Reconnect & Slideshow ?’s

RL
Posted By
Roy_Lubetkin
Jun 6, 2005
Views
243
Replies
11
Status
Closed
Using XP Pro SP2, I needed to move my photos from a drive "M" to my "C" drive (everything else about the folder and path stayed the same for my 3000+ photos). I’m using PSE 3.0.1.

When I used the reconnect function for "all missing photos" it seemed to work, although it was a bit tedious manually clicking for each photo.

But it didn’t work when I tried to start a slideshow (about 248 photos). So I reconnected the photos used in the slide (when I clicked on the slideshow it prompted me). However now, when attempted to view the slide show it would show all of the photo thumbnails on the bottom but the main screen remains dark thoughout the playing of the slideshow.

Then it turns out that when I restarted PSE, all of the photos somehow lost their link although now a low res photo with the appears in the organizer instead with that disconnect icon on the bottom center of the photo.

Questions:

1. Why does the slideshow not present properly? There is still a "?" in the organizer for this slideshow.

2. Once reconnected, why would the photos become unlinked again?

3. Does it matter what folder I keep "My Catalog" in? I now have it in "My Photos" folder and not in the default application data folder. This makes it easier for me to back up when I’m backing up My Documents.

4. Is there a way to automate the reconnect feature so I don’t have to click for each relink? I use the reconnect "all missing photos" and it correctly finds them, but it would be nice if one click did it all.

Thanks.
Related Tags
slideshow

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

CW
Colin Walls
Jun 6, 2005
I can’t answer all of this, as I got rather lost with all the disconnection and reconnection.

To answer (3): you can keep th ecatalog file anywhere you want.

File/Reconnect/All missing Photos seems to work straightforwardly when you move stuff around on one drive, but is challenged when you move between drives.

There are 3 possible solutions:

1) Do any moving from within Org – use File/Move or D&D in folder view.

2) Use MS Access to modify the catalog [which is easier than it sounds].

3) To move all the images, use the Backup/Restore facility. You can restore to a different location.
RL
Roy_Lubetkin
Jun 6, 2005
Thanks for the reply and sorry if I wasn’t clear. Let me boil it down to two problems/questions.

1. I can successfully reconnect my photos (the only thing in the file path that has changed is the drive letter) but when I exit the application this reconnection is lost. Why aren’t these reconnections being saved?

2. Why does a slide show display all of the thumbnails on the bottom strip properly but the screen remains black when playin the show?

Thanks again.

Roy
O
o3v3tz
Jun 6, 2005
Roy,

3. do I have to reregister with Adobe when I reinstall PSE on a different PC in order to save to a PSA file?

My understanding is that you do not need to reregister with Adobe when you move PSE from one computer to another that you own. This does not impact whether you can run PSE 3 or save a PSA catalog. You can save a PSA file prior to registering even the first time.

2. Why does a slide show display all of the thumbnails on the bottom strip properly but the screen remains black when playin the show?

Did you switch computers at the same time as you changed drive letter for the photos? Did the slideshow work on the "old" computer? Has it ever worked on the new computer? This info may help troubleshoot the cause.

1. I can successfully reconnect my photos (the only thing in the file path that has changed is the drive letter) but when I exit the application this reconnection is lost. Why aren’t these reconnections being saved?

This is probably the most serious of your questions. I don’t know why the reconnections are not being saved. Docs & Settings/All Users/Adobe/ "Catalogs" folder is the usual default location for the catalog itself "My Catalog.psa". Catalog Folders folder has other associated files. However, as Colin said the Catalog can be anywhere.

Since it appears that you moved from one system to another, how did you transfer your catalog and how did you first open the catalog on the new computer?

Barb O
RL
Roy_Lubetkin
Jun 6, 2005
Thanks Barb.

1. Yes I did switch PC’s the same time I needed to change the drive letter in the path of each of the photos. I installed PSE3 (and update to 3.0.1) on the new PC. I might have started up PSE3 to see that it installed. Then I copied the photos and my Catalog file to my new drive. I clicked on this Catalog file to start up PSE3.

2. The slideshow worked fine on my old PC, this is a new problem. It has never worked on the new PC.

3. BTW, what are the "tn.4.cache" "agstatus" "rmg.2.cache" "collstatus" "ackupCt" files that appear in the "Docs & Settings/All Users/Adobe/Catalog Folders/My Catalog" folder?

Thanks again. Roy
O
o3v3tz
Jun 6, 2005
Roy,

Reverse order again so I can type some points while still thinking about others.

3. tn.4.cache is the Thumbnail Cache file that has the thumbnail images that you see in the Photo Browser. Not immediately sure on the other files; I think that there was a previous thread with more detail on these.

2. the fact that it has never worked on this PC does indicate that the driver for the video card (display adapter) is a potential source of the problem. However, before making any changes to the video card driver, you could try continuing thru the custom Slideshow process and creating a WMV file (even thought you can’t preview what you are creating), then try to play the WMV file back with Windows Media Player and see what you get. If the "old" PC is still available, write the WMV file to a data CD (or thumb drive or external hard drive) and try to play the WMV file on the old PC if it fails on the new PC.

1. still thinking about this one and why the Reconnect does not "stick". Suggest that you try Right Clicking on one bad thumbnail, choose Update Thumbnail and see if it updates to the correct photo. Then post your results. (the update thumbnail will generate/cause a Reconnect as I recollect if it thinks it is necessary.)

Barb O
RL
Roy_Lubetkin
Jun 7, 2005
Before I mess with issue #2 (slideshow) I wanted to figure out #1.

I right clicked and I reconnected the photo and as before if works until I exit the program.

So then I tried to pull into the organizer from a folder on the PC a new photo ("get photo") and the following dialog box and message:

"The ODBC data source reported the following error: "[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] invalid argument""

What is going on? Thanks.
O
o3v3tz
Jun 7, 2005
"The ODBC data source reported the following error: "[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] invalid argument""

potentially indicates a problem with the Catalog.

Try a File > Catalog > Recover (which does Catalog cleanup). After that responds that it completed successfully, try to a Get Photo again. Post back with your results.

Barb O
RL
Roy_Lubetkin
Jun 8, 2005
OK Barb, here’s the update. I did a catalog recovery (I did not check the "reindex visual search data" box).

This seems to have worked. I was able to get photos without the ODBC error message I was previously getting and I was able to reconnect a photo without losing it when I exited the application.

Feeling good, I then spent a couple of hours and reconnected my 3000+ photos using reconnect "all missing files". Unfortunately I lost these links when I exited PSE3.

Then I did the same thing but only for a couple of hundred photos and this time it worked. There was an "updating file" box that appeared this time when I closed the reconnect dialog box.

Lastly, the slideshow is now working again but the quality of the image on my computer screen is of noticeably lessor quality than what the same photo is when it is selected by itself (not part of the slideshow).

This leaves two questions.

1. How many photos can I reconnect at one time so that these reconnections are saved; not lost when I exit PSE3? This process has been tedious enough without doing it in small batches.

2. What can I do so that the image quality in the slideshow is as good as it is when viewing an individual photo? I’ve seen the output quality preference but I don’t believe that affects the on screen viewing. Anything else I can do?

Thanks again, Roy
O
o3v3tz
Jun 8, 2005
How many photos can I reconnect at one time so that these reconnections are saved; not lost when I exit PSE3? This process has been tedious enough without doing it in small batches.

Sorry, but I don’t think I can answer this question. I do not know why your previous reconnections were lost. I did not think there was a design limit on how many reconnections could be done at one time but since I am not an Adobe person, I don’t have access to this information. Unfortunatley, all I can suggest is that you stay within a number range that has worked for you.

I am curious – how much RAM do you have on this current system ?

What can I do so that the image quality in the slideshow is as good as it is when viewing an individual photo? I’ve seen the output quality preference but I don’t believe that affects the on screen viewing. Anything else I can do?

To start – you probably can not make the image quality in the Custom Slideshow as good as viewing an individual photo on a high resolution PC screen. For example my flat panel screen is 1280×1024 pixels (so consider that an example of high resolution monitor). The usual choices for WMV file output in the Elements slideshow are up to 800 by 600; the pixel dimensions for a DVD played on a TV (or a PC) are slightly less than that with a different compression algorithm. So neither has the high resolution possible on a computer monitor.

However, the output quality preference does impact the completed slideshow file resolution and quality level for compresson; this will impact the image quality when played back. I suggest trying 800×600 Proof as the WMV output qualtiy – it is the highest you can specify without doing the Custom option. Once you have saved the Custom Slideshow as a WMV file (in a folder that you designate) then play back the WMV file with Windows Media Player. I suspect that you may see better photo quality playing in an 800 by 600 size viewing area than if you stretch the viewing area to full screen in Media Player – however, I think you should try both full screen and the 800 by 600 size in Media Player so you can see both.

Are you then planning to play this slideshow on a TV? If yes, how are you planning to burn it to a DVD?

Barb O
RL
Roy_Lubetkin
Jun 8, 2005
I have 1GB of RAM, so I guess that’s the limiting factor?

Right now I just want to display the slideshow on my PC screen but I would like to do it so that I retain the quality of an individual photo.

1. Does the output preference impact the quality of what’s viewed on screen within PSE3?

2. Any way to retain the full resolution when viewing a slideshow within PSE3?

Thank you. Roy
O
o3v3tz
Jun 8, 2005
Roy,

1 GB of RAM should be OK, if you had said 256 I would consider it limiting. So no answer here. You might want to contact Adobe Tech Support for the reconnect problem if no one else offers a solution that works on the forum. There might be a charge for the tech support; I can’t tell you in advance as Adobe will determine if it is chargeable at the time of the call.

Now on slideshows:

1. Yes, the output preference does effect the quality of what is viewed on the screen.

2. If you do a Simple Slideshow instead of a Custom Slideshow, you can choose higher resolutions. The simple slideshow saves as a PDF file, you can’t specify music, and the transitions are more limited. After the PDF is saved, you can do make additional changes/enhancements with the PDF reader.

Here are a couple of links that will give you more information:

Some sample slideshows (both Custom and Simple) saved with different parameters.

<http://photofanatic.com/topics/slideshows.php>

Comparison chart on the types of slideshows in Elements 3

< http://www.markandlouise.dsl.pipex.com/Elements/GuideToEleme ntsSlideshows.pdf>

And ….
there is also the Photo Review function, where you can display each of the photos that you choose. If you are displaying the photos on your own PC, rather than sending a slideshow to someone else, Photo Review is a method to consider. See the following link for a description of photo review

<http://photofanatic.com/photoreview.pdf>

at this link keep reading thru the topic "a hidden way to cleanup photo review" to learn how to hide the control bar of photo review.

Barb O

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections