Phota 4.3 includes a 64-bit version of the program.  Fairly major improvements have been made to the Video Capture process.  A few other miscellaneous enhancements.  Further details follow:

• 64-Bit Version =>  Since almost all modern computers now have 64-bit processors, the 64-bit Phota program should run slightly faster and more efficiently.  It can also load and display extremely large images because of the vast amount of memory that can be accessed in a 64-bit environment.  (A 32-bit version is still available for people with older computers.)

  As with all new versions, it is free for existing customers to upgrade to the 64-bit Phota 4.3.  Your existing Registration should still be recognized when the new program is installed, so it shouldn't be necessary to enter a Registration Key.  As always, you can just send me an email whenever you do need another Registration Key.

• Video Enhancements =>  The video functions for Phota had been based upon the Microsoft DirectShow API, which relied on COM 'Filters' that could be installed on a computer to encode and decode video files.  Unfortunately, there are very few 64-bit DirectShow COM Filters for the Video and Audio Encoding Codecs needed to create videos.  To improve this situation, a more recent Microsoft API, the Media Foundation, has been used to provide an alternative method for encoding videos.

  The Video Options screen has been redesigned to accomodate these changes.  An Encoding API drop-down box has been added to allow selection of either DirectShow or Media Foundation.  This choice will determine the Encoding Codecs that are available on your computer to be used as Video and Audio Compressors.  The Encoding API selection also controls which video file extensions will be used for captured videos when AVI / MP4 / 3GP has been chosen as the Video Format.  Videos created with DirectShow will have the '.avi' file extension, while '.mp4' will be used by default for Media Foundation based Videos (or the extension can also be changed to '.3gp').
  

• Other Improvements =>

  • Gallery Doors  >>  3D Gallery Doors will now show Arrows to indicate their access to Previous Gallery or Next Gallery, rather than display text labels.  The arrows will hopefully be less distracting, and perhaps more understandable for people who don't speak English.

  • Spout Updates  >>  A new Spout library is included, which provides alternative methods for continuously sending Phota scenes to other Spout enabled applications (primarily used by VJ artists).