Igor Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Please anybody can send us this article?http://www.beckhamforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1217 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatter Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Please anybody can send us this article?http://www.beckhamforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1217Yes, I have the magazine. It's a 4 page article, of which half a page is about PTE.I'll send you a PM later. {EDIT: PM sent.}Gareth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Gareth,I'm very grateful you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davegee Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Here’s the TEXT only version of the Photography Monthly Review of Slide Show to DVD Software. This month’s issue also has some other excellent articles, reviews, etc. Please excuse any OCR errors – I did not have time to check them. I have not included the MAC Software BOINX FotoMagico 2.0.1 Pro for Mac which received a very good report.Of the reviews below PTE was judged to be the “winner”.Magix Photos on CD & DVD 6 deluxe Price: £40 Contact: www.magix.net Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP/ Vista, Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 700MHz or higher, 256MB RAM, 500MB or higher hard disk memory Launching the program presents you with an interface with a large screen for viewing photos and a small thumbnail video section at the bottom where you can drag pictures and select which ones you want to play on your final DVD. You’re also asked if you want to watch in 16:9 widescreen format, which can be disabled. Handling found the program easy to use, but the array of effects and style is slightly overwhelming if you’re after a quick route to making a DVD. It is possible to precisely alter the effects applied though, which is great if you want a professional show with complete control, You can control camera movements, make professional 3D animations, and use the Magix Story Maker to make individual arrangements with a variety of transitions and weird and wacky effects. VERDICT Photos on CD & DVD is a top slide-show maker, once you’ve spent some time with it. It was a bit slow on PM’S test PC, so you need a fast processor. This is definitely worth considering if you’re wanting lots of control. The Classic version costs just £20, but lacks both the ability to create high-resolution HD-DVDs, and the in-built photo and audio editors. PROS Good interface, capable of quick and complex editing CONS: Price, too much choice on offer for some ULead DVD MovieFactory 6 PLus Price: £50 Contact:www.ulead.com Compatibility: Windows XP/Vista, Intel Pentium 4 1.8MHz, AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 512MB RAM (though 1GB RAM or above recommended), 900MB hard drive space The latest version we look at adds support for Windows Vista, Blu-ray and HD DVD. It also includes InterVideo WinDVD 8 Silver for DVD playback and lnterVideo DVDC0py 5 for recording non-encrypted discs and converting them to DivX. Handling You can apply intro and end sequences with themes such as Wedding, but they’re rather kitsch. You can also create collages. There’s import options for DV, HDV and AVCHD (a new high-definition MPEG4-based format) cameras, digital TV tuners and analogue video-capture devices, which is far more than the remit of this test allows for. The interface is very well designed and very simple to use. It doesn’t have much in the way of advanced features though, but if you’re after a simple program, this is for you. VERDICT For all the video options on offer, there’s not much left over for slide shows. The pan and zoom function doesn’t even preview your picture, and applies the same setting to all the photos. The program also lacks image- editing and web tools. PROS: Great-looking interface, impressive import and export options for video users, attractive DVD menus CONS: Transition times not precisely controllable, pan and zoom function is awkward to use, more for video users, so slide show is basic PicturesToExe Deluxe v5.OO Price: £30 Contact:www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/productcart /pc/viewCat.asp Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP/ Vista. For slide shows with Pan/Zoom effects: 1.4GHz CPU, 256MB RAM, NVIDIA/ATI video card with 128MB of video memory. For slide shows created with simple effects: 500MHz, 64MB RAM and any video card PicturesToExe will produce a single EXE file, which contains all images inside, to play on your PC. No additional programs (including PicturesToExe itself) are needed to run the resulting EXE file. If your demands are a bit higher, PicturesToExe will make you a DVD. In both cases, you can customise each slide, add different transition effects and background music, which can be synchronized precisely to music by using the waveform display. Handling Pan/Zoom effects play without jerks/hesitations even with high activity of other programs which work in the background. It is a powerful editor in that you can set Pan/Zoom/Rotate effects for several objects simultaneously. The interface is simple, so don’t expect glitzy design. Then again, for this price, who’s complaining? VERDICT PicturesToExe is a great, quick way of producing a good- looking slide show. It lacks some of the finer points of ProShow, such as precisely co-ordinating transition times, but considering the price, it’s a fantastic way to get started. PROS: Capable of quick, user-friendly editing. The price CONS: Transition times not precisely controllable Photodex ProShow Producer 3.0 Price: £250 Contact: www.photodex.com Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP, 500MHz or higher processor, 256MB RAM, 70MB or higher hard drive memory This software presents itself as the first program of its kind for professional photographers. It features all the usual slide- show options to manipulate and add photos, video clips and music. It also offers Raw file support, precise custom timing for each slide and a transparency feature to overlay masks and borders. You can output to a website, as a Flash video, and you can also create an auto-play CD for PCs. Handling ProShow allows you to edit images in an external editing program like Photoshop or Elements, which is usefuL The software on the whole was easy to use, but despite its high spec profile, it was difficult to work out how to rotate images. Rather than a simple right-click, it was necessary to open the image editor for each one. I suppose it is possible to rotate them before importing into the program, but I’d have liked to have seen an easier way to do this. It’s also possible to synchronize your show exactly to the music you load into the Soundtrack bar. You’ll have to do this while you listen though, as there’s no waveform display to guide you, which is a shame. The interface is rather complicated to use and I found I had to refer to the manual repeatedly. Once you know what you’re doing though, the sky’s the limit. There really is nothing this program can’t do in the way of slide shows. VERDICT ProShow Producer 3.0 is a very powerful slide-show maker, and like the Magix software, is really worth considering if you want to do a lot of editing, web shows and the like. It’s not a quick, easy way of creating a DVD though and unless you spend a lot of time with it, it can be confusing. If you want the ultimate in slide-show creation and are prepared to fork out for it, this is for you. PROS: Complex editing, links with external image editors, web capability CONS: Confusing interface and no waveform display on the soundtrack. Pricey, hence only three stars DaveG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedom Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 A 1 ms precision is not enough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 thks for sharing Daveken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmccammon Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 I find it interesting that BeckhamDigital is the contact listed for PTE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Beckham Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 I don't know why they linked to my web site either. It wasn't planned or asked for and in fact they have linked to the wrong place anyway. It just goes to show how thorough a test can be if they get such basic stuff wrong. With regards to precision transitions I don't think they could have looked very far. That is the very thing that makes PTE stand out from the crowd, but it still came out top of the popsBarry Beckham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Techman1 Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 DaveG,Thanks for sharing this information with us all. I was really wondering what all was said about PTE. I guess the world now knows, what we all have known for sooooooo longgggggg.I hope this helps Igor in his sales department. No doubt, there will be a lot more people joining our little family here! Take care all,Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davegee Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 If you feel strongly enough about their criticisms why not e-mail them now?Too many people sit back and accept these things rather than air their opinions in the right place.That way nothing is acheived.DaveG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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