Lin Evans

Hi Mike, Your downloads went somewhere, so do a search using the Windows search facility for "sound1.zip" and "sound2.zip". Once you find the files, unzip to get sound1.avi and sound2.ave then put them somewhere convenient. Open VLC Media Player, click on File then Open then navigate to one of the two AVI files and open them with VLC Media Player. Best regards, Lin

That sounds like a scam - VLC Media Player is free - no charge - sounds like the company at the link I provided is trying to capitalize on free software downloads by possibly collecting links and selling a convenience service of some sort. There are many places to download it and I just picked the first one which came up on my search engine. It's a great product so hopefully will work for you with no problems. I'll change the link on my post above to the CNET one.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, Try VLC Media Player - Free. This should solve the problem. Windows WMC has been problematic for several people. Here's a link: http://www.download.com/VLC-Media-Player/3...4-10267151.html

Hi Guys, Tutorials now posted: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901 Go to bottom of pinned "PTE Made Easy" to download. Best regards, Lin

Hi, I just posted two new tutorials and explanations on music/sound use with PTE here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901 Go to the bottom of the pinned topic: PTE Made Easy (PTE for Smarties) and click on links to download zipped AVI Tutorials. Lin

Hi, Yes, the "add sound" choice allows you to have sound on the currently selected slide without affecting what's playing in the background. Whatever you add via this feature will only play for the particular slide and then stop. If you want have no background music, etc., for a number of slides then begin at some particular slide then use the "customize this slide" feature to enter sound at any chosen point. If you do nothing, this background music will continue until either the chosen music, etc., has played its entire length or the slideshow ends, whichever occurs first. If you want the music or sound to stop at a particular slide when started from a previous slide via the "cutomize this slide" feature you can simply open the customize this slide box from the slide where you want to end the music, sound, etc., and place a check in the box "play new background music" but leave the list blank. This forces the ongoing music or sound previously entered from an earlier slide via the "customize this slide" feature to stop at this point. The reason for the "playlist" type feature is that sometimes one may want to begin background music from a particular slide after others have played with no background music or having only individual slide sound comments, etc. Having the choice of more than one music selection can be useful for long slideshows where one particular selection of music may not be long enough to cover the remaining slides. On the other hand, using the "customize this slide" feature to begin play of another selection with a background selection already in progress allows the user to end the currently playing background sound and begin another which "could" be made to continue through any number of additional slides, etc. The features are quite versatile, but can be confusing so I think an AVI tutorial will be forthcoming soon on this. Best regards, Lin

Yes, As Peter has pointed out, comments or sounds entered via the "customize this slide" will not play back via the mini-player. If you want your sound bytes, sound comments or background music to play via the mini-player then use the little "add sound" feature next to the speaker icon in the upper right side of your screen above the mini-player. When sound is added this way to individual slides you "will" hear it on the mini-player. I'm beginning to think that a mini-tutorial on adding music and sounds is in order because there seems to be a great deal of confusion over the various audio features. Music or sound added via "Customize this Slide" "Music Tab" are different than sound added via the "add sound" above the mini-player or at the top of the Main Slide list. This feature allows a mini play list for convenience and has the added feature of allowing the user to bridge two or more slides with commentary or music depending on the "cutomize this slide" settings of the other slides. This feature is especially nice for presentations being given to a large audience where the commentary may cover a selection of several slides rather than being specific to a single slide. The confusion arises naturally because of the complexity possible but the complexity is a natural by-product of versatility. I'll see if I can make an AVI tutorial to explain this all sometime this week. Best regards, Lin

If you could zip the PTE file from the file menu and post it we can check and try to determine where the problem is. I can't duplicate the problem on any of my systems. Best regards, Lin

Go to the Projects Options Main Tab and click on "synchronize music and slides" and you should hear it when playing. Best regards, Lin

Sleep? That's for wimps and old men, I haven't quite reached my 7th decade yet, still a "spring chicken". - LOL. My daughter just "celebrated" her 40th birthday yesterday and she thinks she's old! I keep telling her that she's not getting older, just getting "better". Of course my wife reminds me every day that I'm slowing down. Well compared to a tortise I'm a veritable speed demon - HA! Happy father's day to all fathers both young and to old codgers like me!! Lin

Hi folks, A couple of you have emailed me asking about how I created the reflection frames using Xara Xtreme 4 for the demo slideshow posted here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8414 I'm not an expert user of Xara Xtreme 4, but recently downloaded the 30 day demo and will eventually purchase the program. Xara Xtreme 4 is a fantastic program with many incredible features. Some advanced Xara Xtreme 4 user was nice enough to provide a template which allows one to simply open the template in Xara, drag and drop images to the framed samples, select all and export the finished product. That's how I created the framed images for my slideshow demo above. Over in the Tutorials and Articles section I've added two more links to my PTE Made Easy - PTE for Smarties post which is pinned at the top. Anyone interested can download the zipped AVI tutorial (about 16 meg) and the Xara template file which I have linked. Just open the template in Xara Xtreme 4, drag and drop your favorite images onto the main frame, reflection of main frame, secondary frame and reflection of secondary frame then select all and export as either a true color PNG with Alpha channel or as a jpg. The AVI explains it all and it's very, very simple to do. If you like the effect and want to dress up one of your PTE slideshows just download the 30 day Xara Xtreme 4 demo and have a go. If you already have the program then this is probably old-hat for you. Here's a convenience link to the Forum Tutorials and Articles page where you can download: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901 Best regards, Lin

Hi Debi, Would you do the following: Go to "Start" - "Run" and type in : dxdiag and press ENTER. After the diagnostic is run, please do a screen copy of the "System" and "Display" tabs and post it for us to see. Also, if you don't have version 5.5 of PTE, please download and install the latest version. It sounds like you may have a problem with an integrated Intel chipset for video. The latest version of PTE 5.5 has a built-in work around for the Intel chipset issue and "should" work fine but if you are using version 5.1 of PTE you won't have this. Either way, the problem isn't with PTE but with something in the hardware chaiin. The fact that the executable and AVI work fine mean that something else is causing the problem and the diagnostic reports will help unravel the problem. It "could" be as easy as downloading and installing the latest drivers for your video card. Best regards, Lin

Hi Debi, What are you using to make your DVD's? I'm assuming you are not using Video Builder because there is no need to make an AVI file first. If you are using Video Builder, just choose to burn a DVD right from your PTE show. That is, drag and drop the PTE file into the bottom window on the Video Builder screen and everything should work perfectly. Are you by any chance using the older version of PTE (4.x)? If so you can upgrade to 5.5 for no cost and you can purchase the Video Builder part separately which makes your version PTE 5.5 Deluxe. Best regards, Lin

Hi, Unless your host provider supports executable code (most don't) you will have to decide on other options. You can almost always place an AVI in your web code. PTE deluxe supports output of AVI files, MPEG 2 files as well as burining DVD's. However, if you want people to be able to see a small movie on your website you must either use a small AVI (they will need to wait for download before show begins) or use a Flash conversion program to convert to Flash FLV to allow pseudo streaming. There are a number of good companies such as On2 Technologies, Sorensen, Wildform, etc., which have Flash conversion software and FLV output. Less expensive, but requiring more research and study would be Riva Producer. Slideshows with zoom, pan, rotate, etc., are not amenable to html code, only slideshows which simply change slides with perhaps simple transitions. The best way to allow people to see your slideshows from your website is to upload zipped executable files which they can download and play on their own computers. This way they see the full sized full quality slideshow with all the bells and whistles rather than a rather tiny and greatly reduced quality show. See this type by going to my website below, click on the "demo slideshows" link then click on a thumbnail to download zipped executable to play on your own system. http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net Best regards, Lin

Hi, The NVIDIA 8600 GT and the NVIDIA 8800 GT are both great cards. Either has plenty of power, especially if you get the 512 Meg Ram version to run any PTE show smoothly and efficiently. These are both really fine cards. If you are into games, the 8800 GT would be the preferred of the two but also much more expensive and requires at least a 400W power supply in the system. The 8600 GT takes all its power from the bus but the 8800 GT requires power from the power supply as well. It takes two 4 pin molex connectors (the card comes with an adapter in case you don't have a really new power supply with the six pin output). I use each of these cards in different systems and they work flawlessly for me. The 8800 GT is really a bargain with about 90% of the power of the very most expensive cards at less than half their price. The 8600 GT or an 8600 GT OC (overclocked) version will sail through the most trying PTE multi-object high RAM requirement shows with power to spare. Best regards, Lin

Hi Babu, It sound fine on my computer at Daily Motion as well so probably just some snafu with a cache or possibly a codec issue on Ken's machine which is not an issue on mine.... That's one of the reasons we must be very careful which codec we choose to maintain optimal compatibility across many systems. Lin

Hi Babu, Maybe you should just try doing it all with PTE? The new PTE version 5.5 deluxe has the ability to output both AVI, MPEG 2 and DVD. You get a free upgrade to version 5.5 and all you have to pay for is the Video Builder upgrade portion. You can simply download 5.5 from this site and your old unlock code will still be good (assuming you have it or the old PTE still installed somewhere). After looking it's not possible to determine which codec was used to encode the audio for your AVI but perhaps the 44,100 kpbs 16 bit stereo audio rate "may" be too much for Youtube. I suspect you can take the AVI into one of the more popular video software (Sony Vegas, etc.) and strip the audio then re-do it with a different codec and perhaps more compression such as 22,050 8 bit mono rather than 44,100 16 bit stereo for the Youtube version. It should be possible to correct the AVI using the proper software. PTE can definitely output Youtube compatible code - many are doing it. I would consider using PTE to make future Youtube shows and leave Nero and Quicktime out of it. If you want to post a link to the original AVI in zipped format I'll have a look and see if I can strip the audio for you and repost. Best regards, Lin

Hi Babu (do you have another name we could use? - LOL) You said you did this with an "earlier" version of PTE. All PTE shows are forwardly compatible so if you have the original PTE file there is absolutely no problem with recompilling the show using current code. best regards, Lin

We often forget that we have a "command prompt". Sometimes this works best by simply going to the command prompt and typing in the "command" then pressing "Enter" as: C:\> slideshow.exe -slide 4 With some systems doing the command from the "start" "run" doesn't work all the time. Lin quote name='JRR' date='Jun 11 2008, 12:19 PM' post='54150'] Thx Xavier I thought it might be that, but I wasn't sure Better to ask than......

We need more specifics to be helpful - what audio codec was used for the vocal part? What amount of compression, etc.? What size was the original AVI in pixel dimensions? From your description it sounds as if there may be an issue of the codec you used not being widely available. Do others also hear garbled sound when the Youtube version is played on other computers? Give a link as Ken suggested and some specifics and we should be able to unravel the mystery. Best regards, Lin

Thanks to all who responded by email - my conclusion is that since the SWF file must be downloaded to the client system anyway, and given that the Flash compression for a reasonably good Flash quality creates a file size comprable to the executable code zipped size, there is no real advantage at all in converting to flash using this technology for other than MacIntosh users. For MacIntosh users one could justify using it however given that most new MacIntosh computers are capable of running Windows it's value is somewhat dubious. A really "good" Flash implementation of Flash 8 or higher using a product such as On2 Technologies Flix or Flix Pro will give better results at higher compression levels - of course they are not "free" but neither is this program now that the download and free registration have expired. It was, however an excellent learning process to see how it was perceived by different users. Ray, tanks again for the original tip and link! Best regards, Lin

Look in Projects Options Main Tab and be certain that you don't have Auto Spread Slides along Music checked. When that is checked, the timeline and actual play time will not coincide. Auto Spread Slides along Music "will" give you coordinated last slide and music end on your executable but not on the the mini-player on the timeline nor will the waveform line up properly. Instead click on the "Timed Points" tab on the timeline then on Arrange All Points and each slide will then be alloted equal time along the time line and the music "should" show the proper time. This may or may not be the issue, but it's something I only learned about a couple days ago. It was quite perplexing to see the waveform and music not properly represented but as Igor explained, it's not possible to do this for technical reasons and the "Auto Spread Slides along Music" feature may be removed in future versions because it's functionally obsolete now having been replaced with "Arrange All Points." Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, Thanks! Did you get my PM? Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean, Actually the background is left black (normal) but the images themselves have a linear gradient as a backdrop for the frames and reflections. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Thanks - fun images to work with. I tweaked the presentation a little to get rid of aliasing shimmer on the frame edges and added a temp snow animation on one frame. best regards, Lin