coopernatural

Hi Robert, It's a beast alright. What sort of Jack would you need to change a flat tyre? Nice one, Davy

Hi Carol, I have just ordered some Verbatim dual layer discs as the price has dropped to about £22 for a spindle of 25 (free delivery). For dual layer discs I would only use only Verbatims.Having tested scores of single layer discs as well the Verbatims and Taiyo Yuden discs gave good burns with low errors and reliable performance. Bluray discs are still unproven and with the higher densities involved,I could see reliability maybe raising its head with the cheaper media. This wasn't supposed to happen with dvdr discs,but it did. I think the hardest part of the encoding process is the transition fades (with blacks),but I don't know a lot about that. Will be good to hear from Ronnie on the different discs. Good to hear from folks on the cutting edge. Thanks, Davy

Ronnie/All I have been following this with interest as I too have been disappointed with standard dvd creations in pte. Ronnie, it seems you are going to have a go at some Bluray Discs, so it would be good to hear of your findings down the line. As a new technology these Bluray players are shipped out with the paint still wet. Keep checking for firmware updates if you do get one. It might be interesting to hear of the process, preferences and other software used to make Bluray compatible dvd or Bluray disc. I am not sure whether it’s AVI or HD Video In the ‘Create’ selection of PTE being worked with. A walkthrough from there would be appreciated. For Carol. Would it be possible to use double layer Dvd to extend or at least reduce compression on an AV? Regarding the difference in quality between these Bluray compatible dvds and Bluray discs, is there a difference between static images, or is it more apparent in the transitions? Davy

Hi Andrew, A great way to Chillax. Maybe a longer version needed,as the ice in my drink hadn't even started to melt. Good one. Davy

Hi Maureen, Glad you liked the AV. Have just hooked up the new monitor.Wow what a difference. The music is an edit from the track 'Ascolta'by the great Ludivico Einaudi. He produces some good stuff.You can check him out on Youtube. Thanks, Davy

Hi Bill, Thanks for being the 'Mac' tester. Good to know these versions are working Ok. Glad you liked them. Appreciate the feedback. Davy

Hi Andrew, Almost Dickensian conditions.There was a Mill at the bottom of my street where my father did the maintainance. One of his tasks every year was to whitewash the glass roof to reflect away the heat from the sun. You froze in winter and baked in summer. The UK workforce today couldn't survive it. Thanks, Davy

Hi Colin, Yes quality of some of the photos is very good.Some were unusable though.Cropping for 16:9 and a fair bit of photoshop on some pics helped. I'm not to keen on removing every spec or blemish.When I look at an old photo thats what I expect to see. Thanks for the comments. Davy

Hi Rick, Images are from Northern Ireland. No hearing/dust/health and safety protection then. I thought the girls had no shoes due to poverty,but they had to work in damp conditions to keep the spinning fibres moist. Bare feet was more bearable. Thanks for the comments, Davy

Thanks Don, I missed saving hundreds of images though. For the people I was working for,they were just taking up space. Davy

Ken, I pick up my 1920x1200 monitor tomorrow. Life in HD at last. I scoured the pics.Not a 'Ken Cox was here' graffiti sign in sight. Thanks, Davy

All, 'Linen' An AV focusing on the huge Linen industry that grew up in the North of Ireland from the early 20th century. It could just have well been from any area in the UK. Hard times indeed and barely a smile from the workforce. I rescued these pics some years ago.They were destined for the Shredder. Weighing in around 18meg and lasting 3.5 minutes. Posted on Mediafire ‘Linen’. http://www.mediafire.com/?lzezmzkgw2z PC Version http://www.mediafire.com/?dcvjjioydim Mac Version Davy

Maureen, Downloaded and saved on to Hardrive along with some PTE 'Keepers'. If you want this back,you gotta Pay me. Enough said. Davy

Barry, Top notch AV. Just stand back and admire it. Everything worked for me. Davy

Maureen, That fooled you. It was really Sir Elton.I just messed around with his piano sound. Davy

Maureen, A duo eh. Hmmmmm. Ok Listen to this intro. http://www.mediafire.com/?n2tlnjdjhmy Just sing "I remember when rock was young" Send me your demo. I'll have my agent call yours.See if we can get booked in for next years Grammys Davy

Ken, Actually I turned those grammy awards people down. I was too busy pushing my piano half a mile for my first lesson Davy

Maureen, You have never heard me play the piano. http://www.mediafire.com/?xezgi5zqzte Now where did I leave that towel Davy

Maureen, I am having a look today for a new monitor (Yeh).I had viewed a few AVs yesterday on a friends widescreen set and I thought it made such a difference. With the quality of your work,redoing in HD would be well worth the effort. Now if you tell me you are also learning to play the theme to Braveheart I'm throwing the towel in Look forward to the next production, Davy

John, 'Producer' is just too fancy a title for me. I’m just a compiler, a photo mixing disc jockey. Maybe I won’t feel so bad, when as technology advances, photos will exist in the backwater of video footage stills. When PTE 12.1 has auto video still select and mood music generator buttons. It’s all heading that way. Should have listened to the old die hard photographers who thought that AVs were the start of the end and we were all practicing the black art. Before that time comes I want to do a whole, Photo, soundtrack, edit, scriptwriter AV production. If it turns out to be a failure, I can always say, “They made me do it”. Thanks for the comments. Davy

Hi Eric, Things have moved along from Mr.Wing Dings Bulk Ink backstreet Emporium.I have used several ink systems and produced 100s of discs along with the normal photo/document prints. I visited a store recently where it was possible to buy a printer for almost the same price as the replacement inks. I could buy the printer,and Ebay the ink supplied with it.Get a new printer for around £10! Printers are carefully designed to waste their expensive ink.The cleaning purges in the firmware see to that. For those with deep pockets and living in an ideal world then stick with the manufacturers ink. Some of these expensive inks have also contained coagulants that help gum up a system and make you think it was the iffy compatible ink at fault.If I was running a printer from new I would not install the original ink to avoid the possibility.A used printer can be flushed with a cleanig fluid first. Early bulk ink systems and the ink where a bit dodgy.Inks would contain high levels of evaporate and gave poor results. A decent continuous flow system can give very good results.Some suppliers will even give you profiles for your particular printing paper. For printing discs there are usually tweaks beyond the manufacturers instructions on forums,along with enhanced software for the printer. You will take forever to do that label in Lightscribe.A guestimate would be about for every 10 discs you do with the Canon you will have 1 Lightscribe disc made. Davy

Hi Eric, If your printer is an epson or Canon you should be able to get a cheap bulk ink system for it From about £20,unless its one of those high end models. Original manufacturers ink is ml for ml more expensive than Dom Perignon. A good compatible ink will give great results. For any printed discs you want to keep for yourself you can give them a protective spray of aerosol lacquer. Davy

Hi Dave, I fully understand your views and that shared with others about using downloaded images. I take my hat of to those that do the whole thing,Photography/manipulation,Voiceover/music and creative assembly of these elements together in the AV presentation.Thats as good as it gets. My frustration came from the fact that I wanted to get into PTE but had very little by way of useable photos. I certainly couldn't get to the exotic destinations seen in some shows.I couldn't match the variety and quality of images either.Google images opened things up for me as I did not want to make one particular type of AV.Photographers tend to to get stuck in a rut with their own material.Same old type of photos,drop some nice music in,job done.I would soon get bored with that.I'm not totally sure that photographers make the best AVs. As I have said before,I do this just as an interest,much like people who do crosswords etc. No money or competitions involved. So I have cut my teeth with downloaded images.Would I recommend it to someone starting off with PTE? Absolutely. It will improve every element of your work. It's not just as quick and easy as some would think to make a show,even with these downloaded Pics. As a tester,try downloading say 35 images on a particular subject and making an AV. I will be using Google a lot less now as I want to get back to real photography. To comment on your point about doing your own music.I have bought some uber expensive mics,audio interface,music software and a guitar for rolling my own soundtracks. If I can make an AV with my own photos,make the soundtrack and artisticly craft it in to something great,I will be delighted,suprised and probably still asleep. Thanks for the comments. Davy

Hi Bill, Thanks for the heads up with PTE and Macs. That Igor is a clever one. Your 24" Cinema Monitor sounds sweet. Have fun. Davy

Hi Andrew, Glad it worked for you. I have used Enya/Lord Of The Rings in several AVs. It's not all wailing Banshee sounds Cheers, Davy