Ronniebootwest Posted June 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Brian,You have opened a can of worms I fear!I have followed your comments about 'Zip' files and now have some concerns:1. How does the backup in zip feature, in PTE, rate in your opinion?2. Is 'Winzip' better or worse that 'WinRar' ?Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Athroll Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Thanks for the links Ken.I can see the advantages in using templates when images and/or ausio for the show are selected from various locations on the PC but no advantage with my working method.I also note that the templates can be located anywhere but that the location reverts to default when PTE is updated. Perhaps we should have a facility to create "preferences/options or some such taskbar item" that would have the ability to retain these settings on update? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Eric,I also note that the templates can be located anywhere but that the location reverts to default when PTE is updated. Perhaps we should have a facility to create "preferences/options or some such taskbar item" that would have the ability to retain these settings on update?When installing a update you can retain program preferences made in a earlier version ... you can Import previous version settings. The message window for this action appears at end of the installation of the update installer. The previous version import settings include all preferences and are not individually selective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfa Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 1. How does the backup in zip feature, in PTE, rate in your opinion?I too would like to know what level of compression "backup in zip" uses. If I look at a zip file created with this function in PTE some level of compression has been used.Perhaps Igor can give us an answer on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xahu34 Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 I too would like to know what level of compression "backup in zip" uses. If I look at a zip file created with this function in PTE some level of compression has been used.PTE uses "Deflate", the standard compression algorithm for zip files (as used by WinZip or 7zip) with compression degree "Normal".Regards,Xaver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Overstreet Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 I use Templates mainly to store the Project Options that I would use for specific purposes for a show, along with storing two black files (one at the beginning and one at the end of the show) which I use in all my shows. I never (except for test purposes today) use the Templates feature to back up a specific show.I never store JPGs or music files in a Template; for backing up a project (or moving it to another computer for example my club's computer to demonstrate the PTE show and how I set it up, for an audience) I use Create Backup as ZIP.For archiving a project I burn a folder with all the files to a DVD (a gold DVD if I really think future generations are going to care about it, which I do with my "family snaps" shows but little else). I'm a little nervous about ZIP or any compression format as an archive, in the same way I'm nervous about using JPG instead of TIF or RAW (with edit files) to archive a photo, due to an article I saw some years ago in a magazine about how a compressed format like JPG can get seriously corrupted with a storage-media sector error in ways that won't happen to a TIF or uncopressed file unless it's the file header that got clobbered on the medium). But if you're archiving on a good-quality CD or DVD, instead of on a hard drive (taking into account Conflow's very good point about archival issues with mechanical drives as distinct from optical ones), the odds of sector corruption happening in your lifetime are pretty small from what I understand.So I use Templates as a way to quick-start a new project, never as a backup. With a ZIP, everything is in one handy (but large) file; with Templates you have a folder with a bunch of files. ZIP is certainly the way to go if you want to post something on mediafire or whatever.In terms of compression, in my experience the issue is trivial. I just checked my last show, which I archived to ZIP in PTE but also created a test template. The two versions contain exactly the same PTE file, JPGs and MP3 file. The ZIP file created by PTE weighs in at 37,521 KB according to Windows Explorer. Windows Explorer also tells me the files in the Template folder occupy 37.7MB (or 39,610,542 bytes in terms of Size in parentheses in the Properties listing).So PTE's Zip compression saves me about 200 kb of space, relative to Templates, on a base of 37 MB+ which is a percentage difference of about one-half of one percent.I'm not going to lose any sleep over whatever compression Igor's ZIP algorithm is doing.It's a question IMO of whether you want to work with one ZIP folder that has to be unzipped (and I've never seen any problems doing that, in terms of playback quality or anything else, though maybe if you zipped and unzipped the same files repeatedly you'd eventually see problems, same as re-saving the same JPG multiple times at any compression ratio if you do it enough). Or do you want to work with one folder with a bunch of folders inside it, that doesn't need to be unzipped, at the cost of very little extra storage.Six of one, half a dozen of the other, in my view. Pick one method to be consistent with your personal work preferences and forget about it, is my advice. There are too many bigger things to worry about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 Ronnie, Ed, and all.Firstly, the inclusion of "Backup to Zip" is a relatively recent addition to the Pte 5.0 series of Beta Program's.Since 1996 PC users have used a range of Zip-Products, some good, some bad, and some downright useless and reading some of your previous Posts (above) it would appear that most Pte users thought a Zip was a Zip "per se" and never gave it second thought and had never considered the 'quality impact' on good Photographs.As they say 'familiarity breeds contempt' and dont we all fall into that trap ?I have addressed that problem with proof from a leading Zip Manufacturer that over-compression can cause manyproblems and from my working experience in Conflow that certainly is the the case with 'non-descript' Zip Programs.(See link in my #25 Post above).'WinZip' and 'WinRar' are the Industry leaders in compression technology ~ there are differences between both.WinZip is to the compression Industry as Photoshop is to the Photographic Industry, need I say more !'WinRar' is a contender to 'WinZip' and in some situations it offers faster zipping but less compression for a given'Image quality-index' compared to WinZip. But then WinZip offers many extra utilities not included in WinRar.In the past I had problems with WinRar but in 2009 this program has sorted its problems excepting there appearsto be some recent issues with Vista-Pro ~ probably due to Vista itself. (I never had any problems with WinZip). Pte Backup to Zip:- I simply don't know what method technology Igor is using within this Backup-Utility so unlike others I'm not qualified to comment -except to say- knowing Igor he has alredy considered all the quality issuesand has produced a (no frills) 'simple-utility' suitable for its intended purpose ~ but thats a WnSoft issue not mine.regards,Brian (Conflow). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 PicturesToExe v5.00 beta #2 (May 6, 2006) ----------------------------------------- + New Visual editor where you can add Pan/Zoom/Rotate effect. See "Objects and Animation" button (Ctrl+ on the main window. + Added Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Y) features. See Main menu | Project | Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Y). + Improved Navigation bar. > New Navigation bar style. > Added support of skins. You can add any images of buttons and background, Navigation bar can be semi-transparent and has a shadow. See folder "NavBar" in PicturesToExe's folder. Just add new folder to create new style of Navigation bar. + Added tree of folders to main window. See Main Menu | View | Show tree (Ctrl+G) + Added support of PNG images files (including PNG with partial semi-transparency). + You can quickly remove slide(s) from Slide list simply dragging them back to File list. + You can quickly press Enter to show "Customize slide" window for selected slide(s). + Main image of a slide can be transparent GIF or transparent PNG now. + Added new function to Main menu | File. "Create backup in ZIP" which compress all files of your project into one ZIP archive. It can be useful for moving project to another PC.also seehttp://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=65724ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 Ken,Thanks for that correction concerning 'date' of 1st addition of 'Backup to Zip' in the Main Pte 5.00 Beta Program.My above post has been corrected.Brian (Conflow). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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