Maximum size of slideshow

[smokie1234]

Is there a maximum file size? I want to create a slide show with about 2,000 slides. It will run for about 2 hours at our Christmas party next year. Can this program handle that.

On the same topic how does it work, when you run the program, does it just run in memory and pick the slides from the program, I assume it cannot load all slides into memory.

Thanks for any help.

Ron Fawn

[fh1805]

Ron,

Firstly, you must have "stuttered" on the keyboard when posting, because there were two identical copies of your topic. I've deleted one of them.

Secondly, PTE is limited only by the file size limits of the PC technology that you use. I'm not sure exactly what these are, even for my system. I seem to recall seeing the figure of 2GB (giga-bytes) mentioned in the past - but that might be platform-specific.

Thirdly, to expect any audience, even family, to sit through a two-hour presentation, is, in my opinion, expecting too much. Conventional wisdom is to break things down into smaller chunks - perhaps 15-20 minutes max for each. (My average sequence duration is about 5 minutes. The largest single sequence I ever built was just under one hour and it had a file size of 120MB - that was in the days of 1024x768 image size. If you will be building yours to HD standard (1920x1080) then expect it to be proportionally larger.)

Finally, I'm sorry, but I do not know how PTE works "under the covers".

regards,

Peter

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Ron

Welcome to the forum.

Assuming you are new to PTE, a 2000 slide show is pretty ambitious. A read through the user guide would be the first step, followed by the FAQ section on here. Assuming you run the show with a slide time of 5 seconds on screen, you are going to get a show time of over 2.5 hours, under 5 seconds t

your audience won't get much chance to see each picture, particularly if you include a transition between slides.

I have produced a 1 hour show, but included a break at 1/2 hour.

Finally, to get around any hardware problems with such a large show, you could split it into a series of chapters, with a menu screen to bring on each chapter, this would get over putting all the eggs in one basket and give your audience a breather.

Yachtsman1.

[davegee]

Until Smokie has a chance to explain properly, it COULD be that his show is meant to run "in the background" while the party/meal is going on?

Just like BG Music but with "snaps"?

[stardealer]

I have created several long slideshows. Memory is no factor regarding length of show or number of pictures.

Last one was about a group travel to china for the other group members (45 minutes containing about 500 pictures).

I have never experienced problems in design phase or when creating EXE and MP4.

In the example EXE was 250MB with pictures resized to 50% (2336x1552 pixel with JPG-Quality setting 70 or 80% resulting in single image size of 0,4-0,6 MB). Some (heavier) animations or big picture sizes don't play well on some hardware out there, that is something to keep an eye on. The important point is Picture size in pixel, not JPG-compression.

Creating an MP4 should solve that problem. Depending on the resolution I got between 345 MB (1280x720 low quality settings) and 1,5 GB (1920x1080 high quality settings) so 2 hours in 1920x1080 on high quality may exceed the 4GB limit with FAT or also DVD-size.

Playback these MP4 may also be a concern (Stutter, Hang for several seconds, failing on animations). I use MP4 primarily for playback by BD-Player feeded by USB-Stick. The Stick was the same in every test and has sufficient read speed. Here is what I have experienced so far.

Netbook of a friend: problems with all but the 1280x720 low quality MP4

My own Notebook: problems only with 1920x1080 high quality MP4

BD-Player of a friend: problems with all 1920x1080 MP4s but ok with all 1280x720 MP4s

My own BD-Player: luckily no problem with any MP4

For big projects like yours the advices are:

- Use pictures only in the size you want to display them, not larger than necessary. If you want to zoom into some of them, only use these pictures in bigger sizes.

- Be informed about performance of the hardware you will use to playback the show, prepare a lower resolution/quality MP4 to have something to present, when hardware is insufficient.

- Keep an eye on good backup strategy for your project file

Good luck and have fun

[Jean-Cyprien]

The PTE User's Guide says "Up to 20,000 slides"

I've tried (for the fun of course) somethings like that, with very "light" pictures.

You know, if the duration of each one is just 40 ms, it's exactely like a video, of only 13 min 20s !!

No problem, and easy for studying the movements

Jean-Cyprien

If you run the pte software, it takes the pictures of the two slides which are to be shown. So, just 3 views in memory. But the complete .exe is downloaded in memory (I think, not sure).

[smokie1234]

Thanks for the help and for removing the double entry. I tried to send it once from my Ipad and did not think it went through.

By the way the function in Pictures to Exe for the Ipad was a great addition for me.

I should explained better I guess. I am in a Probus group and we have a Christmas Party at a local hotel every year and this slideshow runs while the meal and socializing goes on. So it is just running on a big screen, at the front of the room and people watch as they want. We have done it with great results in the past. This is my first year to do the slideshow, but the gentleman that did it in the past has told me to expect 3,000 plus slides, delivered from several members of our technology club, that he then cuts down to around 2,000. They come from functions, trips (local and overseas), craft teaching, meetings, guest speakers, outings, etc.. We are a very active club and there is something going on weekly.

I agree I would not want to sit through a 2 hour slideshow either and in the past we have done that and find this new format much better. People always like to see themselves on the screen and I am bring a new addition in funny sayings over some of the slides. I have done this at another club I belong to and they keep asking me to do it again. At first I was afraid I might offend someone, but I get the opposite reaction. But I guess you have to know your group to get away with it.

I have started the show already with pictures I took at the Christmas Supper and luncheon we had and will add to this as the pictures come in.

So once again thanks for the help and I feel confident with continuing on with Pictures to Exe now.

Ron Fawn