Nathan

[ My question, is the label side, printable or not, actually a factor in anybody's results?

I've tried a number of brands, including non branded from a computer stall at the local Saturday market. The latter became a hit and miss affair, my Pioneer A-06 writer would not even recognise some of them, result, a waste of good money. Finally bought some Verbatim, excellent value and never a problem disc, DVD+R/RW being my preference.

Thanks Ken, I've been using SIW for some time now, being the forgetful type have found it very handy 'remembering' the odd passsword or two. It's also advisable to run SIW from a flash drive, in my case keeping it out of sight from nosey grandchildren who might just take a peep in the Secrets feature wondering what Grandad has to hide.

Thanks for a speedy response Tony. Have just tried downloading again after a period away from the computer, it's now working fine. Many thanks Bill, your help is most appreciated.

Evening All, I'm having trouble downloading Beechbrook Cottage for some unknown reason. Have made four attempts without success, the progress bar is taking forever so havecancelled each time. I'm on a Broadband connection and all other websites download swiftly including these forums. Anyone else experiencing this? Is there a particular reason?

The mind boggles Ken! So, if Bill uses this program, rips the commercial DVD to AVI, a Pictures to Exe show to AVI, imports all AVI files into his Movie Factory render/copy to VCD or DVD format and Create Disc he can achieve what he wants to do. Sound feasible to you? Copyright issues aside, it would be interesting Bill if you do go ahead to keep us posted. Nathan.

Bill, I'm in agreement with Ken on 'ripping' the commercial DVD. Apart from never having heard of this being done before to what you require, not only will the content be possibly too large in gb size for a blank DVDR which is limited to 4.5gb, it will be copyrighted. A straight forward copy for personal use is normally accepted but for no other purpose, otherwise you risk breaking copyright law. The AfterDawn forums at http://forums.afterdawn.com/ cover discussion on all things DVD, who knows, you may find a definite answer there. You say your DVD player only supports VCD/SVCD, what make is it?

Bill, I'm guessing, are you copying VCD/SVCD to a DVD blank, (be it + or - doesn't matter)? If so, then this could be your problem. VCD is Mpeg 1 format, DVD is Mpeg 2 format. Is your authoring software up to converting AVI to DVD? If not, then follow Ken's advice and purchase Nero 7 for Nero Vision. Personally, I use Ulead's Video Studio version 7, an old version but it does the job. When the AVI is created I open Video Studio and import this file to the timeline, then from the options, VCD/SVCD/DVD, choose to render to a DVD format file (mpeg2), either saving or automatically rendering directly to a blank DVD disk. The rendering takes a while longer for DVD than VCD as the resulting file is huge. Nero is quite capable for all this, I just stick with Ulead out of habit, it's been my preference since starting slides using Windows Movie Maker2. As for your DVD player, it may only support one or the other of the main formats + or - Most players support both but it's worth checking.

I don't think you will see any major difference, if any, in viewing DVD-R or DVD+R on your TV. DVD-R seems the most popular, why I do not know, may be it's a price thing, I certainly use DVD-R. I make PtoE slides for friends and family who prefer viewing on TV in DVD format yet playback quality is nowhere near that of on computer. Bought a Cyberhome DVDR 1600 Recorder, price less than £70, from ASDA stores, a bargain and highly recommended for the price. The surprise came only when opening the box to find it records to DVD+R/ +RW not DVD-R/RW although will play prerecorded DVD-R/RW,there was no indication on the box. A batch of DVD+RW cost nearly the price of the recorder.

Ken, I use Ulead's Video Studio 7 to render AVI to DVD. When creating the AVI in Pictures to Exe I untick the default Movie Factory box and just click on create AVI file. VS7 recognises the file when importing, from there it's rendered to DVD format and saved. Creating disc in VS7 I don't think is any different to Movie Factory and results are as good as you can get when viewing on TV.

Thanks Al, food for thought there. I've been giving some thought to upgrading to a new computer later in the year for a while now but it may be an idea to upgrade as you advise, if there's a cheapie video board to be had. My idea is to keep this oldie in use for storage when the new day arrives. Thanks again.

Al, all I can see in System details is 'Display Adapter - Trident Video Accelerater Blade 3D/pro media.' if that is what your are seeking. As for Video RAM there's no detail other than 512RAM overall.This machine is 4 years old so I'm well behind the times. Flowers runs ok for me, as you say the zoom effect is short and sweet, not really enough for me to become excited about for the future. Thanks for your advice, it's appreciated.

Yes it makes sense, but, if my machine can't handle the larger size as with 'Spirits' then I'll have to think twice about the zoom feature when using version 5. I use a 1024x768 black background with the pictures sized to the TV Zone as friends and family prefer to view via DVD in comfort rather than crowded round a computer. I'm waiting for the full version 5 being available then we'll see what happens, if the zoom doesn't work for me then so be it, PtoE still has lots of options.

I ran the show on my 1.2Ghz AMD Duron 5.12MB RAM. From the very first frame it jerked throughout. Tonight, taking it our local computer club, on a very high spec machine it was perfect, an excellent show. Tried again on a lower spec machine similar to mine and the show would not run at all other than the audio. I expressed concern as to whether version 5 was for me other than toddle off to buy a power PC after this experience. The resident 'expert', assured me, if this particular show had been made using 1024x768 there would have been no problem, he'd recognised the higher quality of pictures which I had not. That's certainly eased my mind for the future. Hope these comments are acceptable to you, no offence was intended, I thoroughyl enjoyed the show.

An easy way for you is with an image editor by creating the black frame, 1024x768 as a 'New' image from the file menu. Open an image from your files, 'Resize' this to 914x664 pixels. Next choose to 'Expand' the open image by 2mm, select the colour white, now copy and paste this expanded image into the black frame. Save the finished frame to your project with a new name, once done leave it open in the editor. Keep repeating the resize/expand/copy/ paste with other photos saving each as an individual frame. Import all into your PtoE project, choose the Fade In/Out Effect for each frame, run the Preview and you will see only the 'inserted' picture change. Not how the more experienced members here may do it but it works fine for this newbie.

I tried to download Pheasant 3 times without success. Took your advice and cleaned temp files out and the download was successful. Though it worth mentioning I use CCleaner, (a.k.a Crap Cleaner), for this purpose, one of the best little freeware programs available. Superior to Windows own Disk Cleanup, CCleaner cleans more thoroughly. After install, open CCleaner, highlight Cleaner section in left hand panel - click on Analyze - when finished this choose Run cleaner. You may be surprised at the amount of rubbish cluttering up space. Download from: http://www.ccleaner.com/

Watching the presentation after reading your comments, I think the author may have just hit on a very good way of selling. Estate Agents in the UK could take up the idea of using Pictures to Exe when inquiries are made for property on their books. Don't know whether the author really had this in mind but it won't do Igor any harm when Agents start buying PtoE. Just a thought.

Stay with your Pictures to Exe presentation for now Tommy, no need to use Move Factory. Just copy your created PtoE as a data file to CD with whatever writing software you have installed. All your nephew has to do is double click on the file when transferred to his laptop and enjoy your creation. It's the best way to view, on a computer not a dvd plaver, quality never seems to be the same. Just my opinion, others may disagree.

Pleased you have made progress Tommy, you are now on track for creating VCD (Video CD) as against DVD. However, as you have promised this project to a relative now save yourself possible further heartache, check his/her DVD player. Not all standalone DVD players are compatible with VCD so you may be in a for a bigger disappointment. Don't worry about the blank CDR's you use they will be ok for VCD, check the player first then come back here for help. This is where I learn, even without asking, everyone is willing to help.

Hoping I'm not causing further confusion for you Tommy, in the above answer to Ken you ask what is trmp avi. This is the avi file Pictures to Exe has created which is now waiting to be rendered to DVD compatibility known as an MPeg2 file. Pictures to Exe can't do this, Movie Factory can, then when converted, (rendered), will continue on to write to DVD disc. If Movie Factory is not recognising your avi file then I suggest you download the free Tmpg Encoder from: http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html This will convert your avi file to Mpeg 1, (VCD format), store the Mpeg1 file, hopefully you are now following Ken's advice. Open Movie Factory and import the Mpeg by clicking on 'Add Video'icon. At the top ensure DVD format is chosen before moving to Create Disc, once you have imported your Mpeg1 start the process by clicking 'Next' until you reach the Disc writing dialogue. Start the writing process as advised, Movie Factory will first start rendering your Mpeg1 to Mpeg2 DVD ending with the file being copied to disc. It may be worthwhile for you to save your file, once converted to Mpeg, with a different name. This way you will recognise the file more clearly. Good luck.

I use Ulead's Video Studio but the principle should be the same for Movie Factory. When you created the avi file you would have the option of where to save the file. Open Movie Factory, at left hand side of screen you will see a row of options, click on 'Add Video', in the resulting box seek the folder containing your avi file, when found, highlight it then click 'Open'. The file opens beneath the menu screen. If not requiring a menu, click Next - Next again - you now should be at the burn to disc panel. You can choose to write to disc and save to hard disc. Untick the save box if not required. At bottom right hand side you will see a disc icon, click on this to start writing to disc. You will be informed the process will take some time in rendering, click OK and rendering will commence followed by the actual writing to disc. It's advisable to write at a lower speed than Maximum to ensure files are correctly recorded so before you start the process choose a speed in the appropriate box. Even if your Writer is high speed such as 12x choose much lower, I prefer 2x, takes much longer but worth it Tommy. When Movie Factory seems to have completed it's work, a message appears saying 'Writing Successful' and the tray will open, do not remove the disc. Click OK on the message, the tray goes back in, wait until the close sign at bottom right is highlighted. Click on this, now you can remove the disc, return to Pictures to Exe and click on the Finish Button. Hope this helps you.

If you are wanting to save the basic 'created' file before making any further adjustments copy the basic to another folder and change it's name there. Pto E won't go looking as the original is still in place to be overwritten. Hope this helps.

Download.com provides a large section of mp3's, free to download legally and use. There's quite a range of music from around the World, you can also sample before download which is very helpful. Writers/Musicians may not be well known in the wide world of commercial music yet you just might be pleasantly surprised, I certainly have been. A number of tracks have been ideal for background to photoslides. Link: http://music.download.com/2001-1_32-0.html

Thanks Ken, seeing your post AVG had rectified matters I updated earlier rather than wait for scheduled time. Downloaded 'A New Day' once again as the test, AVG gives it the all clear. All that's needed now is create a new Restore point as AVG had moved files from there into the vault on it's scheduled scan. Scheduled scan times now removed, another lesson learned, best do some things manually. Thanks again, Nathan.

I've been using A2 squared for some time, basically as an anti spyware program along with three others. With it's almost daily updates A2 is becoming more and more reliable in detecting malware, particularily Trojans, 50,000 it claims to safeguard against. After AVG reported "A New Day" to be infected, A2 came into play and it's scan reported "no malware detected". That was good enough for me, no real need for concern. Should AVG not rectify this situation within a few days then I'll be looking for another AV. Link for A2 should anyone be interested: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/