potwnc

Well, I brought this up as part of beta testing feedback in the original beta annoucement thread, but there have been no comments. Since beta testing feedback seems to have split up into seperate threads, I started this one just to discuss aspect ratio! Here's my dilemma. All the images for my shows are scanned at 800x600. I want to keep that aspect ratio (4:3) when I burn my shows to DVD, because most of my customers still use 4:3 TVs rather than the newer, 16:9 digital TVs. I know that DVDs _can_ have that aspect ratio because I've rented many at my local Blockbuster that use it. When I produce a custom AVI at 800x600, that's what I get - an AVI with frames of 800x600 pixels. But not all those pixels are taken up by my original images. PTE is reducing the size of the actual image and putting a thick black border around them. I've burned that AVI directly to DVD using Roxio and also using Roxio after a TMPGenc encoding to MPEG2. In both cases I see the thick black border on my TV screen. Is anyone else having this problem, or have all of you who've managed to burn a DVD been using shows with 720x480 images? Is there still a thick, black border when using 720x480 images? Igor, is this intentional? If so, what is the purpose? I'd really appreciate help with this because it looks unprofessional and I don't think my customers will be happy with it. And I really can't take the time to rescan every slide to 720x480 and go through all the original digital retouching I did - that would be a 3-month project by itself!!!! Ray

I just tried my first AVI output and DVD burn using beta #2. A few comments: 1) my jpegs are 800x600. I want to maintain that aspect ratio in the AVI and DVD. When I play the AVI in Media Player, and also when I play the DVD on my player connected to my (4:3) TV, there is a thick black border around the images. The 4:3 aspect ratio is maintained, but the images don't occupy 800x600 pixels on my computer monitor and do not fill my TV screen. Is this intentional or am I doing something wrong? 2) The images look great on my TV but are washed out when I play the show from the same DVD on my computer - it's like the image brightness went up about 500%. Again, am I doing something wrong? 3) The volume level on TV playback is much louder than with store-rented DVDs. When I play the AVI in Media Player the volume is at the same level as when I "play" the original .exe file. 4) I'd like to post smaller (200x150 pixel) samples on my web site. When I select that size for custom AVI the AVI file is still as big as when I output to an 800x600 AVI file. Surely it should be much, much smaller in size? Would I have to resize all the original images to 200x150 to do what I want to do? If so, what is the point of having a custom size option? 5) If I want to burn, say, 5 shows to a DVD as 5 "scenes selections (chapters)" do I really have to have 5 instances of PTE open on my computer? I can see the reason for having 1 instance of PTE running, but why can't I just copy the first 4 AVI files to a new directory, render the 5th AVI file to that directory and then just keep one PTE running while I mpeg2 encode and burn (I'm using Roxio Easy CD/DVD 6). I am a user interface designer by training and I guarantee that the official release of this version will get bad reviews because of this if the user really must run 5 versions of PTE at the same time. I don't want the above to sound negative! I think Igor et al. have done a great job here and please understand the above as the feedback of a beta tester only. Video output has long been my #1 priority and I believe that with good beta testing PTE will kill the competition!!! Ray

I also welcome this news! It was at the top of my priority list. Once in avi format, the Roxio software can take care of interactive DVD menus etc. Igor, I will be very happy to be an early beta (or alpha) tester. Just out of interest, what avi codecs are you targeting? Also, will we get full motion (29.97 fps) video? And will there be a frame size limit? I would like to be able to go to at least DVD/PAL resolution. Thanks, Ray

Roger, Have you looked at Toast from Roxio (http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/index.jhtml)? I haven't used it myself but I have considered it for that glorious day when I get a Mac. Ray

Well I'm not Irish, but I do know that a pint of the black stuff (Guiness) usually solves most problems. I too think of the A/V sequence at the time I'm shooting - in fact I begin thinking about what might look good in A/V sequences before I get to an assignment, when I'm doing the initial research for an assignment. That's perhaps easier for me than most as I specialize in indigenous peoples. I do "old" style A/V presentations - dual projector, dissolve etc. as well as digital. You still can't beat Kodachrome 25 for quality But having PTE to work out the sequencing and fade and dissolve rates sure makes the whole process faster. I also add my welcome to you. Ray

Liz, Roxio will do both for you - DVD and VCD (it will also do SVCD). Look at the DVD builder tool and import pictures instead of video. But Roxio is certainly not the best tool to do this. You are severely limited in choice of how long the picture remains on screen and length of transition. If precise synchronization is critical to you you have 2 options... (1) Wait until PTE supports video output (if it ever will), (2) Go with a program that already supports it. ProShow (and Proshow Gold) seems to be the best of the bunch out there right now. Ray

Give me a few days and I'll test this.

David, I'd recommend a dual-format burner for sure. Your customers can check for compatibility of their player here: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

I got my new computer today and... the same exe files I reported on above work like a charm :-) So I guess the question now is... what is the minimum configuration we should demand of our users to be able to experience a video-like effect in our slideshows? I can say that 3 GHz is enough and that 400 MHz is not, but that leaves a huge range. Has anyone else experimented with this software? If anyone would like my 48 jpeg files and pte file to help reduce the time it takes to do the experiment, I'd be more than happy to send them along. Ray

Yes I realize that the thread here is about a means to get the _current_ PTE version to _simulate_ video (at least pan and zoom). I just thought I'd alert others to some of the technical aspects of video itself. Anyway, here's the results of some further testing I just did: I used Rostrum Camera to generate a 1.9 second zoom on a jpeg image at 25 frames/second. I set 400x300 pixels as the frame size. This produced 48 individual bitmap files. I converted them to jpeg files, averaging 70 Kbytes each. I then loaded them into PTE (version 4.11), set the display time of each image to be 40 msec and the transition effect to be "cut - no transition". (Video - or at least PAL video format as used in Europe - is 25 frames/second, which means each image is exposed for 40 msec, which is about the maximum time necessary for people to experience the illusion of motion.) When I created the .exe file, the resulting slideshow was very, very choppy. Instead of 1.9 seconds, it lasted about 8 seconds. I created a second .exe with a 20 msec display time for each image. The 2 slideshows looked exactly the same! This could be because I'm using quite old technology (an AMD K6/2 400MHz processor). I just ordered a 3.02 GHz replacement and I should and will repeat the test on that machine. Or it could be a limitation of PTE itself? Hopefully Igor will read this and comment on that. In either case, my current K6/2 400MHz is representative of my target audience for my slideshows. So, unless I'm missing something the problem here may not be actual video (mpeg/avi format etc.) so much as CPU power on the target machine. Ray

Well... a word of caution to all... I too downloaded it and was impressed. But as those who have worked with it will realize it introduces many technical issues. Don't misunderstand me - I also _want_ PTE to eventually produce video - but all be aware of the techical problems that are not Igor's fault: first PAL versus NTSC and Secam... second codecs - there are so many of them! Third formats... we all know mpg and avi, but what about conversion to/from mwv, asf, rm etc? Then there's resolution - VCD, SVCD and DVD all have different resolutions and they're also different in PAL and NTSC formats. The technical issues go on and on... Bottom line - we would all like Igor to add video output, but can we all deal with the technical circus that it would introduce? Ray

Al, Unless I'm mistaken/out of date with v 4.10 features, going to non-synched mode reintroduces the problem that pte shows run at different speeds on different hardware. I need to guarantee the same speed across all hardware (withiin reason - I know not to target a 486-33MHz for example) because most of my audio tracks are narration (I make documentaries) that need to be kept in synch. Please expand if I'm misunderstanding your reply. Ray

I'm one of those who would like to see avi or mpeg output as top of my wishlist. But also, for my presentations, I often have quite a lot of silence. If I have a 10 minute show, that's a 10 MB mp3 file. If half of the show plays in silence - just the images - I have 5MB of extra, unnecessary file size. Since many of my users download from my website, that adds up to a lot of unnecessary bandwidth. Would it be possible to have a "play next track starting at slide x" option? Happy vacation, Igor! Ray

Igor, I tested beta #10 with my old pte files and it appears the problem with pause/reverse in the custom sync. play window has been fixed. Ray

Igor, In answer to your request under the beta #9 thread... I am not at home this weekend, but I will test beta #10 and get back to you here on Monday (USA time). Ray

Igor, Before I had time to do the test you asked me to do, you'd posted beta #9. I replaced one of my 7MB mp3s with a 2.8 MB. I still see the pausing/reversing behaviour. I repeated the test with beta #9 and got the same result. I tested my old project (with the 7MB mp3) with beta #9 and got the same result. If you like I can zip up all the files and upload them to a web server for you to download and test for yourself. Ray

Well, since this thread is "off-topic" maybe someone here can help me with this one: I'm looking to buy a professional grade microphone to improve the quality of the narration track on my slide shows. I've been told the SHURE SM58 is pretty much the industry standard. Does anyone here have any thoughts on that, or recommendations on a different microphone, or a reputable vendor from whom to get a good deal? I'm looking to buy it new, not used. Thanks, Ray

OK I'll try it with an mp3 of that size and get back to you tomorrow. The files I've been using have all been constant bit rate, 128Kbps, 44.1KHz, 16-bit, stereo. Ray

>I'll wait for the result when there are no transition points. The problem disappears when there are no transition points. >1) So no problem at all in produced presentations and music DOESN'T pauses? The problem only with time-line? Correct >3) Will the problem occurs with WAV music file (not mp3)? No. I converted one of the mp3s to WAV and tThe problem disappears. >p.s. please make sure that your build is "PicturesToExe v4.10 beta #8 - Your project name" (in the caption of the main window). Yes, I'm currently using beta #8. Since the same slideshows don't have a problem in v. 4.01, I can only assume that the new music player in 4.10 is too much for my 400MHz cpu when it has to decompress mp3 files and run the timeline in synchronization mode (unless someone else reports the same problem on a more powerful machine). You may find this interesting though. On one of the slideshows, I see the problem at the very beginning, before the timeline hits the transition to slide #2. Presumably it is doing a look ahead and preparing for that transition, and again, my cpu can't keep up with the processing power needed to do that advanced calculation and also decompress the mp3 in real time. Ray

To Al >Ray, does the music pause too? Yes, the music pauses to Igor >1) Was there similar problem with previous versions (4.01 or 3.80) of PTE? No. Even when I create or save the .pte file using a 4.10 beta, then re-open it in 4.01, the problem doesn't reproduce. (I no longer have 3.80, so I can't answer on that.) >2) Will this problem occurs if you temporary remove all transition points and then click Play button? I'll try that and get back to you in 24 hours. 3) What usual size (of files in KB and width/height) of pictures? I'm using 800x600 jpg files, each approximately 200KB >4) Did you hear pauses in the music playback when cursor goes back or pauses on the time-line? (Thanks Al for last two questions!). Yes 5) Will the problem also occurs with another mp3 file? I've seen it with each of 5 mp3 files I've tested - each about 7MB

I've downloaded and tried most of the 4.10 betas. I consistently see the following problem: In custom synchronization mode (with my own manual timings), when I play (always using a single, small (7MB) mp3 file for the music track), the show hesitates about every 12 seconds... it will pause and/or even go back about 0.3 second and then resume from there. I don't see this in normal preview mode or after I've built the .exe. I'm using an AMD K6-2, 400MHz with 512MB memory, Windows 200 Professional, service pack 4. Has anyone else experienced this? Ray

I am pleased to report about 50 downloads of this slideshow - most of them coming from this forum! To those of you who have - or maybe who will - download this slideshow, and/or look at the website, I really would appreciate your comments (either on this forum or via the contact form on the website itself) as I am quite new to the digital slideshow world! Thanks :-) Ray

Since I just mastered pte, I decided to post my slideshow here. It's at http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/aetademo.jsp I would welcome any comments about the slideshow or the web site itself on this forum. Thanks, Ray