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DVD Picture Slideshow

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BBD

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I am doing a wedding in October and they want to put together a DVD slideshow of old pictures. The salesman in me told them I would do that even before I knew how I was going to do it.

I was wondering what software you you use to make high quality DVD slideshow? Possible with zooming, panning, transition effects?

Thanks ahead of time,

David
--

http://photosbycook.smugmug.com/Portraits
 
If you 're a Mac user, then Boinx' Fotomagico is the must try/buy application for your needs! Although I make use of iLife, I consider fotomagico the better alternative. http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/

If you 're a PC user, then somebody else will have to make suggestions – although I have heard them talk very positively about proshow gold.
 
BBD said:
I was wondering what software you you use to make high quality DVD
slideshow? Possible with zooming, panning, transition effects?
Click to expand...
I use Adobe Encore DVD 2.0.

Besides its capabilities for general DVD-Video authoring [including multiple audio tracks], it has some "slideshow-specific" features that are quite useful.

For slideshows, you can set it so that play will pause after each slide; or, you can adjust the length of play for each slide as with any DVD authoring program. The slideshow features also have the zoom/pan/transition effects that you're looking for.
 
I use Gold and Producer. Yes, it's quite stable. On rare occasion, it will crash, but simply restarting it, works fine.

It's well worth the investment. Great results!

Also pics2exe can export to DVD too I think. It's not as flashy though.

--
Thanks,
Kelly Shipp - http://www.kellyshipp.com
 
Gary J Jensen said:
BBD said:
I was wondering what software you you use to make high quality DVD
slideshow? Possible with zooming, panning, transition effects?
Click to expand...
I use Adobe Encore DVD 2.0.
Click to expand...
I use Premiere and Encore for video/DVD but I wouldn't recommend it for slide shows. Encore alone has a 99-photo limit due to having to place each photo as a separate chapter.

You would be better to assemble the stills in Premiere and then output as a continuous video stream to Encore. This gives you many more options.
 
Another vote for Photodex. I would start with Gold and if this seems to be a new revenue generator for you step up to Producer.

When burning DVD's go with the highly reagarded Taiyo Yuden.
http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-r-media.html

They use the highest quality materials and dye for longer lasting and they are rated as being more highly compatible (with set top players) than other brands. I would also use DVD-R vs +R, it is also more compatible with set top players.
 
John-G said:
I use Premiere and Encore for video/DVD but I wouldn't recommend it
for slide shows. Encore alone has a 99-photo limit due to having to
place each photo as a separate chapter.

You would be better to assemble the stills in Premiere and then
output as a continuous video stream to Encore. This gives you many
more options.
Click to expand...
That's only partially true. The 99 photo/chapter per title limit is a function of the DVD-Video architecture. However, you can put multiple titles on each DVD. So, effectively, the number of photos is limited only by the bitrate, time per photo [as with Premiere], and the capacity of the DVD [4.7GB for DVD-5 and 8.5GB for DVD-9].

With Encore you can author your slideshow in two ways. First, you can use the "slideshow" feature which allows you to have the automatic "pause-after-each-slide" as well as the zoom/pan/transition effects; or, you can also place the stills directly on the timeline [as in any other authoring software]. If you use the "timeline" method, you can eliminate the 99-photo limit by not having chapter stops for each slide [same as with Premiere]. However, that precludes the ability to directly navigate to any particular slide; some chapters will include multiple slides, so you can only go directly to the first slide in the chapter.
 
...is to use only DVD-R discs. Many (particularly older) home players don't understand "ROM," and the -R discs are coded to be seen as commercially burned discs in those players.

I was bedeviled for a while with discs that would play in computers and in cheap, new home players, but not in my rather pricey (but older) home theater system. When I switched to -R discs (which for some reason are less common), the problem went away.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'
 
I've been using it for several years - it has gone through a number of transitions - earlier versions had a tendency to be unstable but their latest version is stellar. Extremely easy to use and very versatile. And, more importantly, when I did have trouble with earlier versions, their customer service department worked with me tirelessly until they solved the isses I was having with the particular DVD burner I was using - customer service is outstanding. But, as I said, their latest versions seem pretty much glitch-free. Highly recommended.
--
Lenore
 
I create wedding slideshows in Adobe Premiere because of the amount of control it gives me and then write the resulting video to my DV camcorder. For the wedding reception playback, I simply play the video out of the S-Video (and audio) connection straight from the camcorder. This avoids all the hassles and compression with DVDs.

-Shawn
 
Hi Lenore,

You may want to point the OP at the Enthusiasts forum for some look at comments about stability. Over 300 "fixes" since the recent release of version 3.0 doesn't exactly sound like a "stable" product yet.

Are you speaking from you personal experience? Though it may be stable for you, it's not stable for everyone. I guess I wouldn't describe the latest version as "glitch" free, but best to let the OP decide.

Best regards,

Lin
bcbride said:
I've been using it for several years - it has gone through a number
of transitions - earlier versions had a tendency to be unstable but
their latest version is stellar. Extremely easy to use and very
versatile. And, more importantly, when I did have trouble with
earlier versions, their customer service department worked with me
tirelessly until they solved the isses I was having with the
particular DVD burner I was using - customer service is
outstanding. But, as I said, their latest versions seem pretty
much glitch-free. Highly recommended.
--
Lenore
Click to expand...
 
If you enjoy being frustrated, get Producer 3.0 ... A new build at least once a week. Lots of capabilities, but use it only to create the show. Its menu creation program is a nightmare.

Figure $250 for Producer.
Another $300 or so for Encore or $500 for Sony Vegas to create the DVD (author).

Don't forget you'll have to buy some royalty-free music. You can get BackTrax at Digitaljuice.com for $99 when it's on sale (you have to check the Web site every day). It's a great bargain on sale.

Or hire someone to do it.
 
I have tried to use Proshow Gold on three separate PC's, but always found the images lose sharpness and appear slightly out of focus. Tech support have not been able to solve the proble. This is very dissappointing at Proshow has some very nice features.

I have used several other slideshow programmes without any hassles, anjbody else had the same problem.

Jim
 
Carl Feather said:
If you enjoy being frustrated, get Producer 3.0 ... A new build at
least once a week. Lots of capabilities, but use it only to create
the show. Its menu creation program is a nightmare.
Click to expand...
I use Premiere and Encore for video/DVD production but I also use ProShow Gold for quick slide shows of still images.

Since the menu capabilities of ProShow and Producer are so lame what I would really like to do is output a video stream that I can then import into Encore and make a "real" DVD. :-)

I still use PSG 2.6 for production but I downloaded demo copies of Producer 3.0 (which can output AVI) and PSG 3.0 (which can output MPEG). I was excited that one of these would provide the capabilities I need.

Big disappointment. The AVI stream from Producer had the audio lagging the video by about 15 seconds and the MPEG from PSG had the audio missing completely. Oh well, so much for THAT idea. :-(
 
JimSto said:
I have tried to use Proshow Gold on three separate PC's, but always
found the images lose sharpness and appear slightly out of focus.
Tech support have not been able to solve the proble. This is very
dissappointing at Proshow has some very nice features.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... hate to say it but the problem may be you, the images or the settings.

I use PSG 2.6 to produce rather large slide shows and I find the sharpness of the images to match the originals.

I produce two types of outputs. EXE and DVD. The DVDs, while limited to 720x640 look incredibly sharp on a CRT TV. They are slightly less sharp when viewed via Windows DVD player software. I set everything to the highest quality for the DVD burn.

The EXE files look incredible on all displays. I normally start out with 8 megapixel images from a Canon 1D-MkII, then I set PSG to output the images constrained to 1024x768. Both my laptop and projector have a native resolution of 1024x768 so the results are spectacular. By using the 8Mp images I am able to zoom in by nearly 175% with no loss of quality in the 1024x768 output. Sweet. :-) Again, all PSG settings on highest quality.
 
John,

Better stick with 2.6 for now - 3.0 is buggy yet.

You won't see a great deal of difference on the average monitor, but try a show on a 9 megapixel monitor and you will loose tremendous amounts of quality.

The images are software rendered at very close to DVD resolutions. Then for executable shows these rendered images are upsampled. At 1024x768 you won't see a lot of difference. At high resolution output they fall apart rapidly. It takes true hardware rendering to preserve detail on high resolution outputs.

Best regards,

Lin
John-G said:
JimSto said:
I have tried to use Proshow Gold on three separate PC's, but always
found the images lose sharpness and appear slightly out of focus.
Tech support have not been able to solve the proble. This is very
dissappointing at Proshow has some very nice features.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... hate to say it but the problem may be you, the images or
the settings.

I use PSG 2.6 to produce rather large slide shows and I find the
sharpness of the images to match the originals.

I produce two types of outputs. EXE and DVD. The DVDs, while
limited to 720x640 look incredibly sharp on a CRT TV. They are
slightly less sharp when viewed via Windows DVD player software. I
set everything to the highest quality for the DVD burn.

The EXE files look incredible on all displays. I normally start out
with 8 megapixel images from a Canon 1D-MkII, then I set PSG to
output the images constrained to 1024x768. Both my laptop and
projector have a native resolution of 1024x768 so the results are
spectacular. By using the 8Mp images I am able to zoom in by nearly
175% with no loss of quality in the 1024x768 output. Sweet. :-)
Again, all PSG settings on highest quality.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Lin - yikes, I had no idea! I've had no problems whatsoever with the new version. I will be at WPPI next week and plan to visit the Photodex booth so will be interested to hear what they have to say. I guess my main point would be that, even when I did have problems a couple of years ago their customer service people found work-around solutions to the DVD-burning problems I was having so I could get my product out. I stopped using PSG for a while because of the hassles, but then went back to it in the fall last year (because I - and my clients - did always love the end result) and have had no problems with the latest version. Several pros in my association also use PSG, so there are people out there using it who like it a lot. Still, for someone brand new to this type of product, having any glitches whatsoever would be offputting, so perhaps the OP could start with something a little more user-friendly, or download a free trial version of PSG at their website to try it out. http://www.photodex.com
--
Lenore
http://www.bcbride.ca
 
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