PGA

Eric, Yours is a GT220. We're talking about a 210 (no prefix or suffix) See here: http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-210 PGA

The nVidia GeForce G210 is a very, very low spec graphics card. See here: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/mid_range_gpus.html It scores only 178 on their scale of measurement. I have the same card in my desktop system but with 1GB of memory on board it and I get flickering transitions some of the time, too. However, I build on the desktop ready for playback on a laptop connected to my digital projector. The laptop has a nVidia GeForce GTX460M with 1.5GB of dedicated memory which scores 1334. I have no problem during playback on that. I think your problem is that your graphics card can no longer cope. regards, PGA

But mine isn't a manual show. This problem is occuring after pausing a Preview of an automatic show. PGA

Me too! I think it was during the 7.5 beta programme - and I've a funny kind of feeling that it was me (via my ex-moderator username) who reported it; but my memory might be at fault on that. PGA

Using v7.5.4: I start Preview of the sequence that I am working on. It is a normal sequence (i.e. advances automatically in accordance with the slide durations that I have set). I let it play a couple of slides into the sequence and then I use the spacebar to pause the preview on slide #3. I have the mouse buttons set up as follows: Left=Next and Right=Previous. I click the Left mouse button and am shown slide #4. I click the Left button again and am shown slide #5. I now click the Right button and am shown slide #4. So far everything is behaving as expected. I now click on the Left button again - and nothing happens! I click the Left button once more - and am shown slide #6. This pattern, of not showing the Next slide after using Previous, then continues until I escape from the Preview. The same behaviour is seen if I use the left and right arrow buttons instead of the mouse buttons to control the advance when the show is paused. Does anyone else see this or is it just my set up? regards, PGA

I did when I first mentioned it (post #19 I think it was; way back up in this long dialogue). I repeat here again: AV News Issue 191 February 2013. That is a link to good, old-fashioned, paper-and-ink technology. I never said there was an online version available. PGA

Ken, You simply place the two pieces of music into two different tracks. Use the Timeshift tool to drag one so that it's start overlaps the end of the other by four or five seconds. Now select the last few seconds of the first item and use Generate > Fade Out to apply a fade out. Select the first few seconds of the second item and use Generate > Fade In to apply a fade in. You may need to experiment with the length of the overlap and the length of fades to find values that give a pleasing result. Then File > Export to either MP3 or WAV, whichever you prefer. The dpi (dots per inch) value is irrelevant for a projected digital image. You can make them 72dpi, 7dpi or 7million dpi: all the files sizes will be the same. The only things that dictate file size are the image size (pixels wide by pixels high) and the amount of JPEG compression that has been applied. Dpi has meaning ONLY for a printed image. regards, PGA

Geoff, Have a read of pages 24 and 44 of the User Guide (access via Help command). PGA

I do not understand the relevance of this request. Your original problem was, as I understood, desktop "flashbacks" between your menu and the triggered sequences. You said you were using "Run Slideshow..." rather than "Run Application...". If that is so, all PTE sequences are being played by the same single instance of the PTE player. Technically, there should be no opportunity for any "flashbacks" to happen if yout hardware is properly configured. You've since made it clear that your laptop, where the problem appears, has two graphics cards and that you have been advised that the nVidia needs "authorising" to each executable that wants to use it. This has put you in the position that I described in one of my earlier posts (the same situation that Wilmslow Guild found themselves in). I would suggest that any further investigation into the PTE aspects of the problem is pointless until you have got the hardware sorted out. PGA

They are just dummy sequences that should run off the thumbnails of the previoulsy posted TestMenu sequences. These latest two are both single slide, loop until Esc. All they are there for is to allow you to launch a sequence from the menu. They are not intended to be fully functional sequences in their own right. They should enable you to see whether or not there is any "flashback" using my menu and these two dummy sequences. I do not see any flashback with either your menu or this test menu. You see it with your menu. Do you also see it with my menu? PGA

Dave, What are you suggesting: that we ban first time posters? (said with tongue firmly in cheek!) Let us consider the available facts, meagre though they are. The poster is using v6.5. That was released in August 2010. As the user hasn't upgraded his PTE to keep it current, it is likely he hasn't upgraded his PC either. Yachtsman1's suggestion of providing some details of the PC's specification is certainly going to help assess the capacity of the system. If my presumption that he hasn't upgraded his system is correct, he could well be running an XP system. PTE v7.5 isn't just an evolution from the previous versions. As Igor has himself stated here on the forum, Wnsoft are going through a phased programme of rewriting every piece of PTE code using tools and libraries that will allow them to port to other platforms in the future. That tells us that large parts of PTE v7.5 are actually a totally new product which just happens to have very similar functions in-built when compared with earlier versions. The original poster, unknowingly, is comparing apples and oranges. How do we move forward on this? The PC spec would allow the forum experts to assess the machines capabilities. A sample sequence would allow other forum users to check it out on a wide range of hardware/software combinations. The ball is back in the original poster's court to provide us with additional information. PGA

Sorry, bad advice. The dummy sequences would need to be built in v7.5.4. Here they are: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/15623351/TestMenuExtras.zip PGA P.S. Yesterday this latest version of Dropbox created "http://..." links. Now it's gone back to "https://..."; but this one works. Strange!

I've just updated my Dropbox software from 0.7.110 to 1.6.16 and produced new links and used these to replace the ones in posts #27 and #38. Both the new links work OK for me now. Please have another go at either or both of them. PGA P.S. The problem was that the old links were generated as https://... whereas the new ones are just http://... In mitigation of Dropbox, my software version of it was over two years old!

Here's a different version to try: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15623351/TestMenu3.zip This one was published as a "Safe Executable File for Internet" PGA

Yes, I put it in my Public folder and then copied the Public Link. I am also getting this error when I try to navigate using that link. When I ask Dropbox now to copy the Public Link, it creates exactly the same string. Looks like a problem at the Dropbox end. I don't believe I have reached my storage limit but if this is how they handle storage exceeded I don't think much of their service in that respect. I'll clean out some of the dead wood and upload the file a second time under a new name. PGA P.S. Just had another thought. I wonder if their anti-virus is giving a false positive and blocking it.

Eric, Try this out on your laptop: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15623351/TestMenu2.zip. To test it fully you will need to provide two additional sequences in the same folder in which you put TestMenu2.exe. They need to be named Rubik.exe and Tocketss.exe (yes, that is one t followed by two esses: a typo on my part when I assembled the project!) regards, Peter

Hi Eric, Now that I see the features that you have used I'll try and set up something similar. Be back later. PGA

Eric, A further thought... Why not post a link to a "backup in zip" of the menu exe that is causing you this grief? Then others can try to recreate your problem on their systems. We will also be able to inspect the inner working of the menu and might, who knows, find something wrong in the way you have set things up. As your own tag line states "A picture is worth a thousand words". PGA

At last, the key piece of information in the context in which we need it. (Eric, I'm not implying you never provided it before; simply that you never mentioned in connection with this Menu thread until your recent post) This problem, with laptops having both on-board graphics and a higher-spec nVidia dedicated graphics card, is now well documented in the AV fraternity in the UK. Wilmslow Guild AV Group bought a new laptop last year. They specified it should have nVidia graphics. Once they took delivery of it they discovered that it couldn't handle all the features of a PTE-created executable file. This was eventually isolated to this need to "Authorise" each and every executable file that was to use the graphics card. Their experiences were published in the latest edition of AV News (Issue 191 February 2013). The need to "authorise" the executable file to allow it to play using the nVidia is an acceptable solution for "traditional" software such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. wwhich execute the same program no matter what you are doing within that program. The problem comes when software like PTE is used to create a whole variety of different executable files. The solution for your laptop has already been explained to you: have the machine re-configured to use the nVidia all the time. The solution for Wilmslow Guild...? Return the laptop to the supplier on the grounds that it was not "fit for purpose" and get a full refund. They then got a mini-tower system built by someone who understood exactly what they required and, more importantly, understood how to build it so that it worked as required. PGA

A very quick test using v7.5.4. Single slide menu sequence. Set to repeat show at end of slide and show cursor always. Background is a video clip. Two thumbnail images (one to launch Rubik's Cube sequence, one to launch Tocketts Mill sequence). Rubik's thumbnail rotates 360 about X axis, Tocketts thumbnail rotates 360 about Y axis (a weird effect during rotation of both but that's another matter). Using "Run Slideshow with Return" on both thumbnails. Publish the menu and both target shows using v7.5.4. Launch the menu sequence, then launch Rubik from the thumbnail and then Esc out of Rubik, followed by launch Tocketts off its thumbnail and Esc out of Tocketts. No problems at all with any desktop flashbacks. Totally professional appearance to the audience. Haven't time to do more: it's NE AV Group meeting night and must dash. PGA

Hi Eric, No I have not used 3D transitions or video clips in my menus. To be honest, I wouldn't want to. I want the audience to remember me for the main sequences and not for a "gee whizz" menu sequence. In any case, because I use "Run Slideshow..." I would not expect any problems whether I had a "gee whizz" menu or a simple vanilla one. Are you implying that you do use "Run Slideshow..." and still have problems if you have a "gee whizz" menu? If that is the case, I'll do some tests over the weekend and report back. regards, PGA

That's the way I work, too. As I understand it, because PTE takes exclusive control of the graphics hardware in order to play our sequences so smoothly and flawlessly, it has to wrest this control away from Windows. Using "Run Slideshow..." to transfer control from the MENU.EXE to the TARGET.EXE ensures that PTE never relinquishes that control over the graphics hardware between sequences. Using "Run Application..." instead gives Windows a chance to grab control back in between the Menu.EXE and the TARGET.EXE and then PTE has to wrest control back from Windows again. My understanding is based on information which Igor posted on the forum back in the days when Windows Vista had just been launched (possibly around the time of PTE v5.0 or v5.5). We have had to live with this ever since the days of Windows Vista. Way back then Igor introduced the option of "Run Slideshow..." as the solution to the problem. It is a solution that works if you are showing sequences you have built yourself. PGA

Gary, Once upon a time, a long time ago, there were two distinct sections of this forum: one headed Software and one headed Equipment. At some point in time, these were combined and all topics came under the one merged heading that we have today. I did not carry out that process of merging the two sections into one. Therefore I cannot be held responsible for what is now found in the single section. Whether, as a moderator, I could do anything about it or not is academic because I have resigned my commission. I am no longer a moderator. I no longer use the userid fh1805. As of today, I am applying for membership of the "silent majority". Peter

Ken, I suspect the point you raise may become academic after the release of v7.5 (beta programme starts in about 30-35 days according to Igor). He has already hinted that there will be significant changes to the audio interface/timeline. Peter

In the current version (v7.0.6) there is no longer any option to add music via Customize Slide. The option now is to "Add Sound or Voice" using the icon/button on the upper toolbar. Peter