully ensured that you have placed all the image files and all the sound files for sequence A into one folder (Folder-Seq-A on drive X:). You can open the PTE project from this folder and can make changes to it, Preview it, Publish it, etc. You then have moved (copied - which? it is important) the folder and all its contents to a different drive (Y:) that is connected to the same computer. Now, when you launch PTE, do File > Open, navigate to Folder-Seq-A on drive Y: and click Open, you get an error message from PTE saying that the project file is missing. Have I got that right? regards, Peter

If the two drives are on the same computer system then the location of the PTE codee is irrelevant. PTE executes on the computer and reads its data from the hard drive. Version 7.5 of PTE supports multiple drives on the one computer. regards, Peter

Bert, First, you must understand that all video files are compressed to a greater or lesser extent. The video codec determines just how much compression is applied. The format that comes out of PTE's converter is not compressed too heavily. This means that: 1) the file can come out larger than when it when in but 2) - and this is the important bit - PTE can do all its wonderful things with it even if your PC is a little bit lacking in "grunt" when it comes to processing video. Bottom line: don't worry about it! regards, Peter Footnote added after initial posting of reply: If the video was uncompressed you would have: 3 minutes of video at 25 frames per second at 1920x1080 pixels per frame at 1 byte per pixel = c.9.3 gigabytes (and that is if a pixel can be encoded in just one byte). If it takes more than one byte to encode a pixel...

Hi Sue, Slide 1 = base image Slide 2 = base image plus portrait#1 Slide 3 = base image plus portrait#1 and portrait#2 Slide 4 = new base image Use a simple dissolve between the slides. Consider a different transition effect between Slide 3 and Slide 4 to help overcome the "messiness" of moving from a complex multi-image to a simple image (perhaps a Page wipe from top to bottom or left to right) regards, Peter

Hi Melanie, I am very familiar with Audacity but have never used Cool Edit. So what I am about to state might be inaccurate. It is my understanding that Cool Edit sets its project sample rate and project sample format based upon the first sound file added to the empty project. Is it possible that you had sound files with different sample rates and sample formats and on this occasion started off with one that was "not the usual numbers"? regards, Peter P.S. If my understanding is wrong I would welcome being corrected.

As nobody has yet claimed to be able to recreate this scenario I doubt it is a bug. However, let's explore that hypothesis. Please create a new project with just two slides and with "Repeat show until Esc key is pressed" selected. Use the Preview button to preview the sequence. Does this sequence exhibit the same problem when in Preview? If so, do "File > Create Backup in Zip" and upload the zip file to the forum so that we can take a look at it. regards, Peter

This problem was extensively discussed some time back (see here)

I got the problem at my first attempt - but cannot replicate it again! I added a Text object to a main image of a slide (as a child of the main image) then started to key the text = Abc/////// (I held down the "/" key so that it went into typomatic mode). As soon as I hit the "/" the image appeared to zoom. On investigation, what had happened was an apparent change of aspect ratio from 16:9 to 5:4 or 4:3 (I couldn't be sure which because the contents of all the O&A tabs were blanked out. I was using the field on the O&A Toolbar to change the zoom level. This showed that the image was no longer being displayed at 16:9). Try as I might, I cannot get a repeat of the problem. Just in case it is a font-related problem: I am using Nyala and running v7.5.8 on Win7. regards, Peter

No delay for me either Peter

Hi Rayden, Yes, your existing key is still good for all later versions of PTE. The cost of upgrading the video option can be found by going to www.wnsoft.com and clicking on the Buy button. On the page that is then displayed there is an Upgrade option. regards, Peter

Ray, 99% of all my sequences are "Close show after last slide" - and the Esc key works fine for me. I will upgrade to 7.5.9 and check things out on my system with that version of PTE. regards, Peter

Lin, I agree that your suggestion is worth doing but, if it does solve the problem, it doesn't prove that the problem was the bitrate. Audacity does not write metadata unless you specifically ask it to. So a version exported from Audacity might work because the metadata has been eliminated. regards, Peter

Are you sure your Esc key is not broken in the keyboard? What have you got set in Project Options > Main > Show Settings and in Project Options > Control > Keyboard? I'm still on 7.5.8 and the Esc works OK in that version on my Win 7 system. regards, Peter

Bert, Are they all really MP3 format files? It is not unknown for people to give the wrong suffix to a file. One of them could be a PC-compatible format but not MP3. Do all the sound files have the same attributes? Are they all CBR or all VBR? Do they have the same bitrate? Do they all have exactly the same metadata fields completed? Does any of the metadata include non-alphanumeric characters? Check each files properties, in detail, to see if there are any obvious but inexplicable differences. regards, Peter

Hi Ray, That is still the way to do it, as far as I know. I presume it isn't working for you. Can we first be certain: what exactly do you mean by "Preview mode"? How did you initiate it? What version of PTE are you using? What operating system are you using? regards, Peter