Ronniebootwest

The sound options have been asked for by many users and will be a welcome addition to the program. I will certainly be testing these new features because I am well into sound recording already. I will be very pleased to work thru the beta version when it arrives. Well done team! Ron

Bob, If you want to retain the sharpness of your slide shows when burning to a standard DVD (not a Blu-Ray disc) you will need to go down the AVCHD route. This subject was discussed in some detail in a recent thread Here I have written a pdf tutorial on how it can be done (using Nero Vision software) and if you would like the latest copy please email me. Ron

Carol, I will need to get my head around all of that although I think that I understand what you mean. I still think that Nero 9 is the way to go because this will create the AVCHD file and also burn it to a DVD. Goddi did say that Nero have now decided to to exclude the AVCHD feature from version 9 so I contacted them for confirmation. This is thier reply:

Hi all, I thought that this thread had finally run out of steam but I have one more final question that is bugging me. I want to make some tests to compare visual quality of a PTE slide show when burned to a DVD disc. I have created a small (5 slide) show and created an mp4 (H-264) file in PTE. I then used 'EmicsoftAVCHD' software to convert this file to AVCHD. At this point I had to use Nero Vision to actually burn the file to a DVD-r disc and this was counterproductive because Nero does not now include Nero Vision. So, my question is this, having created the AVCHD file, what software can be used to actually burn the disc? This software does not have to be 'free' (although that would be an advantage) I would like to know about any software that will do the best job. Thanks for any suggestions, Ronnie

As Peter has already suggested, Lin Evans has produced some tutorials on this subject - go to his web site Here and there maybe something there that will help you. Ron West

I can't remember what my message was now so I am unable to re-send it to you. I was probably inviting you to visit my web site here: to see if there was anything there, that you might find useful. Ron

Hello, I did a written pdf tutorial on 'Panning' when version 5 of PTE was first released. Please email me at ronniewestdigital@ntlworld.com and I will send you a copy. Ron West

The sun has set on a much loved man and JPD will be missed by all of us. His magical demonstrations of AV were exceptional. My deepest condolences go to his wife and family. I will remember this man in my prayers. Ron West

I have a wide screen monitor (I left the 1024x768 size a while back) and I usually set my screen resolution to 1920x1080 if I know that I am going to burn to a CD/DVD for playing on my HD television. I then crop the images for my show to 1920x1050 and set the following options in PTE. This prevents the program from 'upscaling' and ensures that all images will fit the entire scrren (without any black borders. If I want to just view on my computer monitor, then I set it to 1920x1200 and size my images accordingly.

Peter, I like your suggestion and will be implementing it with any future show that I post. I will also include the same description (somehow) on any downloads offered on my web site. Regards, Ron

Hi Gary, That is a little naughty of Nero, I hope that they will refund the money you paid for the plugin. I don't have that problem though because I use version 9 and that does include Nero Vision 5 (together with the AVCHD option) Ron

I know that some folk have dificulty keeping track of the music that they use in thier slide shows. I have used a program called 'Media Monkey' http://www.mediamonkey.com/download/?ClickID=cf4llwlifwnnfkpalzeqwxipwwznfpnaikzi for some years now and find it extremely useful. It will catelogue all of your music and will rip from any CD to any folder that you select on your computer. There is a free version available but, if you want really good options, get the pro version for a very reasonable cost. I am in the process of writing a pdf tutorial on the basic use of this program and am happy to give any member a copy if they would like it - just email me! Ron West

Thank you Davy, I appreciate your comments. You are now added to my 'Fans' list. Ron

This will depend on other factors such as the actual position of the slide on the timeline, the slide that you want to synchonise may be miles away from the sound you are trying to synch to. It may be a better option to record the sound of the wave crashing (using Audacity or other sound editor) and then adding this sound bite to the actual slide. Ron

I have now completed the first draft of the pdf tutorial that I promiced some days ago. I Use Photoshop - Pictures To Exe - Nero Vision, to show you how to prepare and burn a PTE slide show to DVD in the HD and AVCHD format. As discussed in this thread. If anyone would like a copy of this pdf, please email me (be sure to include your own email address) and the pdf will be sent to you. Ron West

Good question! I don't know the answer though. I do not have a smaller screen to test what happens. If you have one, try it and let me know what you see. Ron

Yes it makes sense to me. I always size my images in Photoshop, using the 'Crop' method but I also set the resolution box to the same as my monitor resolution i.e. 90.1 then in Pictures to Exe, tick the Fixed size of slide box in Project Options. Try it and see if it works for you.

You need to resize the images in your show to 1920x1080 to match the your HDTV. Then compile your show. Ron

Do not use WAV files in PTE, much better to use mp3 (not mp3 pro files though) and combine them all into one single track to match the length of your slide show. I do think that you may be a little over the top with 578 slides, a normal lengtyh show is about 5 minutes in length otherwise you are at risk of boring your audience. Ron

Hello Andrew, Lin has provided a very good answer for you so there is no need for me to add anything further that would help much. I would say, however, that if you want to display a slide show in your own web space, you will need to convert to 'Flash' and that gets a little involved. It is not difficult but can be very time consuming. Have a look on my own web site for some inspiration: http://www.ronniewestdigital.co.uk/flash_index.html Ron

MY CONCLUSION After carrying out many tests (and burning the midnight oil on a few occasions) with the various software mentioned in this thread, I have reached a conclusion that I will stay with PTE and Nero Vision in order to produce my AVCHD dvd's. I found that both 'Multi AVCHD' and the 'Sothink' software were much to fussy and often did not work for me whereas 'Nero Vision' worked every time and produced excellent quality of both vido and audio. It also created acceptable menu's when adding a number of separate mp4's for authoring. I needed to configure things carefully, in both PTE and in Nero and I will be writing a pdf on just how I did things a little later. If anybody would like a copy of this pdf, please contact me by email. I have found this thread to be an excellent learning ground and I offer my thanks to Carol, Davy and Goddi for steering me in the right directction. Regards, Ron

Instead of creating an mp4 file in PTE, create an AVI file and then add this to the Sothink software and see what you think of the quality. It might be that the mp4 file created with PTE is causing the problem. Ron Update: I did as I suggested above and creted an AVI, then added it to Sothink and burned a a DVD. The resulting file was AVCHD and the video quality was excellent when played on my Blu-Ray player BUT there was no sound. Back to the drawing board! Ron

Carol, Am trying the Sothink software but am having the same problem as Gary at the moment. Gary, Please let me know if you solve the problem. Ron

Davy, Lin is a very helpful person and I feel quite sure that he will advise us in due course Ron

Seems to me that the 'multiAVCHD' program is causing some problems, I previously said that I use Nero to creat my discs. This works fine so what will 'multiAVCHD' do better? Also, after reading the excellent pdf provided by Carol, I am considering 'Pinnacle 14 Ultimate' for the near future. Ron