Problems playing some slideshows on laptop with Snow Leopard

[mandarinfish]

I recently upgraded my Macbook Pro to one of the new models that came out in April:

2.66 GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, Snow Leopard 10.6.4, Intel High Definition Audio, Intel HD Graphics + NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512 MB)

I also have a Mac Pro running Leopard.

I have about 10 slideshows in OSX app form that I've created from PicturesToExe 6.0. They all run fine on the Leopard machine. On my Snow Leopard machine, I'm having issues with 4 of the 6 shows.

Two of them exit immediately. Two others play, but with no audio. The six other shows play fine.

I've tried rebuilding the four problem shows with the latest 6.5 beta, and there is no difference. The problematic shows are similar to the ones that work, in that they all use MP3 audio files, similar screen size, etc.

Any clue as to what could be going on here or what I can try? Where do I log an official bug? I'm willing to do some experiments to capture logging, etc, to get more info.

thanks,

Linda

[Lin Evans]

Hi Linda,

Perhaps one of our users who has a Mac can add more (I don't presently have one), but my approach to this would be to analyze the shows which "don't work" and find out precisely where the difference may lie. Do they have something in common which the shows which "do" work do not have?

The first and perhaps easiest task to test would be to remove all music from the ones which don't work and try them without. This will immediately divide the problem between video and audio. If they "still" don't work, then we know it has to do with the video rather than the audio, etc. If they do work, then perhaps add the music back one selection at a time and see if there is one of the audio selection which may be causing the problem.

It's sometimes difficult to track down these types of issues, but since these shows work on your previous system we know that the problem lies in the newer OS or in the interpretation or implementation of something associated with the new system.

Best regards,

Lin

[mandarinfish]

Great suggestion, Lin. It does appear to be related to the audio files in the problem slideshows.

I eliminated the audio from one of the shows that was exiting immediately, and it played (without audio, of course). I then added a known working audio track from one of my other shows, and it played with audio. I then took the problem audio track and put it in another show that had been playing fine, and it exited immediately.

I haven't yet found the issue with the four audio files that seem to be problems. They have the same parameters (128kbps, 44.1khz, 2 channel, cbr) as the working ones. These audio files do play on my Snow Leopard system if I use another player (quicktime, VLC). I'll dig further, though. At least now I have a clue!

thanks,

Linda

[Lin Evans]

Hi Linda,

That's a good start. You may want to zip up one of the audio files causing the problem with the combination of PTE and Snow Leopard and send it to Igor. There is something about these particular audio mp3's which PTE doesn't handle in the same way as VLC or QuickTime which is causing Snow Leopard or one of the drivers to reject the combination. Igor can, perhaps, wring out the issue and it will help with the MacIntosh development.

Best regards,

Lin

Great suggestion, Lin. It does appear to be related to the audio files in the problem slideshows.

I eliminated the audio from one of the shows that was exiting immediately, and it played (without audio, of course). I then added a known working audio track from one of my other shows, and it played with audio. I then took the problem audio track and put it in another show that had been playing fine, and it exited immediately.

I haven't yet found the issue with the four audio files that seem to be problems. They have the same parameters (128kbps, 44.1khz, 2 channel, cbr) as the working ones. These audio files do play on my Snow Leopard system if I use another player (quicktime, VLC). I'll dig further, though. At least now I have a clue!

thanks,

Linda

[fh1805]

Linda,

Elsewhere on the forum there was a report recently of problems that were caused by combining mono and stereo audio tracks. Is this a possiblity with your problem?

regards,

Peter

[Ken Cox]

MAYBE TRY

http://www.picturest...t=0

JUST FOR INFO

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11348&pid=73189&st=0entry73189

KEN

[mandarinfish]

Linda,

Elsewhere on the forum there was a report recently of problems that were caused by combining mono and stereo audio tracks. Is this a possiblity with your problem?

regards,

Peter

Hi Peter,

I saw that report yesterday, but it doesn't appear to be related to the problem I'm having, since this is happening with a single stereo clip.

The problem all appears to be with clips that I had converted from AAC in MP4 (m4a) to MP3 using the Xilisoft audio converter, an older 2.1 version, which uses the LAME codec. If I reconvert from AAC using their latest version (which I don't own but can use a trial copy), or if I reconvert using another application (such as MusicMan for Mac OSX, which also uses LAME), I don't see this problem.

I still think there may be an issue with PTE in the setup parameters it is using for playback of these clips on Snow Leopard, or it could be an issue with the audio driver itself. I think it would be a good thing for Igor to take a look in case it's something that needs to be fixed in PTE, but I can also reconvert all my clips as a workaround for now.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Linda

[crossfade]

The problem all appears to be with clips that I had converted from AAC in MP4 (m4a) to MP3 using the Xilisoft audio converter, an older 2.1 version, which uses the LAME codec. If I reconvert from AAC using their latest version (which I don't own but can use a trial copy), or if I reconvert using another application (such as MusicMan for Mac OSX, which also uses LAME), I don't see this problem.

why not use iTunes to convert? Don't those other converters cost money? Try that and see if the problem goes away. Maybe its not PTE although it should not crash if the soundfile is bad.

[mandarinfish]

why not use iTunes to convert? Don't those other converters cost money? Try that and see if the problem goes away. Maybe its not PTE although it should not crash if the soundfile is bad.

I don't use iTunes to convert, because there is no control over audio parameters with iTunes and I have found it to truncate some of my files in the past when converting as well. I already own other converters and editors (soundbooth, audition), so I have a workaround, though it really shouldn't have been necessary for me to reconvert all these old clips and regenerate the slideshows. I mentioned the data about the converters and LAME since it might provide a clue as to the root of the problem if Igor chooses to investigate it.

Linda

[crossfade]

I don't use iTunes to convert, because there is no control over audio parameters with iTunes

yes there is. Go to import options in preferences. Pick mp3 and the bitrate.

and I have found it to truncate some of my files in the past when converting as well. I already own other converters and editors (soundbooth, audition), so I have a workaround, though it really shouldn't have been necessary for me to reconvert all these old clips and regenerate the slideshows.

You shouldn't have to convert but PTE doesn't know aac yet. Igor said next version. It might be a bad mp3 file from the converters or it mght be a PTE bug. Ive had PTE play garbled audio but rebuilding fixes it.

[mandarinfish]

yes there is. Go to import options in preferences. Pick mp3 and the bitrate.

Looks like they've added more control with the custom option since I tried this long ago. When I first started converting AAC to MP3 for use in PTE some eight years ago, iTunes didn't have conversion capability, so I have always used other converters. But a few years ago when I switched to Macs I did try using iTunes briefly for conversion and found issues and limitations. These may all have been fixed by now, but I don't have any reason or desire to use it at this point. I have other, better software for that task that gives me more capability with less hassle.

You shouldn't have to convert but PTE doesn't know aac yet. Igor said next version. It might be a bad mp3 file from the converters or it mght be a PTE bug. Ive had PTE play garbled audio but rebuilding fixes it.

You totally missed my point. I wasn't saying I shouldn't have to convert from AAC to MP3. I said "reconvert", not "convert". And yes, the problem could be anywhere from the converter to any point in the audio playback stack. The fact that I don't have any problem playing these audio files with other players on the same system would make me want to find the root cause for the bug if it were my software. But I am leaving that up to Igor.

Anyway, it's done; all my slideshows have been rebuilt now, so I hope I won't be spending further time on this issue.

Linda

[appeasegen]

Are you talking about the Application Warbirds you cant find at all ?

Is it not in your applications Folder ?

Also, not sure on that laptop you have..is it intel based ?

And..did you have Warbirds installed ok previous to upgrading to Snow Leopard on this machine ?

[Henri.R]

Hi Linda,

On my (2008) Macbook Pro I can change using the graphical card or not (better for battery-life).

For PtE the card must be switched on! You can do that via the Preferences panel..

Regards,

Henri.

[mandarinfish]

<note>Hmmm, the Warbirds post on this thread from appeasegen looks like a lame attempt at SPAM.</note>

But for Henri or anyone else reading this thread - the problem I was having was an audio problem, not a video or graphics problem, and is solved (for me, but not for PTE). PTE apparently could not handle some of my MP3 files when playing on Snow Leopard. I reconverted all the files to MP3 again, rebuilt my slideshows, and was able to work around the problem.

Linda

[Henri.R]

Hi Linda, that's a lot of work!

Don't think Igor like that, as far as we know him, so let's hope he applied the right solution...

Regards,

Henri.

[JEB]

Hi,

I just thought I should report a recent experience.

I recently (6 months ago) bought a Macbook Pro which I am finding to be the best computer I have ever owned. Hopefully some day there will be a Mac version of PTE available and I can ditch my PC.

The other day I downloaded a Mac version PTE show from Barry Beckham and it would not run, just a white (opening) screen which I later discovered could be manually made to move forwards and back with the arrows - no audio. I downloaded the PC version to my PC and it worked perfectly.

I reported the matter to Barry who suggested I raise the matter here.

It is of some concern that there may be a problem, though up to now the few shows that I have converted to Mac have worked perfectly on the Mac.

John

[gianmajo]

Hi,

I have the same problem to see an executablefor MAC snow Leopard created by 7.0 version or 6.5.

I tryed, as someone suggested, to create without audio, with mp3 or vaw without success.

The execuble is 1.17 Gb file.

The same project made for Pc runs perfecly.

I don't know what to do

If someone have asuggestion is wellcome.

Giancarlo

[Guest Yachtsman1]

That is a big exe file Presumeably you are running on two different computers , are they equal in size, Ram etc.

Yachtsman1.

[gianmajo]

That is a big exe file Presumeably you are running on two different computers , are they equal in size, Ram etc.

Yachtsman1.

Yes, I need to have the slideshow readable on PC and MAC

[gianmajo]

it is incredible that a lot of people have so many problems with PTE slideshow for mac and there is not proper reply from support.

I have submitted the my problems, that are the same of many others) and I received as reply that "Igor already replayed to me even in to the forum. That is not true. Incredible!!!!!!

Giancarlo

[nobeefstu]

Giancarlo,

it is incredible that a lot of people have so many problems with PTE slideshow for mac and there is not proper reply from support.

I have submitted the my problems, that are the same of many others) and I received as reply that "Igor already replayed to me even in to the forum. That is not true. Incredible!!!!!!

Giancarlo

I really can not comment on the performace issues some MAC user have ... as I dont have a MAC. Most topics relating to MAC playback issues seem to be audio related.

Is your issue only related to this particular 1.17 Gb file ... or can you play other files you have made on the MAC ?

Since you say you tested without audio and still no MAC playback, have you tried chopping slides out of your 1.17 Gb slideshow down to some considerably smaller size just to test. Make a 30 Mb size without audio to test. Then keep increasing the output size in reasonable MB sizes ... and keep testing along the way.

By the way, what size are your image files ?

PTE had the same growing pains years ago with the EXE version when users tried to use huge image files on not having powerfull enough equipment to play it back.

-----------------

As for using Beta 7 to build MAC shows ... Igor states :

"Important Note on Beta Release:

Please remember that it's a beta version, not final product. It may have problems, some functions may don't work. Also this beta version doesn't have all features which will be added later before final release.

This beta will not overwrite your existing version of PicturesToExe. It will install as a beta into separate folder so you can remove it at any time.

Known Issues:

The following features temporarily are not available for Mac output in beta version: Video Clips, Unsharp Mask, New Navigation Bar."