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Your experience so far may not have been good (for whatever reason) but you will soon find that the Wnsoft team are without equal when it comes to listening to their customers and providing support. They are certainly the best that I have come across. Eddie.

I know that I have mentioned it before but ... can we have the waveform visible in the Objects and Animation window? Eddie

Thank you for yet another version with its developments/improvements on what is already very fine software. I see that work is still being done on the Objects and Animations window. Is there any chance that this will include the waveform? Eddie.

There seems to be a problem with the new beta versions (1 & 2) when using Video Builder to create a DVD. When I get to the point of starting to create the DVD the program crashes. This happens whether I am using a menu or not. I am including just one slideshow and everything is left at its default settings. It works fine in 5.0. Please let me know if there is any other information that you would like me to let you have. Eddie.

When you think of all the work that has gone into producing this new version - numerous betas, problems rectified, users suggestions absorbed, adapting output to different PC setups, and so on - I find it absolutely amazing that these prices are so low. I have no idea how many users there are of P2E worldwide but I hope that many, many more will discover this great software so that Igor and his team get the financial reward that they deserve for all their hard work. Eddie.

I have not been using P2E much over recent months as time synchronization is important to me - and I am therefore delighted that it is now back in beta 9. I am not very familiar with P2E's version of animation and although it seems to be very intuitive and straightforward one thing does seem to be missing. It would be very helpful to be able to view the timeline waveform for a particular slide within the animation window. The way round is to note at what point in the music a particular animation should start or end and then enter the appropriate time in the animations window - but it would be so much more straightforward if the waveform could be seen while making the animation. Do please let me know if this is already possible. If it is not then perhaps it is something which might be considered in the future.

I agree with all that has been said above - but in spite of that I am using another program at the moment. As soon as we get music synchronization back in the new version then I may well be persuaded to return to P2E. Until then I am afraid that I must use a program which provides this extremely important feature.

It seems to me that one of the delights of photography is its blend between science and art. The 'wizards' at Nikon, Canon, Sony etc produce ever more wonderful cameras for us to use but then it is over to us to get creative - to use light and colour not just to record an event, but to evoke a feeling. If this marriage between science and art is true of capturing images it is becoming more and more true of presenting them as well. Up till now we have had the challenge of selecting appropriate music in our slideshows and then deciding upon when and how we will move from slide to slide. We can, of course, just space them out equally but one of the delights of PTE is that it enables us to synchronize to precise moments in the music which seem to us to be particularly appropriate. It does not matter whether we call this 'taste' or an empathy with both music and images - it is an art form. And now with v5 'the wizard Igor' and his colleagues are opening up for us even more possibilities. As pictures move and zoom we have to decide where from and where to. When should we use motion, when cut, when fade? How can we use the new flexibility of this great software to enhance the experience of looking at our images? How can we help others not just to see the pictures of a summer's day but to feel the warmth of the sun? It seems to me that this art form is the 'home choreography' for the digital age. We love doing it, but I am not sure that we have a word to sum it up. It is not just 'arranging the pictures'. It is far more - but what do we call it? Any ideas? Eddie.

No - you are not alone. I am using 4 regularly and, although I have had a brief look at 5 I must admit that I am looking forward to its arrival with some trepidation. I can get version 4 to do all that I want it to now but suspect that there will be a steep learning curve in order to 'master' the new version. At the moment I am at the stage of looking at what people produce and marvelling at the results but will I be able to do that? Eventually, perhaps, but for the moment I am very happy using version 4. Eddie.

I am sure that there will be a flurry of posts asking for advice when P2E 5 public beta becomes available, so I hope that I may forgiven for getting in first. My question concerns image size when using Pan and Zoom. At the moment I reduce the size of photos to 1152 x 864 pixels (my screen resolution) as this seems to provide high quality without synchronization problems. Am I right in thinking that with Pan and Zoom a much larger image is ideal? I wonder whether those who have experience of this feature might give some advice on the best image size for Pan and Zoom - presumably there must be some relation between the amount of zoom required and the number of pixels. In anticipation - thank you. Eddie.

I agree absolutely. As I understand Geoff's original post he is suggesting the P2E should continue to develop as the best software in the world for producing PC slideshows and that there should be a 'sister' DVD slideshow program which would be able to handle the output from P2E - but which would be distinct. Without presuming to tell Igor and team what they should do, this is a suggestion with which I completely agree. My experience of other software is that it can become so complex that it frightens people off. It would also mean that Igor could (and should) charge for the 'sister' program. As a fairly long term P2E user I feel slightly uneasy about the fact that we pay nothing at all for major upgrades. And we could, of course, have a new forum for the sister program Eddie.

Just a comment about where this discussion should take place: I am not interested (yet) in producing DVD slideshows - largely because DVD players seem to be 'picky' about what they will and what they will not play - but I am very interested in, and excited about, the direction that P2E is going (and in this thread). Consequently, I do not tend to visit the 'How to create a video' forum. I must admit that I had assumed that it was a forum designed to assist users who wanted to turn out DVDs and for problems and advice to be shared. I own a relatively ancient DVD player which steadfastly refuses to have anything to do with any DVDs that I record on my PC. Although it might be suggested that I should catch up on my technology, I am concerned that people to whom I give my slideshows might also be living in the Dark(er) Ages. I want to be sure that when I hand over a slideshow it will work on the hardware owned by the recipient. The time may come when I am interested in DVDing, but for the moment I want to enjoy using the features of P2E to turn out better and better slideshows - and I am confident that the much anticipated Version 5 will make a major contribution in helping me to do this. Eddie.

Hi Pbar, Yes, I think that you are right. The 'Hide cursor at startup' check box seems to make the cursor invisible for a moment but then it comes back again - and stays there even if the 'hide cursor after ... seconds' option is also selected. It is easy to get round by leaving the box empty and choosing to 'hide cursor after one second' instead but I think that it is not working as it should and as it did in previous versions. Eddie.

The good thing for us here in the UK is that the price of Broadband is dropping enormously. I was paying £14.99 for my dial-up account and have just changed to Broadband at £17.99 (It stays at £14.99 for three months). I had previously been told that my line would not support Broadband but some BT engineers came along and everything is working. One of the first things that I did last week when I was connected was to download some of the larger PTE slideshows that people have made available. It is embarrassing! I thought that mine were quite good until I saw the amazing results that other people produce. Perhaps dial-up is not so bad after all! Eddie

It seems to me that the crucial question concerns how the slideshows produced on the new version of P2E will run on other computers. Although I may have an 'all singing and dancing' PC on which the new features will run perfectly, I do not know the specifications of the computers where the slideshows which I produce will end up. Does this mean that I should use 4.43 (or the CPU version of 5) to be on the safe side? Or perhaps my fears will prove to be completely unfounded when we give version 5 a try! Eddie

Thank you for your responses. Everything is now as I want it to be. Eddie.

Having set my transition points on the time line, which are synchronised to music, I now want to insert another transition point but clicking the 'New Transition' button does not do anything. I can insert a slide but cannot put in another transition point, which is what I want to do. I have done this on earlier versions of PTE without any problem. Searching this forum I see that there was discussion about this back in February but don't know how it was resolved and cannot see how I can do this using PTE 4.42. I have tried clicking the Timed Points button and then shifting all points to the right (which seems to be what people suggested in the past - though I don't understand why), but still cannot get the 'New Transition' button to operate. I will be grateful if anyone can explain how I can put a new transition in without inserting a slide. Thank you, Eddie.

Thanks Al - but I seem to have solved my own problem, even without quite knowing why. I saved the wav file that I had created (the one not recognised by pte) as an mp3 and this is now working as the extended version. I know that music is supposed to degrade in quality if mp3s are resaved - but I can't tell the difference. I suspect that it might have something to do with mp3Pro. When I saved the first extended version I used mp3pro but I avoided this on the successful version. Perhaps that had something to do with it. Anyway, it works OK now. Thanks for your help. Eddie

Help - it is hair tearing out time!!! I have a wav that I want to use as background to a pte presentation (slides synchronized to the music). As the wav is not long enough I have tinkered with it in Adobe Audition by copying part of the music and then pasting it with the effect that the section is repeated. This has extended the length of the music from 3 minutes 1 second to 3 minutes 47 seconds. I then saved the extended track as an mp3 into a folder with a new name. Both Media Player and Adobe Audition now recognize that the track is 3 minute 47 seconds long. When I use the track within PTE, however, it still plays the orginal track (3 minues 1 second long). I cannot get PTE to play the amended version. What I have tried so far: a) Making absolutely certain that I am linking to the correct file. Renaming my amended file to something totally different and putting it in a different location - PTE still shows it as 3.01. c) Removing the file altogether and saving my pte file. When I insert it again it is still the shorter version. d) Re-booting my computer. e) Saving the mp3 as a wav. This is playable in Media Player but pte will not play it at all and shows its length as 0:00. f) I have also run a virus check but everything is OK I can only think that there is something embedded within the original file which pte is reading. If anyone can shed any light upon this strange behaviour I will be very grateful. Eddie.

I always use the timeline, but still find that the show timing is slightly different on other computers. I have found that the answer is to reduce the size of your images as much as possible so that slower computers can cope better with loading them. I also always use mp3 files for the sound. Eddie

I notice that there is quite a bit of hype around at the moment about the release of an updated slideshow creation program by one of P2E's competitors. I am sure that all sorts of people will compare the virtues of the different programs - and they will all have their own opinions and preferences. There is, however, one difference that is a matter of fact rather than of opinion, and I do not think that it should be overlooked. When each new version of P2E is released we are invited to upgrade and benefit from the extra features - and it does not cost us anything. Keeping up-to-date with one of P2Es competitors involves either purchasing the product again, or paying to upgrade. In my opinion P2E is the best slideshow creation program around. As a matter of fact, it is the best value. Eddie

Thanks Igor for including the transition out to desktop on the next version. If some users haven't tried it yet I suggest that they follow Igor's suggestion: I love the effect. Eddie.

P2Exe gets better and better. I love the effect of the first transition appearing from the desktop. I wonder whether it is possible to follow on from this by getting the last transition to disappear back to the desktop at the end of the show. Just a thought. Eddie.

I regard PTE as the best value software on my computer. Any form of license is incredible value when you conisder what PTE does, the amount of creative satisfaction it provides and the continuous process of improvement. If I were you I would go for the business license, whether you need it now or not, as you may well want to develop your use of this great program in the future. Eddie.

Ed, Just in case you do have a look back at these AVI posts - I too have had problems when it gets to the stage of burning the CD. I contacted Ulead about it and they returned a helpful email with all sorts of suggestions. When I had tried everything they said, and still had the same problem, I emailed them again but now everything seems to have gone quiet. Do you, by any chance, use Orlogix RecordNow Max as your normal burner? I rate it highly but am slightly suspicious that it may conflict with Ulead's ability to burn. I, too, have decided to give AVI a rest for a bit. I really do not know enough about it to find my way through the minefield of problems that it seems to raise, and I am more than happy with P2E productions only being playable on a computer monitor. The ability to produce a DVD or CD which is playable on a DVD player would have been a nice extra, but there seem to be such huge compatablility problems that I would not feel at all confident about handing over a DVD/CD to someone for them to play it on their machine. My own Sanyo DVD player seems to reject any computer generated disc that I put in to it - and I am sure that others must own similarly temperamental machines. I feel sorry for Igor who, at the request of the members of this forum, has put so much work into meeting our wishes only to run up against so many problems. We are, of course, only at the Beta stage, and even if AVI does not make it into the next full release, we will still own the best slideshow program available. Eddie