[PC specs to run PTE exe files]

Thanks for all your help Brian. The solution, if she accepts it, should give her PC a new lease of life. There again, she may be tempted to put the money towards a new PC!

All the best,

P

[PC specs to run PTE exe files]

Brian, your summary of my situation is exactly right. One person has a problem running a very simple PTE slide show of mine and I'd like to help her if I can.

I've now received the information you asked for. She tells me her computer is 4 years old:

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name JANETP4

System Manufacturer Sony Corporation

System Model PCV-V1

System Type X86-based PC

Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2800 Mhz

BIOS Version/Date Award Software, Inc. ACPI BIOS Revision 2001, 21/11/03

SMBIOS Version 2.3

Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS

System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Locale United Kingdom

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"

User Name JANETP4\Janet

Time Zone GMT Daylight Time

Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB

Available Physical Memory 58.19 MB

Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB

Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB

Page File Space 1.10 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys

What do you think?

P

[PC specs to run PTE exe files]

Thanks Brian. Whilst I don't yet have her F-2 details, I do have Lin's recommended dxdiag results for System and Display:

System Information:

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: Sony Corporation

System Model: PCV-V1

BIOS: Award Medallion BIOS v6.0

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.80GHz

Memory: 480MB RAM

Page File: 360MB used, 763MB available

Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

Display Devices:

Card name: SiS 650_651_740

Manufacturer: SiS

Chip type: SiS 651 Rev 00

DAC type: Internal

Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_6325&SUBSYS_811C104D&REV_00

Display Memory: 32.0 MB

Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Monitor: Digital Flat Panel (1024x768)

Monitor Max Res:

Driver Name: SiSGRV.dll

Driver Version: 6.14.0010.2211 (English)

DDI Version: 9 (or higher)

Driver Attributes: Final Retail

Driver Date/Size: 10/23/2003 15:44:40, 1079040 bytes

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

WHQL Date Stamp: n/a

VDD: n/a

Mini VDD: sisgrp.sys

Mini VDD Date: 10/13/2003 23:57:34, 426752 bytes

Device Identifier: {D7B71ED9-2065-11CF-5E7B-16A1A1C2CB35}

Vendor ID: 0x1039

Device ID: 0x6325

SubSys ID: 0x811C104D

Revision ID: 0x0000

Revision ID: 0x0000

Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_D ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG1_A

Deinterlace Caps: n/a

Registry: OK

DDraw Status: Enabled

D3D Status: Enabled

AGP Status: Enabled

To my eye, perhaps the most telling is the amount of RAM available. Would simply adding more RAM cure this do you think, or is there more to it?

P

[PC specs to run PTE exe files]

Barry, Lin - many thanks for your very helpful suggestions. This particular slide show has about 40 slides in total, all 1024x682, and no pan, zoom or rotate, just standard fade in/out. I've not sent her any others so I would imagine she'd have difficulties with any PTE exe shows. I'll see what she can tell me about her PC system and take it from there.

P

[PC specs to run PTE exe files]

I created an exe file recently using PTE v5.1, with just the fade in/out transitions. One person reported problems she described as 'flicker', which was so bad she couldn't watch the show. Nobody else has this problem. I believe her PC isn't all that new, but probably bought in the last 3 or 4 years. Are there any minimum specs for viewing PTE exe files (as opposed to using PTE itself), e.g. graphics card, RAM, version of DirectX, etc, and is there anything I can do to alleviate the problem for her, such as switching off hardware acceleration?

Thanks

[Previewing and Saving DVD files]

Hi Maria,

I don't think this is a stupid question at all! I'm new to PTE myself and I'd be interested in hearing what others have to suggest. In the meantime, here's a couple of things I've done which seem to work. Choose whichever is easier for you:

1. Download and install a free Microsoft program called 'Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel'. That allows you to create a virtual CD drive on your PC. Then use PTE/Videobuilder and opt to 'Create ISO image'. You can then point your virtual CD drive at the ISO image and view it as if it were a CD/DVD. If all's well, use ImgBurn or similar to burn a DVD from the ISO image.

2. Use PTE/Videobuilder and opt to 'Create DVD folders'. Then use a video viewing program like VLC to view your DVD folders. If all's well, burn the folders to DVD. I used Nero.

Hope that helps. If there's a better way, maybe one of the experts will chip in.

P

(P.S. Virtual CD-ROM C/P is for XP only, but there may be something similar if you have a different OS)

[Updated VideoBuilder]

5.11 cures the problem I had with Videoburner. Previously I had to create an ISO and burn using ImgBurn. It's great I can now do everything from within PTE.

Many thanks.