Barry Beckham

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Hello Lapiovra I received your DVD today and the effect your seeing on the TV is definitely the Moiré effect. It's not a fault of the software and it's a phenomenon that is well known and its not exclusive to a DVD. It just seems to be enhanced by the DVD creation process. Do a Google search and you can read all the technical stuff you want about Moiré. If you have ever watched an old western, where the wheels of the coach appear to be stationary or even going backwards? That is the Moiré effect. In our Slide Shows it has a number of causes and knowing those will help us to avoid it, or at least limit it to acceptable levels. 1. The effect will be seen far more on high contrast subjects, bright leaves against a dark background are a good example, so if you can avoid excessive highlights that will go a long way to curing the problem. Don't overdo contrast in sunlit images or you may make matters worse 2. Sharpening images is another direct cause that can also make the moiré effect worse. I am not suggesting over sharpening, but that will not help either. As the image is intended for animation, try to avoid sharpening your original image. This will go some way to help reduce the Moiré effect. 3. Probably the biggest cause of moiré is using images for your animation that are far bigger than they need to be. If you're using a slide show aspect ratio of 16:9 (1920*1080) and you want to zoom the image, you actually don't need that much extra size in your images. (depending on the zoom of course) I made a test that you can download from below. http://www.mediafire...0test%25201.zip The slide show Aspect Ratio was set at 1920*1080 and the image size was created at 2560*1440. With these sizes you can see the extent of the zoom, which is quite enough in my view, even though the image is only 600 pixels longer than the show size. If we use high resolution images the moiré effect shows up more when the size of the image is small on screen. Its like all the pixels are crammed into too small a space. So, another solution to defeat the Moiré effect is to resize your images so they are not far bigger than they need to be for the animation you want to create. If I were creating a panned image for example: I would use my image editor to crop and size the image in one operation. This will allow me to retain an image of no higher than 1080 pixels, but I can add a few hundred pixels to the width, say 2300*1080. This gives me the ability to pan, but I don't have any excess pixels I don't need. 4. Some animations will make matters worse, so if you have a pan left to right followed by a zoom and the moiré effect is bad. Try changing the animation a little. For example make them both gentle pans or both zooms. Often I have been able to defeat the moiré effect that way. 5. Within PicturesToExe we do have some way to deal with the Moiré effect. Select an image that shows the moiré effect and open the Objects and Animations widow. Go to the properties tab and you will see a sharper smoother slider. –100 is the default setting, so slide it to the right to –80 and try the slide show again. You will need to move the slider gradually and you will soon find a setting that suits your images and style. The trick is to only go as far as you need, so you don't soften the image too much. Its not a great idea to watch a preview in the Objects and Animation screen because you're only seeing one image. You need to make a judgement based on one image as it's animated and faded over another animated image. To help show up the moiré effect and simulate a DVD. Try temporarily viewing your slide show smaller. To do that go to your Project Options > Screen tab and change the size of the slide window to 720*576. It may be an idea to do this before you move that smoother slider so you have a visual record of the before setting. Don't forget to reset it back afterwards though. 6. Some of your animations seemed just a little rushed to me, but I appreciate what you sent was a test and not the final show. However, gentle animation is nearly always a good option and it's another small step to defeating the moiré effect. I have found the crucial causes of the moiré effect are Image size too large, high contrast and over sharpening. Other forum members may be able to add to this list. I hope that helps a little. Regards Barry

You're welcome :rolleyes:/>

Eric It is frustrating when we get these issues, but when you have a PC built I think there can be a difference with the configuration. Rightly or wrongly there is an assumption that the user will take it the rest of the way once the parts have all been hooked up. I think it's a bit different to one you buy off the shelf, that is already configured with all those unwanted programs that pop up for a month afterwards asking you to trial them or buy them. Take a deep breath, it will all come out in the wash and valuable experience will be obtained along the way.

You can dran and drop a slide or group exactly where you want them, but I guess you know that

Gary I have done exactly what you are doing on two previous purchases of laptops. I wouldn't touch a laptop that couldn't run a slide show from a USB stick. I wouldn't want the power so close to the wire that a slight upgrade in software and the laptop cannot cope. Here is what I have also discovered. Pound for pound laptops are not as powerful at a desktop and it's why for many years I carried a desktop to do talks and lectures. I use a laptop now for demos, but under duress. What the sales people say sounds nonsense to me. In theory a desktop and a laptop of the same spec should work the same, but in my experience they do not. I have a powerful laptop, but it can't handle Huge Raw files as Smart objects and multi layers with masks as well as an old desktop that is 6 years old. The Laptop is quad core, 64 bit with a dedicated graphics card but it's not like my desktop of a similar power. Not even close. What I also found was that it wasn't always the most powerful laptops in the store that could handle the animated slide shows I took to the store on a USB stick. The most expensive laptops didn't always out perform those of lesser power and cost. Keep going until you find one that runs your shows from the stick.

Sorry, I missed you're reply. I would wait till you have the new one up and running then format and start from scratch. Use the old machine as a test bed, you might find a clean sweep clears the problems

PTE needs either a streaming video or downloadable video on PTE's main page that takes new users through the basics. Something simple that gets them to the viewing of their first slide show as quickly and as painlessly as possible and without heaps of learning and absolutely NO technical stuff. 20 minutes maximum in length will do it.

After seeing you're first reply and reading the other thread more fully, it reminded me that I had downloaded beta 9, but not installed it. So, I did install it and went straight to a right click of the wave file. No replace command there :unsure:/> . I looked everywhere and started to get frustrated :angry:/> Eventually I had to go back to the threads to find out where it was and you're second post came in and I followed that. Yes, I think you are right. This sort of thing needs to be much easier to find than that. It's as though its deliberately hidden. Right click on the track you want to replace is where a "Replace Track" should be.

Thanks, I never read that thread

Igor Yesterday I was putting together a camera club presentation with a long section of comments all stitched together. (one file) It wasn't until I got right near the end that I picked up an error (bad practice on my part :rolleyes:/>/>/> I made a mistake) I could correct the sound file reasonably easy, but thought it would be nice to be able to exchange one sound file for the other leaving the fade in and volume levels untouched. However, I am not sure how practical this is because the new sound file was slightly longer than the one I wanted to replace it with. Just an idea. When I corrected the music I had the individual takes stitched together as an Mp3 in Camtasia, but I allowed the new sound file to be converted directly into my working folder. I used a different file name so it could be created alongside the one I wanted to replace. PTE showed that music stitch with a big blue flag saying it was damaged. I have sufficient experience to know what it was causing the warning and I ignored it. The sound file could be dragged to the timeline and was fine. Of course closing and re-launching PTE will cure that flag, but it you didn't know what had caused it and that the sound file was in fact perfectly OK, it could cause some frustration for a user.

Excellent AV. You have createdsomething different, good quality and you have captured an atmospherewith the mix of poem and music. One to be proud of I think? The music was very nice and I waslooking forward to a credit to it. Can you say who/what it is

Good idea, but with some problems. You can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but never all of the people all of the time. I don't know how Igor can pick up good ideas from the forum because quite often a suggestion can and often does turn into a lengthy and passionate debate on the merits of that suggestion. To keep up with all that and winkle out a good idea from the daft must be a nightmare. I think there is a lot of potentially great ideas from members and users. I think the issue is finding a way to get them to Igor in a quick and easy list form. Igor can then pick what he thinks is a good idea from the hundred that will not be or those which are not practically possible. I am not always sure the experienced enthusiasts are the best people to ask anyway. Too many axes to grindand the people that may have a valuable voice are those who don't visit the forum.

It's not clearing up a mess Dave. It's humans who sometimes make a mistake and a need for software that is forgiving of those mistakes. How it's achieved doesn't matter, but if it can, why not. In this day and age ask yourself why it is that so few people in camera clubs take up AV? I say this day and age because we live in a visual world with everything we see being more and more on a screen of some type. What better way is there for Photographers than even the most basic and simple slide show for them to show their photography to others, yet they don't. I am sure the reasons are wide and varied, but I bet one of the biggies is that they don't want to look forward to months of learning just to produce a slide show, or hours of frustration just because they are not one of the experts. Look at how people use every means they can, this forum included to bitch about the slightest problem with software. It's those negatives that always drown out the positives and those who may have thought about taking the plunge may not, because its just all seems too difficult. Well I want software that is easy to use and so does everyone else, don't they? There are no marks issued for degrees of difficulty in photography only the end result. Most people need encouragement to take the plunge and the easier you make the software the more will take the plunge.

That is exactly what I am saying. Dave... You are a PTE expert, but the one point you seem to have forgotten is the time when you were not expert at this software. The vast majority of people are not and never will be experts. Many people make slide shows twice a year and the second time they do it, they forget what they did the first time. You, me and others here live, eat and breath the software so calls for improvements like this is not so much for us. However, if experienced users like me can fall foul of this from time to time doesn't that tell you something? There used to be a feature of Dreamweaver software, I am sure it's still there. If you selected a jpeg or gif outside the web site structure you had created, a message popped up and said something like. This image isn't in your web site template and may cause problems when up uploaded to your web site. Do you want to copy it there Now ? It was a great feature because as you duck and dive among different drives it is easy to draw an image from what you think is the right folder, but isn't. If this is something that could be adjusted easily then Igor should consider it as it makes the software that little bit more user friendly, especially to those who use it infrequently. If it's something that is going to tie up his team for sometime, then forget it, but it's his call.

So what are your plans for the old machine?

Me too. It's one of those OH ---- moments when the warning message appears.

No problem sending the Disk and I will reply via email, but I hope you don't mind some feedback here so other members are kept up to date. I have been making videos for PTE8 and Photoshop CC Raw. As soon as PTE 8 is released I will have the disk done.

Dave It is a Blue Ray player that I am using and its connected via a HDMI cable. Right now I think the original poster of the question may not have a problem at all, but I will leave a little but in there just in case. It sounds very much like a discerning photographer who is a bit surprised at the difference between the quality of what our eyes have become accustomed to on our PC's and what you get on a DVD.

Lapiovra I have only just read the issue you have with creating a DVD and I have just downloaded your zipped sample. I created a DVD using your sample in the usual way using PTE 8 beta 7 and played it back on my 60in Plasma TV. What I saw was what I expect to see in a slide show made for DVD. What I mean by that is that the quality of the images were not as good as we would see on our PC or on a TV running a HD video of the slide show, but they were about what I expected. That is normal and it's why DaveG said he does not make DVD's for that reason (image quality). Neither do I for the same reasons unless they are family snaps where the quality is not the be all and end all. I assume that different TV's may render DVD pictures differently and I well recall DVD's I did make a few years ago were awful. No fault of PTE, it was just DVD quality, but now I notice a distinct improvement. Perhaps its the Plasma TV that has given me this improvement. It might handle the images better, but I am guessing here. I am currently making a memorial slide show for someone at the moment who can't really handle anything else but a DVD. The quality of that is OK and no different to yours, but if they were high quality landscapes I had spent time creating, then I would not be so happy. Also the DVD slide show I am making does not contain animation and that will certainly make a difference to the perceived quality. However, I will make versions for PC, Mac and Mp4 in case I can play them on the memorial day, because they will be far better quality than a DVD The quality I saw in your example was much the same as the slide show I have just been making. Its what I would expect from images that started off at 1920 pixels on the long side and for DVD use have to be reduced to 720 pixels. Again, that is no fault of PTE. It's just the resolution of DVD's I am wondering if the flickering you're seeing is more of a shimmer and probably slightly worse on animated images. You certainly wouldn't be the first to be disappointed enough in the quality of a DVD to believe there was some error in the software or settings, or that you had done something wrong. I have received a great deal of emails on that subject over the years and I am wondering if the DVD quality has caught you out too. I can't be sure of course, but we do get quite used to the quality of our still images and our flat screens and DVD quality can be a shock sometimes.. If you have the time and you want a further test, you can send me a DVD you have made so I can play it here to see if it differs from the one I made with your sample. You can find our contact details below. If you would like to do that I can give you feedback via email if you wish http://www.beckhamdigital.com.au/store/pc/Contact-E-mail-Phone-d10.htm I think you may already have been given the best advice and that is to find a way of playing either the exe through a laptop or an MP4 through a stick or again a laptop. Sorry I arrived at the party late, hope this has been some help. Regards Barry Beckham Digital

Yes, I have been having a bit of a laugh here with the Mac issue, but most of you have missed my point. Its not the Mac v PC issue at all that makes me smile. I have no doubt at all that Macs are great computers. Its human nature that I find funny, which feels the need to turn tools to do a job into objects of desire with bragging rights. Then those who see every sentence that contains Mac and PC as a challenge against their chosen way of working and feel compelled to respond. Some of you need to lighten up and get out more :lol:/>

The voice of wisdom has spoken.

Tom In fact you also make my point because it IS the end of the world for some Mac users. Only those who have an inferiority complex that buying and OWNIING a Mac helps them to alleviate. :rolleyes:/> I made the suggestion a number of times when I have been asked about PTE and Mac, suggesting that many Mac users use software to make the program run on a Mac. I also recall dummies being thrown out of prams on a number of occasions. Mac users who become quite offended when you make that suggestion. Many have this weird and unnatural view of their computer and they are not going to soil their superior product by putting nasty windows software on their machine. Tuff luck then I say :lol:/>

Crossfade You make my point for me by being just a bit too quick to begin the defence of the Mac. As I said it was probably all down to my inexperience anyway. I know that. I am just sick and tired of the rant from Mac users who seem to think that they have some superior product. Well, demonstrate that to me in a way that will impress me and make me eat my words is all I am saying. But if you approach me and say Macs just work. Make sure there is nothing pointed and sharp within my reach. :lol:/>/> Lets take this a few stages further. Lets debate what is best Nikon or Canon, Ford, or Toyota, Vulcans or Clingons.:rolleyes:/>/>

I have just come back from a simple job of copying some images from a Mac to a USB Stick or portable drive for a memorial sequence. I assumed (wrongly as it happens) that with my experience of computers it couldn't be difficult, but I gave up in the end and wrote the images to a disk. Even that didn't pop out on completion, I had to find out how to eject it. The Mac could see and read the files on the stick and the Drive, but would not let me copy those Jpegs to them. Now I am sure that is all down to user error and my inexperience with a Mac, but how difficult should it be to copy a few Jpeg files for someone who is computer literate, well I thought I was. A lady recently joined a Camera Club and wanted advice. Told by the resident Mac user that this is what she must have, she buys the Mac. Then she finds out it's only her and Mr Mac who owns one (and he actually knows diddly squat) Every time she turns to a club member for some technical help, they can't help because she is out of step with everyone else. A computer is just a tool to do a job, no different to a hammer, but it seems that the Mac has taken a place alongside the car in your driveway. It has become bling, a must have toy that you can brag about. Well, I am not impressed with the name Mac or the bragging. I am impressed by what Mac users produce, so more lets see more output and less Mac talk :rolleyes:/>