Timing Problem

[Terry]

Hi

I'm using P2E ver 4.48.

In the synchronization screen I have set it to customized, and then all my transitions are set manually to the music. If I press play then all seems perfect so I say OK. Then I preview the show and the timings are all off by 2 or 3 seconds!

This has never happened before, any ideas?

[alrobin]

Terry,

This can happen if you have a lot of transitions very close together as v.4 attempts to play each transition, so can get behind in time. The timing can also be different in this case than it is in the timeline preview.

[Terry]

Hi again

I've upgraded to version 5.0 now and the same issue remains. How close do you regard as 'too close'? My images are 1.5 seconds apart with a 1 second transition.

[alrobin]

How close do you regard as 'too close'? My images are 1.5 seconds apart with a 1 second transition.

That should not pose a problem - depending on the pc setup and characteristics of the images, etc., PTE should be able to handle durations of approx. 1/10 sec. without any problem. In PTE 5 there should not be a delay at all, just skipped slides if they are too close together. What type of video card and how much memory? How large are your images, and what type of music files are you using? Do you have a lot of objects added in O&A? Try shutting down all other non-essential processes running along with your show.

[Terry]

The PC is an Athlon 3200+ with 1gb memory. Video is Radeon 9600 pro. The JPG images are 200K-900K in size (but this has never been a problem when portraits are shown). The music is standard WAV 34Mb file (first time using WAV).

I don't understand what you mean by "Do you have a lot of objects added in O&A?". All I do is create JPEG files, drop them into P2E, select some for the show, and add the music. Nothing fancy, only 1 transition type, and nothing else is running at the same time.

I'm still surprised it runs at different speeds in 'timeline' to 'preview'. :

[Barry Beckham]

Terry

I have read this post and the replies a couple of times and I can't quite understand exactly what your problem is with your slide show. The trouble with trying to help in these circumstances is often a lack information.

You seem to be putting together a fairly simple slide show with a PC that should give you no problems at all. If you can answer these few questions we may better understand your issues.

1. How many images are you using in your show?

2. Are you reducing the size of those images before selecting them in PTE5?

3. If not, what size are they?

4. Are you making an automatic slide show or using the time line to program the show?

5. Try converting the Wav file to Mp3. It shouldn't really be the cause of your problem, but Mp3 is the standard we all use and the Mp3 file size is far smaller. You never know, it might help.

6. You are using the latest version of PTE5 I hope and not one of the earlier beta copies?

Barry

[Terry]

Hi Barry

I am trying to keep it simple, cos simple usually works. I am using the latest version of PTE5, downloaded yesterday.

I've converted the WAV to MP3 and its now 3mb in size, but the problem persists.

There are currently on 24 images in the show (more to be added), but the timing problem is in the first 10.

The slides are put together in the timeline so as to change at a specific point in the music. When the PLAY option is used from the timeline, the slides and music are exactly how I want them (slide 5 starts after 8 seconds of music, slide 9 after 16 seconds). If I select PREVIEW from the timeline, or from the main screen, the music plays as expected, the first slide starts on time but subsequent ones are out of sync. After 8 seconds slide 4 is still on screen and about to change, and after 16 seconds slide 8 is just starting. These are the same files but the Preview seems to load slower?

The JPEG images were converted from RAW files and average 900K in size (but this size has never been a problem before).

[alrobin]

Terry,

You say that slide 5 starts after 8 seconds of music. I usually start my shows with a black slide (with a small file size) and wait for three or four seconds before adding the first main slide, just to let the program initialize. Slide 5 in my shows isn't normally set to start at least until around the 15-second mark. Maybe delaying the start of the show and adding 3 or 4 seconds of silence at the beginning would help in your case, too.

The file sizes you mention are not abnormally large, provided you have the video memory to handle them, provided they have been resized to a reasonable resolution as well (say 1024x768, or thereabouts). Also, if you are not doing so, try setting the pc monitor to the same resolution as the images.

You say you have tried using mp3 versions of the music, so the music should not be a problem. However, what happens if you temporarily remove the music? We'll get to the bottom of this yet.

[Terry]

I think I've resolved it. In the project options under screen, there is a Hardware Acceleration (D3D) option set by default, and when this is disabled the timing is fine. Looks like I have a display card driver problem now, but I've always suspected something when games crashed too frequently.

Presumably the PLAY in Timeline doesn't use D3D, but the full screen PREVIEW does.

Thanks for all your help guys.

[Barry Beckham]

Yep, that may do it.

Sometimes even when we have a new graphics card, by the time we get it, new drivers have been created.

A search for new and better drivers is a good start.

Good luck

Barry