Fullscreen, fixed size ??

[jt49]

I am missing "Fullscreen, fixed size" 

[Igor]

Hi,

We removed this mode from PTE 10. Earlier it was available for compatibility reasons last 10 years to emulate PTE 4.4.x. And now with high resolution screens this mode may give unexpected results (very small picture, for example). 

I can offer several alternate solutions, if you still want to get a similar result:

A. If you need pixel in pixel show for your images. 

See the attached screenshot. You need to select an image in the Objects and animation editor and then click "Original size" command.

Also you need to visit the Project Options > Main tab. Set Aspect Ratio to "Custom" mode. And type 1920 x 1080 (according your screen resolution).

Now your images will be displayed pixel in pixel.

B. Or use Windowed mode with necessary size of a window.

C. If you have Pro version. In Project Options > Defaults tab, find an option: 100% of slide to show main images. Set 70% or any other value and click "Apply to all slides" button. Then click OK button.

 

[jt49]

Removing this mode is not a good decision!!

What is the main reason for using the fixed size mode? It is protection of shows from being up-scaled !

I typically optimize my productions for being shown at WUXGA (1920x1200). If I send it to a fried running a monitor at 2560x1440. The result is an up-scaled presentation with blurred images.

The same will happen if people submit an optimized shows with AR 3:2 to a festival, where projection at FullHD is announced, but (what sometimes happens) WUXGA is actually used. The show will be upscale about 11%, again resulting in blurred images.

The other way round: A user with a monitor of size 2560x1440 now has difficulties to develop a show optimized for a projector with a lower resolution, say 1920x1080.

You suggest the windowed mode. I cannot accept this solution, as it shows part of the desktop outside the window. The fullscreen mode with an upscale protection it the appropriate solution.

[jkb]

Running many competitions and festivals, I have never had problems with upscaling and find that PTE does it very well. Even from 1024x768 to 1920x1080 and shown on a 20 foot screen.

Leaving it at fixed size you can end up with a small image on a large screen, which looks worse when compared to all the other full screen entries.

Jill

[jkb]

PS I do find that downscaling can look worse, especially when people have used large images at 300dpi. To me it makes them look oversharpened.

Jill

[jt49]

The said feature hat nothing to do with downscaling, it just prevents upscaling, no more, no less.

[Igor]

I understand your arguments. 

When we reworked the code of PTE player for version 10.0 we decided not complicate the code with a support of that rarely used mode. It was the main reason. Also this mode may give wrong results, if your run such EXE show on a display with 3K or 4K screen resolution with high DPI values. Image will be very small at the centre of the screen.

Please can you explain, why not simply use slightly larger images enought for 2560 x 1440 screens? Or even larger. Personally I create my shows for 3000 x 2000 screen, or even for 4K screens sometimes. PTE always excellently downsampled images according current screen resolution keeping fine details. You can even use Unsharp mask in the Project Options if you want to see more sharp picture.

Since almost 2 months after release date, it's only first report on this missing feature.

[jkb]

I usually use smaller images, 1920 x 1080 if widescreen, but still 1024 x 768 or sometimes 1600 x 1200 for 4:3 aspect ratio.

All at 72dpi

As mentioned above, PTE upscales without any problems.

Most festivals & competitions in the UK use either 1920 or 1600 projectors.

Although some camera clubs still have 1024 projectors.

Jill
 

 

[jt49]

If you add a feature to software, it will always happen that some users will apply it in a wrong manner

We had a long discussion on this subject (fixed size, which is not really fixed but just a bound for upscaling) in September 2014. Some people liked it (like davegee and myself), while others did not. We must not repeat it.

I usually develop my productions with images at full size. But before sending a show somewhere, I optimize it, which results in a smaller size and a smoother playback (depending on equipment that is not under my control).

PTE claims to be a professional slideshow software, and not just a program for hobby users. Then PTE should offer professional tools

[Igor]

Well, it will be a difficult decision. I understand your request. The problem in fact, that this mode was implemented in the core of PTE's engine. And it significantly complicated the code of PTE, that means additional work for us, longer testing, and potential bugs. Also I've received only 2 request for this missing feature (including yours) since release of PTE 10 (no comments during public Beta testing). This is why we didn't implement this feature in the new PTE 10. Honestly, I highly wished to avoid this feature.

[jt49]

BTW, Beta 27 (August 16) still had this feature, and I did not check the subsequent versions if there were missing features without being announced. It is just now that I am going to submit something, and this made me notice that the upscaling protection now is missing. The project in question has been developed with PTE 9. In version 9 it has upscaling protection, but if I export the presentation with v10, it hasn't.

[Igor]

This mode dissappeared since Beta 11 when we introduced new 64-bit player for EXE shows. We forgot to remove an option from the Project Options window. It was done in v10.0.2. In fact it never worked in the final version of PTE 10.

[Igor]

On 11/23/2019 at 2:59 AM, jt49 said:

I am missing "Fullscreen, fixed size" 

If this feature is very important for you, we can try to check the code of PTE again to see how difficult it will be to implement it again.

[jt49]

The world will go on turning if we do not have this feature, but I myself would be happy to see it. As long as I present my shows in an environment that is under my control, I will not need it. But as I take part in festivals, and as my work will be distributed among the regional groups of AV-Dialog (German umbrella organization), among the juries of Challenge 321 and others, it would favorable for me to have upscaling protection. IMO it is a good feature, at least it would be very nice to have it