PGA

@Robert, Thanks for the thoughts and links on Copyright. You already know me, so you know that I am aware of all that stuff and have the necessary licences. regards, Peter

I see the same as you but interpret things differently. I believe that the tick box allows the user to specify that the ripped file is to have copy protection applied to it. This I further interpret as meaning: "if there was no copy protection on the original some will be added to the copy". I have always left this unticked in the past. Peter

Yes and No! Yes, I have always ripped to WAV in the past and have regularly used the WAV during "rough assembly" of the sequence and I have had no problems doing that. No, this is the first time I have tried to assemble a multi-track, multi-item soundtrack solely in PTE; and the use of the ripped WAV file is causing this problem. Peter

I confirm that it seems to be the presence of the "metadata" that is the issue. I have opened the file in Audacity and saved as WAV 16bit PCM. The copy produced by Audacity has no metadata at all. This version plays OK in the sequence. I feel that PTE must detect the presence of this offending metadata and warn the user. A program that Previews correctly but then Publishes a fault is going to earn itself a very bad reputation and lose customers. Peter

Yes. I do all preparation and assembly on my desktop system. Peter

Dave, That is, indeed, the key question. This particular file was ripped from CD using Windows Media Player - as have been all my other music WAV files. I have never come across a situation where any of those WAV files have shown this kind of problem. However..., this is the only sequence I have made where the complex, multi-item sound-track has been assembled solely within PTE v7.5. In the life of this project Tracks have been added and then removed, items have been added to Tracks and then removed, items have been moved from one Track to another, most Tracks have at some point been muted and then unmuted, etc., etc. In short, I have tried to use PTE - and only PTE - to assemble this sequence. Had I not checked that the sequence EXE was OK this morning, I would have looked right idiot at our AV group meeting tonight. As it is, I cannot show this sequence to the members tonight. regards, Peter

Eric, It is my understanding that when one uses the Preview button, PTE publishes a temporary EXE file and then runs that. The whole concept of Preview should be "what you see and hear is what you will get when you Publish". Right now, with my project, that is not the case. If I cannot rely on the Exe coming out the same as the previewed version, then PTE is no longer "fit for purpose". If there is something wrong with the WAV file, PTE has to flag that up at either mini-player time or at Preview time. If there is nothing wrong with the WAV, PTE has to include it properly in the Published EXE. Right now, PTE does neither. As to the file being a WAV file: that should be the simplest kind of file for PTE to handle. It requires no decoding before it can be played back. regards, Peter

Hi Igor, I have reduced the project down to just the opening music piece and the slides. The project plays correctly in the mini-player and under Preview button but not as a built EXE file. Because of the music file content, the zip file is too large to upload to the forum website so I've uploaded it to Dropbox. regards, Peter Edited by PGA 6th April 2013 at 12:05GMT: Removed Dropbox link because the target file held copyrighted material. P.S. Igor, if you didn't download the file before I removed the link, let me know and I'll send you the link in a PM or e-mail

I have encountered a totally weird problem with the playback of audio using v7.5.4 and have re-created it using v7.5.7. The situation is as follows: - the sequence plays correctly in the mini-player - the sequence plays correctly using the Preview button - the sequence plays incorrectly after it has been published as an EXE for PC. The sequence comprises 51 slides - no video clips but some PNG images used as "picture in picture" and four Tracks of audio. Track1 has seven sound files and each cross-fades into the next using PTE's default cross-fades. This track starts and ends with music and has ambience recordings in between. Track2 has ten sound files, each one being a piece of the narrator's voice-over Track3 has eight sound files, each one being a piece of the first actor's voice-over Track4 has just one sound file, the piece of voice-over from the second actor The problem manifests itself as follows: If playback of the EXE is initiated and then all is left alone only the first four pieces of Track2 are heard. Nothing is heard of any of the items on Tracks 1, 3 and 4. However, if after the playback starts, the spacebar is used to pause the playback and then the right arrow key is used to advance to a slide that sits alongside a piece of sound off Track 2, the playback is then correct. Tracks1 and 2 are now both heard, in proper synchronization with one another and with the slides. It is also now possible to step back through the slides and get the correct playback until, working backwards, the first slide that should have the music on Track1 playing with it. It is impossible to get that piece of music to playback. Also, at the end of Track1 the same piece of music is used to run with the closing credits. This use of the music is never heard during playback of the EXE file. So the problem seems to be associated with that particular music file. But that music file plays perfectly through both the mini-viewer and the Preview button so there is clearly nothing wrong with it. Please note: I am NOT prepared to change the piece of music as there clearly is nothing wrong with it. What I will be prepared to do is to build the soundtrack in Audacity rather than in PTE. I will also, for the time being, feel compelled to warn users of PTE v7.5 that there are still some problems associated with more complex soundtracks assembled using the audio features of PTE. regards, Peter

Igor put a lot of effort into sorting out the "Preferences" and the "Project Options" when creating v7.5. Right now we have a very clear distinction: Preferences are settings that persist across all usage of PTE, Project Options are settings that are unique to each project. We must strive to maintain that clear distinction. Therefore I agree with Aginum on this point. These are options that apply at the individual sequence (i.e. project) level. They are not options that should persist across all usage of PTE. They could, of course, occur in both places: as a Preference that will apply every time PTE is used and as a Project Option, which overrides that Preference for just this project. That might be the "best of both worlds". regards, PGA

Another possibility: has the text been lost in the TV UnSafe Zone, i.e. in that part of your image area which can, under certain conditions be lost when viewing on a TV system? PGA

I cannot agree with the underlying message in the previous post (#16). An entrant in a competition should be able to submit work that performs properly on their own equipment and have every expectation that it will perform just the same on the equipment used by the competition organisers. The onus is on the competition organisers to provide equipment of sufficient capability to handle whatever is thrown at it. PGA

Eric, If 7.0.7 works the same as 7.5.4 you can hit "Play" in the O&A window and then hit the same button (which is now "Pause"). Then click-drag the little blue triangle marker along the O&A timeline to where-ever you want it to start from - and hit that same button (now showing as "Play") to resume playing from that new point. regards, Peter

Hi Scott, If all the items for each sequence are stored under a "master folder" (images, sounds, the .pte project file, etc.) you can then copy that "master folder" anywhere you want and access the project and all its content. I do this frequently to copy an entire project from my desktop PC onto a memory stick and then take that memory stick to my laptop, where it appears as a totally different drive letter. By "master folder" I mean a structure something along these lines: F:\AV Sequences\SequenceA\Images F:\AV Sequences\SequenceA\Sounds F:\AV Sequences\SequenceA\Project F:\AV Sequences\SequenceB\Images F:\AV Sequences\SequenceB\Sounds F:\AV Sequences\SequenceB\Project I copy at the SequenceA or SequenceB level. regards, Peter

Yes. Option #1: Three identical slides, the first and last without the text, the second one with the text. Fad from one slide to the next. Option#2: Within a single slide, using keyframes in the Objects and Animation window. The Text object has, by default, its "origin" keyframe. Set the opacity of the Text object to zero at this keyframe. Then add extra keframes to the Text object as follows: keyframe #2 - opacity = 0 keyframe #3 - opacity = 100 keyframe #4 - opacity = 100 keyframe #5 - opacity = 0 The time interval between the origin keyframe and keyframe #2 is the delay before the text becomes visible. The interval between keyframes #2 and #3 is the "fade up" duration, etc. regards, PGA

Well said, Steven! I couldn't have put it better myself. regards, Peter

Hi John, I burned a DVD-Video disc this morning using v7.5.4. The disc plays fine on both my Blu-ray player and a friends older DVD player. These are both TV connected devices - not PC peripherals. My Project Option settings in VideoBuilder were as attached. The PTE sequence was built at 16:9 aspect ratio and 1920x1080 slide size. On playback there is a slight loss of image all around the edges (TV Safe Zone was not taken into account). regards, PGA

Dave, My principle concern is that we cannot do the enveloping of one clip whilst seeing the waveform of all the other clips that run along side it. We are having to mix one track in isolation from all the rest. That is not how a sound engineer/sound mixer works. They listen to the entire mix whilst adjusting the levels of the track being "blended in". A secondary concern is that, in PTE, I cannot set the envelope by using dB values. When mixing voice-over against background music there is an internationally recognised standard (set by the various national bodies concerned with the hearing impaired) that there should be at least 20dB of separation between the voice and the background. Unfortunately, it is a standard that an increasing number of the independent companies who produce TV programmes either ignore are are totally unaware of. When working in Audacity I can set the waveform displays to show dB, can set the vertical axis to an expanded state that shows dB at every 6dB, and can thus easily drag the envelope of the music down until I judge it to be just over 18dB lower than the voice-over. regards, PGA

Eric, That bug was relevant to a user of Windows 8. As far as I know, there are no known DVD Burn bugs outstanding with version 7.5 running on Windows 7, Vista or XP. regards, Peter

Superb images combined with your 3D techniques in PTE gave a real sense of being there. Thank you for creating this trailer and sharing it with us all. PGA

Hi Umberto, I do not fully understand the exact visual effect you are trying to achieve but I offer this suggestion in the hope that it may help you: place a PTE Frame object between the existing parent and the children. Any compensating animation will then need to be programmed only once - on the Frame - rather than on each of the children(I hope!) regards, PGA

Igor, My apologies for not getting this checked out sooner than this. Yes, that version solves the problem. Well done and thank you! Peter

It is not as simple as being OS dependent. I cannot recreate it on Windows 7. Is it, perhaps, video file type specific? PGA

Project Options > Control > Mouse Cursor > Hide ? PGA

nobeefstu, I am not ready to Publish yet but I would expect the same result since the Preview actually starts by doing a Publish to a temporary EXE file. I never use a navigation bar; they are an unnecessary and distracting visual intrusion. regards, PGA