Davidh12

I wonder if it was the way it was extracted? Just reporting I had no such problems. In XP I just right clicked the zip file, hit extract all, used the default directory given and then in the folder clicked start.exe and everything worked fine. In the Extras I think there is a typo ' None not Mone ' but that's all. David

Barry Thank you for that, it was excellent as your tutorials usually are. I assumed you used Elements 6. I have Elements 5 is there much difference? I never knew you could fake mask like that I have just been erasing to layer below but that was really much better. Thank you for sharing. David

Bill I might be wrong, but I seem to remember you could record to a DVD as it is. It just had a watermark on it saying to upgrade or something. Have you tried it? From my point of view the results are superb. David

For example take a Look at bbdigital's show top of the list at the moment ('new slide show') on the show section of this forum for a good use of third image creativity and various degrees of brightness of image. The effects including brightness are done as has been said in the image software. If what your saying is that you want an image to appear on screen as 3000 watts (don't think it's measured liked that but using your example) then the image changing brightness as projector A fades, you need a 3000 watt video projector and dull the other image down to comparable brightness of 1500 watts in the software. That's not really the way you would think digitally but hope it helps you to make the paradigm shift (which I have found is a different way of thinking AV) from slide projector AV to digital. Or maybe, sorry I still haven't understood what you mean. David

old timer Welcome to the world of digital slide shows. Just started to go through the same process myself last year. I have been to a number of A/V events and have never seen a show with two video projectors. All the dissolves are done with the software (PTE) In fact you will discovery it does change the way you make a show (for the better I think) especially if you use the animation, pan, zoom effects of PTE 5. The third image is still there, what is a bit trickier I found was where you have faded up projector B and faded it straight out again. However this can be done now within 'Objects and Animation'. The other way creative third images are made is within software called photoshop (or the cheaper version Photoshop Elements) where maybe 3 or 4 slides are created and faded one after the other in PTE. I don't have a projector of my own but I know not all projectors have the same light output that is important to check. My experience has been that those projectors I have seen are better at putting an image on the screen than a slide projector especially if the room is not dark. Enjoy the process I can assure you you will not go back to the old method once you get into the new. The biggest problem is taking the time to scan in the slides and I have been disappointed at some of the results or perhaps I have, or the process is, less forgiving of the image. David

Thanks to Dabbler & Lin. That's what I like about this forum you learn such a lot and are reminded of things you know but forget. Had one of those Doh! moments (with regards Homer Simpson) when reading the above. I have used up a lot of -R DVD's experimenting with Videobuilder, when I could have used R/W disks, Doh!. Thanks and a Merry Christmas to all contributors for your questions and answers. David

Nobeefstu Thanks for your continued help. Properties of AVI file (1,479,537KB) which includes audio are as follows: IMAGE 640 x 480 pixels AUDIO Diration 00:01:06 Bitrate 1536 kbps Audio sample size 16bit Audio Format PCM VIDEO Frame rate 24 frames/second Sample size 24 bit Compression Uncompressed I will make a smaller section and maybe even recapture it and try again (maybe tomorrow got to work now). Thanks again David

Tom & Ken Thanks for getting back First of all excuse my ignorance I haven't played around with video much. I have managed to create what I was after which was a PTE slideshow and an AVI video file on DVD but through Ulead VideoStudio SE. So to answer Ken's point it fitted on the disk at least through this software (or have I got that wrong).Though it would be nice to do it through Videobuilder as the quality of the slideshow is much better. Tom The avi file is uncompressed at least that's what the software is saying. As regards codecs I'm not sure the instruction manual talks about Microsoft DirectX-A driver being installed automatically. You mentioned: 'Also, make sure you have enough free disk space for the temporary file(s) created. This can be set in Video Builder under Project Options, Programs tab.' I have looked under here and it just gives me the option of where to put the temporary file, nothing about disk space. Have I misunderstood? It would seem this whole area is more complex and like lots of things in computers there are avi files and there are avi files. I'll see if I can save it as M-PEG2 format (if the program allows me) as you suggested and see how it works out. Thanks again both David EDIT Nobeefstu Was wriiting the above while you were posting your contributions. I have tried your suggestion but I get almost the same message as when I go the dvd way 'cancelled by user'. I don't know eactly what Videobuilder means by this but it is obviously rejecting the file. Thanks

Well I have got the size down to 1.5 Gb but still the same problem. Useful little program that Tom (Virtualdub) thanks. I downloaded it and tried cuting out part of the video, saving it as avi, oldavi and sgment avi but to no avail. Also downloaded latest release of PTE5.1. Still getting this cancelled by user as above? any other ideas anyone? David

Thanks Tom That could be the problem then because it is over 3Gb in size. I'll try and make it smaller by recording less and see how it goes. David

I am trying to burn a DVD in Videobuilder using an avi file captured from a video in Ulead Videostudio. I can bring it to the bottom and click 'next', then 'start', the following screen says 18.00.00 - start, 18.00.00 - converting to MPEG2 etc, 18.00.00 - canceled by user (I haven't done anything) 18.00.00 - Deleting of temporary files, 18.00.00 - Finished when I hit close I'm back to PTE. Anybody any ideas? have I got a setting wrong or is there something it doesn't like about the AVI file and just gives me the message canceled by user? Using PTE 5.1 Beta#9 David

Ron Thanks for your reply. I'm on your list for tutorials Ive found them very helpful and will look out for this one on your website too. David

tcg wrote 'it is simply that Vista does not work with PTE' I have been running Vista in a laptop for about six months now and ran a number of shows with no problems of the sort you mention. I realise that is not much help to you but just thought I would say it works for me. Then I do have a fairly high spec machine Intel Centrino, 2 gig ram, Nvida 7950 GTX 512MB. I'm no expert and there are others who could advise better but I wonder if the fact that some Vista systems have only 1Gb Ram could be a problem? (you don't mention what yours has). Just a thought for what it's worth. David

Recent talk of Jpegs expanding in memory has got me wondering if I'm saving my files correctly in Photoshop Elements. Is it better for slideshows to save the file as 'save as' or 'save for web'? What I have been doing is setting aspect ratio for either computer screen (1024x 768) or DVD (1280x720 I know that's a bit high but future proofing my show for HD and I read somewhere that DVD will work well at this). I have been saving the files as 'Save for web'. On my computer screen and DVD I'm pleased with the results. But here is my questions 1. Will that just save a file for a web site that won't expand in memory and hence in HD will not be very good? 2. Would I be better saving it as 'Save as' Jpeg Quality 7. If anybody knows the answers maybe they could post it thanks David

Igor It crashed when I had finished doing the menu and pressed the start button before encoding. Once I had rebooted the computer it was fine and I have used it a number of times since with no problems. David

Super fast great stuff. Using dual core and it's almost rendering in real time where before it was slowly showing fades and animation. Had a problem where by having made one DVD went to make an other and every time hit start to burn it crashed me back to PTE. But rebooted computer and can't repeat problem so I'll just blame Vista. Anyway just to say thanks. Things just keep getting better. David

Nobeefstu Thanks for that and sorry Ken that was in one of the links. Didn't think it would work but it does. I can now access my files on laptop from desktop(XP). Brilliant! NOW I just got to work out how you do the same operation in Vista (no tools) so I can load files from desktop. Thanks Guys David

Ken Thanks for those links but don't have those problems. No problem accessing files over internet. I can Load a .pte file and it plays well from either desk top or laptop if the files are on the other computer. But in creating a slide show if the pictures are on the desktop I can't find a way to get at them from the laptop. (can do in photoshop) But PTE only seems to read local drives in this part of the software. (Main screen where you move pictures to the bottom) It won't let me search network/ workgroups/ computers. Yet as I said it will allow me to do that in loading a .pte file. If as Al suggested I disconnect the drive and attach it to the laptop then I can do it because it has become a local drive. From what I read you seem to be able to do this? do you load pictures from the network when you first create a show? David

Thanks Al I have an external drive on my desktop so I shall do as you suggest. It would be nice though if it could pick up the drive the way photoshop does or when I go File/open etc so I don't have to unplug it. Thanks again David

I am wanting to load pictures into Pictures to Exe V5 from my desktop computer unto my laptop over the network but I can't seem to access my network from the main screen. I can load a .pte file by going File/Open and my network and files are there. But can seem to find no way of seeing the network on the main PTE window to load the pictures. Any ideas other than first copying all the slides to my laptop? David

I got a laptop from 'Rock' www.rockdirect.com based in Warwick UK same top spec as Alienware but cheaper. I have found no problems running shows (smooth) 512 Nvidia. Might be worth a look, really designed for gaming. They also have a good forum at rockforum.co.uk David

Brilliant, thanks Ken, I never thought of looking for it in PTE was looking to do it Windows. Probably not using half the programs capabilities. (Must find time to read Lin's instructions). Thanks again. David

Thanks for the question and the answers and link I have found that useful. Just tried it. One further question how do I now link that with my exe file as some people have done so when you run explore the icon appears with the file? David

Just one thing to be aware of as I discovered. My Security software (F-secure) won't allow me to run an exe file from my CD drive. When I disable it it runs fine otherwise it either won't run or hangs the system (XP). David

Marjon Suggest you follow instructions from Conflow above and give more details. Just to say I have recently got a laptop as well with Vista and PTE shows run with no problems so I don't think it has anything to do with Vista could be the computer specs? David