goddi

Greetings, I recently got a little confused about when my 2-year subscription to 'VideoBuilder' was up. I wasn't exactly sure. And then, I wasn't really sure which of the 8 items in the Create menu was the 'VideoBuilder'. I have been using PTE when there were not so many choices and I think I just had brain-lock. I couldn't really tell, I new I was close, so I just paid the $34 and renewed. I finally figured out that the term 'VideoBuilder' applies only to the 'DVD-Video Disc' choice. And now (I never noticed it before) but under its Help/About, it shows when the 2-year subscription will end. Very nice. Maybe that is new? There is a lot of discussion about 'VideoBuilder' in the Forums, but the menu choices do not reflect that exact term. I think it would help a nubee, and people like me, if the actually term is used in the Create menu. So, my suggestion is to rename the 'DVD-Video Disc' selection to 'DVD-Video Disc (VideoBuilder)'. Gary PS Since most people seem to spell it 'VideoBuilder' without the space, maybe Igor should change the spelling in the menus to reflect that. It helps when you do a search in the Forums to narrow the results down to that specific item. It would eliminate all results with only the 'Video'.

=================== Ron... I finally figured out a way to get it onto YouTube. I figured out how to get the PTE slideshow up on YouTube in HD 1280x720, with aspect ratio in 16:10. They really look fantastic compared to what I have done in the past. I did not resize any images. I originally had the show in 4:3. I changed the aspect ratio in PTE to 16:10 and chose HD in the 'Publish on YouTube' window in PTE. I think this is a 'sweet spot' for me. It really came out nice. If you want to see them, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer..._type=&aq=f One is in English and one is in Spanish. The title of the English version is 'The Story of Ramses - AHURA' and the one in Spanish is called 'La Historia de Ramses - AHURA'. Another way to find them with Search is using 'AHURA Ramses'. Anyway, wow...the PTE shows can look great on YouTube. Gary

================ Ron... I did look around the Forum but I could not see anything that suggested the requirement to resize all the images just so they would work in YouTube. All this is not too clear to me. The images in this show are 1000x750 and the slideshow is created the the 4:3 aspect ratio. However, I did see the statement that "YouTube requirements for 4:3 is 640x480". So I went into the Custom settings for the PTE's YouTube publishing window and chose 640x480. I ran the PTE's YouTube publishing window again and it looks like that works. The graphic was not cut off. Is this the way to do it??? Gary

Greetings, I am trying to use PTE's YouTube upload process in 5.6.4. The show is saved in 4:3. However, when I start the PTE process to upload the show to YouTube, I see that the top part of an image in the opening of the show is cut off a bit at the top. (Maybe this happens at the bottom too, but I didn't have a graphic down at the bottom). This happens with both the SD and the HD selection. I didn't continue with the process. When I created the show, I put everything within the "safe TV zone". Is this normal is do I have to move everything even more within the "safe TV zone"? Gary Added Later: I attached a Word file with the original image and the image as it looks in the PTE's YouTube upload process. YouTubeUpload.doc

=============== Colin, Thanks for taking a look at the slideshow. Stand in line. It is unbelievable to me what one can do to an animal. But thank goodness for the people who volunteer for the AHURA organization. Also, thanks for testing to see if the last slide came on. Very strange. I have found that it happens to old PTE shows that I have made many years ago. I wonder what the heck it could be. Since it seems to be happening only to me, it must be my PC. But it makes no sense!!! I'll do more testing. Thanks... Gary

============== I posted my show here at PTE right after I uploaded it to Beechbrook. I guess he has not had time to post it yet. Check back later, I hope there wasn't a problem. Thanks... Gary

As I mentioned in the Author's Notes, this show is a very emotional show for me. I prepared it for the AHURA (Humanitarian Association for Animal Rescue). After coming across the images and the story behind them, I had to memorialize the event and give it to the association for their use. It is hard for me to switch gears now and talk about the mechanics of the show. This is the show where I found that, even though I had checked the box to keep the last slide on the screen, the show would flip to the first slide. Since the last slide has hot links to the AHURA website, their blog and an email address, I wanted it to stay on that last slide. So my ultimate fix, until Igor finds the problem, is to add 60 seconds to the last slide. I would like to know if anyone would leave the show on the screen for a longer period and let me know if the same thing happens on their PC. Thanks...Gary P.S. Thanks to Nobeefstu for his template (Begin_v560.zip) that he created in PTE that allowed me to include the introductory Notice. I tweaked what he had a bit to work it into my show. ADDED LATER: Beechbrook decided not to post the PTE show on its site: "This organization is certainly a wonderful cause for sure. What a very sad story !!! However the images are far too graphic to place them on Beechbrook.Com. They do not fit my disclaimer clause of: 'Our web site is child safe and family friendly. The content and material found on beechbrook.com is suitable for all audiences.' " The slideshow depicts a true story of an Animal Rescue organization dealing with an abused dog. Though the story is sad, I do feel that the average person should be able to view the story. I have put it on MediaFire for you to make your own choice (10Mb): http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=17e171a...04e75f6e8ebb871

=============== Eric... You don't have to confuse me...I am already confused... But, in your previous email, it looked like you thought I wanted to "close show after last slide". I do want to keep the last slide on the screen, as your screenshot shows. Maybe I am doing something entirely wrong in my making of this show. The '4 secs' is just a default that I am ignoring. I first used the 'Auto spread...' just to get all the images spaced out evenly along the selected music. That worked out just about right. But then, I unselected the 'Auto spread...' and went into the Timeline to make minor adjustment to individual slides. So, yes, the Timeline should show an varied timings for some slides. I never clicked on the '4 sec...Set for existing slides'. Am I doing this incorrectly??? But, the fact that the problem also occurs in a completely different slideshow, one made only with 'Auto spread...', makes me think it is a bug in PTE. Gary

============= Peter/Ken... I just tried it and sent the link to Igor. I usually prefer to FTP directly to the person, but I keep forgetting about MediaFire. Thanks. Gary

============ Peter... I think I was not quite awake this morning when I responded to Yatchsman1. You are correct. I am not sure if Igor wants more than the .pte file that I already posted. I asked him if he needs the 'Backup in Zip'. I am not sure how to send that large file to him, so I am waiting a response from him. Thanks for all of your help. Gary

=========== That is interesting. I do have it ticked in the Project Options. See attached. Gary Added later.... Ooopppss. I misread your reply. Yes, I want to 'Keep last slide on the screen.' KeepLastSlide.doc

Whoops... I don't think the file got uploaded... Let me try again. I forgot to zip it... Gary Ramses_Span.zip

========= John... I have had my antivirus portion ('checking of files when they are opened or copied') of my SystemSuite turned off for a long time since it was causing the other problem of locking up the PTE program when I ran the Create Exe. The SystemSuite people just gave up on trying to fix that problem. I disabled the Active Protection, too. But I still got the problem. :( Gary

======================= John and Nobeefstu... I am using 5.6.4. I am attaching the .pte file for the Spanish version that has only one music file (and it does not have your Startup window file) to make it simplier. Thanks for looking at it. Gary Added later... I forgot to zip it so look at the next couple postings below...

============== Greetings, Yes, and the EXE showed the problem. At the end of the slideshow, it showed the beginning slide. Since the problem showed up even with another slideshow I made a few months ago when I ran it in Preview, I don't think starting over would help. I don't have any customized slides. It is just too strange. I never noticed it before. Maybe because when the show is finished, I normally would just close it down. At first, the beginning slide started to show up within seconds of the supposed end of the show. But I also now see that if I don't close the slideshow down, the beginning slide will pop up from 1 minute or 2.5 minutes and up to 3.5 minutes after the show ends, if I don't touch anything. Gary

================= Peter, I just sent the email to Igor. I hope he will check into this. I don't have 5.5 anymore. Thanks... Gary

================ Well, I thought of another test: I just selected the "Auto spread slides along music" and ran the Preview. It, too, after about a minute or two, after the slideshow ended, showed the first slide.... This really is driving me crazy. :blink: Do you think if you looked at the PTE in Notepad, that it might reveal something? I looked but I am not sure what to look for. Gary Added later: I just ran a slideshow that I made several months ago. Immediately after the end of the slideshow, the first slide popped up!!! What the heck is going on????????? Maybe I should re-install PTE?????

================= Peter, I did some more testing. I am using the Spanish version that does not have the OGG file, so that it can be eliminated as the cause. This version as only one music file: I selected the "Set End of Last Slide at End of Music". Result was that the problem reoccured. I then replaced the music file with a different mp3 and edited it down to match the original length of 3:46 minutes. I tested it before and after selecting "Set End of Last Slide..." and in both instances, the problem occurred. What is also strange about this problem is that sometimes, the first slide appears within a couple seconds; other times it has occurred after about 2:30 minutes and another time it was about 3:30 minutes. Sometimes, it does not seem to happen at all. It is consistently inconsistent. I am running out of ideas to test.... Gary Added later: Had another idea--repeat Lin's suggestion. I removed the music file. With no music, the last slide appeared in about 1 minute after the show ended.... So can we eliminate music as being the problem???

=========== I did some more testing. The last test where I thought moving the 'End of the last slide' line 3 notches to the left would help...it did not. What is so funny is that the problem does not show up immediately. I thought it was working properly after moving the 'End of the last slide' to the left. I walked out of the room for a short while, came back, and the first slide was on the screen. I tested it again and sat for a while to see what would happen and about a minute or so after the proper ending of the show, it popped up with the first slide again. I just can't see how the music file would do this. Very confused. Gary Added later: I tried another test. I combined the 2 music files into one, using Audacity. That did not help either. Same problem.

================= So now I see how to 'fix' the problem. One way is to delete the last 6 seconds of the sound file. But I don't understand why, if the music file extends past the 'End of the last slide' line, the slideshow would then end with the beginning slide. I usually plop in the music and have the slide evenly spaced out over the music. So this show, where I don't 'Auto spread the slides', is a bit new of a techinque for me. I like it but I see it can have its pitfalls if you are not careful. I wonder if another solution is the always drag the dark green 'End of the last slide line to the far right, which then changes to a lighter green. Is this what most people do to avoid this problem??? Gary Added later: Well, now I am more confused. I went into the file that I had deleted the last 6 seconds of the music file, and dragged the 'End of the last slide' line to the far right to get the bright green line at the end of the timeline. The problem returned.... Added later: Ok, I did a test. I moved the bright green line (that was at the very end of the timeline) to the left by 3 notches. It changed back to the thin dark green line. The problem seems not to be happening. So is the bright green line a 'bad' thing? Still not sure why or what is going on...

================ Lin, attached is a file that shows the new timeline at the end with the red and green lines. Gary Red_line.doc

==================== Lin, You might be on to something! I took out the music and tried many times but could not create the problem. Then, I put the music back, and the problem occurred. I have 2 music files. One, an ogg file, at the beginning, is just a few seconds long. The other music file, about 3:50 minutes, an mp3, has about a 6 second tail of silence at the end of the file, if that helps figure this out. Can you see what is going on here? Thanks... Gary Added later: I removed about 6 seconds from the end of the longer music file. It seems to have fixed the problem. Now I see the "Music End" red vertical line and then after that, then about a half second later, in the timeline, a green vertical line shows at the end. Before, there was not red "Music End" vertical line. Can you explain what this means??? Thanks... Gary

================= Lin... No, I don't want to do that with this show. I normally do spread the slides evenly across the music but now I am going outside my normal envelope... and using the timeline to give more time to some slides, less to others. Is there anywhere else to look at??? Problem is sometimes it ends with the last slide as expected, other times it goes to the first slide at the end of the show. I have attached a screen shot of the Timeline's last slide at the end of the slideshow, if that helps. Gary Timeline.doc

============= Nobeefstu... I am using "When show ends keep last slide in show on screen" and "Sync music and slides." "Time Interval for new slides" is 4 seconds but that does not come into play since I have "Sync music...", right? The last slide does not have any customized settings. By the way, I am using your 'Startup Window' file (Begin v560.zip) that you posted in the Forum back in Feb. I just came across it this week. I embedded the two slides directly into the show itself (not as a 'Run application on exit' as you originally had it), and seems to be working really nice. Thanks. Gary

============ I looked and I don't have it checked. The music does not start...only the first slide appears. Sometimes it appears in a couple seconds, other times, about 10 seconds. Gary