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jrisken
USA
7 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 07 2008 : 14:56:14
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I just downloaded PixPlay today. It is amazing how hard it is to find a working piece of software with all the (not very many) necessary pieces. Congratulations.
The option to record a narration in sync with the slideshow would be powerful, but like others in this forum, I've found a significant drift when trying to use it.
Per 'help' I set the preview to use very accurate timing and set the preview image quality to 'standard'. I then took my 10 frame slide show with default lengths and transitions and built a narration saying 'mark' at each slide transition.
On playback, the 'mark' did not accurately track the transition, and over time. I found the following problems that seem to be involved if the 'display slideshow during the recording' box is checked.
1. When I click 'start recording' a 'this project already has a narration file' dialog appears, even if I have cleared/removed any soundtrack files.
2. This dialog is followed by a 'PixPlay will now display your slideshow' dialog.
3. The length of time that I spend reading this dialog seems to be subtracted from the display times of the slides in the show. If I spend 10 seconds on it, the first two slides zoom by. However recording does not begin until I click this box. In the worst case on a 10 frame show, all 10 frames have gone by in 12 seconds. In the best case, when I click 'yes' as fast as I can, about .75 second have passed and so my 'mark' comments all occur about that far before the actual visual transitions on playback.
4. When the slideshow is displayed during recording, the recording dialog is not kept on top. Thus I can't click 'stop'.
5. When the slide show ends (or when I press ESC) I get a 'your narration has been saved' message. It is saved on top of 'narration.wav' which should have been deleted. But it is apparently recorded in 'open/don't truncate' mode so the narration continues on to previously deleted narration if the old was longer than the new.
Other info: I'm using Windows XP and a USB microphone.
There my well be other issues in synchronizing properly, but there are certainly a couple of genuine 'features' here that could be changed! |
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jrisken
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - Jul 07 2008 : 21:53:07
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I'm still evaluating PixPlay, but I'm sure I'll buy it.
A feature that would be a really useful extension of the add-narration option would be as follows:
1. During recording, show two frames of the show: the current frame and the upcoming one. Leave the current frame up indefinitely.
2. Enable the space bar or some other quiet key so that, when pressed, it would advance the show to the next slide and record a new duration for the current slide.
This would let the user prepare an optimally timed narrated show in a single pass.
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Hmm. I get an error when I try to edit the previous message. Let me elaborate a little (since I've now bought the package).
One would start recording, with one eye on the current frame, and one eye on the next. When one had finished all there was to say about the current frame, one would press the space bar to advance to the next frame, and would continue talking.
There could even be an option to break the audio at the space bar so that each frame would have its own audio segment. The flow of the narrative would be much less choppy than systems where each frame's audio is recorded as a separate interaction. |
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xequte
7042 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2008 : 14:06:48
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Hi
The other recent reports about the audio and video not in sync refer to a specific situation where many small video files are used.
The point items you raise are resolved in v4.01 
one thing, if you have ten frames that show within 12 seconds then you are likely to have problems. 1.2 seconds per image is unlikely to be enough time to load, transition and display a motion effect for anything but small images. Most timing issues with image only slideshows relate to too short display times and computers failing to keep up.
Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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xequte
7042 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2008 : 14:08:47
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Hi
Thank you for your suggestions regarding narration. We'll consider those for a future version.
Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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jrisken
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2008 : 18:42:31
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The point of "10 frames in 12 seconds" was that even though I had specified a length of five seconds per frame (50 seconds total), if I spent 40 seconds reading the little dialog that appears after the show background is plotted but before the first frame shows up, when I dismiss that dialog the audio recording starts but the clock has already run on 9 of the 10 frames (because IT'S clock started with the plotting of the background), those first 9 frames flick by as quickly as they can be plotted.
The timer on the frames should start with the dismissal of that dialog (just as the audio starts), it seems to me. |
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xequte
7042 Posts |
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Narration feature
