potwnc

Sometimes I want the work I'm doing in O&A to synchronize to music. It would save a lot of time if the music played when I hit the play button in that view.

Lin, Following up on my previous reply, please contact me via the forum if you are interested in adding my HD tutorial material to the tutorial/documentation you are working on. Ray

Mario (and others), What PTE - and other software like it - does is very complex. There are really two sides to what you're asking... The first has to do with help, in general, about using any software package. While PTE does an excellent job by following MS Windows standards, making things as easy as possible, there are some things about slideshow/video production for which MS Windows itself is not yet very well designed. Igor and the team have also done an excellent job working around such MS Windows limitations. While I agree that it would be great to have a comprehensive help file, as Lin said, PTE 5 is a new product and the documentation/tutorials available are catching up. There's certainly potential and need for a book and those of us working on tutorial material may want to pursue that eventually. The second has to do with help about the area of work (slideshow/video production) that PTE is designed for. Buying PTE or any similar product will not make you an expert in that area. Just to give you an example, I had to learn many things about video production in general, and HD video production specifically before I could produce anything useful using PTE or begin writing the HD tutorial I'm working on. That's not a flaw in PTE or the documentation it comes with - it's just that this area is very very complex and requires a lot of knowledge that I simply had to take the time to learn. Any software that can support this (like PTE can) will assume that you already know or are willing to find out certain things that will not be covered in a help file because the in-depth knowledge required is just too great. To some extent you will always have to learn by trial and error. Those of us you credit for supplying material to this forum did it that way! But I and other experienced members are always willing to help you and others with specific questions you have. Stay with PTE and you'll find it's the best software out there for this kind of work I don't know of any tutorial CDs for sale - maybe you can post the web site links you came across? Ray

I just read this... it's too early to know what's real and what's speculation at this point, but I will follow it, research it and update the tutorial as necessary. Anyway, those interested in Blu-ray technology may want to read the thread at: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=880994

Carol, Thanks for the input. Do you have any experience of Windows Media Encoder, 64-bit versus 32-bit? I'll be putting XP-64 on a new PC I'm building, dedicated to video production. I've already verified all peripherals support XP-64. Igor has already indicated that PTE 5.1 will have optimizations for dual-core CPUs, but I'm trying to future-proof my investment by building a PC with 2 quad-core CPUs (and 8GB RAM for now). Hopefully that will scream through the rendering compared to my current single-core 3GHz box. Ray

I'm building a new PC and I'm thinking of putting XP 64-bit edition on it. Does PTE 5 run OK on XP 64?

I'll echo the same thoughts... PTE 5 is excellent... you're way above the competition so... RELAX!!! Ray

The original link has now been restored.

HD video usually comes with a higher-definition soundtrack than CD-quality (16-bit, 2-channel). Could PTE support this in the future?

Oops! Now the new one is there. Thanks

I have just uploaded an updated/expanded version. I will be on vacation for the next 2 weeks. Hopefully there'll be some more feedback by then. Ray

I have uploaded a very early first draft of the tutorial at: http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/ptehdtutorial.jsp. Please let me know if it is along the lines of what you are wanting, what it is lacking etc. Ray

Now that PTE 5 has been released I have uploaded the documentary tariler in HD to the Peoples of the World Foundation web site at: http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/audio-visuals.jsp. 1080p is encoded at 8Mbps, 720p at 5Mbps and 480p at 1.5 Mbps (all VBR). Please first follow the link posted on the page to make sure your PC can play 720p and/or 1080p before downloading - otherwise you will be disappointed. As I posted earlier, I'm very happy with the results. PTE 5 is the only software I know of in the pro/consumer market that can handle 1080p and also film frame-rate (23.976 fps). Congratulations to Igor and the team. I will credit them in the final version of the documentary. I would like to hear reports on this thread from anyone who downloads the trailer(s) and how the playback looks on their PC. The HD tutorial will be posted soon. Ray

OK you've convinced me... give me about a week and I'll release a 1st draft. Ray

Doug, Check your private messages. Ken, I would have posted it on my website for download, but like I said, the audience is too small right now to make it worth the effort. Ask me any specific questions you have. Ray

Well I guess I would have produced a .pdf file since that is the most universal format these days. As for length, I'm not sure... maybe 4 or 5 pages. Ray

Igor, With beta 17 I no longer get the exception. But I still don't get the results I expect. How can I produce a .avi file that works like the preview in the test project - so that the aspect ratio is 16:9 and none of the green shows in the video? Thanks

Well I'm not sure I want to prepare a tutorial for an audience of 3! You can always ask me any specific questions you may have. Some of you have seen my documentary preview before in HD made with other software... I'll soon (in the next week) be posting it on my web site re-made with PTE 5 in both 720p and 1080p. I'm very happy with the results!

Igor, Please check your email. 1) Does this problem happen with all projects? If only with one particular project, please send me source files. I sent them. It only happens with my test project where I want to clip the 800x600 source images to 720x405 and only when I follow your instructions: "If you want to create 16:9 video for DVD, please set 16:9 aspect ration in Screen tab of Project options. And 853 x 480 (in AVI output window) for NTSC disc" 2) Does this problem happen only when you import AVI file to Sony Vegas or even when you try to play AVI file in media player? Both. 3) What version of Sony Vegas you have installed? See my email. 4) When you discovered this problem (since particular beta version?) Beta 15, but I didn't try it with earlier betas. I get similar problems with the latest beta 16 also. 5) Try temporarily disable option "Use hardware acceleration in Editor and Video" (in Main menu -> View -> Advanced). And add AVI file to Sony Vegas again. This made no difference

With this version I get: The exception unknown software exception (0x00000000) occurred in the application at 0x00000000 then Exception EAccessViolation in module apr.exe at 00002DC5. Access violation at address 00402DC5 in module 'apr.exe'. Write of address 13E9C004. then PTE exits. Would you like me to email you the project files?

I get the same errors with this pre-beta 16 also.

Igor, When I do this (Beta 15, PTE codec) as soon as I try to play the .AVI file or import it into Vegas, I get apr.exe errors: The instruction at "0x00402dc5" referenced memory "0x0458c004". The memory could not be "written". followed by Exception EAccessViolation in module apr.exe at 00002DC5. followed by Exception EOSError in module apr.exe at 000160F6. System Error. Code: 5. Access is denied. followed by Unhandled Exception at "TFolderMonitor" Disposing (D:\D_Common\WinLib\Win3\wpTypes.pas, line 532) Then I have to kill apr.exe from the Task Manager. I don't have a D: drive on my PC. Any ideas?

(Beta 14) I have a project with 800x600 slides (4:3) but I set the screen size to 720x405 (16:9). So I expect the screen size setting to clip the source images. It does this in preview mode and in the created .exe. But when I create a .AVI the clipping is gone - the full 800x600 pixels of the images appears. I would expect both to look the same?

I've now worked enough with HD rendering to be able to write a tutorial of sorts. By no means would it be fully comprehensive as this is a complex field in its own right. It wouldn't always be up to date as this field is constantly changing - now more so than ever as vendors (including WnSoft) position themselves to begin taking a slice of the emerging "prosumer" market. If there appears to be enough interest I could probably get at least an initial version by the time PTE 5 is first released in non-beta. Ray

Yes it is possible... ... but not by doing this. When you create a DVD the files created must be compatible with the DVD standard. That means creating a video file in MPEG-2 format, not AVI format. (Or in VOB format, which is the same as MPEG-2 except that there can be more than 1 audio track.) MPEG-2 format does not support 800x600. Use the "create AVI" option instead. Use a codec other than the Pictures To Exe codec if you want the file to remain on your HD after you have exited PTE.