Timings in 5.6

[HilaryTempleton]

I make AVs with music and narration. I am having problems when using PTE and editing the exact timings I require. I have had this problem in 5.6beta and 5.6, never before. When I play back the show the audio timing varies and when I make an exe.file again the audio times are not the same as when I use PTE. These variations are only a few seconds - but important to me. Any ideas please?

[Lin Evans]

Hi Hilary,

Just for clarification: Are you saying that the "Preview" with full screen sound timing is different than the created executable or that the mini-player sound timing is different than the created executable. Either way, could you be specific in describing "not the same?" This will help the development team in determining the origin of the problem.

Would it be possible for you to post a zipped PTE example file which shows the issue?

Thanks,

Lin

[HilaryTempleton]

Lin

Thank you for your interest and reply. I will try and clarify the situation.

During the last 2 shows I have made the following has happened. The first show I made in 5.6beta and the 2nd in 5.6

Initially I had no problems at all. Then at some point during the making of the show things were erratic and unstable.

The first thing I noticed was that when I played a slide in ‘Objects and Animation’ and in ‘Start Preview from Current Slide’ the sound track was delayed by a few seconds - the narration should have been playing for the previous slide. The sound is in the correct place when using ‘Preview’ or in the .exe file.

This has caused a great deal of confusion and has not always been the same. Sometimes playing ‘Preview’ is different from the .exe I have made. But what I can say is that the fault is always similar - the sound track is playing at a different time - out by a few seconds.

I hope this helps you sort out the problem.

As for sending a copy of the PTE show, you may have to talk me through that one. I have gone to 'File' and to 'Create Backup in ZIP'. I hope this is what you want. I will send this to you as an attachment. If this is not correct please tell me in detail what to do.

Many thanks

Hilary

[fh1805]

Hilary,

I've come to your post a little late but some thoughts strike me:

- is all your sound added via Project Options...Music tab?

- what is the status of each of the three tick boxes at the bottom of the Project Options...Music tab?

- do you have "Synchronize music and slides" ticked in Project Options...Main tab?

If you have added sound to individual slides, did you do it via Customize Slide...Music tab or via the "Add Sound" icon up in the top right of the main window?

The various possible combinations give very different behaviour and could be the cause of your problems.

regards,

Peter

[HilaryTempleton]

Peter

Thank you for your suggestions.

All sound is added via Project Options....Music tab

At bottom of the Project Options.....Music tab all boxes are empty

Yes I have'Synchronise musc and slides' ticked in Project Options....Main tab

I have not added sound to individual slides

Is that correct?

Hilary

[fh1805]

Hilary,

That's the simplest way of doing things. Those are the settings that I use. Next thought:

- is your soundtrack one single file or do you have several files listed in the Project Options...Music tab?

regards,

Peter

[HilaryTempleton]

One single file in Music tab

Hilary

[fh1805]

Hi Hilary,

That's also how I do it - and now I've run out of ideas, because I've never experienced the kind of problems you describe. Perhaps Lin will find the answer when you let him have the zip file.

Sorry I haven't been able to provide a "quick fix" for you.

regards,

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Hi Hilary,

You have created the file needed (the zip file containing all information). You can either post it on your own website (if you have one) and a link here or you can email it to me at:

lin@learntomakeslideshows.net

I can only handle emails up to about 10 meg so if the zip file is larger, it would be much better to use your own site and a link or use one of the available free upload sites with an appropriate link.

You might try:

http://www.mediafire.com/

Best regards,

Lin

[HilaryTempleton]

Peter

Thank you for your advice anyway. I will try and do what Lin suggests now!

Hilary

[nobeefstu]

Hilary,

Initially I had no problems at all. Then at some point during the making of the show things were erratic and unstable.

The first thing I noticed was that when I played a slide in ‘Objects and Animation’ and in ‘Start Preview from Current Slide’ the sound track was delayed by a few seconds - the narration should have been playing for the previous slide. The sound is in the correct place when using ‘Preview’ or in the .exe file.

If I understand your issue correctly, you indicate that your O&A preview playback does not match your Start Preview from Current Slide preview playback ?

-When playing back a Slide thru O&A ... Pte plays back the entire slide from the starting point of the Transistion Effect.

- When playing back a Slide from Start Preview from Current Slide ... Pte plays back that Slide from the end point of the Transistion Effect. So in reality if your Transistion Effect is 1 or 2 seconds ... your Slide playback preview will begin after the 1 or 2 seconds Transistion Effect .

In summary to your case, the best way to preview at the exact point is use the Mini Player in the Timeline view and drag the blue triangle indicator in the Timeline to your specific starting point to play.

As for :

Sometimes playing ‘Preview’ is different from the .exe I have made. But what I can say is that the fault is always similar - the sound track is playing at a different time - out by a few seconds.

I dont qiute understand only sometimes ... this will take more review.

[HilaryTempleton]

Nobeefstu

I understand your point.

But whichever way one plays a sequence back shouldn't the sound always be the same in relation to a picture one is watching?

Hilary

[fh1805]

-When playing back a Slide thru O&A ... Pte plays back the entire slide from the starting point of the Transistion Effect.

- When playing back a Slide from Start Preview from Current Slide ... Pte plays back that Slide from the end point of the Transistion Effect.

Stu,

Not true, buddy! PTE begins playback of the slide from the start of the slide in both cases. The difference is that in the preview from the current slide, you get to see the immediately previous image in order to show the "in bound" transition whereas in O&A you don't see the actual transition effect.

But whichever way one plays a sequence back shouldn't the sound always be the same in relation to a picture one is watching?

Hilary,

With the settings you are using - YES! and that is what is puzzling about this problem. Ideally we need a problem that can be reproduced consistently. So there's your challenge for this weekend - find a way of consistently reproducing this problem!

regards,

Peter

[nobeefstu]

Thanks Peter ... I stand corrected.

PTE begins playback of the slide from the start of the slide in both cases

I should have been more through in my test of Start Preview from Current Slide without being influenced by the Timline marker that is displayed at the end of the Tranistion point.

But whichever way one plays a sequence back shouldn't the sound always be the same in relation to a picture one is watching?

I aggree with you Peter. Hilary's comment here needs more clarification though :

Then at some point during the making of the show things were erratic and unstable.

Is the erractic and unstable behavior just the sound not matching up or is it also some other behavior?

Just a thought ... if Hilary's show is using D3D acceleration setting and her PC is not D3D capable ... the slide show may be dropping frames in Full Screen previews and the exe to maintain timing. Mini player and O&A does not preview this behavior because its not Full Screen accelerated.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter, Stu,

I've experimented with Hilary's slideshow and I believe there is a bug in PTE. Her sound consists of a single vocal narration background MP3 installed under the Music Tab in Project Options.

When a full screen Preview is played, or when an executable is created, the sound placement via slides is consistent. However, when the mini-player is used or when the blue indicator arrow is moved about on the timeline, the vocal narration timing varies by as much as two seconds at about the forty two second position.

Moreover, if the mini-player slider is manually positioned at zero, the blue indicator on the timeline does not return to zero but stops at a position which doesn't seem to be always consistent, but somewhere after the zero point. If "play" is then clicked on, the blue indicator arrow "jumps" to the beginning and play starts from the correct point.

This leads me to believe that when manually dragging the blue arrow on the timeline about, it may not properly align with real time.

This issue makes it quite difficult to precisely sequence slide or transition points with the background narration. The only way I see to accomplish this is by an arduous iterative process involving multiple replays of the entire show. This effectively defeats the purpose of both the timeline and mini-player as a means of precise sequencing.

If you would like to experiment with this, please email me and I'll provide her link to the zipped PTE file:

lin@learntomakeslideshows.net

Lin

Postcript: There is no bug - the problem turns out to be a defect in the MP3 file. When converted to a WAV the problem evaporates.....

[fh1805]

Lin,

I have every confidence in your analysis. In any case, I'm involved quite heavily in Ed Overstreet's thread (shared with Jim Robertson) about differences between monitor and projector outputs. And I came across another problem associated with monitor and projector display at my local AV Group last night. So I don't need a third problem!

regards,

Peter

P.S. Or were you wanting somebody to verify your findings (like a good scientist would)?

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter,

LOL - Understood. I have emailed Igor and provided him with an explanation and link to Hilary's zipped PTE file so hopefully when he gets a chance he can look into this.

No need to get involved in a third issue right now.

Best regards,

Lin

[Picsel]

This issue makes it quite difficult to precisely sequence slide or transition points with the background narration. The only way I see to accomplish this is by an arduous iterative process involving multiple replays of the entire show. This effectively defeats the purpose of both the timeline and mini-player as a means of precise sequencing.

Hi Lin

thanks you for your analysis. I would like to underline that using timeline for the sound/view synchronization was the only facility offered by PTE. In our club, people consider that PTE is already very poor concerning audio treatment, requiring to use some other software as audacity to prepare sound tracks, the only way we knew to finally adjust sound tracks and view synchronization was to make it by using the adjustment of views position on the timeline. So if it does not work perfectly well with PTE v5.6 that compromises seriously the ability of this new version as a slideshow builder. In our point of view, as PTE users, this feature is even more important than video exportation. We hope that Igor's team will be able to solve this issue asap and we wish them good luck!

Daniel.

Daniel, the problem turns out to be a defective MP3 file. When converted to WAV it works perfectly. Not a problem at all with 5.6....

Lin

[Igor]

Thanks, I have reproduced this problem (2 second's delay) in both versions 5.5 and 5.6. And we will investigate this problem. But the most likely the problem in this particular MP3 audio file. Probably rewinding inside this file works incorrectly. It may happens if MP3 encoded incorrectly or damaged during dowloading. The easy way to check it - temporary convert it to WAV and check for the problem again.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Igor,

Thanks so much - don't spend a lot of time on this because you are absolutely right. I converted the sound track to a wav and it works perfectly and repeatedly. Something is not right with the original MP3.

I will write Hilary and explain.

Best regards,

Lin

[HilaryTempleton]

Thank you Lin and Igor, we will try out your suggestion.

We normally make our soundtrack in WAV and do any editing required in WAV and then when we have finished editing change it to MP3 to put into PXE. Then we do the final editing in PXE to make sure the soundtrack fits exactly to the pictures.

So for our next AV we think we will use WAV for editing, put that into PXE, do final editing of pictures and then substitute the WAV with an MP3.

Have you any other suggestions?

Hilary