RobertAlbright

Thanks, Eric, look forward to hearing the results. My TV is also a Panasonic 16:9. Robert

Hi Eric It is normal for me to fill in the screenshot exactly as you show - 16:9 Fullscreen. Dave explains that I would never see the Fit/Cover issue as I always match the aspect ratio to how I want to display the images, whether projected or on TV. If you tick the Fullscreen 16:9 aspect ratio, does it fill the screen on your TV? Regards Robert

Hi Eric The TV Aspect ratio is 16:9. I size the images in Photshop to 1920x1080px, not in PTE.

Please excuse my ignorance, dave, but what are the different effects of Fit to Screen and Cover? I notice that my images saved at 1920x1080px do not actually fill my 1080p television, leaving black lines down each vertical edge. Why is this? Does 'Cover' resolve it?

Thank you Picsel for making this important point about 25fps, the standard in Europe.

I thought this was an open forum in which anyone is at liberty to make constructive suggestions to improve PTE. I would not wish to feel that contributions are limited to one particular aspect of improving PTE - ie 'testing'.

It is a simple matter for experienced users to program their work exactly as they want it to be shown. The problem arises with inexperienced users who by default (under the new system) have the Progress Bar operating. They then enter this show in festivals and demonstrations. In a public venue, this is an unattractive and unnecessary feature. Worse, it shows PTE in a poor light, making it similar to the display errors common to users of competitor software(Proshow, Windows Media Player etc).

I recommend you contact the leading sound expert in the UK for audio visual work. His name is Howard Gregory, phone 01925 753303, email is chairman@wilmslowguildav.org.uk His CD on this topic is All About Microphones 221 minutes, £12. At the same price is Better Soundtracks, 143 minutes and Understanding Audio, 166 minutes.

Good suggestion, though, Tony.

Thanks, Dave. I don't use templates much but I see that they could be useful. Happy New Year to you and all other friends on the PTE Forum. Robert

I agree with bbdigital for the reasons he explained in his post of 28 December. The default option should be to not show the Navigation Bar, as was always the case until version 7. It is not a professional appearance to show this Bar. It is easily left on by mistake.

Excellent , Igor. I will be promoting PTE to professional photographers at a lecture next month in Tunisia. Happy Christmas to you all Robert

Hi Chuck Like you, a newcomer to HD video, I started with Sony Vegas. Like you, I found all their output formats problematical. I changed to Video Pad Video Editor and found that, as Igor has confirmed , most files, including .mov files straight form the camera (unedited), work well, especially if converted in PTE . This last bit is important. It is best to convert in PTE first and then go back and Trim later if required. Procedure: double click the file and the converter dialogue box appears. Select Optimise and save to the same location. A second PTE window appears on the taskbar that shows the conversion process. Click Remove Completed when it's finished converting the file. This only clears the job list - it doesn't delete the original file. The converted file should now appear in the file list.

I'm up for a tickle any time, Ken

Maureen is the one to ask about Welsh genealogy - but she has admitted mine is more interesting, including a very naughty grandfather in South Africa. All the AV festivals I have attended, including as far away as Australia, are welcoming and fun. AV people are almost without exception helpful and generous. If you came to the UK International I'm sure you'd enjoy it (ask Igor) and see a wide range of approaches including, to come back on subject, video inserts. Best wishes Robert

A lovely show, Lin. I tried very hard to watch the paintbrush movements but there were two other distractions which diverted my attention. Liked the ripple movement over the girl's toe in the water. Some of the scenes looked like Wales? Have you ever entered The RPS International AV Championship? - next September at Cirencester.

'How would this be possibly used in a dynamic AV presentation of the sort used in AV competitions? How would it be received by judges? These are questions which we might discuss. I have no knowledge or experience with AV competitions so am depending on those who have a background and experience to give their input and open minded commentary'. Can't really answer this , Lin, - the AV competition world is only just starting to adjust to the inclusion of video inserted between still images in transition (traditional AV). And no-one knows how judges will respond until we start to see the results of video insertion on a regular basis in national and international competitions. I suspect there would be negativity if people put forward video only work - there is already a thriving organisation in the UK for this kind of production (the IAC) and similar organisations internationally for movies.

On Amazon, the Sony PCM-M10 reviewed by Ken Rockwell (see my post 22 November)costs £220 which I calculate as about R3000.

Normally the best results come from recording into an external sound card. The sound cards installed in most computers are not designed for high quality recording work. Usually it is necessary to boost the signal by using a specialist amplifier as made and sold by Howard Gregory. The recording/mixing programs used are most frequently Audacity and Adobe Audition. Most experts agree that the quality is better with Audition- but then it depends on how critical you are. An alternative route is the digital handheld recording device; worth looking at this link http://kenrockwell.com/audio/sony/pcm-m10.htm written by the excellent Ken Rockwell who rates the Sony machine he reviews as better than the Zoom (and cheaper). The quality of a handheld is unlikely to match the studio conditions described earlier but factors such as microphone selection and recording technique (often the biggest single factor) will outweigh these elements anyway.

Quite apart from putting one's .exe files into suspended animation, there are other serious consequnces - see Gérard's comments above. Like Gérard, I have moved to Microsoft Security Essentials - its free, very efficient and doesn't report PTE .exe files as malware ! Good to hear from you Gérard. How is the motor bike?

After the last reported problem with AVG (which I also experienced), I ditched AVG and adopted Microsoft Security Essentials. It seems to be doing the same protection job without the AVG hastle.

Thanks from me too. Very clear explanation.

That's very helpful, Dave, to know about the offsets

This is getting silly. Igor has posted this note 06.33 PM yesterday: Robert, No changes for the timeline mode in version 7.0 or 7.0.1. It same as in 6.5 Consequently, I opened a production on which I have been working recently in 7.0. I moved a slide on the Timeline. This had no effect on any of the other slides, as Igor says. I then changed a transition on a slide. Likewise, this had no effect on any of the other slides. Are people seeing different effects when using the same programme?

Hmm... If making a manual transition to a slide in the Timeline causes changes to other slides, that obviously should not happen and I take it all back. I haven't downloaded 7.01 and don't intend to until you guys and Igor have got it all sorted!