PTE Beta #1

[oldesalt]

I find that when making a DVD with the AVI files I do not get the comments (captions) at the bottom of the slide when playing the DVD on the TV. I do get them when making a CD for the PC. Need some help solving this problem.

I can see them at the bottom of the screen but most of the comments are off screen. If there is a one line comment its off screen, if there is a two line comment only a portion of the top line is on the screen.

[Truelight]

You're experiencing what TV folks refer to as the "safe zone." Because TV's will crop out some of the picture, what you see on a PC may not be what you see on a TV set when you output your show for viewing on that device. Some programs (Proshow Gold is one), allow you to see what will be inside the "safe zone" and what may be outside of it. Perhaps that might be a feature we should ask for in PTE if folks are going to be using .AVI output for shows -- display of the "Safe Zone" while editing.

[Michel]

Considering this problem, try use the windowed mode adjusted for the TV:

if your picture is 1024x768, please use the windowed mode 1100 x 840.

Ask for Truelight:

How to know this zone (safe zone) exactly , Is the same for each TV ?

[oldesalt]

Thanks for the tip Michel but the windowed mode did not help. I would hope that Igor would look into this as many users add comments (captions) to their slide shows and cannot burn DVD's with their shows due to this problem.

Shows without comments are no problem. PTE Beta #2 works just fine otherwise.

[Truelight]

Once you start making images for display on a TV set, you enter the realm of TV-specific issues. The "Safe Zone" is one of them --

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Safe Zones

Early TV picture tubes distorted the image near the edges, so it was decided that the picture would be overscanned with the edge of the picture hidden by a plastic bezel. However, when working with video on a computer you see the whole image, so you must always be aware that the edges of your image will not be visible on a TV. The non-visible portion of the image corresponds roughly to the area inset 5% from each edge (about 36 pixels from each side and 24 pixels from the top and bottom). The area inside is often called the "action-safe zone." Make sure that anything that has to be seen is inside this zone.

Additionally, there is another region that is inset 5% from the edges of the action-safe zone known as the "title-safe zone." Older picture tubes still produced some distortion outside this zone, making text harder to read, so titles were always including inside this zone. Most TVs nowadays don't have a problem with text outside of this zone, but it's still common practice to use it. You may want to play it safe, but if it's not possible I wouldn't worry about it, since the likelihood of someone viewing the video on an old TV that has this problem is low.

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You also need to be concerned with NTSC-colors, etc. Read up on such things here:

Making Titles and Graphics NTSC compliant

Just when you thought there was nothing else to learn...

[Plumeyer]

Hi All!

I just found out about these forums and it looks like there is a wealth of information here for me to absorb. I do have some questions about the new beta release.

I read that I need another program to make the PTE program work in a DVD player.

Does this mean I need something other than the software to burn the file to a DVD?

If so, what software do you recommend?

I am a professional photographer and don't really know much about DVD authoring (other than the fact that I use DVDs for storage of my high res image client files).

Any suggestions and help will be appreciated!

Thanks for your time and I look forward to seeing all the suggestions!

Sincerely,

Michael J. Plumeyer

New Braunfels, TX

[JRR]

Michael:

Welcome to PTE, you will find it a great package and the forum is full of info. The search feature at the bottom of the page helps too.

For the latest advice re DVD software etc see here

[Plumeyer]

Thanks JRR!!!

Michael

[ronwil]

Michael

You say that you use DVD for storage but you do not say which programme you are using to burn the DVD. As reported in previous threads on this subject, thanks to advice received from Michel over last weekend I have successfully produced two SVCDs on CD-Rs using Roxio's Easy CD Creator Platinum 6.

Whilst I personally would not presume to give technical advice on this subject, it is possible that the additional information may help those who can. Good luck.

Ron [uK]