paulziets

Thanks, Lin. I enjoyed that. I have not heard such depth to John Denver's voice before. Regards, Paul

Davy, Moody, thought provoking, different! I like it. If you told me how you did those images, you'd have to kill me, right? Paul

Barry, My desktop is at 1440 x 900. Regards, Paul

Barry, I need to play this intro to myself every time I complete a show and then review my work again. Paul

I agree with Barry, keep it as simple and intuitive as possible or users will be put off and go for an easier option. Regards, Paul Zietsman

Derek, Although still very much a beginner at the start of the learning curve, I have both Proshow Producer and PTE and agree fully with Lin's reply. As I intend to get more serious with my AV presentations, I have decided to go the PTE route. For those who just want to make a slideshow to music, Proshow may be a good choice. Regards, Paul Zietsman

Maureen, Both you and Mark are to be congratulated. I would be proud to take photographs as good as his are. I particularly like the lighting, composition and colours. The show flows well for me and I personally like the music, it does not compete against the pictorial element but augments it. Paul Zietsman

Igor, Thanks for the hard work that you and your team have put into this beta release. Working well on my desktop with AVI, WMV and MPG files - full sound. Desktop is Core 2 Duo - 2.2o GHz; 6Gig RAM; Windows 7 SP1(64bit); Nvidia GeForce 8400GS with 512 MB RAM. Paul Zietsman

Lin, Thanks, a brilliant demo. The mind boggles at the potential - just not enough spare hours in the day! Paul Zietsman

Brian and Peter, thanks for your responses. Although a minefield for a newcomer like me, this is now starting to make more sense. I was not aware of the hiss/hum associated with the input into my PC via the sound card. This would take quite a bit of extra work to clean up. By using USB input, the signal will at least be clear of PC generated noise (from the power supply and processor). Thinking aloud, as it were, if I were to connect an XLR cabled microphone (such as the AKG 100 or Rode M3) to the iMic, I could go through a pre-amp or use an XLR to Mini Jack cable. I assume there would still be some generated noise with either method. Would there be any benefit to go straight to a USB microphone such as the Samson CO3U suggested by Xaver or would the noise be similar? I suspect that the Samson, AKG and Rode mikes all have similar noise levels, that the cables should not make much difference which leaves the pre-amp as the only potential problem area? Of course I am totally ignoring the ambient noise in my study that I have become only too aware of as I write this. That will be a future problem to deal with I am sure. Regards, Paul Zietsman

Thanks for the replies, they are much appreciated. I had not considered USB microphones - thanks Kieron and Xaver. Keith Leedham and Howard Gregory have both mentioned the Olympus and Zoom hand-held recorders in talks that I have been to recently, echoing Yachtsman and Peter's thoughts. Both highly praise the Olympus. Thanks also to Peter for the sound file which illustrates the use of the Zoom H4. Roger, I should be seeing Howard at the next Wilmslow Guild meeting in April. I shall take the opportunity to speak to him about his CDs and pre-amp. In the meantime its back to trying to improve my photographic and PTE skills (anything to escape lawnmowing duties) Regards, Paul Zietsman

Barry You were an inspiration when I saw you in Chester, shortly before you migrated severely southwards, and this slide show proves that things have not changed. Thank you. Paul Zietsman

I have been dabbling with AV for several years, in particular to make presentations to my local photographic society (which I do about once a year). For each presentation I have tended to make several short productions, each of them with a music only background track. After hearing a talk by Howard Gregory and Suzanne Walker of the Wilmslow Guild AV Group recently, I have decided to take the plunge and get serious about my AV work. I had started out using PTE, migrated to ProShow Gold and then ProShow Producer, but on advice from the Wilmslow Guild AV Group have come back to PTE. I am using version 6.5 and am certainly pleased that I have made the moved back. My next step is to look at getting the audio side of things right. I have Cool Edit Pro 2 for audio software, also using Audacity to convert some of my music files to MP3 when Cool Edit can't read some of my music collection. I will sooner than later have to do voice-over work but do not possess a microphone. Could I get some feedback on which microphone and pre amplifier the members of this forum would recommend? Some internet research has got me thinking of a Rode M3 or an AKG1000 condensor microphone and with pre-amps, the Behringer MIC800 or Art Tube MP Original. I am not in a manic rush to buy the equipment, it has to be fit for purpose and made to last. Of course, if I win the Euro Millions tonight, I may ignore the last sentence! Paul Zietsman