johnbuttress Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 HiForgive me if this topic has already been covered elsewhere (I did look, but couldn't see anything) ...I'm new to this forum, but I've been a PicturesToExe user for a couple of years. In the last few days I've been putting together an AV show on my new laptop, and I had a suspicion that on playing the whole show (from the start), the pictures were not changing at exactly the time points that I had specified. To check this I set up a very simple test as follows:I have 2 pictures and 1 piece of music. The music is about 4 minutes long. There is a very noticeable single drum beat about 3 minutes into the song. I set up the transition from slide 1 to slide 2 to coincide exactly with this single drum beat. I checked this by placing the slide on the timeline, positioning the blue triangle just before the start of slide 2, pressing the play button in the preview window, and then tweaking the position of the slide on the timeline (so that the slide changed exactly on the drum beat). (I've used this approach many times before.)Then I ran through the slide show using "Preview" (i.e. starting from the beginning). In this case the transition from slide 1 to slide 2 occurs later than the drum beat. The transition is only about 1 second late, but that's late enough to spoil the effect! I have the same problem if I create an Exe file and run that, and I also have the problem if I run the show from the start in the preview window.In the past I have always found that PicturesToExe gives me great control over the exact timing of transitions to coincide with certain beats in the music, so I'm really puzzled about what's happening here.Has anyone else come across this sort of thing? I'm wondering if it's something to do with my new laptop. I've used the same piece of music in the past (on an older laptop) and the slide transition occurs perfectly in time with the drum beat. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome.Thanks very much.PS I see this feature with versions 5.5 and 5.6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yachtsman1 Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 HiCould it be anything to do with having a fade activated between slides, instead of a fast change???Yachtsman1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuttress Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 HiCould it be anything to do with having a fade activated between slides, instead of a fast change???Yachtsman1Hi Yachtsman1Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think it's anything to do with having a fade between slides. I have the transition set so that slide 2 is fully shown in 0.1 second - i.e. it's a very fast change. And the timing/effect is perfect when I just play a very short segment in the preview window (e.g. by starting to play it 1 or 2 seconds before the transition).John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 John,Have you made sure you enabled - Syncronize Music & Slides in Project Options. You dont want to enable the Auto Spread checkbox in your particular case.Enabling the Syncronize Music & Slides makes sures the music timeline set points used are maintained ... even if the slideshow has to drop frames when a pc may not be able to meet full screen image display demands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 John,I know this is a stupid question...but did you 'Save' the settings of your Test prior to 'Previewing' itor is it simply free-running ??...that would certainly cause your problem.Brian.Confllow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjdnzl Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Can you tell us the model of your new laptop, and what its specifications are for the graphics processor? Unfotunately some on-board graphics processors can be somewhat slow in delivering the image to the monitor. If you have a slow graphics processor there is probably nothing you can do about it unless your laptop is able to accommodate a dedicated graphics processor card.Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuttress Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Hi Folks, and thanks for your suggestions.To answer your comments:nobeefstu - Yes, I do have the "Synchronize music and slides" option selected.Brian - I assume you mean doing "File -> Save" before doing the Preview. I've just double-checked this, and I still have the problem.Colin - My new laptop is a Sony Vaio NR31JS. The key spec details (according to Amazon) are:Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T2390 / 1.86 GHz ( Dual-Core )Cache Memory: 1 MB - L2 CacheRAM: 2 GB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM - 533 MHz ( 2 x 1 GB )Graphics Controller: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT - 128 MBI'm going to try another experiment now... I'll install PicturesToExe on my wife's old laptop and try the same slide show.Thanks.John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 John,You wrote..."Brian - I assume you mean doing "File -> Save" before doing the Preview. I've just double-checked this,etc"...John you should use 'Save-As' not just 'Save'... 'Save-As' copies over the original .pte Dat File ~ that Icon which opens the Show for Preview which you will find in your Show Folder. This 'fixes' all timings,effects.Images and the Base-Timeline whereas 'Save' simply saves anywork in Progress until you re-write a new .pte Dat File with the 'Save As' function. Hope this helps.Brian._______________________________________________________________________ Postscript:-John,Since writing the above Post I had an oppurtunity of chasing up on the Sony-Viao NR31Js ~ Not good news I'm afraid.As it uses 'Vista Home Premium' with ONLY 2.Gb of RAM you have a problem straight away with access speed.The absolute minimum amount of RAM required to operate Vista is 1.Gb ~ thats a Microsoft Specification and that doesnot allow for Anti-Virus nor the Radio Chip-Set nor the 'bundled' Programs which come with the Laptop.And there is further bad news:- That Duo-Pentium Processor is based on the 'old' slow Celeron Processor know in the Tradeas the 'Celery Processor' which had the slowest L2 Cache-Memory in existance. Although this machine has a large L2-Cacheits been smothered by slow Buss-Speed and lack of Ram-Memory not helped by the demands of the NVidia 8400 Video-Chipset.I'm sorry to say that this Laptop suffers from severe constipation (there is no other word to describe it). Sure it will run a VideoO.K but when it comes to 'Hi-End Graphics' like Pte 5.6 it's simply not at the Races...it has serious timing difficulties.You neeed to read the following (one of many) but look under News-Reviews-Blogs:-Link: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/computing...s-437165/review Sorry to be the bearer of bad News but at least you won't be tearing your hair out tonight !!Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuttress Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Hi BrianThat's a hugely disappointing discovery , but I really appreciate you taking the time to look into it and provide such useful feedback.I'm going away to sulk now!Cheers.John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 John,Its only a few days ago we had a similar 'Celeron' problem (Single-Processor type).Attachment below and Forum Link here:-http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9634To try and help you, perhaps you could sell the Sony and buy a 'Factory-Refurbished'Hewlett-Packard V-5000 or V-5500 15" Laptop with Centrino-Duo Processors. Theseare excellent Laptops and can handle anything Pte 5.6 throws at them. They are inperfect condition, fully refurbished, with all Discs & Manuals and Factory New Cartons.We have 3 of them here in our workshops. The V-5500 is marginally better than V-5000.(Prices are about half Retail Prices and sometimes lower)If you wish to find out how they work with Pte 5.6 just examine this New Thread:-http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9651Here is a link to the Factory-Refurbishment Division - They also have a U.K Division:-http://www.hp.com/sbso/buspurchase_refurbi..._computing.htmlHope this offers some alternatives for you...Brian.Conflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeefstu Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 John,I'm going away to sulk now!Sometimes its possible to salvage a borderline performance issue project ... Its hard to say with yours since its only 2 slides and 1 piece of music.Various methods to Test :-Extend the Effect Timing - from your current "0.1 second - i.e. it's a very fast change" and/or change to different effect other than 3D effects.-Lower the image size resolution to match your nominal/default screen resolution which should be 1280 x 800 if they are currently larger. If your laptop screen is higher than nominal/default setting ... lower it also to 1280 x 800 as it saves you gpu performance hits.- Turn off Vista Aero desktop feature temporarily to see if it also saves in performance hits.**Make sure your Video drivers are current and upto date. Since your Vista and Video card is DX10 capable ... make sure they are upto date also.Goodluck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuttress Posted March 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Thanks very much folks for your additional comments and suggestions. I really appreciate your help.John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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