cgbraggjr

And finally a big apology for wasting everyone's time. I guess I haven't been keeping up with version changes and missed the project option for "Synchronize soundtrack and slides." All fixed. If this whole thread could be removed the world would be a better place.

More information. When I play the exe file, the sound clip comes way too late - not synched to its slide. So, preview is not the only problem. The show is set up so that each slide defaults to 5 seconds, but the default setting is to wait for a keystroke before advancing the slide, and it's only changed from that on 3-4 slides.

Urgh. Why can't you just answer my question without my giving you any important details????? :rolleyes:/> Sorry. PTE 8.0.1 Deluxe. Windows 7 Home edition.

I know this has popped up before, but I can't seem to solve it. I have added an mp3 file to a show and it won't play in preview. I added it as a sound comment - no good. So I removed the comment and added a Track 2 and inserted it there. No good. The mini-player works fine. What have I missed? Permission to revise and extend: while previewing the show, the sound started playing well past the point of the slide to which it was linked. The offset for the clip is zero, so I'm guessing that preview took the default of 5 seconds per slide and began playing the clip when I had been previewing for 42x5 seconds (it's linked to slide 42). But I still don't know how to get it synched in preview, especially if I start adding and subtracting slides between the beginning and the linked slide.

Beautiful show! I'll disagree with Ken that you were "lucky" to get those macro shots. I know how difficult it can be to get LIVE OUTDOOR macros even when there is a plethora of subjects. Could you tell us what equipment you used? I'm going to guess you used a tripod and a dedicated macro lens.........

Maureen - you have a wonderful eye. The composition of your photos is really excellent. On the tech side I admired the way you did the people-on-bench transition. You made it appear seamless in spite of it being two completely different photos. Bravo!

That's some amazing detail. A gorgeous photo. BTW, the 'mouse' looks like it might be a kangaroo rat but I'm not sure if they live where you are. Question: in the pans where the zoom is wide there is considerable 'shimmering' in the fine details. This disappears at medium zoom and then reappears in the extreme closeups. Is this something in my computer display or is it one of those facts of life for panning? -- Chuck B

Lin Evans says: See if this doesn't do what you want.... It does! Thank you! I think default behavior has changed over versions because I never ran into this problem before. In fact, your PZR for Smarties tutorial written for V5.0 shows all keyframes behaving in the 'separated' manner without any diving into the "Settings" menu. Thanks again!

Lin - The tutorial #1 does not get far enough into PZR to illuminate. I do understand those basic steps. I have made a zip file and it is at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32951677/AntarcticTest_Apr29-2013_15-53-41.zip This slide has 3 keyframes, all animation modes set to linear. It first pans left, and then at the second keyframe it pans right and zooms to the third keyframe. As soon as an animation mode is changed to 'smooth' the second keyframe is ignored and all action goes smoothly (heh) from the first to the third keyframe. The file is 14 megs because there is a PNG file involved. I couldn't make it smaller. Thanks in advance - Argonaut

Lin - I tried this. I even started over with only one keyframe (at the beginning) set to linear in all modes, added keyframes, panned and zoomed the new keyframes, and everything was fine. Then I changed the first keyframe to 'smooth' and the same thing happened - the middle keyframe was ignored. Also, if it matters, the first keyframe read 'custom' and not 'linear' after I added keyframes and pans. Why did it change from 'linear' on its own? And, I am doing a perspective pan inside a frame, if *that* makes a difference.

I thought I knew what I was doing, but.... I want to change an animation. It has beginning and ending keyframes (kf1 and kf2) and the pan from kf1 to kf2 is fine. What I would like to do is add a third keyframe after kf2 so the pan/zoom goes from kf1 to kf2 and then changes direction to go to kf3. What happens is that when I add kf3, kf2 is ignored. The pan/zoom goes from kf1 to kf3 and it's as if kf2 does not exist. What have I forgotten/left out?

I use a laptop and not USB for display because there are still a lot of TVs out there that don't have USB inputs. As others have said, distributing shows to relatives and friends usually involves a DVD, but I have other software to make that conversion for me. Plus, it's a rare event. I could live without the feature.

Personally, I find Peter's comments useful. Just sayin'. I use Sony Vegas as my video editor. Highly recommended. It accepts most formats for editing, and you can render your project in many many formats. I just rendered a 1920x1080 AVCHD project as Sony-labeled MP4 at 1280x720p. It played on PTE 7.0 without a hitch, both in preview and as a executable. This is on a vanilla HP Slimline a couple of years old. Chuck B

Ray - I had a similar problem that was solved by changing the output driver on the laptop. Somebody mentioned codecs, but this is different. With one driver I got heavy distortion on the TV (using the HDMI connection) and with another everything was OK. Start looking around in your Playback Devices to see if you have a choice. I can go with either "Realtek Digital Output" or with "AMD HDMI Output" on my desktop - these are the kinds of choices you should see on the laptop too. Chuck B

I'm including more and more video on my "slide shows" and use Mercalli for stabilization. Since I don't have a video editor that can use it as an add-in I bought the standalone version (works just as well) and paid under $150 for it. When you need stabilization, you really need it.

Yachtsman - same thing happens to me on my 1280x1024 monitor. However, if I click the "Save" button at the bottom, the image resizes to fit in the screen. Also, the EXIF data shows it is a 1224x979 photo (which should fit the screen naturally, and which also means that the resizing it does reduces it to LESS than full pixel size) but it also has been saved at 255dpi which may have an effect on how it displays. Very Mysterious.

A general comment: in my experience mp3s with low bit rates perform erratically. For instance, I've had mp3 players and software that simply refuse to play anything recorded below 32K. Since space is cheap these days, why not experiment by having Audacity generate 64K files?

DG - my laptop cannot play a hi-def EXE file (an Atom CPU??), and the TV cannot play MP4s. The only way to get an HD program in to the TV is via blu-ray (also do not have) or HDMI. The only computer I have that is fast enough to play an EXE is a desktop and a major hassle to move to the TV, plus it does not have an HDMI port anyway. So, the only way to get HD from PTE to the TV is an mp4 file played on my laptop. The quality is quite good (i was happily surprised to be able to pause the mp4 and not lose quality the way you do when you pause a DVD); in a way I don't want to see an EXE file played in case it *is* better. And the wife doesn't mind that one HDMI cable, as long as I disconnect when I'm done.

I bought an HP laptop a year ago because it had an HDMI port and I wanted to play HD shows on my TV. Well, I just finished a travel slide and video show, rendered it to HD, and tried to play it. Stutter stutter. Dang. It stuttered in Windows Media Player, and in KMP, a very highly regarded piece of free software. I tried another free video player: "Media Player Classic - Home Cinema." Success! Even at High-Quality, the mp4 is playing perfectly. Here is a URL for comparing free media players: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-windows-media-player-replacement.htm System: Win XP Pro. Hardware: HP model 3651; Intel Atom CPU N270 @ 1.60 GHz; 3MB RAM; Nvidia ION LE. You have to agree that this is less horsepower than people assume is needed to play the hi-def videos (slow and single core), but Media Player Classic has made it work. PS: I recommend reading the techsupportalert site for security recommendations, what with AVG causing so many problems. I dropped AVG and went with Microsoft's free Security Essentials and have not been bothered by viruses or interference with PTE in over a year.

Thanks Davegee - that answers my question. I'm not sure about the action because I may want to animate some of those runty slides and the large canvas would complicate matters. Also, I'm with the French in wanting an "Original Size" checkbox in Project Options.

I know this is not considered Best Practice but I need to display slides at different image sizes in a single show. About half are full screen (1920x1080) and half are smaller. When they are, say 1400x700, that's how I want them to display, but PTE's default is to enlarge slides until either the verticals or horizontals meet the edge of the screen. I can do this slide-by-slide by adjusting the size to 100% but is there a way I can set a parameter so ALL the slides display at 100% by default?

Well, if I understand, it seems that converting a clip using the PTE optimizer will get me to the most efficient video format. But if that's true, then why would there be 'recommended' formats for input? I'll go and make some tests.

I am just getting my feet wet with video in PTE. I'm working with Sony Vegas and need to know which of Sony's HD output formats will work best (no stutters, lowest CPU speed needed). Sony offers: Quick Time 7 (uncompressed), Sony AVCHD@60i, Sony AVC Blu-Ray 1920x1080@60i 10MBPS, Video for Windows AVI 1080-60i YUV, and WMV with a bit rate range from 6.4 to 8.0 MBPS. Eventually the show will be made into an EXE file, so this might be a non-event question. Thanx - Chuck

"What I want to do is very easy with a multitrack video editor." I hear you. I did a very complicated show in just such an editor because PTE is not a multitrack editor [ME]. Not that I am objecting - the ME would be the wrong place to do any slide animation, and has no auto-sharpening or other goodies that PTE does. No matter how much I like PTE or the ME, I need both. OTOH, cut and paste really is a simple answer to this particular question. You could do it in the time it takes to read the thread.

Jan - a fascinating show! One more question: how did you keep the moon centered in your final output? Thanks again! -- chuck