Danabw

Hey Dana, Well, at least the mystery is solved (Igor's earlier thread) as to why PTE has to stay open in order for the AVI to work. As for bringing the AVI into a Pinnacle product I am exactly in the same boat as you are. I too am going through a computer remodeling job (while the Mrs. remodels the whole house ). So I haven't quite yet reinstalled all the programs on my new computer. I'll be sure to post the results as soon as I do. Ray Hey, Ray. Glad to hear I'm not the only one suffering. Before it was "Hope we're done by Thanksgiving." Now it's "Can we pleeze finish by Christmas!?!" Just got my main computer back up (temporarily) so I hope to do some testing soon!!!! Dana

Currently you must have music to make an AVI. If you want it to be silent, for now you could create a silent MP3 as long as you want the show to be and use that...open an MP3 editor and select "insert silence (or similar command) and insert as much as you need, and/or use copy/paste to keep extending the silent song until it is the lenght you desire. Even easier - you could also just turn off your speakers. :-) Dana

Slau's idea is a good one - the APEX players are cheap and can play anything you throw at them. If your writer does both formats, burn your next one in the other format and it will hopefully play on your player. :-) I have Sony dual format writer and that flexibility is good insurance. Dana

Hey, Ray, howzit? The AVI file does depend on PTE being open. That's why Igor set it up the way he did. Using his own codec saved him (and us) licensing $ and likely space as well. Have you pulled an AVI into any Pinnacle products yet? My computer is down during a remodel, so I can't play w/this feature - one I've been dying for forever!! :-( Dana

My computer is down right now (finishing up remodel) but I use Pinnacle's Studio 8 (movie making SW that can also make slideshows) and Pinnacle's Expression (movie and slideshow SW) to make DVDs from AVIs. I haven't been able to try them w/the PTE output yet, unfortunately. Dana

There are various compatibility issues w/DVDs burned on PCs for home players. Multiple formats (-R/-RW and +R/+RW) and burn speed are two of the most common variables that may cause problems. There are also sometimes issues w/the media itself (e.g., some media is more likely to be rejected even if in the appropriate format for the DVD player). Try the DVD on your neighbor's player or take it to a local electronics store and you'll likely find it plays fine on one of the players you try. DVD-R/-RW is believed to be a bit more compatible w/home players thand DVD+/+RW, but I have never seen a disc of either type rejected in recent DVDs I have made and shared w/maybe 10 or so other people. Depends on the age of your DVD player - newer ones tend (though not always) to be more broadly compatible. See www.dvdhelp.com for tons of information, including compatibility, and the company that made your DVD player may have some info on DVD format compatibility. Quality won't be as good (i.e., the pictures won't be as sharp and detailed) as on a PC - the resolution of a TV just isn't the great as a PC screen. The encoder that DVD programs use also provide varying quality output. What program did you use? Dana

Yes - thanks for translations. All I could see of Oleg's message was what looked like garbage characters - I guess I need to install support for Russian.... Glad I added the smiley when I said that. I'm looking forward to AVI support big time. Only things I'd like more in PTE are the ability to select and act on multiple slides in the slide list, and ability to resize images in the object editor. Dana

I agree w/Oleg! Igor - thanks for continuing to work on this great new feature. I'm looking foward to watching my PTE shows from DVD! Dana

Hey, Ray. Best choice: Olympus 2020z. Since I got my G3 I don't use it too much. Make me an offer.... ;-) Seriously, you gotta check out the Sony V1. It has the fastest autofocus that I've heard of (short of a digital SLR). Also has low-light AF assist, and night shot feature. (Are you doing those "stake-outs" outside the neighbor's house again?) :-) Check the review at www.dpreview.com (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscv1/). There's a Sony forum on that site as well, so you can read discussions by actual and potential owners of the camera. Same brand as your current, so you might be able to leverage some of your equipment. It lacks both a swivel LCD and remote (must-have's for me) but other than that i believe it is a pretty nice digicam. Dana

1. Select and act on multiple slides on the slide list 2. AVI output 3. Resize graphic objects in the object editor Those features would really make me ! Dana

Beautiful! Igor, you should be proud. Dana

Ray: Ouch! :-) Actually, I created the slideshow for the wedding of son of a friend, and it's his laptop! I'm pure, typing on my trusty HP laptop "as I speak!" HP ==>> Heavenly Products. ;-) Hope you and your family are doing well, Ray. Dana

Igor: As of Beta 11 (haven't downloaded 12 yet, but doesn't sound like it does anything in this area) I'm still getting problems w/delays (anything from a second or more to several seconds) when one song ends and another starts. Not on my PC (which is why I posted that all seemed OK now) but on an IBM laptop. EXE was copied to the hard drive, and it consistently got "stuck" at the transition between songs. The songs were MP3s which I saved both from Audacity, and from another audio editor (can't remember the name) just in case it was an audacity issue. The stalling did not occur consistently every time, although it was fairly consistent. 9 songs, ranging from about 30 seconds to several minutes in length, total show is about 17 minutes, if I remember correctly, and about 240 images. Only using dissolve (fade?) transitions, 500 ms in length. Any ideas, Igor? Thanks, Dana

Repeating this from the other beta thread so it doesn't get lost.... Drat - I spoke too soon, and didn't think about what I was saying. :-) A common problem for me in the evening hours... Igor - what I would love in a future version (assuming it's too late for this release) is the ability to sort by date picture taken (info that is stored in the EXIF data of images from cameras). Win XP allows sorting on date picture taken (it calls it "Picture Taken On" in the sort choices list). That is more useful than the creation date, as if I happen to unload memory cards out of order, sorting by the creation date or sorting by name can not put the pictures back in the correct order for my shows. So Igor - can you read the picture taken on date from exif and sort on that? Dana

Drat - I spoke too soon, and didn't think about what I was saying. :-) A common problem for me in the evening hours... Igor - what I would love in a future version (assuming it's too late for this release) is the ability to sort by date picture taken (info that is stored in the EXIF data of images from cameras). Win XP allows sorting on date picture taken (it calls it "Picture Taken On" in the sort choices list). That is more useful than the creation date, as if I happen to unload memory cards out of order the creation date and sorting by name can not put the pictures back in the correct order. So Igor - can you read the picture taken on date from exif and sort on that? Dana

Igor: Date sort order in beta 10 works fine for me. I took a picture, cropped and saved it under the same name, and it maintained its position (in Date sort order) rather than falling to the end of the list (as it would have if the Date sort was looking at date modified information). So (for me) that's perfect - the effect of the date sort is to allow me to sort by the picture creation date. The only strange thing (to me) remaining on date sort is that it defaults to newest file first. Since majority so slideshows using images from a camera are going to follow (at least roughly) from oldest (first day of trip, for example) to newest (last day of trip). So I would default to that order, and reverse would put the newest file at the top. But that's just me. :-) Dana

Igor: Thanks for the update. Is this: the issue that I raised about slight delays in shows at the transition between music files? Dana

Al: Windows stores the file in a temp directory when you use the "open" command as you did above. That's why it doesn't appear to be on your PC. Look on your C drive and you'll find project2.exe in a temporary internet files directory. Dana

Igor: Just noticed this tonight...slideshow w/about 225 images, 9 songs (MP3's), scanned images that range from about 150 to 300 KB. There is a slight hesitation in the transitions that occur as one song ends and the other starts. I've seen it happen several times as I've watched the slideshow just now. So there is a bit of a hiccup on transitions when the songs are changing. Thanks - other than that I haven't found a single issue w/the beta #4. Dana

Played perfectly, start to end, 9 songs, 225 images, 16 minute show, no problems!

Thanks, Igor! Trying it w/the show that wasn't working yesterday, and so far, so good.... Dana

Igor: I am making a show for a friend's son's wedding - I've been given about 225 images and nine songs to use (ripped w/freerip, edited w/audacity), totalling about 16 minutes of musci, so about 4 secs/slide. Sync to music selected. Soooo...the show hangs up at various points...at different points when I test the show the slides stop advancing normally and the next song won't play. The images sometimes flash on screen. I'm using 500ms transitions, so there isn't any problem w/transition/display time overlap. Have you experienced any problems w/multiple songs in your testing? I am going to combine the songs into one large MP3 since I have to finish this quickly to meet the due date, but wondering if you can look into using multiple songs...there still appears to be problems in that area (maybe w/larger numbers of songs, don't remember seeing this with three songs), and selecting and ordering more than one song is a key usability feature of PTE. Dana

If you want lighter (and mixed bag on smaller) DSLR, also look at this: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/olympuse1/ Dana

For PC-based slideshows it is the best available, with wonderful flexibility, great performance, perfect stability (I've never seen PTE crash on any computer I've run it on), and the most accessible and responsive developer (aka "admin" aka Igor) I've ever seen. Dana

You guys are amazing...nice work. Dana