lathompson

Thanks Ken, I will do that first thing when I hit the office in the morning.

For some time now, we have produced slideshows for proofs and use an ATI Radeon, 7500 video board in our computer, which puts out an SVHS signal to a monitor so we can see how our TV output looks. Today, I moved the computer system to another room, hooked everything up exactly the same and booted up. the TV output worked but with one exception... The desktop was showing but without the icons! Opening P2EXE (or any other program, for that matter) there was no change, just the desktop minus the icons. I reloaded the ATI Radeon drivers, uninstalled and reinstalled... same thing. I would have thought it totally impossible for the desktop to be displayed and have the icons missing. Seems like output is output. Can anyone shed any light on this? This computer was doing just fine minutes before the dismount and relocating it. I've scoured various forums and newsgroups and ATI's support is totally worthless for help. Larry T

Well I tried this again on another machine (laptop) and it worked just fine. I'm surprised it didn't work on our video-graphics computer... Its pretty fast. Go figure! Larry

Al, I have already tried just what you suggested and there was a brief (very brief) but visable flash of the desktop between the shows. That's what prompted me to inquire here. Is there another setting I have missed? I'll give Granot a try. I didn't really se a tool called Multishow but I'll look a little closer this time. Thanks for the help guys. Larry

I'm doing 3 shows but want them to play through as one. Each show has a different feel and mood, set by it's own music & the images are set to sync to it's own song. Although each show is separate, I want all three shows to play uninterrupted. Meaning, I do not want the show to return to the desktop inbetween. I really don't want to record all 3 pieces as one and custom sync each image to the music, because my client doesn't want to pay for the time it takes, and I don't work free... So is there a way to do this easily? Larry

I wish for three things and three things only... 1) Ken Burns effect 2) Ken Burns effect 3) Ken Burns effect Oh... I just thought of another effect that is important enough to ask for... How about a Ken Burns effec? Larry T

Thanks for the clarification Dave. I understand that. I have sent my Russian client off to his homeland with a NTSC copy. We didn't have time to experiment before he had to leave so, when he returns, he's going to let me know how the DVD worked over there. That's about 3 weeks from now. Anyway, I'll post them as to what happens. Larry

Thanks for the clarification Dave. I understand that. I have sent my Russian client off to his homeland with a NTSC copy. We didn't have time to experiment before he had to leave so, when he returns, he's going to let me know how the DVD worked over there. That's about 3 weeks from now. Anyway, I'll post them as to what happens. Larry

Thanks David! Sounds like you have experience with this. It appears that you are located in the UK somewhere, right? Your experience is very helpful but the following statement confuses me: "When compiling the DVD I can only produce a PAL DVD frpm a PAL source and similarly an NTSC DVD from an NTSC source. This is fairly obvious." Your saying that no conversion from one to the other is possible? Seems to me, the burner will burn a prepared program with no regard as to it's chosen standard, be it NTSC or PAL. My encoder (TMPEGnc) offers me the option to produce an mpeg2 for either standard... Are you saying this will not work? I'm on my way to the office in about an hour... I'm going to try it first thing this morning. Ken/Lunenlux: I have already queried other vendors in the Saint Louis, Missouri area and they are like me. Perplexed at the question because nobody has asked for a conversion DVD yet. This is why I've posed the question here. I've tried other forums but nobody has spoke up anywhere but here! I've been doing TAPE conversions for years but this has been a first. It looks like David has some authority on the subject. Soon as my Russian couple get back from their trip, I'll have some first hand knowledge myself. I'll post again at that time. Larry

Thanks Ken. Your links got me about the same info I have already ran into... basically, a sentence or two saying that SOME DVD sets sold in Europe (Russia not mentioned) MAY play DVDs recorded in NTSC. The last link, buried deep under basic DVD information, provided another sentence or two about regional playback problems. I know commercial DVDs are regional, but now I wonder if my DVD-R burner in my computer is putting a regional condition on my recordings! Could this be? So now I have two things I question. Anyway I do appreciate the links. LumenLux, you refer to the PAL option in the burn process but have you done this? It would seem to me that although I can choose PAL in the making of my mpeg, prior to burning, does my burner have to be a special PAL burner??? Or are all burners capable of burning either NTSC or PAL? And if I choose the option to make this a PAL disc, I have no way to check it before putting it in the hands of my Russian customer. I would feel more secure if someone (Igor???) who has 1st hand knowledge of the DVD situation in Russia could tell me their experience. It would help me a great deal when inquiring customers ask, to be as accurate as possible about DVDs used outside of the USA. Now, armed with the info you guys have provided me, I suspect I will burn two discs for them. One in PAL and one the regular way, NTSC. Worse case scenario is that when they come back, they can tell me what happened. Can anyone contribute more to this question?

I have a client that is about to go to Russia to visit her mother. I've just put her home movies onto DVD, along with 2 special slide shows, But I warned her that Russia doesn't use the NTSC system there and they are likly un playable. I promised her I would try to find a way to convert them for her, but it would seem that this isn't being done with DVDs like it is with video tapes. In light of that, I have made some inquiries and surprisingly, I'm being told that these DVDs might play in most players in Russia. Seems the manufacturers have made their players sold in Europe, Asia and Russia to be compatible with videos and DVDs programed for NTSC use. Can anyone confirm that and if so, to what degree of compatibility might my customer expect? Larry

RIPVINYL is the pick of the litter. It is just perfect. No fuss, no muss. I can let a cassette play through one side and automatically play the next side without touching anything. It recorded and split alll tracks and totally ignored the inbetween silence. They even have a version that will allow you to play a 78 rpm record on a 45 rpm turntable and it will automatically adjust the speed. This little $7 program is a gem. Also... Igor, that 4.3 version of P2E is a clear winner! Amazing where you've come from since 2002! Larry

Thanks Harry... Alan! I'm on my way to give these suggestions a try. Larry

Thanks Ken! I'll download both and play with them. Since posting, Ive tried a couple of others I picked up googling but they were either buggy or just too teckie for me. Looks like you've solved my problem. I'll let you know if it works for me. Larry

I have a pile of older royalty free music, all recorded on cassettes. To record every cut separately, render as music files and finally put on to CD-ROM is a nightmare in time to completion. Currently, I use ACID Music to do my simple audio tracs one at a time, but it or any of the other audio copiers that came with my computer, cannot deal with my problem. My problem is: what program in the cheaper range of pricing can take a single WAV or MPG3 file containing the complete copy of one side of a cassette tape and split it down into separate cuts? Can anyone point me to a program that can do this well? Larry

Since you have tried everything and everything doesn't work, it is time to scrap the project and start from the beginning. 100% new. Recreate the music mp3s and perhaps even go so far as to open and resave each image file. Don't salvage any part of the bad program, just re create everythiing again. Somehow, you'll get a working show the way you want it.

Alrobin, can you explain this a little more clearly for me? "You can also copy the slide with the desired objects as many times as you want in the slide list, and then go through and change the image names and directory addresses." Larry

Okay guys, I'll try to put a mini show together but it's going to be a few days as I'm a little backed up here at the studio. I have about 20 hours of photo image work to do and 48 hours to meet a deadline so I'll do it soon. The proofing show I just finished is pretty basic but has over 700 images in it. I don't think you want this one. Larry T

Ken & Fred, I just wanted to update you on my project to say that I have just finished a beautiful wedding presentation show with buttons linking each set of proofs as I had hoped to do. My customers think it is totally great and I see that a template is in order. I'm going to work and refine it. I just wanted you guys to know that I appreciate your help. Larry T

Really nice ideas there Ken. If I don't get interrupted here at the office, I'm gonna work on this. I like the idea of using thumbs for links. Larry T

I'll do that first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks again. Larry

Thank you Fred, That's exactly what I needed to get started. I'm trying to set up some wedding proofs (I'm a photographer) allowing my clients to go directly to a set of images pertaining to a certain activity that day. This way, they don't have to wade through one show of 750 images to find 2 or 3 images in the middle somewhere. Now I can break them down into many different categories. Thanks again. Larry

I tried searching but no luck. Has this not been done before? I need an opening page with 14 buttons, each one representing a different slideshow. The person can pick any one of them, it plays and when done, returns to the opening page where they can choose another show. Is this possible. I tried creating webpages with frontpage but when clicking on the links to each show, I just got a "cant find page" message from explorer. Can someone point me in the right direction? Larry

Ronnie, everything you said is good and as you point out, you are getting critiqued and plenty of suggestions right now. I see no need for separating those that want critcisim from those that MAY not. You can still get all the help and advice you want. Just ask for it. Keep it mixed, guys. BTW... Lumenlux, your show was very nice and moved along nicely. A little long, but well thought out. Absoultely great narration. Larry T

Ratings are of no benefit as this is art. If someone wants others to critique, ask for it openly on the forum and it will happen. That's great! Allow categories, such as sports, outdoors, travel or children. Anyone that sees a good show can extol their praises to others on the forum. Nobody should be allowed to criticize negatively unless invited to do so. Let's all look at each other's work randomly. Enjoy if for what it is and appreciate the greatest works along with all others that are good enough to be proudly exibited by their creators. I have not submitted anything at this time as I use this wonderful program in our business and generally stick to straight and simple shows. I doubt that my talent is more than modesly good, and frankly have no desire to put it into any category or have it critiqued by anyone other than the client I have made it for. I do enjoy downloading shows however and am amazed at all of you talented people. Random surprises are great. Keep it that way. You might call me a lurker. I visit everyday, 2 or 3 times. I rarely speak out, as there are numberous things to read and my time is pretty limited. Regardless of how bad or good a show might be I am reminded of a past auction sale for thousands of dollars, where the art sold was fraudulently represented as an artist's works. Turned out to be monkeys that did it! Sometimes, you can just do too much talking about art and I've always felt that if you like it, let someone know. If you don't, well, maybe you just shouldn't worry about it. After all, Picasso got rich putting both eyes on one side of his faces and selling stuff I've never understood the reason for. And thats okay. No societies please. Just keep making those great shows. I really enjoy seeing them. Larry T