PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Having problems? Have a solution? Let us know what your dilemma is with ProShow Gold. Please limit the topics to software problems, not "How To's"
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PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby salted » Sat Jan 11, 2014 2:45 pm

Hi there,

I really am at my wit's end and have currently been trying to fix a problem with a slideshow on photoshow gold for 8 hours now with no success!!!

I have made one slideshow with approximately 350 slides, a soundtrack of 7 songs with no layers or slide effects, very simple really. I have encountered two problems along the way, both of which have culminated in me being close to throwing myself out of the window!! I was using proshow gold version 5 until earlier, but have now paid for an update to version 6 but the problem persists. I made the slideshow, burned to disc as normal and watched it on my DVD player to check it. At one point halfway through the show, the slide and music sticks for around 4 seconds, long enough to notice and as this is a show for a client, I have to resolve it. It sticks at exactly the same place each time, and strangely doesn't on the preview version played through the programme, infact it is perfect when played through proshow. However, a few discs later (yes, then I learnt to make an ISO file so I'm not completely out of pocket), this problem persists. I have removed the affected slide from the show, but now the problem is actually worse and the show sticks in two places on the same track, close to each other. I have remade and re-saved the show a few times and each time the same thing. I keep deleting the .pxc file, but to no avail, and have reinstalled, upgraded, done everything I can think of but no luck. So...I come round to the thought it is a corrupted music file, as I received the music file from the client themselves in .wav form and converted myself to .mp3. I cannot get the track from the client again, unfortunately. However, I if I could go into proshow and remove tracks and change them around to see if this was the problem I would, but the programme also crashed everytime I try to burn to a disc (even if I untick pc autorun) which makes the whole process burning to an iso file then to disc etc. I would be hear all year trying to locate the problem. Is there anywhere in the program it can tell me where the problem is coming from? And why is my program crashing every single time it tries to render when set to burn to disc? The files in the show are not large, my antivirus is set to allow proshow to run and I pretty much have exhausted everyother option my tired brain can think of. I've trawled this site and others looking for answers but haven't really found anything I haven;t tried already, and being in the UK can't phone the US helpline without incurring yet more expense. For a brand new piece of software I am seriously unhappy with the situation, and to top it all I have promised the client the disc tomorrow morning! If anyone is out there and kind enough to read this and offer any further help or ideas, I would be extremely grateful as this can't go on. Thanks in advance.

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby cherub » Sat Jan 11, 2014 4:26 pm

salted wrote:Hi there,

....done everything I can think of but no luck. So...I come round to the thought it is a corrupted music file, as I received the music file from the client themselves in .wav form and converted myself to .mp3. I cannot get the track from the client again, unfortunately. However, I if I could go into proshow and remove tracks and change them around to see if this was the problem I would, but the programme also crashed everytime I try to burn to a disc (even if I untick pc autorun) which makes the whole process burning to an iso file then to disc etc. I would be hear all year trying to locate the problem. Is there anywhere in the program it can tell me where the problem is coming from? And why is my program crashing every single time it tries to render when set to burn to disc? The files in the show are not large, my antivirus is set to allow proshow to run and I pretty much have exhausted everyother option my tired brain can think of. I've trawled this site and others looking for answers but haven't really found anything I haven;t tried already, and being in the UK can't phone the US helpline without incurring yet more expense. For a brand new piece of software I am seriously unhappy with the situation, and to top it all I have promised the client the disc tomorrow morning! If anyone is out there and kind enough to read this and offer any further help or ideas, I would be extremely grateful as this can't go on. Thanks in advance.



Hi,
Sorry to hear that you are having such problems. Unfortunately there is no way the program can tell you where the problem comes from.

If you think that the soundtack is perhaps corrupted, you can try to delete some of the songs by going into Manage Soudracks.
Right click on the waveform at the bottom of you show and then Manage Soundtrack
Play with the + and - (plus and minus) to add and remove songs, and with the arrows on the side if you want to change the order of the songs.

If you want to call Photodex, you can phone their free number through Skype. It works from here, so it should work from the UK too. There won't be any charges.

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby gpsmikey » Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:05 pm

Welcome - sorry for the problems you are having. Couple of things you can try - try converting the mp3 back to a wav file and use that (if you don't have an audio editor, the free Audacity works pretty well for many folks). Try making a short test show with just a few slides and the suspect audio track - see if that is the problem. You don't say which version you have of Gold - if you recently upgraded, if you don't have the current build 3397, then I would suggest downloading/installing that version. I'm not sure I understand your comment about "pc autorun" and ISO file creation - they are not really related. From the burning menu, you just select ISO file instead of the burner in your machine to create an ISO. Note that an ISO file can be "played" (although there are some menu issues) with the free VLC player.

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby salted » Sun Jan 12, 2014 1:58 am

Hi again!

Still no joy and I've used different audio tracks and the problem still arises in exactly the same place, so now going through the hellish task of deleting different slides to see if any of the images are corrupted. I have the newest version 6 of gold, just purchased the upgrade from 5 yesterday. This really is not good and I've never had such a problem with gold before although I use it extensively. Think I will be finding a different slideshow software after the worst weekend ever, any suggestions out there?

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby cherub » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:15 am

Suggestions:

1. Is your show longer than 1 hour? Because that's the time that you can roughly put on a normal DVD.
2. Is there any animated gif in the slide where the rendering stops?

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby salted » Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:26 am

Hi Mona,

Thanks for your response but my slideshow is only 27 mins long and all images are small jpegs, there are 320 of them. I have since made a slideshow for the client using someother software but still trying to to get to the bottom of this problem as its cost me so much time so far I refuse to let it beat me! I'm currently removing one slide at a time around the affected area to see if that helps, a hideous task when I have to re-render to iso, then burn a dvd then sit through the bloody thing until the spot which is halfway through! :evil: :roll:

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby tdew » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:09 am

Hi, I know you said you used "no layers or slide effects" but I'm just wondering about transitions? Could a complex transition be causing your trouble?

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby salted » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:42 am

Hi,

When you say complex transition, the transitions between the slides around the affected area are all the same length and there is nothing else I have done to transitions, as in I didn't even know you could make 'complex transitions' ???

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby salted » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:45 am

BTW Mikey, I only put the pc autorun and iso in the same sentence as these are two things I've tried, from reading on here other problems people have had, some said untick pc autorun as this may affect the show. I have to render each time to an iso file, as like I said before, the programme keeps crashing if I try to burn directly to DVD. At the moment my priority is trying to work out whats wrong with the show, and so I will perhaps tackle this problem next if I have any soul left!!!

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby gpsmikey » Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:41 am

A couple of things that can help save time/money on your quest. Install the free VLC player - it can play the iso file without having to burn to the DVD. You can also fast forward to where the problem is showing up. Something that comes to mind - some time ago, I ran into an issue with a bad batch of DVD's - they were junk. You don't say how you are burning the DVD's, but I would suggest using the free Imgburn utility to burn a DVD from the ISO. The key test here is when you use Imgburn, check the box that says "verify" - see what it comes up with when you do that. What it does when you check "verify" is to burn the DVD, then go back and re-read it. Listen to the drive when it is re-reading it - see if it slows down or acts odd in that area as well. The trick with these types of problems is making sure not only where the problem is, but make sure you know where it isn't. That said, the easiest way to troubleshoot something like this is basically by making a copy of the show.psh file (your show). Open that and cut off everything following just beyond where the problem is happening. create a "show" from that - same problem? chop off stuff before and repeat.

Start with installing VLC and play the iso - is the problem there?
Use Imgburn to burn AND verify your DVD
I don't remember right off hand with Gold what format files it can render to - if you can create mpeg2 or mp4 files, render to one of those and play it - does it show the same problem?
You obviously have something causing a problem since this is not what most people experience - the trick is finding what that problem is.

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby salted » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:03 pm

Hi Mikey,

Wow, thanks for the detailed help, how I wish I'd known about the VLC player 48 hours ago!!! How odd that the show doesn't have the same problem when played though this device, could it be that the 15 or so DVD';s I've used this weekend and chucked in the bin could all be faulty and cause this problem to occur at the same point on each DVD??? They have even come out of different packets but from the same supplier, I just can't believe this could be the cause of my lost weekend! I'd like to try the test you've recommended using the iso burner software I have been using, IMGBURN, but cant find the 'verify' box to tick you speak of. Am I missing something or has my brain just partially died?!!!

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby gpsmikey » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:33 pm

Those are both a couple of my favorite utilities (along with the free Irfanview). I would be surprised if multiple packs of DVD's had errors in the same spot (it could be your burner), but when I had the bad batch of TDK ones, it was about 2/3 of the way out and if you looked at the blank DVD's from the bottom you could actually see a goofy pattern in the dye layer at that area (the whole stack of them was the same - needless to say, they promptly ended up in the trash. I almost always use the Taiyo Yuden premium disks and have not had any issues with them (other than the obvious user errors !! )

Here is where you select the verify option in Imgburn ...
Image

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Re: PLEASE can anyone help? At my wit's end!

Postby Jackle_09 » Thu Feb 13, 2014 11:07 pm

Nice post!

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