goddi

thedom.... Interesting to hear you have a similar problem with associating PTE with the program. I'd like to hear if your reinstall changes anything. I will try to digest what you suggestions are for my other 2 problems. Thanks for the ideas. I'll fiddle around to see if I can get it to work. Thanks... Gary

Tom... I understand your procedure very well. I have done it many times in the past for other programs. But for some strange reason, it does not work for my PTE, on my PC. I can only assume that it has to do with something in my Windows since it works for your system. I have installed my PTE directly in the C:\ as opposed to where it defaults to the Programs folder. But I don't think this has anything to do with it... Thanks... Gary =========================

Ken... That is not the problem. I created the slideshow in 5.5 Beta9. I can not get Windows to associate the PTE extension with the PTE program so that it will open the PTE program when I click on the PTE slideshow in MyComputer. I have tried the making the association in Windows XP but it will not put the PTE association in the Open File listing. Are other people having the same problem or is it just something going wrong in my system???? Does it even have anything to do with the way PTE installs itself??? Gary ===============================================

Tom... this exactly what I have been doing but Windows XP will NOT put the PTE choice in the "Open With" listing. Is this a Windows thing or a PTE thing??? Gary

Greetings, I just created a slideshow with 5.5 Beta 9. I have 3 questions that have arisen. 1- File association: With the 4.3 version, I could click on a .PTE file and the PTE program would open with this file. However, I have dumped 4.3 and now only have the Beta 9 to work with. When I click on a .PTE file in MyComputer, it does not find the 5.5 Beta 9 PTE program. I have tried to force the File Association but it does not work. I have tried to do the 'Open With', 'Choose Program' and Browse to the location of APR.exe and select it. But it never shows up in the file list and it will not associate the .PTE extension with the PTE program. I am using Windows XP Pro. Of course, I can open all PTE file in the program with File Open, but I'd like to be able to click on a PTE file in MyComputer and open the program with it. Any ideas why I can not associate the PTE extension with the PTE program??? 2- In the slideshow I just created, I have made a 'Menu' slide that has 2 'buttons' that run external applications (2 other PTE slideshows). I would like to have a sound effect played when each of the buttons is chosen. I can not find anyway to play a sound when a button is chosen. Is there a way??? 3- In this same slideshow, I'd like to have a long music file play until one of the buttons in the Menu slide is selected. I have tried this but the problem is that the music file from the Menu slide continues to play while the music from the selected slideshow plays. I'd like to know how can I get the music that plays during the Menu slideshow to stop as soon as one of the main slideshows starts. I'd appreciate any suggestions... Thanks... Gary PS. I forgot to add that the slides are sync'd to music (in the 2 main slideshows).

================================ No, please be as obvious as you can!! When I read, "click on 'Write these files to a CD'", I thought it was trying to tell me to use a Windows method of burning the files. After reading your reply and thinking a bit, what I need to do is just open Nero, for example, and Add the files to the list to be burned from the folder with the files that I ran the Autorun program on. I did create all the files needed by the Autorun program (the files to burn with the launcher and the inf files). I didn't try an actual burn yet but I think this is the solution. I just could not interpret what the "click...." statement meant. Am I on the right track??? Thanks.... Gary

--------------------------------------- Brian... I tried the Autorun program you mentioned in your response to Barbara. I installed it and I gave it a try. When I get to the end to do the Browse, the next step is to click on 'Write these files to a CD'. From what I can determine, I should see this choice in the Send To menu. I did put a CD in the writeable drive. However, the 'Write these files to a CD' is not there or anywhere I can find in my Windows XP. Can you point me in the right direction to get this to work??? Thanks.... Gary

Al and Lin... I actually made an MPEG. Thanks, for the steps, Lin. And I tried the 'wrinkle' and it worked. Since doing that, I have made several different sizes and codecs and all the AVI's worked!!! Super. The thing that I do not understand is having to go into the Timeline to select 'Autospread'. In the old versions, when you chose the slides to be sync'd with music, the slides were automatically spread over the music's time. Now, I think itis a mistake to have to go into Timeline to have this done. Even though I know that it now has to be done, many times I just forget that it has to be done and I spend lots of time trying to figure out why it does not work until I remember to go to the Timeline. I wish Igor would put the 'Autospread' back to make it automatic when you select sync'ing the slides with music in the Main tab. Am I missing something here??? I think I have seen many new users having this problem until someone tells them they have to go into the Timeline and select Autospread. I also think most newbees would want to stay away from the Timeline at first until they get the basics down. I have made many slideshows and never use the Timeline...mostly because I have not figured it out... Thanks all for helping me through my problem with creating AVIs. Gary ==================================

Wow, Powtwnc and DicK!!! Glad to hear I haven't been going crazy for nothing. I hope Igor reads your findings and can fix the bug. Super work for you guys. Thanks. I guess I just have to wait to see what happens now. Thanks... And thanks for the MPEG steps and I'll see if I can do your new 'wrinkle'. Sincerely, Gary PS I'll have to look for 4.49 and give it a try. ===============================

Thanks for the heads up. I was just about to do it. Gary ========================

Lin...Thanks for going the extra miles with this problem. I'll try what you say about Irfanview and let you know. By the way, how can you create an MPEG with PTE? I don't want to open another can of worms but I don't see that option. Thanks... Gary ==================================

Lin... Thanks for the AVI and MPEG. So it looks like it can be done. I have tried doing this with the original images and after the images were reduced in size (used NetGraphics Optimizer2). I sent a message to Igor to see if he wants to see the files. Appreciate your help... Gary ==================================

Dick asked: Does it play ok when you preview the slide show? As already mentioned, it looks like your images are on a different and possibly slower drive? If it previews ok with images from the same location, it should make an avi ok! Yes, in Preview it plays perfectly. Yes, my E: drive is a separate hard drive but I don't think it is any slower. How big are your image files? I checked the actual image size in dimensions and they are about 2.5" x 3.5"(about 100 k each). Gary

Hi All, I put all the files on my C: and ran it through the Create AVI but it did not make a difference. I have 154 GB of free space on the C: drive. This time, I numbered al the slides so I could see what was going on. I have 31 slides and the first and last ones play twice. The only slide that play in the AVI are as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, and 30 (the 2nd 30 does not play). Here is the file with the slides numbered: http://www.sendspace.com/file/gn5mo3 Here is a zipped file with all the images and the PTE file: http://www.sendspace.com/file/fimba8 I appreciate your help and how some one can figure this out.... Thanks... Gary ================

Thanks, Dick and Lin... Here are two links to 2 test files: Test 1: http://www.sendspace.com/file/l8xae2 Test 2: http://www.sendspace.com/file/n3hyia Here is my Hardware setup: Operating System: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600) Processor Main Circuit Board: 3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 8 kilobyte primary memory cache 512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P4P800 Rev 1.xx Bus Clock: 200 megahertz BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1021.006 08/15/2005 Memory Modules: 2048 Megabytes Installed Memory Display: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 256 mb video memory 52 GB free on drive. My slideshow is only 30 slides and I use 320 x ??. I hope you can see what is going one here. I tried Winamp and Windows Media Player. Same problem. Thanks... Gary ===============================

Ray... After reading our post, I thought that the large files I had might be causing the problem with creating an AVI file. I was using my original images' size that is approximately 3.6MB each. PTE has no problem with this size for slide shows but maybe the AVI creator was. So I reduced the images down to about 100 kb each. Recreated the AVIs but it did not help. For any codec I have tried, the AVI stops at the 4th slide (but the music continues to play). Then it skips some images and shows another, but freezes and skips and freezes some more. With the smaller file size, I did not get the "image load error" message. What a disappointment. I wonder why the AVI creation works fine for some people but I can not seem to find any way to make it work. Gary

Greetings, Piece of cake??? Not for me. I have the latest version of PTE. I have made many DVDs from PTE. But when it comes to making an AVI...next to impossible. I have tried before and the frustration of doing it has kept me away from further attempts. However, having read this thread, I tried it again. No luck. I tried the Xvid and DivX6.8 codes mentioned here. Sometimes I get only sound, no images. With another codec, as the music played, I got "Image Load error:" as it cycled showing each image's path, but not the image. When I do get what looks like is going to be a good AVI, it plays about 4 slides then the images freeze (while the music plays) and then skips some images and is very rough and bounces around to different images. Why is it so difficult to just make a simple AVI? Some can do it...but some (me) can not. Can anyone just give the steps to do to make it work? I love PTE when it comes to making a slide show...but when it comes to making an AVI, it is totally frustrating. I have tried many different codecs but just get a mess. What am I missing??????????????? Thanks... Gary

Thanks, Lin. Great explanation. Now I only have to put them into some practical exercises. Sincerely, Gary

Lin, I have tried to find the distinction/definition between linear and non-linear as it relates to PTE, but I can not. Can you give me a "Linear for Dummies" explaination??? Thanks...Gary

Jeff... Super...I'll be looking for it. Thanks... Gary

Lin... Ran the show and had no problems. All smooth. NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 256mb Gary

Jeff... "Simple"??? Easy for you to say! I can sorta kinda see what you are talking about. I played with the Timeline and I can see what you mean about moving slides around to match commentary, etc. What I am not clear about is when/why to use some of the menu items. With 4.48, to spread the slides over the length of the music, all you had to do was click on "Synchronize music and slides." Now you have to go into the Timeline and make additional selections. The confusing menu items, for me, seems to be "Synchronize music and slides (SMS)," "Auto spread slides along music (ASSAM)," and "Arrange all points (AAP)." Say I pull in a group of slides that I want to to play exactly with the length of the music. I would click on SMS. If I click on ASSAM, the only thing I see happen is the Timeline goes a bit grey. Then I would click on AAP. The slides are now spread all the way to the end of the music. But now I can go in and move a slide or group of slides to tweak the slide to match any commentary or music. So I am not sure what effect the ASSAM selection has on the Timeline. It would be very helpful if there were explanations given when you move your mouse over each choice or selection so you understand better why and when you would want to make a selection. I love the program but I feel that a true understanding of when/why to choose some of these items is sort of a black box...at least to me. If you can shine anymore light on my confusion, I'd appreciate it. Thanks... Gary

I brought up this question in another topic listing. I think it got buried and I did not get a response. So let me try again: I ran into this 'problem' early in the beta testing trials, as others seem to have. When you select 'Synchronize Music & Slides' (SMS), you also must select 'Add arranged points' in the Time Line to have the slides spread all the way to the end of the music. I would like to know why one would select (SMS) without also selecting the 'Add arranged points' option. I am not trying to fight the issue but I just want to understand why you would want to choose SMS and NOT have the slides automatically spread along the entire music's length with this one selection (so the slides match up with the end of the music). It seems to me that logically when you click on the SMS, this would automatically spread out the music without needing an extra step. I'm not sure if I am making myself clear. But basically, I'd like to know what is the advantage or usefulness in NOT using the second step, 'Auto spread slides' after you select SMS? If I remember right, in 4.48, you did not need a second step. Thanks... Gary

Got it!!!! I fiddled with what you said..."to change the global setting for slides to be added from now on." If I changed the Screen % (and not click on 'Set for existing slides') nothing changes. However, I see that it will change only the next added slides. Also, if I already have some in the Slide List and want to change only some of the slide's Screen %, I had to take them out and bring them back into the Slide List, after first changing the setting in Project Options. Thanks for setting me straight. Lots of possibilities here that are 'hidden'....at least for me!!! Thanks... Gary

Greetings... I also ran into this 'problem' early in the beta testing trials. But, I would like to know why one would select 'Synchronize Music & Sides' (SMS) without also selecting the 'Add arranged points' option. I am not trying to fight the issue but I just want to understand why you would want to choose SMS and NOT have the music automatically spread along the entire music selection with this one selection. It seems to me that logically when you click on the SMS, this would automatically spread out the music without needing an extra step. I'm not sure if I am making myself clear. But basically, I'd like to know what is the advantage or usefulness in NOT using the second step, 'Auto spread slides' after you select SMS? If I remember right, in 4.48, you did not need a second step. Thanks... Gary PS. I also have a similar question about having to make a second step and have to select "Set for existing slides". It seems that when you are making the selections in Project Options, you would want that to be done automatically for all the slides, without having a second step. Am I missing something here? Why would I NOT want to select "Set for existing slides" when I make a selection in Project Options???