EXE to Video HD file conversion

[Picsel]

Several times I get this question from our club's members : how can I convert my old PTE exe files ( the .pte file does not exist any more) into HD Video files.

Perhaps I missed a step but personnaly I cannot answer correctly to this question. Does it exist an easy to use technical solution? Who can help us?

Thanks in advance.

Daniel

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Daniel.

The answer is no you can't convert an exe to a DVD. You can store an exe on a DVD. However, if you have the folder containing all the components used to construct the exe, you can produce a dvd.

Yachtsman1.

[mhwarner]

Actually, I think it is possible to do something, although not within PTE software. As long as you can play the .EXEs on a computer screen, you can capture them with one of several programs out there designed to perform screen captures in HD. I have not tried any of them, so I don't know which is best or even how well any of them works.

Here are just a couple of examples:

http://www.movavi.com/support/how-to/how-to-capture-video-in-hd.html

http://easyscreencapturevideo.com/hd-screen-recorder.html

Google "screen capture to hd video" for others. Most appear to have trial downloads but I didn't spend time investigating limitations or capabilities. If you find a good one, perhaps members could chip in for the cost of the program and one person could do the conversions. Anyway, hope this is helpful.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I have one of the best screen captures available "Camtasia" & I'm afraid the quality will be nothing near as good as an exe.

Yachtsman1.

[denisb]

Try fraps (http://www.fraps.com/)

It's free for 30s of video and if it's good buy it.

I think it give good results. The raw file (avi) is bing. You must then transform it with a good codec.

Denis

[davegee]

Are we not on shaky ground here??

If this technology is available will it not allow anyone to copy anyone else's work, do a bit of editing and then present it as their own??

There is a feature in PicturesToExe to Disable the PrtSc Button - seems like a good reason to use it for each and every Project, although it is unlikely that this Pirating Software uses the PrtSc Button to initiate the process.

If a suitable software is found to do this I, for one, will be asking Igor what he intends to do to prevent it?

In fact, I would like to know Igor's views on this discussion!!

DG

[denisb]

Sorry if i made a mistake, an administrator can delete my post.

I don't think it's a pirating software. It's for the gamers to record their performance.

Disable the print screen button is only for windows printscreen, but all other soft can record the screen.

Denis

[taler]

Hello Daniel,

please send one of those exes via dropbox or wetransfer to me.

I will capture a video with a special software

(the costs are about 30 Euro for it; there is also a demo version)

and send it back to you.

In this way you can evaluate the quality of the resulting video.

Cordialement

Peter

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I complained to Camtasia about the quality it was recording PTE with animation, they agreed that Camtasia records at 15FPS which would heavily degrade any PTE animation. I think someone has got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

Yachtsman1.

[Barry Beckham]

Why on earth would you complain to Camtasia because it's software doesn't do what It wasn't design to do in the first place. Are you for real

[davegee]

Sorry if i made a mistake, an administrator can delete my post.

I don't think it's a pirating software. It's for the gamers to record their performance.

Disable the print screen button is only for windows printscreen, but all other soft can record the screen.

Denis

Hi Denis,

What I was suggesting was that if an author posts his work on a site such as Slideshowclub he or she could reasonably assume that it will not be downloaded, converted into another format, possibly edited and then presented in a way that the original author had not intended. The quality of the conversion is unlikely to be of the same quality as the author originally intended but it would still bear his or her name.

In those terms and without the permission of the original author I deem that to be Piracy.

You seem to be suggesting that I am correct and that anyone can download anyone else's work and convert it into another format without the author's permission?

I was also suggesting that WnSoft should think about whether it can prevent this kind of unauthorised copying. It might not be possible to protect EXE files from unauthorised conversion but this thread is informing those who want to do it where to go to get the software needed to do it.

DG

[denisb]

hello Dave,

What i want to write is that the pirate is the man, not the soft. Of course, i don't want people convert exe pte files without the autorization of the author.

Fraps is cited many time on this forum. I'm not the first.

Denis

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Why on earth would you complain to Camtasia because it's software doesn't do what It wasn't design to do in the first place. Are you for real

Maybe complain was the wrong word? The actual message I sent was "Hi Mike

I use Pictures to create Audio Visual entertainments, I've been using it since 2007. The quality of the reproduction of digital images is superior to any other similar programmes such as Pro Show. I have a number of shows on Youtube under my user name of stearman65. The quality on You tube isn't as good as an exe file. I think someone on the PTE forum mentioned that Camtasia can't reproduce or record the animation created in PTE."

This was one of their replies

"Mike Spink (TechSmith Support)

Feb 17 04:21 PM

Hi Eric,

With certain things with lots of motion like quick transitions and slide in text it can record a bit jerky in Camtasia. Im curious though. We can do things like that in Camtasia. Is there a reason you're recording PTE? What does that program give you that you're unable to do in Camtasia?

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help".

Hope that clarifies things.

Yachtsman1

[mhwarner]

If it can be played/shown on a computer screen, somebody somewhere will figure out a way to copy or steal it if they choose to do so. I doubt that Igor or anybody else can do anything about it. Even with the Print Screen key disabled in Pictures to Exe when creating a slideshow, as long as you can display the show on your monitor, you can easily capture the frame with one or more screen capture software tools (I have tried it with my own shows and the resulting quality is exactly what you see on the screen). Again, as I said in my original post, I haven't tried it with movie/motion capture software but it sounds as if that is possible also.

The bottom line is, if you don't want your shows, pictures or other media stolen/pirated or copied or whatever you want to call it, DO NOT POST THEM on the internet. Of course, then the only way you will be able to share them is with your local group on a projector, friends and family via a TV, via a flash drive or maybe via email if the size is not prohibitive. But that's not usually why we create these shows, is it? We want to share them with others. You have to assume that nothing is private, secure or unable to be stolen or copied if you post it on the internet. It's your decision to make depending on the contents of the material.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Folks,

I think we've gotten a bit off track here. I believe the original intent was to find a way to copy one's own exe files when there is no longer a PTE file so that they might be made into a video format and therefore amenable to being posted on Youtube or one's own site to share.

The bottom line is that the quality of the screen capture will depend greatly on the "type" of exe show being captured. If it is a simple slideshow with quick or fade transitions and very limited or no animation, then any good screen capture tool which can handle capture at 30fps or so will do an adequate job. If the show has a good deal of animation then I don't believe there is any present software which can do justice to a conversion to video. Actually, if there is sufficient animation, even creating the show in PTE and exporting to an MP4 h.264 will not produce equivalent quality to the executable version in the vast majority of cases. Once the degredation imposed by additional conversions by Youtube, Vimeo, etc., are added, the original exe quality is severely compromised. Virtually the "only" format I've found which can approximate the exe qualiity on a big screen high resolution television when there is serious animation is DivX. I think David I I discussed this once before and he was getting MP4 h.264 to work equally as well, but I've never found it to be nearly as smooth myself. This may be because we are using different settings. Also there appears to be a difference between video captured with a video recorder and displayed and video created by PTE. For reasons unknown to me, video captured with a video recorder as opposed to video created with PTE or Producer or Wings Platinum or m.Objects, is smoother when uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo.

But the bottom line is that no present screen capture tool does a decent job of capturing a really heavily animated exe and converting it to video. There are audio capture tools which intercept the sound sent to the sound card and make, for all practical purposes, perfect audio reproductions. To my knowledge, no video screen capture tool works this way and because of this, the video quality is compromised, especially for animated portions.

Best regards,

Lin

[aplman]

I do not mean to direct this comment to the original poster, nor to any of the respondents. However, I do feel the need to make a comment for the benefit of any new PTE users who might be reading this thread.

A lot of work can be involved in creating a PTE show. All that work is encapsulated in the "XXXX.PTE" file. It is vitally important to keep, backup and archive one's .PTE files.

A .PTE file is like a recipe for the slideshow. You can create a beautiful dish from a recipe, but if the recipe is lost, there is no hope of recovering the recipe from the dish it produced.

PTE fans, GUARD YOUR RECIPES!

Ken T (aplman)

[mhwarner]

Well said, Ken!

[Picsel]

Thanks to you all for your answers.

First of all I woud say to Dave, that I full agree with what mhwarner said about piracy. I just would add : nobody is complaining against the possibility to download HD video ! But there is no difference in term of copyright between the use of an exe or an HD video file! But it is far more easy to modify an HD video.

As Lin have underlined it, the purpose of this thread was not to open a discusssion on hacking process but to find a solution for PTE users who, for a reason or another have lost their .pte file or some part of their old PTE project (this can happen to anybody one day or another) and want to make an HD video.

Obviously I agree with Ken advice except that saving the .pte file is not enough, the best way is to keep a full project back up in zip.

And even doing that you are not certain to be able to reuse your old project if you had not made a copy of your fonts or converted all of your texts into png. So it is not so obvious for all PTE users.

Thanks Denis and mhwarner for the links.

I tried movavi : the first trial was not so good, the video images were flickering and not usable. The second trial was a bit better but the transitions were no longer smooth enough with visible jitter so, I think it is not a real good solution to match the PTE quality.

Peter thanks for your proposal I will send you a PM

However, I can guess, that for the future, the best technical solution is in Igor's hands.

Best regards

Daniel

[juliallloyds45]

To convert your EXE files to Video HD file format you need to use Total media converter. It is a very powerful video converter that able to do all types of conversion related to the video. This tool can easily convert video to audio easily, DVD video to other video format, DVD video to Mp3 and more. It gives crystal clear output of video/audio and hence and maintains the original quality of audio/video.

[Lin Evans]

Sorry Julia, but you can't convert EXE files to video with Total Media Converter or any other video converter. Exe files are not videos. Exe files are instruction sets which require a CPU and GPU to play. Video files are quite different and contain rendered images which are stored on the media and played back via various players and codecs. The only way an Exe file can be converted to video is via a screen capture tool and there are no screen capture tools which can do justice to an Exe file which contains sophisticated animations.

Best regards,

Lin