fonz

Ken, thanks for the info. Lin, I'm just trying to provide some end-user feedback. PicturesToExe and making DVD's or making AVI files isn't clear and easy. And yes, I do have Adobe Premier, Premier Elements, Vegas Video, Pinnacle Studio, and Movie Factory. And it's a piece of cake to make a DVD or any type of video file - AVI, VCD, SVCD, MPEG. I’ve never had issues like this before. I know a professional photographer who bought PicturesToExe and loves it for making executable slideshows. However, he has the same EXACT problems as I do. He has never once successfully been able to burn his projects to DVD. So, it's not just my system and configuration. I don't care to argue anymore about how or what I should be doing with the "custom choices" or whatever you want to call them. That's not the point I'm trying to make. Making DVD's or DVD compliant files is just not an easy and straight-forward thing to do with this program. Period. Please use this as constructive criticism and maybe some good changes to the program will come as a result.

Lin, The only problem with choosing a Custom Codec is that if you don't choose one that is DVD compatible, you may end up encoding the file in PicturesToExe, and then turn right back around have Movie Factory (or Nero, etc.) have to re-encode again in order to make a DVD. Not only is that very time consuming, but I've seen instances where if you encode several times, your resulting video may have problems - such as artifacts, pixelation, jerky video, etc. So, PicturesToExe in my experience worked great with the DVD output option when it worked. What I mean by that is that things were not repeatable with the DVD option. Sometimes I can open the resulting AVI file in Movie Factory, Windows Media Player, Nero, etc., and then other times I can't. Maybe the AVI "template", as you say, is not getting translated correctly for some reason?? All I am trying get across here is that in all other video/DVD editing programs that I use, when you choose an output file for DVD, you end up with a file that is MPEG2 DVD compliant. No questions asked - it is simple and just works. You end up with a file that doesn't get deleted, is playable by such things as Windows Media Player or PowerDVD, and programs like Movie Factory or Nero do not have to re-encode the file to get it out onto a DVD. The way you have to do it now with PicturesToExe is just way too confusing and misleading. If you're going to have to choose Custom Codecs to make a DVD, then why have a DVD button in the first place? And if it was really that easy, then why is there so much talk dedicated to this topic on this forum? Thanks, Fonz

Thank you all for your replies. Lin, I know what you mean, but I don't necessarily want to use a custom Codec. I want to use the one that is built into the program. Ken/Hawk, I was copying the output AVI file, clicking Finish, and then trying to burn the copied file with Ulead Movie Factory 4. So, according to y'all, this is a no-no. So, I then tried previewing the file just to see what would happen. That worked. Windows Media Player would open and show a 10 second preview. But then when I tried making the complete AVI file and burning the result with Movie Factory BEFORE clicking Finish, Movie Factory could not recognize the file. I then played around with PicturesToExe by previewing another clip and then went through the same process again. Then, Movie Factory magically opened the AVI file and I was finally able to burn my DVD. After that I then clicked Finish in PicturesToExe and I was done. Finally! Hallelujah! It seems like there is serious problems about when this program loads/unloads its Codec to/from the system to be used by other programs such as Movie Factory. The question I have is why does it have to be so difficult to do this whole process of making a video file that can be burned by another program to DVD, SVCD, etc.? Why doesn't the program simply output a video file that you can burn at any time without having to worry about previewing the video or clicking the finish button? It seems so crazy to have your file deleted after you click the Finish button and even crazier to not be able to play back a copy of that same file after you’ve clicked the Finish button. Again, thank you all for your help!

I'm getting really frustrated because I can't create a DVD with PicturesToExe. I have version 4.47 and have followed all the instructions in the Help and from this forum. I can create AVI files of all different kinds - VCD, SVCD, and DVD. But when I try to play those files with anything such as Windows Media Player, Pinnacle Studio, Ulead DVD Movie Factory 4, etc., the video won't play back - I just get a blank screen with music. And if I go ahead and try to burn the AVI to DVD, I get the same thing when I play it back on my DVD player - sound but no video (just a blank screen). I think what is happening is that the PTEV video codec is not getting initialized when I try to use the above programs. Therefore, the video is not getting played back or getting converted correctly to burn to a DVD. Please help!

Thank you!

Thanks everyone for the replies. To remake the AVI with a different codec wasn't really an option for me at the moment. I'd would first rather explore trying to get the "ptev" codec. So, Lin, I did download this: http://www.free-codecs.com/ACE_Mega_CoDecS_Pack_download.htm However, I do not see a codec specifically named "ptev". Do you or anyone else know if there is another one in that pack that is the same or will support "ptev"? I guess I could install every single codec in that pack, but I'm afraid of what it might do to my machine. Does anyone know if it's bad to have too many codecs installed? And how do you uninstall codecs if there is a problem? Thank you!

A friend made me a PicturesToExe AVI file and I can't play it back on my PC. When I view the properties of this AVI file using the nifty utility "GSpot Codec Information Appliance", it says that my system needs the "ptev" codec. So, where can I get this "ptev" codec? Thanks.