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For details of AV Events around the world see AV News We try to list as many events as possible on the Calendar page, go to Events & then click on 'Full Calendar' to access. There is a Google Translate facility at the bottom of each page for those who prefer to read it in their native language. Please send us details of any AV Events/Competitons/Festivals along with contact details & we will advertise them for you. We would also appreciate reports & pictures of these events to include in the Magazine. We are trying to make the Magazine as International as possible & have Subscribers across the world, so please let us know what is going on in your area. See the Contacts Page for details of where to send information. The next issue is due out on November 1st & to ensure inclusion our copy deadline is 23rd September. We look forward to meeting a lot of PTE Forum Members at the UK AV National Championships at Leicester 19th & 20th September. Jill & John Editors AV News

When the sequence ran out of sync, the laptop screen was on & that was also displaying at 1400 x 1050 So I suppose it was having to upsize 2 displays. As it was not my equipment I wasn't in a position to alter anything or switch off the laptop screen. From what I can remember the sequence at the time was made with version 5, it was a while ago so things may be different with a sequence made in version 5.6 of PTE One thing I have noticed on doing some tests, is with another sequence originally made in version 5.0 where I have a horizontal pan. The image is set to 1530 x768 & set to 'Original' Mode in the Common Tab of the O&A. This was so that it would keep the full horizontal width. At the time I only had a 1024 x 768 monitor so all of the images displayed at the full height of 768. Displaying it on a monitor which is 1200 x 800 all of the other images are resized to fill the height of the screen ie 800 pixels. They are also increased in width to keep the aspect ratio of 4x3. This is what will happen if projected at 1400 x 1050, the image is increased in both height & width to fit the display resolution. BUT the horizontal panned image is not resized & still appears at 768 high. So a black bar appears at the top & bottom of this image. This is not too noticeable at 1200 x 800 but if increased to 1400 x 1050 on a large screen the difference would be really apparent. I now realise that I should have set the mode of this panned image in PTE 5.0 to be 'Cover Slide' & not 'Original' as this will then allow it to be increased to match the display resolution. When converting to 5.6 all of the images were automatically set to 'Fit to Slide' But the panned image was still shown at a smaller height than the others. I think this is because PTE recognised that my display was now 1200 x 800 & so set the 'size of slide' in the Screen Tab of Project Options to be 1067 x 800 It also ticked the 'Fixed size of slide' box. All of the other images have the zoom set to 100 in the O&A Animation tab, but for the panned image this has now been set to 143.393 even though in version 5.0 it was set to 100 Even setting the 'size of slide' to be 1024 x 768 (which would result in the images being shown at the native size rather that projector resolution) the panned image is still shown at a smaller height than the other images. I am not quite sure of the way PTE has adjusted the images, all I know is that it is something to watch out for when converting sequences from earlier versions. Also if you have any sequences with images set to original mode, be they panned, zoomed or png images, they will not be adjusted to fill the new resolution. So it is something to bear in mind when sending sequences off to competitions etc. Jill

I have been reading Peter's initial question & all the answers with interest as all my sequences have been made at 1024 x 768. One thing that no one has mentioned is the problem of timing when upsizing a 1024 x768 show to project at 1400 x1050. This may not be noticeable on short sequences or ones which do not have critical timing of pictures to music. But I have had it happen to one of my own sequences, made at 1024 & played on a 1400 projector via a laptop. The sequence went out of sync!! Then, presumably when the next buffer load of information was read it came back in sync only to drift out again. The audience did not notice the problem but I certainly did!! It was a fairly high spec laptop that was running the show, so I do not think it was question of running out of memory or processing power. I don't know the exact spec as I was using the club's equipment where I was giving a talk. The sequence in question was 12 minutes long & did not have O&A it was just straight dissolves. So I hate to think what will happen to one that has a lot of fast animation!! This is a concern for the Nationals competition & something I also raised with the organisers, but have never had a reply! Maybe viewing the sequences at home on a small screen they will look ok, but when projected onto a large screen as used for this competition I have concerns that the images will not look as good as when projected at their native resolution. Maybe the Judges need to be made aware of which sequences are being upsized (& maybe which are downsized) The differences may only be slight, but I am sure that authors will notice if the sequence is not projected as well as they had intended even if the audience do not. Full details of the Nationals Championships including entry/booking forms & rules can also be found on the AV News website Jill

IAC Geoffrey Round International AV Competition Entry Forms for this Competition are now available for download on the AV News website The closing date has been extended to Saturday March 7th Hopefully all RPS AV Group Members & Subscribers should have received their copy of the February Issue by now. Please let us know if you haven't Jill & John Editors

AV News Issue 175 February 2009 is now published and should be with you by the end of the week. We have another bumper issue for you, this time with an International flavour. There are Articles from Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and Bill Bruce of Norway. An image from his winning sequence 'Arctic Dreams' features on the Front Cover Check out the website avnews.org.uk to see the full Contents for this Issue. Jill & John Editors of AV News Magazine

Hi Ralph, Could you please add AV News Magazine to your list of links. I have sent you a personal email via the Webmaster link on your webiste so hope it reaches you. Jill Editor AV News Magazine Website www.avnews.org.uk for all the latest Audio Visual News & Views

Just to remind everyone that Subscriptions for 2009 to AV News Magazine are now due. AV News is published quarterly by the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) & is available to anyone by subscription. Printed in Full Colour the 56 pages are packed with articles, reviews, technical details, competition results, events, photographs, letters and queries. The next Issue is due out on 1st February. See http://www.avnews.org.uk for more details & to download an order form. Best Wishes Jill & John (Editors)

Hi Colin, If you have downloaded & installed the new Beta version of Audacity 1.3.6 this now has an option of altering playback speed. The Green triangle at the far right of the screen. Next to this is bar with - at the left & + to the right with a slider to adjust the speed. Make sure this is set to 1.00 If you Double Click the Slider another small window opens where you can type in an exact amount. If you have this set to a higher speed it could explain why your track is playing a lot faster than expected. Hope this helps solve your problem. Jill For all the latest Audio-Visual News subscribe to AV News Magazine See our website http://www.avnews.org.uk Subscriptions are now due for 2009 & the next Issuse is due out on 1st February.

Hi, I have been playing with the new transitions, especially the Swap 3D. Is it possible to change the black background to a colour or even better to a tiled image. I have tried all the settings but it still stays black. Have yet to decide how best to use Masks, but the possibilities look really good. Thanks to Igor & the team for all your hard work. Jill

1. I am trying to set up a menu to run slide shows from. I know how to do this & everything works ok. However when I create the menu using Version 5.1 & click on the link to a show the screen flashes several times before the expected show runs. Using Version 4.48 the menu screen sits there for a few seconds while the show loads then it runs smoothly. In Version 5.1 the screen also flashes when the show ends before it returns to the menu. 4.48 returns smoothly. I have created an exe of the 5.1 menu & it runs fine without flashes on a freinds laptop. A menu created on that laptop, runs fine there but flashes on my PC. Does anyone have any ideas???? I am running XP SP2 with 1gb Ram on an AMD 3000+ 1.81Ghz using a Nvidia GeForce 7300GS with 512 Ram in single monitor mode Display is set to 1024x768 2. As I will be running the Menu etc from an unknown computer when out giving shows I would like to be able to jump off to other applications, Photoshop etc. Again I know how to do this. But as I can't guarantee where the application will be on the club's computer I would prefer to be able to jump to the Windows Desktop to locate it or at least bring up the Start menu. Does anyone know how to call up the Desktop from within a PTE exe or even if it can be done??? Thanks for any advice you give. Jill (North Wales)