Conflow

Lumenlux, Your Win '98 problems ~ we have 3 Win'98se Computers in everyday working for some of our Industrial-Clients. The PC's are used to download 'Machine-Code' into EProms and EAroms. To try and answer your questions and help other '98 Owners, viz:- 1) Win'98 is 'dead' but Win'98se is very much alive ~ 1000's of machines still in operation. 2) You need to make sure that you a copy of ActiveX 6,or7,or 8 installed on the '98se thats vital. ActiveX 9+ won't work properly with Win'98se. 3) PTE 4.49 works perfectly on Win'98se with (minimum) 128Kb.Ram but much better with 256.Kb. but 'Uninstall' Adobe Reader (use Cute-Pdf Reader) and uninstall any old version of Norton-AV. Use a "Lightweight AV" behind a Firewall or acquire a LAN-Distributor with Firewall. 4) Yes, Flash will work provided its one of the "older" Players,ie: Macromedia.6 or Flash-Player.6 LINK: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ The Best PC.Resources for Win'98se (type win'98se in search-window). (They have a final 'Wrap-Up' of all Win'98se Drivers etc)..is:- LINK: http://majorgeeks.com/ The Best Program Resource for Win'98se is 'Snapfiles' (Clk.Freeware tab) at:- LINK: http://www.webattack.com/ All the best with the '98se... (See attachment) Brian.Conflow.

Gerald & Lin, Gerald, I completely agree with you ~ If any Show is intended for Video ~ At the outset it should be formatted for Video reproduction. You and Lin are of similar mind's on that point, its a pity others won't accept that fact. Surely we have enough problems trying to project our Shows on to 'Big-Screens' in Hi-Resolution rather that messing up a perfectly good AV-Production in retrograding it to Flv-Format to show on Vimeo & YouTube which to me seems to attract a predominant 'Teenage-Audience' who haven't the least interest in Photographic-Artistry. Lin, may I wish you some 'Irish Good Luck' with your problem. Best regards, Brian.

Lin, Picsel,Gerard, I don't wish to 'barge-in' on this excellent discussion which I have followed with interest because we here in Conflow Services are grappling with 'Motion-Vectored-Imaging' for another professional purpose altogether apart from my interest in PTE, but I would like to say as follows.viz:- Lin you may not be aware that Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are developing a new-system of MVI (as above) to allow proper PZR Effect in Vista and Window-7 ~ this is all tied up with 'motion-vectoring' such as experienced in Pte PZR effects, and the problems users are having. To be fair to the WnSoft Team the whole idea of PZR was to solely enhance the V.5.6 Program but the sheer technical difficulties of trying to make this work on "so-so" Projectors of different qualities is giving the 'Big-Boys' serious headaches never mind the WnSoft Team.... Somewhat similar problems are being experienced with You-Tube and Vimeo ~ but here when we ignore PZR-effects users are having trouble converting from PTE Digital-Imagery to (Flash) Digital-Video. Because PTE/AVI is not in 'Video-Camcorder Format' which is the sole living purpose of You-Tube and Vimeo ~ in comparison our PTE.Program relies on a Software-Codec such as MPeg-4 (excellent) but one would have to know the 'Requirements' of that Codec for things to work properly. We have been researching Monitor-Formats and Video-Formats and to say the least very little meets in the middle except the HD-720 Video-Standard which offers the best chance of getting PC.Monitor-Images somewhere near acceptabe requirements of Vimeo/UTube in Hi-quality reproduction. The 'Attachments' below may help Picsel, Gerald and yourself in the 'Testing' you are doing, if not, at least it will show the wide 'Standards-Gaps' in the two Systems and somewhere there must be a compromise between the two. Best Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Peter and Ed,Jim,Ken,Colin and Others, Peter, Your Post #105 above you wrote..."And yet the projected image is different when the Fujitsu's monitor is not active. So something is happening that is different. WHAT IS IT? I feel that the answer to that question is the key to unlocking this puzzle".............. I had replied that I know nothing about your Fijitsu Computer except that its 'data-buss' would be slower than modern PCs and I also suspect that its VGA Output-System is driven by special Fijitsu-Drivers incorporating a set of 'Sync-Pulses' for CRT.Monitors and LCD Displays. In reality most modern Desktops dont have any "bespoke-drivers" for external Monitors nor Projectors excepting those generic-drivers supplied by Microsoft to cater for a broad range of 'Plug & Play Devices' such as external Monitors/Projectors. Stand back for a second and consider the Fijitsu Computer ~ of course you are correct about its own Monitor -V- External Device. It uses one set of drivers to run its own LCD Monitor and MUST switch over to another set to run an external Monitor/Projector. Thats how they all work ~ just that in your case Fijitsu ~ being the 4th largest Chip-Manufacturers know how to make things work. Having said that, some of the more expensive Graphic-Cards have switchable 'Sync-Lock' you Guys call it 'Frame-Lock' ~ thats simply a market ploy because most people would'nt know a 'sync-pulse' if it bit them ~ then why should they ? Ed,Jim,Ken,Colin and others In previous Posts I had wrote..." there is more to Video-Projection and Monitors than meets the eye" ~ you asked for it and here it is !! and particularily note about Frame-Rates and Synchronising-Pulses not to mention 'corrupted' JPeg-markers when using PZR effect. Link:- A short Course on Video-Signal Formats (Mitt Institute Technology) http://web.mit.edu/6.111/www/s2004/NEWKIT/vga.shtml Link:- From one of our suppliers Maxim Semiconductor Corp ~ Video Basics. http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/an_pk/734 These will explain in detail what's going on with that Video-Signal going to your Projector and it is clearly shown that if your Show does not fall within the Specified-Standards requirements of YOUR PARTICULAR PROJECTOR....then need I say more ! Enjoy, Brian.Conflow.

Ken & Picsel, We have to be careful what we are talking about here, as follows:- 1) Computers: All modern PCs and Laptops have a Frame-Refresh rate of 60.Fps (mistakenly) called 60.Hz Refresh-rate. The National 50/60.Hz Grids are no longer used for synchro-purposes as modern PC.Clocks are ultra accurate and are auto-refreshed every 5/7 days over the Internet (XP and Vista). 2) Televisions:- In the USA you have CRT.TV Sets and LCD.TV and Plasma.TV. The TV.Signal is sent out at (nearly) at 60.Fps and is intergrated into 30.primary frames which are 'interlaced' with 30.secondary frames giving a composite Picture of nearly 30.Fps. (Interlacing is only needed with CRT.Screens whereas. Progressive Scan is used for Digital.Screens). 3) In Europe we have the same senario only that we Transmit at 50.Fps and a similar 'intergration' takes place ~ only this time we have 25.fps/25.fps interlaced for CRT.TV Sets and Progressive Scan for Digital Screens. 4) Interlacing is part of the internal mechanism of a CRT.TV and nothing to do with the TV.Signal nor the National Grid. 5) In the "old-old days" of 405 Line.TV and old 525 Line.TV we used the National Grids 50/60.Hz as a synchronising signal for TV's. Thats well gone ~ nearly 35 years ago. Brian.Conflow.

John You wrote.." you can also select 1080i, 1035i, 720p, 575p, 480p, 575i & 480i. I have no idea what the last group are"... These are the ATSC Video Standards....(Advanved Television Standards Committee) It means that your Projector has the ability of selecting and switching between these Standards ~but~ your PC may not have the VGA-Drivers to compliment those selections should you run a Slide-Show with PZR effects. The 'suffix letter p or i' indicates as follows p=4:3 Screen Ratio and i=16:9 Screen Ratio (Including HDTV) You need only be concerned yourself with these Stanfdards:- 720p ~ 1080i Standards unless you have a monster Plasma Screen then 108i and 4801i would apply. The 'Link' below will describe all:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_Standards Brian.Conflow.

Hi Peter, I remember that I commented previously on your Fujitsu PC and I had said in general terms that the Data-Bus on older PC's/Laptops is much slower than modern PCs and consequently the 'Refresh-Rate' should be lower than 60.Fps. If its an (Older-Generation) design of Laptop the probability is that's its using a Led-Monitor or a TFT Led-Monitor and the 'refresh' of those was lower than 60.Fps ~ now this is conjecture, because I don't have your Laptop Specs to hand, so its a guess !! Frame-Refresh Rate should be available from your PC.Monitor 'Screen Properties' or from within 'Device-manager'. Have a look at the 'Attachment' this may help you to find out the 'Refresh-Rate' in Laptop-Monitor Mode and in Ext.Monitor Mode. Sorry, I dont have the exact system-detail of your Device-Manager nor your Monitor-Properties (Windows selection system) but have a look at the attachment anyway... Regards, Brian. P.S You will need to 'expand the Image' when opened

Yachtsman, Your Post #82 above with your suggestion makes "solid common sense" and it really is about time that such a "Test-Show" was made with an Instructions-Sheet in the Show-Folder. The whole Pte-Show could easily be installed on any cheap 'Memory-Pen' or on to 1.Gb Camera 'SD-Card' which most PC's and New Projectors will accept. That neately sidesteps all the CD artifacts which most PC exhibit from time to time. Golden Rule:- If it can't play from a 'Memory-Pen' nor from an 'SD-Card' the equipment is useless ! In Equipment selection terms, it sure would sort out the 'men from the boys' instantaneously, and I can see some very 'Red-Faced Salespeople' running for cover ~ that alone is worth the effort making the 'Test-Show'. Good suggestion... Brian.Conflow.

Ed and Jim and Interested Exactly what are the 'Frame-Rates of your respective Projectors ??.....Forgive me for saying this...But there is not much point in looking into New Projectors specifications unless you become familiar with these figures in the 1st. instance. As to what Panasonic are saying in 'Red' below.....in simplified Englsh terms,viz:- 1) The jerkiness is related to how the picture frame is process. On old CRT monitor. The picture is process line by line. Therefore you will not see any jerkiness. In old TVs and Computer CRT Monitors the Picture is built up on the Screen as 625 Lines Pal-Standard (Rastered) but there is also a small Chromenance delay due to Colour persistance of the special phosphurs used to coat the back of the CRT Tube. Consequently any small errors are masked by the Colour persistance. 2) On most flat panel display or projectors, the picture is process frame by frame.... Yes thats true, but what they mean is that the Picture is digitally generated 'pixel by pixel' synchronously in the Vertical and Horizontal axis at a Frame-Rate of 60.Fps, so what you see is virtually instantaneous and 'Flicker-Free'. 3) The actual displayed frame and the incoming frame are not at the same frequency. That is also true because Projectors display at TV-Video Rate (Approx 25/30 Fps) whereas your PC is running at 60.Fps they say that in their #6. point below ~ and indeed I have said that on many occasion's before. 4) Therefore some in-coming frame's will have to be dropped every now and then. Thats also correct for the simple reason that the 'Projectors Memory Buffer' can not handle those Frame-Rates coming from your PC and I have also mentioned that before. 5) That is why you see the jerkiness on a pan. The faster the refresh rate of the Graphic card, the more jerkiness the display is. Also written and explained in detail before 6) The displayed frame is very close to a Video frame that is why you can hardly see it in Video. In my recent Post above I advised that the PC frame-Rate should nearly match that of the Projectors-Rate (TV-Video Fps) Looks as if Panasonic are saying the same as I am ~ only difference being that I was trained by Sony Corp. 7) I would suggest try a computer with a component out and feed it to the projector through the VGA port and change the VGA port to YPbYr. Then you should be able to select 720p or 1080i signal which will give you the higher resolution They are suggesting the YPbYr method which is the 'Home-Video Format' using 3 Video-Connections with Analog-Output VGA ~ but that won't get around the compatible 'Frame-Rate' problem nor the 'Buffer-Overflow' problem's and dare I say -lack of Sync-Pulses- for what is essentially a Motion-Picture Format not a "straight" Slide Show. Seem's to me as if I am 'Posting in the Wilderness' for all the good it's done ~ Sure Video is a steep learning curve, no different that PTE 5.6. But one thing is for sure, unless PTE (Video) Members become familiar with simple Video-Facts no amount of button-pushing nor purchase of expensive equipment will overcome the current problems experienced. Also, I don't see any future in waiting for Projector-Manufacturers to change their 'proven-designs' for what is a Fringe-Market ~ better off to get to grips with what we have ~ alternatively change the whole thing to MP4 Video Format, that might work !! Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Hi All, I see that many PTE Users are still having problems 'Signing-on' and 'Logging-In' to U-Tube Facilities and I had said some months ago that U-Tube had changed its routines to perform these functions. The 'attachments' below and the Help-Link below should go a long way in solving these problems. Cookies:- Yes, needed in its new 'Log-In' routines ~ You Tube needs 1st.Party and 3rd.Party Cookies but firstly its important that you clear out your existing 'Browser Cookies' as a security precaution and to create a 'priority-list' of New Cookies where You-Tube does not need to search down an endless list of good and corrupted scripts. The 'attachments' are in priority order - as a sequence of actions - needed to get things running properly and the 'Link' brings you to a very comprehensive Help-Pages Menu. http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/...amp;topic=16585 Hope this helps ~ and do let others know if it works for you... Brian.Conflow.

VIDEO TIPS There is so much conjecture about this problem concerning 'Monitor-V-Projector Image Quality' and stability that I fear many have lost sight of the 'basic principles' in getting two Machines to work in harmony to achieve stable performance. The following 'Tips' will not correct some PC Video-Card limitations nor will they correct Projector limitations. Tips:- 1) Make it your business to find out the 'Frame-Refresh Rate' of your Projector-System. 2) Adjust your 'PC Graphics-Card' to have the same 'Refresh-Rate' as the Projector. (Adjusted in properties). 3) As a 'starting-point' adjust your PTE Image sizes to 1024x768 pixel. (Dont use non-standard big Images) 4) Keep PZR effects well below 5.secs duration for any effect. (This for testing purposes). 5) Only use the VGA output from your PC to the Projector. (Better chance of working properly) 6) If you are using 'Text' in your Shows make sure its 'Arial TT Font'. (*Universal Font for PC's-Printers-Projectors) Pre-Testing your Set-Up After adjusting your 'PC Video-Card' Frame-Rate to correspond with the Projectors-Rate run your Show on the PC Monitor. Now scrutinizs the Production for any artifacts of "cogging, jitter,or smear" ~ if these are evident on your PC.Monitor then I'm afraid your PC.Graphics Card is not good enough to render the Show to the Projector. However should everything be O.K on your PC set-up ~ but it falls apart on your Projector, then obviously your Projectors' Buffer-memory can't handle the input load in this Format. I hope these basic adjustments will helps some PTE users to become familiar with 'basic rules' of PC to Projector usage. Brian.Conflow. *(Other Fonts are available for Slideshows but these must be 'Fully-Scalable TT Fonts' either of type T-1 or T-3)

Colin, That's a heck of a surprise ~ I would have thought such a good program like Zone Alarm would have an 'unload' feature activated by RH.Clk on its Tray Icon such as Norton 2007 in the 'attachment' below. This is not a criticism, I'm just surprised by that omission ~ and I must say ~ I sympathise with 'Philly' and very much appreciate his theatrical frustration (wry smile) but had it been me, it would have have been Ships-Engineers language in use... Best regards, Brian.

Dave, In a perfect World you would be correct ~ in fact most Mac PC's do just that when they go into hibernation, but then Mac is Mac and they re-start without a re-boot. You could do that with older Win '95s and '98s unfortunately modern Windows PCs are usually 'Energy Compliant' particularily Laptops. It's been our experience here in our Workshops when you leave Pro 2000's or XP's overnite (even with HD's always on) you arrive in the morning to a blank Screen where the darn PC or Laptop has gone into 'hibernation' or 'standby' and has consumed most of its Virtual-Memory overnight then when its activated it either does a Re-start ~always with Memory refresh~ or a partial Boot-up again with Memory refresh and there in lies the problem..... Memory being re-freshed without a full Boot-Up Scan. Been there and got caught out a few times. So much for Energy-Compliant Pc's. The way around that is to wake it up then hit the Start Button and do a full Re-Start and as you know it closes down first ~ and then hopefully it Re-Starts with an intelligent Scan. I've come to the conclusion about these things....you can never win !! and you would need eyes in the back of your Head ! Below is a little known Utilty which says it all, see Attachment Link:- http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/ScripTrap/scriptrap.html Brian.

Hi Dave, The vast majority of these "bugs" enter the PC during daytime operations. They don't activate during that period otherwise they would destroy themselves. They wait for a next morning 'Boot-Up' which activates them where upon they 'Trojan' through the PC and usually replicate copies of themselves and change signatures and try to "gag" your AV. (That is if you are not protected) Understanding how they work is fundamental to proper protection:- ** The vast majority of Virii activate on PC Boot-Up.....Your AV is scanning for unknown Scripts (the Virus) whereas all other Programs have a known 'tagged' signature. The unknown script has no 'tag' so the AV goes off to your Virus-Definitions and Oh.Oh !! we have a match...Virus XXX is trying to execute (but is blocked) until recognition is established. now the AV quarantines it and so forth. Had that been a proper Program it would have been blocked until checked for 'rogue-scripts' then rejected or passed and recognised. Sometimes your AV makes a mistake called a 'false-positive' and you can see why from the above... Late Night Scans would be very usefull indeed but the problem being...you have to hang around and wait for it to finish because the AV sometimes ask's you for instructions when it finds something....so I'm afraid the Start-Up scan wins hands down. This is by no means exhaustive but the basic operational principles are similar for all Anti-Virus Programs, some have 'patented' features for speed and counter-checking like Norton 2009 which is extremely fast (vast improvement on old Norton)...its what you pay for Hope this is not too complicated... Regards, Brian.

Eric, Just to answer that point...."If that means a two hour scan everytime I switch on".... Certainly not ~ I don'use AVG but it must be capable of doing an 'Intelligent-Start Scan' lasting less than 2 minutes ? In comparison Norton 2007 and Norton 2009 will 'Boot Scan' this HP Laptop in 20 seconds.....just goes to show the differences in AV programs ~ but do keep in mind how those "bugs" operate ! Best regards and I hope things have speeded up for you, Brian.

Eric, Over 95% of all Virii and Invasions into any computer work as described below ~ the remaining 5% are Web Hijack Tools. Most Virii load into a Computer automatically and reside somewhere with direct access to Memory and simply hibernate there doing nothing waiting for you to 'Log-Off'. When you 'Log-On' again they autostart with the PC Boot-Up process, and migrate with the starting process throught out the PC. ~then its too late~ It's absolutely vital and crucial that your Anti-Virus starts up at Boot-Up so when the Virus.Exe starts your AV catches it !! It's been our experience that 'Times Scheduled Scans' are practically worthless because the damage has been done before that, and because most modern infections are designed to 'gag' your Anti-Virus particularily those of the 'Timed Scan' types. Summary * A good Anti-Virus is designed to protect the PC ~ not try and fix it when its infected. * 95% 0f Virii are designed to 'activate' during the PC start-up process ~ later AV scanning is useless. * Your Anti-Virus must start-up at PC Boot-Up in order to offer maximum protection. Hope this helps with any decisions you make... Brian.Conflow.

Colin, You are so correct, problem being that any "worthwhile" Anti-Virus Program has 'background-scanning' as a base feature. Not only will this effect a Pte.Exe but also impacts on Adobe-Reader and in particular those Programs which have access to any Comms-Ports despite the fact that XP and Vista have excellent (inbuilt) Firewalls as do Cable-Broadband routers. For the past while we have a routine of physically 'switching-off' our Internet conection's and switching-off our AV then working 'Off-Line'. It is now impossible to go 'On-Line' without being prompted to switch-on our AV first. And practically speaking who bothers to check 3rd Party CD-Discs and Memory-Pens with the AV Program ????? well we don't ~ but then we use a 'Sandbox-Program' into which we load 3rd Party materials and run those Programs from there. It's very effective and it works, and the advantages far outweigh the small learing curve of a Sandbox. This might help users with 'slow-up' problems. Brian.Conflow.

Steve, Steve you have ignored two important facts:- ..."You propose that Frame-Rate of change and inter Rate-of-Change are the underlying cause of the problems"...... With respects, ALL rates of change at 60.Fps which is the PC output rate will occupy a massive amount of Projector Memory well beyond its installed limits ~ although it will try to do the job anyway ~ with consequential results depending on Make and Model and cost of Projector. As I prevously said in my Post #48..."Reducing the Frame-output rate to 25-30 Fps"...will help the Projector this irrespective of 'change-rates' because the system will attempt to "lock" into the Processor-Synch timing specified by the NTSC and Pal Standards for which it was designed. Simply throwing 60.Fps at it and hoping for the best is not the answer... Brian.

Hi Jim, I think I get your point ~ you are you are Panning & Zooming on the 'visible' portion of the Image but when you attempt to go "Off-Screen" to P&Z into the invisible portions you have a problem... There are many ways of doing Pan and Zoom and I simply don't know which method Igor is using ?...but they all come down to the fact that space must be made available for the dynamic artifacts dispelled outwards beyond the borders of your Monitor. 1) Lets assume your Image is 1600x1200 pixels on a 15" Monitor ~ Lets select a portion of this Image, pretend its 800x600 pixels. 2) Now you P&Z across that or into it ~ no problem there ~ but do remember you have factually told the PC to select that "portion" for that purpose and the VGA has done a great job on that Image-Portion. You now decide to go "off-screen" into the invisible portion of the Photo. But in fact thats not available because the Zoom and Pan artifacts dispelled outside the Monitor-Frame to the left, right, top, and bottom will now occupy that 'invisible' space. How can I simply explain this ??...As you Zoom into a Picture portion the Image is coming at you and folding away into the (invisible) left, right, top and bottom of the Monitor Frame...it must go somewhere otherwise it could not Zoom back out again. So it must be going into what you call the 'invisible-Image part' ~or put it simply~ the disposable parts of the Zoom are folding around into the back of the Monitor where they cant be seen ~ but when you Zoom out they rejoin the origional P&Z portion. So in effect the PC has selected a 'working-portion' of the origional Image and made a same-size transparency of the Image remainer into which it is dumping the expelled side artifacts of the Pan & Zoom process from where it can retrieve them when needed. It's my opinion but it appears that the 'invisible' portions of the original Image are not accessible using the PTE Pan & Zoom method. (I could be wrong) Brian.

Hi Peter, As you know most 'Composite Video Signals' are 'Analog' signals usually outputted as a 'Standard' on the older type of VGA Socket. Where in comparison the PC.Monitor signals are 'digitalally' generated ~ most Monitors being rasterless require digital inputs. More modern versions of the 'VGA-output' can detect whether the external Monitor is an Analog or Digital device and they switch to the appropriatee function automatically. (Some can maintain both functions simultaneously depending on the PC.Bias System and its associated Graphics Card). In your case you are doing this 'manually' by pressing the "Fn Key" (Function numeric Key) ~ however your VGA can't do both functions simultaneously, ie:- Analog & Digital outputs together...thats your problem. Having said that, the 'older' PC has more chance of success when rendering out to a Projector as it is considerably slower than modern VGA/Graphics Cards. May I also compliment you on your recent Tests ~ great job. The following is just a suggestion, it would be interesting to find out if a "DVD Video-Recorder" could uptake a Pte.AVI with PZR effect and replay that back from the DVD Recorder/Player into the Projector. That should be possible because all the timing and sync signals would be present and it would be a "Streaming Video" into the Projector which would not 'over-tax' its Buffer memory. (It should be possible to do this without making a DVD simply using the Recorder-memory) That might be an alternative answer to PZR-Users ~ whilst killing two birds with the one stone...and these Recorders are now below $250. Best regards, Brian.

Jim, Could you be a little more lucid on...."this is only an issue on zooming outside the original portion of the image"... Do you mean that there is a 'border' around the Image and you are zooming into the Border ?? And the 'Border' itself ~ whats its Image format ? Brian.

Colins Post #44 above Hi Colin, Indeed I remember your original post on this problem, and yes you are on the right track, and to be honest I had forgotten all about this problem until I read the entire contents of this thread. It's very difficult to give an explaination for the 'sources' of what appears to be a 'common problem' but in reality it's a common visual manifestation which can arise from many sources....."a matter of cart before the horse" For the purposes of debate let's keep this simple and firstly let's establish a few common facts:- Digital Projectors 1) These machines are so different to the older Analog Projects (3M-Carousel) it's like chalk and cheese. 2) These Projectors are designed to handle Television-Video Signals...without the Transmitter and certain Avi's. 3) Television-Video such as PAL, NTSC, and Secam are "streaming signals" processed by the Projectors Video-Processor. 4) Streaming-Video has little need for internal Memory-Buffer capacity consequently most are about 4~8.Megabyte size. 5) All the "Synchronising-Timing" is contained within the Television-Video signal whether live or from a DVD. 6) These synchronising-pulses keep the internal Video-Processor "locked" to the stringent standards of PAL and NTSC. 7) The Projector is contineously "Re-Drawing" and "Re-Freshing" the projected image at 25.fps (Frames per sec). 8) Its 'Memory-Buffer' is designed to handle this workload, but you can not see this 'redrawing' on the Projector Screen. Your Computer a) As I said the Projector will handle "Still-Images" within the usual formats of VGA, XGA, etc,etc... These 'Still-Images' will rarely exceed the internal Memory-Buffer capacity of your Projector. c) However when you start using Pan & Zoom which are "Motion-Images" non-synchronised and non-streaming at very high Frame-Rates often in excess of 60.Fps (PC Standard) this will completely overwhelm the Projector-Memory leading to pixellation, image-banding, colour-bars, jerking and who knows what !! d) Yes there are exceptions * Some really good Projectors which can apply 'interlaced re-scanning' of the Motion-Image which reduces pixellation. * Semi-Pro Projectors designed for Commercial Conference Work often with Buffer-Memory exceeding 64.Mb. * Some 'older PCs' whose VGA output is much lower than 60.Fps and some whose VGA is running at low Buss-Speeds. Summary * Projectors are designed to handle (at best) some 25-30 Frames per second ~ you are throwing 50-60.Fps at it !! * Projector memories are very small, (approx) 4/8 Mb ~ you need a minimum of 16.Mb to get stable PZR.performance. * When using PZR try and reduce your PZR Scans times below 5.secs for Lo-Cost Projectors. * When choosing a Projector try to acquire a Model which has independent Vert/Horiz Inputs (Twin input Home-Cinema type). * If possible try and purchase a Model which has 'Interlace-Redraw' facilities. * Most Important try and re-adjust your VGA-output down to 25/30 Fps....take the load off your Projector ! This explaination is by NO MEANS exhaustive but simply attempts to identify the most common operational problems with most low-cost Projectors ~ good ones still cost + $1500. Hope this helps and below is a 'quik-spec' as to Projector signal inputs. Brian.Conflow.

Bob, With Nero-Burner Software and other Burner-Software its normal to select the 'Burner-Program' first,then guide it to the Folder containing the item you wish to burn to CD/DVD-Disc. Then select the attributes of how you wish to format the Burn process then select 'Burn'...this provided you have a Burner-Program on the PC. Many programs like PTE will offer an 'Auto-Burn' facility but sometimes this doesn't work due to the particular set-up of a PC...so try the above as an alternative. Brian.Conflow.

Hi Lin, You might try the following 'Link' ~ I'm sure they will offer some help. Link:- http://www.gaeilge.ie Brian.Conflow.

Peter, As you say this is an old 'Hand-Me-Down' Machine ~ you do not state whether it's a Win'98 or Win'98.Se ? they are two entirely different machines. Worse still many Programs have simply been deleted and this will give problems and certainly will give you major headaches should you use any Registry Cleaner. This PC is in serious trouble (not apparent to you) because there are many 'orphan' Dll's and Reg-Keys and Ocx's not to mention dat.Files and other 'orphan-Files' associated with the OP.System which Reg-Cleaners will simply strip out leaving you with a crippled System. Dont blame the Reg-Cleaners, these are great tools once the OP.System has full integrity ~ your's doesn't, be careful ! There are 3 ways of doing this job:- 1) Use 'Revo-Installer' to systematically clean up the PC ~ that takes about 8 hours after pre-prep. (Screen-shots below). Revo can find the remnants of 'deleted' Programs and uninstall these and can also clean up Windows and remove 'junk'. 2) Get an old Win'98 or Win'98.Se Install Disc and overwrite the old OP.System with a fresh Copy of itself.(Thats best) Before you do that you will need to copy any Programs and Drivers needed for future usage ~ thats called pre-prep. 3) Reformat the Drive and then install a brand new copy of Win'98 or Win'98.Se ~ again you will need pre-prep for Drivers etc. Do not try to install any other Systems except Win'98 or Win'98.Se....the Firmware is not installed to support other Systems. Hope this little bit of prudence will avoid 'looming' headaches. Brian.Conflow.