"Image not found or damaged"

[LumenLux]

In assembling my PTE presentations, I occasionally run into the very troublesome message from PTE (F3 or slide view), the blue rectangle, where the image or video should be. Sometimes all other videos from the same camera and project will appear ok, but one or more will not work in PTE. Other times, the message is dependent on the camera or other source of the video file. I have found the message "Image not found or damaged" to cover a very wide range of problems. My questions at this moment are:

1. If a video is of a codec or format that PTE normally accepts, is there ever a size limit on the video file that would trigger the nasty blue message?

2. Igor - Is it possible, in Version 8, or otherwise, to include more codecs or whatever it requires to reduce the number of videos that won't work in PTE?

3. Is it possible to have PTE give a failure message that might be more precise as to why a particular video file is rejected?

4. Any other suggestions of how to trouble-shoot and solve, when the dreaded blue rectangle currently appears?

[PGA]

This problem was extensively discussed some time back (see here)

[LumenLux]

This problem was extensively discussed some time back (see here)

Thank you for linking me to that discussion. Having now read the long string, I would hope that now, well into Version 7.5, there might be a more conclusive resolution of the problem(s). Whatever the many fine differences that were hashed about, the problem that seems to remain for me, is that when the blue icon appears, I can not use the needed file. As troublesome as that is to me or any user, I'd think Igor would also very much like to find the solution - or if already found - let us know how to best overcome the issue.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Robert,

In answer to your first question - yes, the limit for data for PTE is two gigabytes. If a file is larger than this or really even "approaching" two gigabytes then it "may" exceed the limits for 32 bit functionality. How I would approach this is to take the file into another program such as Kantaris Media Player and see if it plays normally. Assuming that the file plays normally in another media player, they I would temporarily duplicate it and place it in a new folder. Next "attempt" to "replace" the blue error with the one in the different folder. If that still doesn't work, I would zip the file and send it to Wnsoft to let Igor and the development team have a look and see what's wrong.

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer sometimes. It's actually the same with audio. Sometimes an audio will play properly in another player, but fail with PTE. The solution is to take it into an audio editor such as Audacity and output it in a very standardized (default) fashion which almost always results in a resolution to the problem. Likewise with a video which doesn't want to play. By taking it into your favorite video editor and outputting it as an AVI or MP4 it almost always results in a resolution to the issue. It's really difficult sometimes to get a handle on just what is causing the difficulty, but most likely there is "something" about the file which is not compatible with the library used by PTE. I've found videos which absolutely will not play in one of my several players, but will play normally in another. It's really not an issue "just" with PTE, but an issue with the complexity of video and audio encoding and compression.

Best regards,

Lin

[mountain man]

Hi Robert,

In answer to your first question - yes, the limit for data for PTE is two gigabytes. If a file is larger than this or really even "approaching" two gigabytes then it "may" exceed the limits for 32 bit functionality. How I would approach this is to take the file into another program such as Kantaris Media Player and see if it plays normally. Assuming that the file plays normally in another media player, they I would temporarily duplicate it and place it in a new folder. Next "attempt" to "replace" the blue error with the one in the different folder. If that still doesn't work, I would zip the file and send it to Wnsoft to let Igor and the development team have a look and see what's wrong.

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer sometimes. It's actually the same with audio. Sometimes an audio will play properly in another player, but fail with PTE. The solution is to take it into an audio editor such as Audacity and output it in a very standardized (default) fashion which almost always results in a resolution to the problem. Likewise with a video which doesn't want to play. By taking it into your favorite video editor and outputting it as an AVI or MP4 it almost always results in a resolution to the issue. It's really difficult sometimes to get a handle on just what is causing the difficulty, but most likely there is "something" about the file which is not compatible with the library used by PTE. I've found videos which absolutely will not play in one of my several players, but will play normally in another. It's really not an issue "just" with PTE, but an issue with the complexity of video and audio encoding and compression.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin: Just an off-the-wall sort of question -- hope you don't mind. I'm a longtime newspaper and book editor, so my eye can't help but jump to oddities in spelling, usage, style, whatever. I've often been curious about the reason you might have for putting quote marks around words that obviously don't need them. I'm sure you have a good reason -- or is this just some sort of formatting oddity?

The above posting has such text as this:

If a file is larger than this or really even "approaching" two gigabytes then it "may" exceed the limits . . . .

Next "attempt" to "replace" the blue error . . . .

most likely there is "something" about the file . . . .

As an editor, I've seen it all, and I'm sure willing to learn new and better ways of writing. Thanks much for enlightening me on this.

Don

[Lin Evans]

Hi Don,

It's for emphasis only. As a long time university professor I wouldn't want to publish anything with such punctuation. On the other hand, it's easier and quicker than using italics or bold or other means of emphasis, so in informal forum communications it works for me. I suspect that using social network programs such as Facebook contribute toward such misuse because there are no provisions for italics or bold. There are numerous opinions on this; some for, and some against...

Here are links to brief explanations:

Quotation marks for emphasis link

Another Explanation

Best regards,

Lin