Crashes everytime I want to make changes in Audio & Effe

[mwaldron]

Trying to finish my 1st project using PS4 -- slideshow album consisting of 168 jpg slides and 3 AVI video snippets. I had some crashes when creating the video snippets but finally got them. I fit 6 audio MP3 music snippets to the slide show portion using wma music files I got from Spiral Frog and converted to MP3s with a program called Protected Music Converter. As I learned more about the program I used all the neat features of Adjust Position, Trim Video and Photo Duration, Pan & Zoom, and Sound Annotation on many individual slides.

Later, I added a couple of slides in Organize and noticed that the audio timing was then off. When I went back to Audio & Effect to make adjustments I found that the system crashed on almost any change I tried to make to the audio arrangement, sometimes in Audio & Effect, sometimes when I OK'd out to try to save a little bit at a time. I have tried repeatedly but always get a crash or freeze. The error message is DVDPS.exe application error. The instruction at "0x07381464 referenced memory at "0x07431ffc". The memory could not be "read". Click on OK to terminate the program.

I have read all the forum items pertaining to this and tried everything that seemed applicable, including the various clean install procedures. But to no avail. I have about 3 weeks of steady work in this project and do not want to lose it. Is there some way to recover or save all the slide photos and then start over on the customizing?

[michaeltee]

Do you happen to have a version of your project file that was saved sometime prior to adding the photos that threw off your timing? If so, I would work with that version of the project, removing ALL audio files manually. I would then save this revised non-audio version (with a new file name), re-open it and add my additional photos. Assuming this went well, I would then save this project revision (again, using a unique file name) and subsequently see if the audio elements could be reintroduced. In other words, recreating the audio elements from scratch AFTER all revisions of the video content are complete.

If at all possible I would recommend converting all of your mp3 files to standard WAV (44.1Khz/16bit). For whatever reason, WAV files are less likely to cause crashing in DVDPS4. If your current audio converter doesn't support mp3 > WAV you can download an excellent freeware app here:

http://www.any-audio-converter.com/

Let us know how it goes.

[mwaldron]

Thanks, Mike. Your ideas saved my project! I didn't have an old version, but deleted ALL the audio, including sound annotations, and saved to a new file. I then converted all audios to WAV. Went back in and everything worked fine. Got the sound clips I wanted all the way through. Many thanks for your continuing great advice and promptness.

[mwaldron]

I'll probably have more slides to add when my brother gets around to sending his. Do you think I will have to do the same again or now that I am using WAV I'll be able to go in and adjust clips?

What does Text & Background/Background/Fit to Screen box do? I can't see any difference with the box checked or unchecked.

Do you have any recommendations for the burn phase? Project size shows as 1.18 G. I have successfully burned a test disk for a very small test project.

[michaeltee]

I'll probably have more slides to add when my brother gets around to sending his. Do you think I will have to do the same again or now that I am using WAV I'll be able to go in and adjust clips?

DVDPS4 seems to be more consistent with WAV files so in theory, any audio annotations you've added should stay with their respective image(s) when you shuffle things around. That said, programs that lack a timeline view don't give you much of a visual representation of what's happening as changes are made. The keys here is experimentation and frequent previewing. As long as you create and save incremental project files (with unique file names) as you work, you can always fall back on your last 'good' edit if necessary. Prior to receiving new photos from your brother, create a 'test' version by adding some new images with audio annotations to your current project. Save this using a NEW UNIQUE file name and preview the results. If everything falls into place you can scrap the test project knowing the results should be similar when you add photos to the 'real' version. As far as background music is concerned, you may need to adjust the overall length to accommodate the changes you've made.

What does Text & Background/Background/Fit to Screen box do? I can't see any difference with the box checked or unchecked.

I believe this is a proportional resizing command. Try experimenting by adding some odd shaped or small images and preview the results.

Do you have any recommendations for the burn phase? Project size shows as 1.18 G. I have successfully burned a test disk for a very small test project.

I've always been satisfied with Ulead's integrated burning engine but you always have the option of outputting your show as 'DVD Folders' and burning with a 3rd party app like Nero, Roxio, or the like. DVDPS4 also gives you the option of including your project photos as individual files on the burned DVD disc. When you select this option the DVD plays normally on a DVD player but the recipient also has the option of opening the DVD on their PC and saving copies of the photos on their hard drive for printing, etc. These are contained in a separate folder on the DVD disc. Of course this reduces the amount of available disc space in accordance with the file size of the photos.

[mwaldron]

Thanks, Mike. Saving to new files and making changes incrementally seems to work well. Fit to screen worked like you suggested. It brought a small picture vertically up to frame boundary. I have some burn/DVD questions that I will ask in a new post.

[xxKerryxx]

slideshow album consisting of 168 jpg slides and 3 AVI video snippets

Are you using plain photos, with some little video clips included along with it? Does that work? I was told it didn't...

(I have awful trouble with it crashing - I constantly save after everything I adjust anything with the sound.)

[mwaldron]

My Picture Show Album consists of 4 elements: 1 photo slide show and 3 video slide shows -- these appear with separate icons in the Slideshow List down the left of the screen in 1 ORGANIZE. (You can change the order of the list.) After the slide show is played, pick Back to Menu or Continue to Play Next Clip in Options (lower left screen) in 2 THEME to obtain the intermix of slides and videos you want, either user-chosen from the menu or played consecutively without interruption. However, they will play one right after the other. If you want to insert a video in a particular spot in the slide show, experiment with breaking the slide show up at those points and using the above techniques.

I have the same trouble with the sound. I think the best thing to do is to delay the sound track portion until after the slides, captions, and pan and zoom variations are pretty well set. I have had some success with doing all the sound collection 1st, putting the sound in 2nd, adding pan and zoom 3rd, and sound annotations last. One time I needed to change pan and zoom in some of the slides after already saving many versions of the Picture Show and was lucky enough to get the changes in without deleting the audio and starting over. I went into Audio & Effect, advanced to the last video clip, then turned off the sound annotations (they were at the end) and moved from the end towards the front of my slides, making corrections as I went.

[xxKerryxx]

Thanks

Ill have to look into that. Just checking you use the DVD/CD photo show?

[mwaldron]

Yes, I use DVDPS4 version.

[xxKerryxx]

Really? Then come some of our more savvy experts please explain

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=31361

Are we talking about the same thing? I was told you couldn't mix photos plus movie.

[michaeltee]

Really? Then come some of our more savvy experts please explain

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=31361

Are we talking about the same thing? I was told you couldn't mix photos plus movie.

xxKerryzz,

As I mentioned in the referenced posting, you can only have a "first play video" in a photo slideshow. If you utilize that feature, the running order will be: Video Clip > DVD Menu > Slideshow. Aside from that exception, individual shows must be either video clips OR static images (photos).

What might be confusing is the fact that a single DVD can contain multiple shows as is the case with mwaldren's project. These individual shows can be arranged to play in whatever order you specify. Before burning your multiple shows to a DVD, select the "after playback > continue to play the next clip" option. All of your series of shows should automatically play in specified order with just a very brief pause between each show.

That said, there is a possible workaround. This would be to create a set of individual shows composed ONLY of photos. Instead of burning them to DVD, output them as MPEG 2 video files. Once converted to video files, they can be intermixed with other video clips in a new video project. You can then tie the various clips together with transitions and a continuous background audio track and burn to DVD. Just remember that once the photo sequences have been converted to video clips you cannot add more photos to them. Rather, you would have to redo the sequence in question (incorporating your changes), convert to video and then substitute it for the previous clip.

It's quite a bit more work but doable. In my view, far preferable to use an intuitive timeline based program like VideoStudio 11.5+ where you can freely intermix photos, video clips, audio clips and other production elements by drag & drop.

As a suggestion when using DVDPS4, I recommend creating several test shows before making your "real" project. These test shows can consist of any images or clips you happen to have handy on your computer. The shows don't need to make sense. It's just a quick way of familiarizing yourself with DVDPS4's various options and then previewing the results by burning and viewing a DVD before spending countless hours on a "keeper" project.

Hope that clarifies things a bit