beans

Some months ago I was getting the black screen in 5.1 Video Builder and having no way to upgrade the graphics in my Acer laptop, I put my slideshow projects away. A couple of days ago I went back on the PTE website hoping something was new, and found the 5.5 version was just released. I downloaded it and made a quick 5 slide, not really expecting it to be different. After setting up to make a mpeg I was astounded that I could see each slide being processed in the screen! I raced into Win Media Player and Yes! I could see the pictures! NO MORE BLACK SCREEN!!! Thank you! It is truly the best program out there! I could not bear to get another program that could not even do half the things that PTE can! Dancing wildly in the rain! Jan

Thanks, Tom. I did update DirectX - no change. I changed the memory from 128MB to 502MB - no change. Just downloaded the updated version of the Intel, but the progress screen in Winzip showed the same version I had already was installed. ??? Still no change. I will look at the Intel site more to see why the newer version was not installed.

I looked at the link given above and bumbled over the Net looking at video and graphics cards, hoping to find an external one for my laptop. Finally I dragged out an older desktop PC that had an even lower video card than my Acer Aspire - Intel® 845GV chipset. I loaded the zip for 5.1 and did not expect much. I was surprised to see that when I was making the mpeg that the progress screen actually showed the pictures! I could see the pictures of that slideshow in Windows Media Player, though after I was finished converting the mpeg in Video Builder a box popped up that said I should use a better video card so the process would be faster. (It did take 45 minutes to make a 5 slide mpeg on my old desktop computer.) I did not get that sign on my laptop. I did observe a very strange thing on my laptop. At the very beginning of every mpeg attempt made in 5.1 Video Builder there was a flash of light emitting from the top right corner for just a split second, then the rest of the slideshow was totally black. I could see that there was something there in Windows Media Player when I stopped the mpeg and moved the slider to the beginning. It is quite weird looking and does not look anything like the first, or any, slide (either a picture of the woods or a drawn rainbow). It is bands of different colors with tiny blocks. I thought there might be words, but none can be distinguished when blown up. In all slideshows made in 5.1 the lighted part is cut off at a diagonal, with the rest totally black, and all the slides following totally black. Thinking it might be a transition causing that diagonal cutoff, I tried circles and others, and also tried none for the first slide and it did not make any difference. They are all the same. Sometimes they were similar and other slides there were differences. In the program XnView I could capture a frame shot of this thing. I am going to try and attach a collage of 4 different ones. Sort of looks like something is blocking it in 5.1 (but only on my laptop), but not 5.0. Last night this box popped up just as I was trying to make a mpeg in 5.1: asd could not open video codec It did not come up again in three more tries - only got that weird picture cut on the diagonal at the very beginning. I can make an exe file in 5.1, but cannot make avi, mpeg or burn video disc - all are black.

If I wanted to produce a "normal"" show without animations I would not have paid for it. I realize now that my video apparatus is down in the mud, but it did manage to produce shows in 5.0. Which unfortunately is no longer on the Downloads page.

PTV, not PTE I wondered about that also because I could find no way to open a PTV file. It is in Video Builder when you click on Close after making DVD or any of the other selections. A box pops up asking if you want to save your project because it was changed. The only file selection is .ptv. Not a typo - V instead of E. For a 5 slide show, these are the sizes of the files created. The .ptv file is so small, it really could not have saved much of either of the .mpg file or the .pte file. 7.2MB .mpg 6.19K .pte 701 bytes .ptv

I threw a 10 slide show together, with no animation, and still the screen was black in Video Builder while creating mpeg. It made a 34.6MB file, but still nothing shows when played in Win Media Player.

This is the information for my "video card" on my Acer Aspire 1640 laptop: Card name: Mobile Intel® 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family Manufacturer: Intel Corporation Chip type: Intel® 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset DAC type: Internal Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2592&SUBSYS_008F1025&REV_03 Display Memory: 128.0 MB Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz) Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200 Driver Name: ialmrnt5.dll Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4363 (English) DDI Version: 9 (or higher) According to what I have read on the Internet, the Intel chipsets are integrated into the motherboard and there is no video card, so therefore the video card can not be upgraded. In your What's New In 5.1 Version you stated "> Encoding of DVD-Video disc (and AVI) works in 2-4 times faster now due to optimization for dual-core CPUs and using of hardware acceleration for video post-processing (if modern video card installed)." I'm not sure, but I think the reason why there is a black screen and no pictures are created in the files in Video Builder of 5.1 is your technology has advanced beyond the capabilities of my laptop. I am rather out of luck in using 5.1 version if this is the case.

Thanks, Lin, for telling how to find it. I ran those tests with the box spinning and bouncing around. I could see the box fine, but there were jerks in the movement. I suspect that is where some of my jerks are coming from. Next chapter - find out about video card! I did remove 5.1 and downloaded it again, from the same place on the PTE website on the left side of the home page. The same thing happened. Even while compiling the mpeg the little screen above the progress bar stayed black. In 5.0 it showed the picture slides in slow motion while the mpeg was being made. Still only music, no pictures in 5.1. The file sizes are identical at 156MB in the ones made in both 5.0 and 5.1. I can't find any function or tool that would not allow the pictures to be seen. So I will start searching into video cards and see what I can find that will work.

I turned the D3D off, then hit preview. Whoa! What a difference! I would prefer to have it on! Went ahead and made the mpeg, I noticed the screen stayed black instead of displaying the slides as it was processing. Music played, no pictures. I do not know about the video card. The 80GB Acer laptop was bought last year. Since it worked in 5.0, maybe the download of 5.1 was incomplete. I will remove 5.1 and download it again tomorrow. Thanks!

I burned a short 23 (no menus) slide DVD video to disc, opened it in Win Media Player and it ran okay. But instead of displaying the title and author, Win Media Player only showed "Unknown DVD" on their screen on the right side. Is there a script or command that could be written in Notepad to make Media Player show the title and author? Something that could be added before burning?

Bought PTE 5.0 on October 26, 2007 and downloaded 5.1 a few weeks ago. When I opened up 5.1 a box popped up asking if I wanted to transfer the settings and I clicked OK. 5.0 is installed in Program Files on the C drive and 5.1 is installed in a different folder called Other Programs on the C drive. Made a short 23 slideshow with music for test runs. I have been reducing the writing speed on 16x DVD-R disc to reduce the jerks in the pan and zoom. 8x was better in 5.0, so I thought I would try 4x in 5.1 - music played but no pictures showed in Win Media Player for both what I burned on disc and the .mpg that was created. Thinking it might be Win Media Player or the write speed, I burned the same in PTE 5.0 at 4x. Both music and pictures played in Win Media Player, and the jerkiness was reduced to nearly nothing. This worked for both what was burned on disc as the video and the .mpg file. In Windows Explorer (XP Home) I checked file sizes and they were the same for the files and DVD video disc burned in both 5.0 and 5.1. I also checked the version for Video Builder - 1.0.0.0 for 5.0 and 1.1.0.0 for 5.1. Music but no pictures with 5.1. What did I do wrong?