davegee

Hi Lin, Agreed - it was one of a number of suggestions made at the time when no one else was responding. I didn't seriously think it would do anything but anything is worth trying. I repeated it because I think he misunderstood. DaveG

"I'm saving it at the minimum size needed to cover the pan for the projection resolution. I am also saving it as a very high quality JPEG. It is 1.4MB in size". That was my point - try same res and lower quality? DaveG

I think that the important thing is that we can, by one method or the other, now watch PTE shows at 1920x1080 resolution without the upsizing that takes place via DVD. DaveG

Fried, Try constructing an EXE which has ONLY the panned slide in it. That will bring the file size down to something that you could e-mail (or use MediaFire). If it still glitches then others could try it and give you an opinion. What quality is the panorama JPEG? Will it work better if you reduce the quality? Do you have anti-virus/firewall running? Have you tried turning them off temporarily? There is a utility called "Enditall" which sometimes helps. When did you last defrag your C drive? Details of system and graphics card would help. DaveG

Hi Geoff, I have heard good things about the WD unit. My observations were that (to take a particular example) one of my 1920x1080 EXE files is 200Mb and its corresponding MPEG4 file is 1.2Gb. To quote Igor: The EXE file is the Highest Quality option available from PTE. So my logic at the time was that it required 6 times more storage space to play something which is of lesser quality. For those who have a laptop which is capable of being connected to a HD TV by HDMI the EXE wins every time. But, of course I am only comparing the EXE with its MPEG4 file. The WD unit, as you rightly point out, does other things besides playing MPEG4. If only it would play EXE files! DaveG

Colin, Firstly with regard to your figures. Yes, HDTV is commonly thought to be 1920x1080 but the truth is, as I said above, LCD TVs are being sold with the "HD Ready" and "HDTV" stickers which are, in fact, only 1366x768. As a general rule of thumb TVs around 26"-30" (and smaller) could be at the lower resolution. The aspect ratio is 16:9 but the actual resolution is not always 1920x1080. It is worth checking the TV manual to see what the actual resolution is. A minor point: the D300 resolution is 4288x2848 (3:2) and I think that the OP wanted to maintain that AR and "crop in camera". As you rightly point out, shooting a little bit more than you think you might need is probably the way forward for AV purposes if your intention is to show in a 16:9 AR. DaveG

Your pixel size at the end of the zoom needs to be the same as your screen resolution i.e. if your screen res is 1024x768 and your logo is going to fill the screen it needs to be either 1024 wide or 768 high (100%). The fact that you are having to use 200% is leading to the pixilation. If you are zooming further then you need a bigger image. You would probably be better off with a JPEG unless you are using a transparent GIF. DaveG

Geoff, If you don't want to post process you have two alternatives: Either crop the top and/or bottom of the 3:2 frame (in PTE) or use the 3:2 frame as is (with black areas at the sides). With all of the pixels that most of us have at our disposal these days I find it easier to allow just a little extra unwanted material in the image and crop/resize to 1920x1080 (or 1920x1280) in NX2 or PS. Getting it right in camera is great but that means that you are stuck with a 3:2 image to work with. The 16:9 format is not that much wider than 3:2 and I find that it is easy to lose a little sky and/or foreground in a landscape image. Cropping/resizing to 1920x1280 and adjusting (moving) up or down in PTE is a compromise. There is no single answer. Then there is the question of how to get from computer to TV. Using a suitably equipped PC/laptop connected via HDMI (or DVI and audio leads) is probably the ultimate in quality and DVD is probably the worst option. BluRay is somewhere in the middle there (near the top). Then there is the question of TV resolution. Not all "HD Ready" TVs are 1920x1080. Up to around 26"-30" they are more likely to be 1366x768 or similar. Checking the TV manual is advisable. DaveG

Try my suggestion above - use a screen shot of your desktop. DaveG

If the original opening transition was one which opened from desktop that's the reason. If you still have the EXE that will still do it. If you open up in the version of PTE which youy used to create it - that will also do it for you. (Typing together again). DaveG

You're thinking of the feature in earlier versions which allowed you to start the first transition from the desktop. It was dropped - Ken will tell you when - and is no longer available. DaveG

If your FIRST slide were to be a screen shot of your desktop then it would be easy to bring a black "curtain" down over it. It would work on your desktop but would not work if the show were sent to someone else. DaveG

Dave, You can create shows in PTE at the 1920x1080 resolution of your HD TV. For absolute best performance the PC/Laptop needs to be connected to the TV via HDMI (or DVI and audio leads). On my SONY TV the VGA input will not allow FULL 1920x1080 resolution - I don't know if this applies to ALL Sony HD TVs. Also the VGA picture on an HD TV is nowhere near the quality available via HDMI. When connected to the TV via HDMI you will need to set the resolution of your laptop to 1920x1080 and your laptop screen will close down. This is because the laptop will not be able to handle both the 1920x1080 resolution and your laptop's resolution at the same time. This is my normal mode of operation and next to displaying your show on a colour corrected 1920x1080 (or 1920x1200) monitor connected to your PC is the best quality you will get. You might have to play around with the colour settings/modes on the TV to get the picture that suits you. DaveG

With your template open copy the ten slides by highlighting them and using Ctrl C. Don't close this show. Go to file / Open and open the show you wish to paste into. Highlight the slide that you wish to paste next to and use Ctrl V. The secret is in NOT closing the donor show - if you do you will lose the clipboard contents. The pasted slides will take on the Project Options settings of the recipient show. DaveG

Maybe it is a fair assumption that when 5.7 Beta 1 is released then 5.6.x will be the final issue? DaveG

Barry, I'm not sure that the choice of the Epson 1735 is a wise one? Its native resolution is only 1280x800 and it has no HDMI interface. What this means is that SOMETHING, be it your laptop or the projector, is going to have to resize your lovely 1920x1200 shows down to 1280x800 for projection. What a waste! You can easily test the disadvantage of not having HDMI (on the projector) on your monitors at home by removing the HDMI cables and replacing them with VGA. The results speak for themselves. After having done extensive testing in our area over a period of 2 years we decided on the 16:9 format, 1920x1080 projector. Look at the Epson EH-TW5000 specs for example. Optoma also make suitable projectors and supply a laptop with the correct native resolution. I would definitely recommend that a hands on demo is essential using a laptop which has the same native resolution as the projector. One thing that we found during the two years is that demonstrators have absolutely no idea of the requirements of photographers regarding resolution issues and had to be led by the hand and forced to demonstrate their equipment in the way that we were going to use it. Their market is HOME VIDEO and it is not quite the same thing. You have already (it seems) decided on 1920x1080 for your DVDs - why not stick with that resolution throughout the workflow? When BluRay becomes more readily available and in common useage no changes in the workflow will be needed. DaveG

Thanks Doug, Ron's explanation might be the answer - more than one version on computer. However, as I indicated earlier, it is not something I would do. I rarely edit JPEGs and always return to a previously save TIFF or even RAW if my JPEG does not look the way I want it to look. DaveG

Doug, If it is any consolation, I tried to add my CS3 to the list and failed - further investigation required. I think that it is a Windows issue and not PTE. DaveG

I copy all that has been said....... .....but the second display EXE does nothing? If it works for anyone else, can you please describe your setup? I have tried it with second monitor in a "clone" configuration and also with the "Extend my desktop..." ticked. The second display exe seems to do nothing. DaveG

Right click on image. Click on Explorer. Click on Open With. Choose Photoshop. DaveG

Right click on image. Click on Explorer. Click on Open With. Choose your weapon. Folks around here know that I frown on that sort of thing, but if you must.............. DaveG

Do you mean that you are trying to open it in PS from within PTE? DaveG

For those who have picked images and/or music from a variety of folders /locations it gathers all of the constituent files together in one folder, its location specified by you. In your case it would eliminate any files in your folder which you have not used in your project. DaveG

Do they apply the same rules to single imae print comps i.e. straight out of camera - no manipulation? DaveG

Quote: There are two option available in PTE that allow you to create either a 'Template' or a 'Back up in Zip' and I have never really been sure of the difference between the two. Perhaps somebody could clarify the differences and the suggest the best option to use please. I took this to mean that Ron was asking specifically about the differences between the two options available in PTE 5.xxx ???? DaveG