tom95521

+1 for render slideshow on multiple monitors. Currently screensaver limited to primary 1 monitor. I have a screensaver that has option to extend or duplicate (serene screen marine aquarium 3). So maybe this is possible, not sure how difficult. Thanks, Tom

Hi Lin, Elon mentioned after the launch how the Tesla looked like it was fake. He said CGI animation could have generated a much more realistic Tesla in space. Thanks, Tom

SpaceX recently launched their new Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time. The double booster landing is surreal. This 2 minute slideshow was created with PTE, Bandicam screen recorder, and Bandicut video cutter. Backup of slideshow here (80 MB). http://tommendenhall.com/pte/Falcon_Heavy_1.zip Thanks, Tom

It could also be that the CPU is slowing down while on battery power. I have an older Lenovo IdeaPad with a mobile i7-3610 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M and it does appear the CPU frequency drops when on battery power. Also I don't *think* that PTE utilizes all the hardware capabilities of newer GPU chips. It supports older GPU that do not have decoding/encoding capabilities. DirectX 9 is getting old. Tom

Even if you force Windows to use the Nvidia GPU it might lower the clock frequency or maybe automatically switch to Intel GPU while battery is discharging to protect the battery. Are you disabling the Intel GPU in the BIOS?. They suggest buying a Li-po battery but that seems like a costly solution. https://superuser.com/questions/855372/why-are-my-games-slower-on-battery-power-even-with-the-power-plan-set-to-high-p Tom * In Windows 10 Fall Creator release update you can monitor GPU in task manager. It might show you what changes when you switch from charge to discharge.

I think the DVD engine is licensed. Maybe a good compromise is to keep the option to build the .iso image and then use an external burner like imgburn. I have not burned a DVD slideshow in probably the last two years. I rarely watch movies from DVD or Blu-ray. Almost everything is streamed these days. Tom

Interesting. I didn't think anybody would be using a time or number limit. I thought a professional photographer would use a copyright watermark on their images. Thanks, Tom

I wonder if anybody really uses this feature. I think it was for designed for professional photographers who wanted to demonstrate their photos in a slideshow? The problem is that computers can now use screen capture software that can record high quality videos of the slideshow. I have tested capturing slideshows with Windows 10 Game Bar, Nvidia ShadowPlay, Bandicam, D3DGear, and AverMedia hdmi capture. They can all capture at 1080p 60fps (except for my older Avermedia hdmi capture is 30 fps). Even if HDCP is enabled the new digital cameras can record video directly from the HDTV screen. I think this feature is a false sense of security that your slideshow is protected and maybe it's time to remove time limited usage from PTE? Thanks, Tom

I don't think Affinity Photo will ever replace Photoshop but I prefer to spend my money on other software. For the majority of my hobby needs Affinity is adequate. It will be interesting to see how well the select subject works. I know Apple is having problems with their new face ID detection. I guess neural networks are just like humans, not perfect. Thanks, Tom

I purchased Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer when it was on sale. I really like the apps. I mostly use Designer to make logos and objects that I insert into PTE. I have Topaz Labs plugins that I still need to install after my SSD upgrade today. http://www.miguelboto.com/affinity/photo/plugins-support/win/ I really like their Vimeo tutorials. https://vimeo.com/affinitybyserif Tom

Installed update last night. It required about an hour to install. Interesting to see the GPU listed under task manager now and watch it when a slideshow is running. Today I'm migrating my 1 TB C drive to 500 GB Samsung EVO 850 and 4 TB Hitachi drive. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/directx/2017/07/21/gpus-in-the-task-manager/ Tom

That is a good idea. Other programs like VideoRedo and Bandicut allow you to trim at keyframes without encoding again. If the trim point is not at a keyframe it only encodes the section between the frame and keyframe and then joins them together. I was hoping the graphics hardware could encode in video converter application to speed things up but I believe the GPU encoders only work on H.264 and H.265, not MPEG-4 codec. Tom

Allow file explorer drag and drop into video converter task list. Display information about input file size, duration, frame size, average frame rate, and average Mbps. Not sure where to display information. Maybe right click on filename in task list. Display estimated output file size and average Mbps based on current conversion settings. Support HEVC/H.265 conversion. Thanks, Tom

Hi Lin, The Steam Link box sits close to the TV and is connected to an ethernet cable. The bedroom PC is also connected to an ethernet cable. There is an ethernet switch connecting both Link and PC together. The link is 100 Mbit. The Link is connected to the TV using a standard hdmi cable. The Link also supports wifi (2.4 and 5 Ghz) but I have not tested because ethernet was easily available. From what I have read newer versions of the Link firmware has greatly improved wifi. There is a detailed stats overlay that shows dropped frames and average about 27 Mbs stream. The latency runs at about 20 mSec. I never have dropped frames and it runs at 1080p 60. I think it helps if you have a newer graphics card because the Steam streaming server running on your PC supports real time hardware encoding using the graphics card. The only downside is that you can not use the PC for other purposes when the Link is active. The PC display mirrors exactly what the Link sees. When you stop streaming you can use the PC. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9772-WHJM-4676 Thanks, Tom Update: I tried to capture the Link hdmi output with my Avermedia 30 fps max hdmi to usb encoder but it actually looks much nicer than this. No noise between fades or hesitation with your snow style. The Link does 60 fps decoding if your gpu is relatively new.

If anyone is interested the Link is on currently on sale at Steam this week. I purchased a spare for $4.99 US dollars. It is a very interesting device and can play both exe and video slideshows streamed from the remote PC. http://store.steampowered.com/sale/controllergames/ Tom

I have tested the Steam Link device and it is very impressive. The connection between my PC and Link is wired ethernet 100 Mbit (did not test the wifi option). The PC running the steam software can hardware encode the stream using Nvidia, AMD, or Intel GPU options. I have a Nvidia GTX 1050 ti graphics card. The steam PC server can be configured for Nvidia NVFBC (frame buffer capture). The client stream speed is up to 50 Mbits/second. The PTE slideshows are very smooth with very good audio quality. Latency should not be an issue with slideshows but with other games and apps I did not notice a delay. The link device is small, very well constructed with 4 types of AC power connectors included. You can use a keyboard/mouse and game controller either using bluetooth or direct usb connection. In the steam software you can create a category just for slideshows. I recommend this device if you have a powerful PC in one room and want to watch slideshows (or run any other windows app) on your living room PC. You do have to install the steam software on your PC to enable streaming. https://www.amazon.com/Steam-Link-pc/dp/B016XBGWAQ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Tom

That's good to know. My desktop PC has a Nvidia GTX 1050 and it works great with PTE. I have been testing Bandicam screen recorder using the Nvidia NVENC VBR encoder for H.265 at 1080p 60fps. The Windows 10 media player will play H.265 videos. It's amazing how well it captures without dropping frames. I hope some day PTE will also support 10 bit and H.265 encoding. Tom

Would it be possible to use the hardware encoder option on the gpu to speed up encoding of H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) without sacrificing quality? I notice that some screen recorders like Bandicam, Nvidia ShadowPlay, AMD ReLive, and the Steam Link host PC allow you to chose the encoder. https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro Thanks, Tom

Another free and open source screen capture and recorder program for Windows. It's not new and seems to work better capturing PTE if you use the default color profile. It can capture higher than 30 fps if your PC is fast enough. https://getsharex.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShareX Thanks, Tom

This hardware device was originally designed to play video games on your living room HDTV from a PC in another room. I was wondering if anybody has tried using the device to stream slideshows (or PTE editor). It's supposed to do 1080p 60 over wired ethernet (for best results) with support for USB and Bluetooth devices like a mouse, keyboard, and game controllers. The remote PC does near real time encoding (up to 30 Mbps) so the quality should be as good or better than most mp4 video slideshows. I have one on order after watching a few YouTube reviews. Apparently it goes on sale quite often and I purchased it at a lower price than listed. http://store.steampowered.com/app/353380/Steam_Link/ Thanks, Tom

Hi Lin, Very nice. I didn't travel up to Oregon to see the event. My PTE created version from 3 weeks ago based on how I thought it might look. It does have the ISS passing in front of the sun during the eclipse. Also a few stars are visible. :-)

Hi Lin, That is much improved. I'm still playing around with using Z pan instead of zoom because (I think) it will allow me to change direction of the dots from shrinking to expanding by just reversing the frame 180 degrees. Also it would simulate parallax like a real infinity mirror and since white can be used as a mask it leads to interesting possibilities with image dots instead of just white or single color dots. Thanks, Tom

Masking with text allows you to do interesting things. Thanks, Tom

That is great news. I did remember that I can add a custom shadow by duplicating text, change color, blur, opacity, etc. That will work until a better method is available. Thanks, Tom

It would be nice to be able to set text alpha channel transparency like you can for rectangles. I know you can set the alpha channel of the font in animation properties but that also changes the shadow transparency.