Danabw

Ray: What a pleasant surprise! Good to hear from you again. As for menus, yeah, you'd just create new ones in your authoring tool - Studio 8 for me. But how the heck are you? Been busy, I presume... And, sadly, no TV out on my laptop. But when Igor provides the AVI out, I'll be styling! Dana

Yup - size is a subjective thing. The G3 isn't too big, just a little bigger than I'd like it to be. :-) A subtle distinction, and one likely only means anything to me. The ability to add on lenses was a big thing for me (for sports and nature photos), and w/the bayonet mount that the G3 uses it will be easier than w/some of the other digicams I looked at. The best communities I have found on a digicam site is at www.dpreview.com - look in the Forums section. I don't know how lively the Konica area will be (or if there is one) but if there is a Konica community it is likely to be on that site. www.imaging-resource.com and steves-digicams.com also have discussion boards as well, but I don't think they are quite as active...but haven't checked in a while. You could also search using Google on your camera's name - I found one really good G3 forum that way. Enjoy Future Shock (now known as Past Future Shock?). Going back to a book like that can be fun... Dana

Aieeee - what have I gotten myself into! :-) Thanks - I was torn between the G3, the Canon S45 and S50, and the Fuji FinePix S602z. Each had strengths and weaknesses. The G3's biggest problem (along w/the Fuji) is size, it's bigger than I wanted. But it has great optics and picture quality, a wide range of options and manual controls as well as capable point and shoot results, a remote (which my Oly has and I use fairly often), enough pixels to play with, and a ton of resources (add-ons, accessories), and a lively community of users w/a ton of expertise. I actually wanted to stay w/Oly, as they have a size advantage, but the new 5050z is just too slow (time from shutter press to shot, and shot to shot) compared to the G3. Of course, in about a week 10 new models will be announced that make the G3 a piddling toy suitable only for children. But you always have to deal w/the god of obselence with technology ... :-) Dana

It's absolutely the best slideshow software I have ever used, and I've used a TON of them. :-) Also, has this great webboard w/lots of helpful, smart PTE users. Hard to go wrong with the combo of excellent software, frequent updates (significant ones!), and the great community here. Give the demo a try. Also, check out http://www.beechbrook.com/pte for slideshows created by members of this forum - you can see some examples of what can be accomplished. Currently only creates files formatted to play on a PC. (No Mac support, either.) However, Igor (the genius behind PTE) is working on an update that would allow PTE to export video files which could be used to make a VCD/SVCD/DVD to play back on your TV. But that feature is not ready yet -still in early development. For more on that, see this thread. Dana

Just too excited to keep it to myself. Finally upgrading my trusty Oly 2020z digicam to a Canon G3. Should be here tomorrow, and I'm excited to have some new toys to play with. Got a couple of lens adapters (Lensmate 52mm and 58mm), a UV filter, and a Canon 58mm 1.75x tele. The Canon's 4x zoom combined w/the tele will get me about 7x total zoom, so my kids sports slideshows will be that much better - at the baseball diamond I'll be able to see the sweat trickling down their dusty faces. :-) Any other G2 or G3 users out there w/any tips for a G3 newbie? I already have the Short Courses G3 book on order... Dana

See this discussion. Dana

Ken: Anyone who visits my wish list will see how sadly out of date it is...I haven't been able to keep up with all of Igor's advancements! :-) Dana

Bruman: I want to reassure you that I don't think that you stepped over (or anywhere near, for that matter) any sort of "line" in terms of discussing other programs. You understand the general concern I'm sure - we don't want to use up Wnsoft's webboard promoting other programs, obviously. But your questions: ...relate to the functionality of PTE and it's ability (or lack thereof) to get you to a VCD by itself or in concert w/another tool. Questions about functionality differences between PTE and other programs, and how PTE can or can't be teamed up with other programs are quite reasonable and likely useful to many visitors to this board. Please don't let our zeal to support Igor and PTE put you off. :-) An recent thread that has some info that will be interesting to you can be found here Basically, the current version of PTE does not support making VCDs. A future version (a month or two away or more) will likely be able to export video files that you will be able to use to create VCDs (or SVCDs or DVDs). You will still need another program (such as Nero, or Roxio's DVD creator) to author and burn VCDs. Read the other thread and ask if you have any additional questions. Also, see www.dvdrhelp.com for lots (thats LOTS!) of info on the general subject of making VCDs, DVDs, etc. Dana

There is an autorun utility - see www.beechbrook.com/pte for the download. My two cents from a customer perspective - don't make me sit through all of them auto-running. Create a menu w/links to each show so I can view as much (or little) as I desire, and go directly to the one I want to see again, rather than wading through the others. Dana

Igor: Are you going to be looking into the date sorting? Dana

Thanks, Granot. Your explanation is very helpful. Dana

Here's what I find when I look at the "Date" sort option on the Sort list: 1. The default sort is most recent to oldest. Default sort order should be changed to oldest at the top, down to most recent at the bottom. That is the most likely desire in a slideshow, particularly one of an event (or a sunset, for example, or an outing). Not a must, but preferred. 2. The date/time info displayed and sorted on in the file list is the Windows file "Date Modified" date, not the JPG EXIF date. That means that the Date sort won't sort your images by the date they were taken (stored in the JPG EXIF data by every digital camera of the past few years). Not optimal. What we really need in the file listing is the an additional capability to sort on EXIF date/time. This is more of a "must" item, I would think. The Date modified sort has never been of any use to me because it didn't sort on picture taken date. 3. There appear to be some bugs in the Date sorting. A folder of pics was sorted in the following order when I selected Date/Reverse order: D...004.jpg 23.03.2002 13:10 C...609.jpg 08.03.2002 21:40 banner.jpg 05.06.2002 22:06 D...033.jpg 23.03.2002 13:11 Why the two pictures appear where they do in the sort is beyond me. They stay in this weird position if I turn off Reverse order as well. Other images are mis-placed. Igor may be right that PTE is somehow combining date and name? 4. And of course, all the date sorts (EXIF date sort and existing Date Modified sort) need to understand that 09:00 comes before 19:00. (I haven't checked that, but sounds like the sort isn't dealing w/that issue.) Dana

Casey: Good post, w/lots of good info/advice. Agree strongly. The free version only does MPEG-1, so if you want DVD you'll have to pony up about $50 for MPEG-2 from TMPGEnc. www.tmpgenc.net Only encodes, won't create menus or burn, so you'll need other software for that (e.g., Nero, Roxio). Remember, you won't be able to use menus or buttons created in PTE in shows exported to video. Once a show is rendered to an AVI there is no functionality (buttons or otherwise) - only a video/audio stream. As for the quality issue, that has been debated and is (as you note) a subjective issue. Those who I pass my shows on to have strongly preferred the DVD format due to the superior ease of use (no computer), superior playback (big-screen TVs and high-end audio systems), and comfort (sitting on the couch, not standing around the computer screen). :-) The quality is amazingly good, and will only improve as encoding technology improves. I plan on using Pinnacle's Studio 8 for my production, and may also use their Expression tool, as its encoder is a bit faster than the S8 encoder (as well as providing simpler menu creation). Render/burn time for DVDs is about 3 x's the length of the movie for me (on a P4 2.4). So it is slower, as is making copies of the show (burn time is slower than the really fast 48x CD burners these days), and DVD blanks are more expensive than CDs, and (yes, there's more!) there are some DVD compatibility issues between the two formats (DVD-R and DVD+R). So bears some investigation for newbies. If anyone is going to purchase software package to take the AVI output from PTE, I would recommend trying Pinnacle's Expression. About $50, and includes the ability to create menus and burn to VCD/SVCD/DVD, with very good quality. They've just released (or should soon) a patch that has some excellent improvements. Ulead also makes video tools in the same price range that have strong followings. The great thing about PTE exporting video will be the ability to create and preview shows very quickly, and once tweaked, export to video and then convert to a DVD. I haven't found any slideshow tool that provides the ease and flexibility of development that PTE does, and adding a path to DVD output is going to be a great feature! This is one case where applying a different tool to each portion of the task will reap great benefits. Dana Added: The other really cool thing will be to develop in PTE and be able to output to pc or TV. Right now I have to use PTE for PC shows, and Expression or Studio 8 for DVD shows. Using PTE to make the "source presentation" will be much better, especially when I want both PC and DVD versions of the same show!

Granot: Can you include a short description of the intent of your new utility? Dana

There is an old expression, Igor: "You are the man!" (It means great respect, admiration.) You ARE the man! :-) When you release this new feature, I feel it will be time for me to purchase another copy of PTE to show my appreciation for your hard work, and more importantly, to thank you for your interest in listening to and incorporating customer requests. I am really, really looking forward to playing w/this new feature when it is ready... Thanks, Dana

Igor: Very, very nice to hear. So we'll be able to pull images into the object editor and resize them? Cool! Dana

Good questions, Kurt. My two cents... Choosing to output to MPEG-1 or -2 isn't as simple as it sounds. Questions like which encoder(s) to license, how much would Igor have to pay to license it, how much would the add-on cost us, what if we prefer another encoder due to our subjective feelings about the quality of the encoded video, etc. PTE users will still need another tool to author and burn the content to a CD (VCD/SVCD) or DVD. (I don't think Igor is going to try to add that level of functionality to PTE, at least not at this time.) So as long as we're going to have to choose/use another tool to author/burn, might as well let it encode the AVI output from PTE as well. What I don't know yet is what format AVI Igor is going to be able to output. We'll have to wait and see what he says about that. Dana

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you (infinite loop.). :-) Dana P.S. Will this will be a type 2 uncompressed AVI, Igor? I'd love that so I can import it into a DVD slideshow program and then create my DVDs from the best quality input.

ACDSee has a rename/number feature that is very easy to use. Dana

Just my two cents... If Igor adds the ability to move towards VCD/SVCD/DVD (and I hope he does), the step I suggest he consider first is investigating providing ucompressed AVI output. We could then import that AVI into existing encoding tools (like TMPGEnc - www.tmpgenc.net) to create the mpeg1/2 files for our VCD/SVCD/DVDs. This might provide the simplest way to get our PTE shows into to these other formats w/out Igor having to get into the mpeg1/2 encoding game (not easy/likely), or license an existing encoder. This would have the added benefit of keeping the PTE price down for those who don't want/need these other formats. Dana

Sorry to hear that - S8 has been fine for me, as have Expression and Instant Copy. Dana

THere currently isn't any easy way to get Pinnacle shows to a TV. With lots of limitations (nowhere near as powerful as PTE) Pinnacle's Expression product can create a DVD slideshow (VCD, SVCD, DVD, actually) sync'd to ONE song. Compared to PTE you won't like its (lack of) features, but if you have to have a show to play on a TV it is a good basic tool that will do that. THere are other VCD/SVCD/DVD options from companies like Ulead and ProShow, to name two. I am waiting (as patiently as possible) for Igor (the PTE developer genius) to provide tools to allow us to get PTE shows to the TV. I'd be happy (maybe happiest) just to get the capability to output to an uncompressed AVI file at DVD resolution - with that in hand I could take care of the rest easily, and Igor wouldn't have to worry about MPEG encoding, etc. In the meantime, I use a video editing program (Studio8, by Pinnacle) to make DVD slideshows. Not really optimised for slideshows, but fewer compromises than Expression. If you search on acronyms like DVD and VCD in this forum, you'll find other threads where this has been discussed in detail. Dana

Guido: My head's buzzing w/your puns. Have a great weekend, all. Dana

An excellent exercise, from an artistic, technical, and fun point of view. Bee-utiful. :-) What's next - Animated Ants? Dana

Very pretty. What land/UW cameras & lenses did you use? Only suggestion - put a menu on the show so one can jump to a portion directly. I wanted to see the UW shots a second time (or more) and would love to be able to go to them directly. Many years since I was in Cayman Islands...oh, the memories...back to HI (Kauai) this year and hope to get deep out there. Dana