Ronniebootwest

Carol, I was going to download the 'Multi AVCHD' program but, due to your malware comments, I will wait until you and Davy have had a chance to track down the culprit. I used Nero to burn my DVD's and wonder if this will be enough for me without the need for other software - what do you think? Ron

Carol (note there is no longer an 'e' at the end) I downloaded your tutorial and was able to use most of ir but, since I do not have Pinnacle Studio, was unable to use that. Instead I used Nero and I have managed to burn an AVCHD of two of my PTE slide shows. I used all the settings that you suggested in you tutorial and the quality of both picture and sound was perfect. I am really pleased with myself now! I note that you are now going to reduce your bitrate down to 12000 (instead of 24000) - I will try that as well although I think that the quality will drop a bit to much, we will see. You have been a very useful teacher and your pdf was very detailed. We all thank you for your time. When I have finished all of my testing, I will write one of my own pdf's that will teach how to create the AVCHD disc using Nero. Ron.

Hi Davy, As I understand it, the HD (mp4) file produced in PTE, should be converted to AVCHD before burning to disc - which converter do you use please? Ron

Hello Carole, Thanks for all the help that you have given to me (via PM's) but, as you said in your last reply, there will be other forum members who will be interested in the topic that we are discussing. Clearly DavyC is one of those members who has already dippied his toes into this whole scenario (Davy, I hope that you will not mind me adding my questions to your thread). Carole uses Pinnacle Studio to create her slide shows but I want to try converting my PTE shows to AVCHD because I recenty saw some excellent samples of the quality created. (Samples very kindly provided by Carole). Instead of me floundering around in the deep end, I wonder of you would provide a short 'step by step' tuorial on the steps that you take when converting a slide show to AVCHD. Thanks, Ron West

Thanks Ray, Please see my PM that I sent to you today. Ron

A very kind offer Carole, I would like to see the samples you mention. I will PM you with my address details. Thankyou for your consideration. Ron

Hello Gary, I agree with you that the WDHD, from Western Digital, is a good way to go for quick and easy display of slide shows on a television. BUT, to be able to produce a DVD with similar quality would be a step forward in convenience especially if you need to produce DVD's for sale. You posed the question of whether any other forum member had been able to compare the quality of WDHD with that of a blu-ray disc - I would be interested to know the answer to that question as well. Ron

Potwnc, As always, your comments are very useful and I thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. I note that you are not very enthusiastic about the quality of your AVCHD recordings and this surprises me a little because I thought that the DVD that you very kindly sent to me was rather good. I will digest all of your comments and do some more experimentation with AVCHD to see if the technology has moved any further forward. Maybe I should wait a little tonger before moving into the blu-ray scenario. Ron

Carole, Many thanks for your comments, they are very useful to me. I have emailed the HD disk supplier that you mention, to see if they will let me purchase a smaller quantity, after all, I just want to experiment at this stage. This whole subject of using blu-ray discs seems to be a little daunting. Please see the post from Potwnc below. Are you actually burning to blu-ray? or are you using the AVCHD method? Ron

I have had so many different opinions on this topic so I thought I would ask the experts on this forum to clarify the position. I want to convert my PTE slide shows to HD and play them on my HD television via my Sony Blu-Ray player. I want to buy some blank blu-ray discs (because of the 25gb capacity) and I will then burn my HD slide shows onto these discs. Do I need to have a Blu-Ray burner and, if so, which one is recommended please? I must confess that I am a little confused by this topic, so any advice and assistance would be very much appreciated. Ron

Hi Lin, I downloaded the software from the link that you posted. It produced brilliant results when I converted my mp4 files made with the PTE HD option. I converted 5 separate slide shows and burned them to a standard DVD with the software that you linked to (I don't have a blu-ray burner yet) and they all played perfectly one after the other. A question for you - is it posible to create a DVD menu structure so that each of these shows can be selected from the menu? Thanks for the link! I reckon I will now invest in a blu-ray burner and see if that will increase the, already excellent' quality. Ron

Chris, Can you provide a link to 'Producer' please. I guess that it is the name of a software program but I have not heard it mentioned before. Ron

Hello JD, As Lin has already said, PTE will NOT burn blue ray discs. Even if you use other burning software, I think that you will need to buy dedicated blue ray discs (which are expensive). Ron

Well done for having a go! but I agree with Lin and suggest that you learn the basics before attempting the more complex stuff, it will pay dividends in the long run and you will avoid the many pitfalls that are lurking in the mist. Making a first slide show can be daunting but if the basics are understood, then it all becomes so much easier. Here is part 1 of a tutorial that is available on my web site: Making Your First Slide Show - Basic Level Part 1.pdf Hope that it helps, Ron

Peter's advice is very sound and I agree with all of his suggestions. However, I think that a slide show will always be more appealing when formats are not mixed. Ron

Hi there, Sorry, PTE cannot convert slide shows to flash. There are many programs that will do this conversion for you and I have tried a few of them Of the ones that I have tried, I find 'Moyea' the best. It is not free but isn't very expensive. Have a look on my web site to see the quality of the conversions in HD, and if you like what you see, email me and I will help you to create your own flash shows. Ron West

Tom, Good technical info but it leaves me rather confused. I there any real reason to use the '2 Pass' option? I have always used the default setting and have achieved very acceptable results but am will to try anything that might improve on the quality that I get. Ron

Hello Peter, If you haven't already got this utility, I think that this is the one that you want. Ron West. FlashMe4.zip

I know that Tom Court did a very good tutorial on 'How to do this' Send him a Private Message and see if it is still available. Ron

I agree with Lin's comments about 'Video Builder' and think that the Deluxe version is a worthwhile investment. I would also suggest that you learn the basics of PTE before embarking on the more powerful options that are available in this excellent software. Please feel free to use this forum for any help that you may need - you will find that you will always get a speedy reply. Welcome! Ron West

Hello Jean, Although it is quite safe to remove older versions I would suggest that, before doing so, you save the final versions of 4.48/9 and version 5 on to a CD disc. You may want to go back to them later. Ron

Hello Brian, Your method of updating (installing) drivers will be very useful for those members who need a helping hand. As usual, your advice is detailed and sound, I thank you for taking the time to publish your thoughts - I am sure that others will also appreciate it. p.s. If you run a Dell computer, then updating is a snap, because the Dell web site provides a list of all the current drivers for thier computer models. Ron

Thanks for the responses so far, I appreciate them. Geoff, I think that the WD will win the day! After reading your comments it seems to be the way to go. Would you please let me know what settings you use in 'Video Builder' or do you just use the defaults? Gary, I agree with you that it seems to be a good idea to have everything in one unit but, after reading the comments made by Geoff, there is also merit in having separate units. I was not aware that the WD unit can play directly from a USB Pen Drive. That being the case, an 8gb would be large enough for me I think. Ron

There has been a lot of talk about the Western Digital media player recently and it certainly looks like a good piece of kit but, it does not have a hard drive built in. I have been searching for a player that will play PTE shows directly on my LCD HD TV and have found one made by Lacie (a very well respected manufacturer: HERE Does anyone have any experience of using this player this player? if so I would like to hear what you think about it. The spec says that it will play mpeg4 created with H264HD so it seem to be compatible. Ron West