That video question again

[Ednys]

Hi Happy New Year to you all,

I have finally tried out the new version 5 and put together a slide show of our holidays last september and sent it to relatives in Arizona. (Not posted) I have only used some of the basic pan and zoom features at this time.

I have sat and watched many of the mind blowing effects that members have posted using this new program and I dont know if I will ever be able to work out how some of them are done.. But I will try, with the help of some of the tutorials that have been posted. Thank you to everyone that has done so.

Thank you Igor and your team for working so hard on producing and developing this wonderful program. Please dont stop.

Now my question for the techies out there!

I have been asked if I can do a slide show for a good friend for a special occasion, and they asked if I would be able to include some old video in the slide show. I know it can apparently be done using a small program I can download, but is there going to be such a feature in this new version so we can do this directly or do we still have to use the other program... Is it difficult and is there a limit to the length of video that can be included? I would rather say no if it is going to create problems with the slide show.

Thanks again

Glenys

[alrobin]

............they asked if I would be able to include some old video in the slide show.

Glenys,

One method would be to combine the PTE show with the ".avi" file for the other video, and burn the resulting video to a DVD. You should be able to use the new "Video Builder" packaged as part of PTE v.5 beta 8 to do this. If not, then create an "avi" file for your show with PTE and combine it with the other video in a program such as Nero or Pinnacle or Premiere Elements, etc.

[Ednys]

Hmmmm Thank you al for the reply. That gives me something to think about. I will have to try and play around with some files and see what I can do before I say yes to my friend... It is not just the learning of one program, we find ourselves having to learn more.....

If things get too technical my old brain cells cannot take it in too well. But I will have a go.

Thank you

Glenys

[jevans]

Hi Happy New Year to you all,

I have finally tried out the new version 5 and put together a slide show of our holidays last september and sent it to relatives in Arizona. (Not posted) I have only used some of the basic pan and zoom features at this time.

I have sat and watched many of the mind blowing effects that members have posted using this new program and I dont know if I will ever be able to work out how some of them are done.. But I will try, with the help of some of the tutorials that have been posted. Thank you to everyone that has done so.

Thank you Igor and your team for working so hard on producing and developing this wonderful program. Please dont stop.

Now my question for the techies out there!

I have been asked if I can do a slide show for a good friend for a special occasion, and they asked if I would be able to include some old video in the slide show. I know it can apparently be done using a small program I can download, but is there going to be such a feature in this new version so we can do this directly or do we still have to use the other program... Is it difficult and is there a limit to the length of video that can be included? I would rather say no if it is going to create problems with the slide show.

Thanks again

Glenys

Glenys,

This question has been asked many times on this forum and others much more qualified than myself have given answers. However here are my thoughts. You can create a slide show with PTE and then create an avi file using the "video" button. You can also take the avi file from your external video and then combine the two into a single DVD show. However when I have done this in the past, I have wanted to include a short video clip in the middle of the PTE show and then continued on with the still images. This can be done as described above but it is rather fiddly to do. I have found that a better way is to use a program such as Ulead Video Studio 8. This will accept both stills and video clips and they can be interspersed at will. However the resultant DVD quality is well below that which you will get from the latest version of PTE. Having experimented with this several times, I have come to the conclusion that the insertion of video clips in a still image show detracts from the show. I would prefer to separate the two media into different presentations.

regards

Jeff

[Lin Evans]

Hi Glenys,

There is one other way to do this, especially if it's a short video clip. You can use an inexpensive video decompiler to extract the still frames from a short AVI which are converted by the decompiler to jpg files then insert these frames as a sequence in PTE. You set the effects off and the speed for each frame to about 50ms. PTE will play the video portion as a sequence of individual frames. The program will do a satisfactory job of video emulation this way. I wouldn't recommend this for long video segments because the overhead in file size gets substantial, but I've found it works quite well for short clips. If you've looked at my "effects" sample, the introduction, rain sequence and ending were all done this way. A few frames are being skipped, but usually you can't tell the difference.

If you are not going to be doing this type thing frequently and you are willing to post a link to the AVI file for the video I would be glad to decompile it for you, test it and zip up the individual jpgs and post a link to them for you.

Best regards,

Lin

[Guest Techman1]

Lin,

I'm currently working on a project and the final format is DVD, so adding an additional video stream to the DVD between PTE's slideshow is very easy. But, thinking about taking one of these video streams and decompiling it into individual images would give me the ability to enhance a couple of key images, freeze the action and maybe add a highlight behind the individuals (like an outer glow in Photoshop). Then having all of this in PTE, would look very seamless.

Can you or anyone else recommend a "Free" program that does a good job of decompiling a video stream (AVI, MPG, etc.) into individual images?

Thanks in advance,

Fred

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

I'm currently working on a project and the final format is DVD, so adding an additional video stream to the DVD between PTE's slideshow is very easy. But, thinking about taking one of these video streams and decompiling it into individual images would give me the ability to enhance a couple of key images, freeze the action and maybe add a highlight behind the individuals (like an outer glow in Photoshop). Then having all of this in PTE, would look very seamless.

Can you or anyone else recommend a "Free" program that does a good job of decompiling a video stream (AVI, MPG, etc.) into individual images?

Thanks in advance,

Fred

Hi Fred,

I don't know any free ones, but the one I use seems to work very well and it's only $20. If you want to have a look here's the link:

http://www.onestopsoft.com/

Look for the Video Decompiler among their other products..

Lin

[Guest Techman1]

Hi Fred,

I don't know any free ones, but the one I use seems to work very well and it's only $20. If you want to have a look here's the link:

http://www.onestopsoft.com/

Look for the Video Decompiler among their other products..

Lin

Thanks Lin! I'll have a look at it and see how it works. I appreciate it.

Fred

[moritz]

Hello Fred:

I know a freeware program that transform avi in bmp files. This is the link

Go to download section and see Avi4Bmp.

http://www.bottomap.com/

Here there is too a program to convert BMP/TGA to PNG....Boto2PNG

Moritz.

[denwell]

Hi Fred

I've used a FREE video decompiler : Video Studio Decompiler v.3.0 from www.softwarepile.com

It seems to do just what you need - With Video Studio Decompiler you can decompile one of the following video formats: AVI,MPEG,MPG,ASF,WMV to one of the following image formats: BMP,GIF,PNG,JPEG,TIFF,EMF,WMF,PCX,TGA,j2k,RAS

It should do what you want to do, FREE and very fast too!

Take a look!

DEN (NE UK)

[Guest Techman1]

Thank you Moritz & Den. I'll look at those also. I very much appreciate the recommendations.

Sorry Glenys for hi-jacketing your thread. Although it is related, I should have started one for myself. If there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know. I've created video's using the first two methods recommended here by Al & Jeff. Now I look forward to trying a different method using what Lin recommends. Anyway as I stated, please advise if I can help you in any way.

Regards,

Fred

[Ednys]

Well It just proves again, not only is this forum a fountain of knowledge about PTE but we learn about new programs and tecniques in using other programs... As for moving the subject on, that is no problem if it encourages a good debate I am all for it.

I have been talking to my friend about exactly what she wants doing and we are looking at doing it as separate avi files. Or at least I think I have persuaded her to do it that way!

I may well try downloading one of those programs and seeing how far I get with breaking an avi down into still images. Sometimes I have seen what looks like a good shot in some of my video files and this method (that I did no know existed till now) may mean I can get a good still from the avi. Somethimes just doing a capture does not work too well. Mind you I am a past master at camera shake so that doesnt help. Never have the tripod when I want it......

Thanks to all replies

Glenys