Nero 6 VCD slideshows BLURRY, but nero 5.5 SHARP

[Thomas G. Marshall]

Ok.................................help. How do I solve this???

I recently purchased Nero 6, and now my VCD slideshows are producing fuzzy images on my Dell's teac DVD+RW (when burning a -R cd).

The same files, when I had burned them with Nero 5.5 (on a cheap CD-R cyberdrive, that couldn't possibly matter, could it?) produced very sharp slideshows.

I know that the technical horizontal resolution for VCD is clamped down to something like 352 or 704 (I am getting differing answers on the web, perhaps the 2nd is SVCD?). So Nero presumably has to do some image resizing and may be using some horrible cubic spline with nero 6, but I don't know.

Remember, the same exact files produce 5.5: sharp, and 6.0: fuzzy. HELP!

Did Nero 6 use a different set of [@#$% up my pictures] defaults?

PS. I'm a software engineer, so you can save energy and not dumb down the answer tooooo awfully far.

 

[MagicAngel]

PS. I'm a software engineer, so you can save energy and not dumb
down the answer tooooo awfully far.

are the images being enlarged to be displayed or are they the correct size?

What is the format of the "Saved Video files" (Try JPG), the default seems to be PGN.

I looked at the options and I don't see anything about what compression they used or any compression options. I do remember that with 5.5 it mattered what size the images where when you started. Really big images seemed to get ugly when they were compressed down, but smaller images looked better.

I hadn't burned a VCD with 6.0, so I quick ran one and the images look fine. (For VCD), so it must be something about your images or your setup that is causing the problem. I did see one image that got a little grainy because of the compression.

 

[SteveB]

The only thing that comes to mind is if you include any transitions, i.e. any non stills only data then the VCD resolution has to drop to 350 (or whatever it is exactly) . The higher resolution is only for stills, perhaps there's an option somewhere in Nero for stills only. This is one of the main advantages of DVD apart from the bigger capacity, it stays at high resolution with transitions.

PS. I'm a software engineer, so you can save energy and not dumb
down the answer tooooo awfully far.

are the images being enlarged to be displayed or are they the correct size?

What is the format of the "Saved Video files" (Try JPG), the
default seems to be PGN.

I looked at the options and I don't see anything about what
compression they used or any compression options. I do remember
that with 5.5 it mattered what size the images where when you
started. Really big images seemed to get ugly when they were
compressed down, but smaller images looked better.

I hadn't burned a VCD with 6.0, so I quick ran one and the images
look fine. (For VCD), so it must be something about your images or
your setup that is causing the problem. I did see one image that
got a little grainy because of the compression.

--
C75OUZ

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

PS. I'm a software engineer, so you can save energy and not dumb
down the answer tooooo awfully far.

are the images being enlarged to be displayed or are they the correct size?

What is the format of the "Saved Video files" (Try JPG), the
default seems to be PGN.

I looked at the options and I don't see anything about what
compression they used or any compression options. I do remember
that with 5.5 it mattered what size the images where when you
started. Really big images seemed to get ugly when they were
compressed down, but smaller images looked better.

Actually, the images I burned were 3072x2048 or so, and they ended up sharp as can be in Nero 5.5.

I have experimented quite a LOT and it seems that svcd does produce better images as you might expect. But my current dvd player does not "do" svcd. It pretends to, and then dies.

But I shouldn't have to do that if it once worked under 5.5 using VCD (sans "S")

All the images are always jpg.

I've been pondering just filling a cd with jpg's (no vcd format at all) to see if my dvd player can really handle it like many can, but it just isn't a true solution to having a clear slideshow.

I hadn't burned a VCD with 6.0, so I quick ran one and the images
look fine.

VCD or SVCD?

I'm not sure about what is going on here. I test the VCD and SVCD outputs by burning to an image file, and then using using Nero ImageDrive to mount the image file as if it were a drive. I can then use Nero ShowTime to play it, and I do see the fuzziness right away. When I use ShowTime to play a 5.5 nero cd, it is sharp as can be using VCD, just like when on my tv.

(For VCD), so it must be something about your images or
your setup that is causing the problem. I did see one image that
got a little grainy because of the compression.

 

[MagicAngel]

VCD or SVCD?

VCD, can't use SVCD, my player doesn't like it. I guess now I do have a SVCD player in the other room, but I didn't think about that.

I guess the big question is WHY are you doing this in the first place? I should have asked this question right off the bat, but I wasn't thinking clearly trying to answer your question and not go beyond it.

I assume you want to watch your images on your TV, right? Did you ever think of just getting a networked DVD player and beaming them via wireless lan? That solution is only about $150.00, tops. You will save a ton of time not buring CDs and it does work well. I have a networked DVD and I never burn VCDs any more.

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

VCD or SVCD?

VCD, can't use SVCD, my player doesn't like it. I guess now I do
have a SVCD player in the other room, but I didn't think about that.

The pictures that you say were just fine, what resolution did they start at? That is, what resolution did you drag into the VCD content?

I guess the big question is WHY are you doing this in the first
place? I should have asked this question right off the bat, but I
wasn't thinking clearly trying to answer your question and not go
beyond it.

I assume you want to watch your images on your TV, right? Did you
ever think of just getting a networked DVD player and beaming them
via wireless lan? That solution is only about $150.00, tops. You
will save a ton of time not buring CDs and it does work well. I
have a networked DVD and I never burn VCDs any more.

 

[MagicAngel]

VCD or SVCD?

VCD, can't use SVCD, my player doesn't like it. I guess now I do
have a SVCD player in the other room, but I didn't think about that.

The pictures that you say were just fine, what resolution did they
start at? That is, what resolution did you drag into the VCD
content?

The were JPGs and several different resolutions ranging from about 1000 pixels up to 2048 pixels across. I wanted to test several different resolutions to see if there was a difference. I included some 16 bit tiff files, but Nero choked on those.

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

VCD or SVCD?

VCD, can't use SVCD, my player doesn't like it. I guess now I do
have a SVCD player in the other room, but I didn't think about that.

The pictures that you say were just fine, what resolution did they
start at? That is, what resolution did you drag into the VCD
content?

The were JPGs and several different resolutions ranging from about
1000 pixels up to 2048 pixels across. I wanted to test several
different resolutions to see if there was a difference. I included
some 16 bit tiff files, but Nero choked on those.

I have an idea. If I burn a single jpg slideshow here under Nero 6, VCD (no S), I email you the jpg and then you do the same, could we mail each other the contents of the CD (as a file system all zipped up)????? Then I'll be able to sniff out just what the heck makes yours work, and mine gack!

You up for that? (Please say yes )

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

Thomas G. Marshall wrote:
...[rip]...

makes yours work, and mine gack!

Er.....misspoke: mine doesn't "gack". It goes blurry / fuzzy. Wrong word used.

I want to see why yours is sharp.

...[rip]...

 

[Truelight]

I'm just wondering, why would anyone mess with the VCD format? VCD quality, under the best of circumstances is poor. SVCD is pretty good, but there are DVD players that have difficulty with it. As cheap as DVD burners now are, why not bite the bullet, buy a DVD burner, and get into slideshows with real quality. Since I've installed a DVD burner I've never looked back.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

I'm just wondering, why would anyone mess with the VCD format? VCD
quality, under the best of circumstances is poor. SVCD is pretty
good, but there are DVD players that have difficulty with it. As
cheap as DVD burners now are, why not bite the bullet, buy a DVD
burner, and get into slideshows with real quality. Since I've
installed a DVD burner I've never looked back.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

Very good point. The drive I'm using to burn the slide show is a DVD+. Unfortunately, my current dvd player in my stero system is a DVD-, so I never got that far.

I'll have to replace one or the other or both eventually, and they're both cheap, so I suppose this is of no real consequence.

But it irks me that I used to be able to do something perfectly in an earlier rev of nero, only to not be able to do it in a later one.

 

[MagicAngel]

That sounds good, email me what you have and when I see the format, I'll email you what I have. (email is in my profile, size isn't a problem, as long as it is less than 300 mb).

Maybe, I'm just blind and can't see that my images look bad??? It is a good idea.

I did suggest a new DVD player, didn't I? Anyway, the networked DVD is your best bet, then you don't need to burn anything, just have them on the PC and view them on the TV. I have a GoVideo DVD player and a ReplayTV, both of which allow me to view digital pictures on the TV. I've found this is really great because you can show your images to large groups without having them in the computer room.

I had about 15 people over at the house working on a project for my job and all of us need to look at some pictures we just shot, so I tossed them on the Replay and we watched them from the living room. I don't think that the 16 of us could have fit in front of my computer.

I'm just wondering, why would anyone mess with the VCD format? VCD
quality, under the best of circumstances is poor. SVCD is pretty
good, but there are DVD players that have difficulty with it. As
cheap as DVD burners now are, why not bite the bullet, buy a DVD
burner, and get into slideshows with real quality. Since I've
installed a DVD burner I've never looked back.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

Very good point. The drive I'm using to burn the slide show is a
DVD+. Unfortunately, my current dvd player in my stero system is a
DVD-, so I never got that far.

I'll have to replace one or the other or both eventually, and
they're both cheap, so I suppose this is of no real consequence.

But it irks me that I used to be able to do something perfectly in
an earlier rev of nero, only to not be able to do it in a later
one.

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

That sounds good, email me what you have and when I see the format,
I'll email you what I have. (email is in my profile, size isn't a
problem, as long as it is less than 300 mb).

Maybe, I'm just blind and can't see that my images look bad??? It
is a good idea.

I did suggest a new DVD player, didn't I? Anyway, the networked
DVD is your best bet, then you don't need to burn anything, just
have them on the PC and view them on the TV.

Not sure I understood you here. Which is attached how?

Do you mean this:

PC----wire----> DVD----air----> TV

or this:

PC----air----> DVD----wire----> TV

I have a GoVideo DVD
player and a ReplayTV, both of which allow me to view digital
pictures on the TV. I've found this is really great because you
can show your images to large groups without having them in the
computer room.

I had about 15 people over at the house working on a project for my
job and all of us need to look at some pictures we just shot, so I
tossed them on the Replay and we watched them from the living room.
I don't think that the 16 of us could have fit in front of my
computer.

I'm just wondering, why would anyone mess with the VCD format? VCD
quality, under the best of circumstances is poor. SVCD is pretty
good, but there are DVD players that have difficulty with it. As
cheap as DVD burners now are, why not bite the bullet, buy a DVD
burner, and get into slideshows with real quality. Since I've
installed a DVD burner I've never looked back.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

Very good point. The drive I'm using to burn the slide show is a
DVD+. Unfortunately, my current dvd player in my stero system is a
DVD-, so I never got that far.

I'll have to replace one or the other or both eventually, and
they're both cheap, so I suppose this is of no real consequence.

But it irks me that I used to be able to do something perfectly in
an earlier rev of nero, only to not be able to do it in a later
one.

 

[Truelight]

I bought an Apex AD1110 DVD player at Walmart for under $40. The little bugger plays -everything-!, VCD, SVCD, DVD, MP3, plain .JPG files, you name it. Best $40 I ever spent. I had to laugh when I had an SVCD disk and a guy I knew had an expensive Denon DVD player. Wouldn't play in his machine, but the cheap Apex unit played it fine. Get one... you won't be sorry.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

 

[Mark Lashmet]

It's been a while since I have done this, but I had similar problems making VCD slideshows, even to the point of calling support (pointless waste of time) Anyway, I never did find out why the VCDs were bad, but through experimenting, I found that if you make a MiniDVD (fits on a CDROM) the pictures are fine.

Mark L.

That sounds good, email me what you have and when I see the format,
I'll email you what I have. (email is in my profile, size isn't a
problem, as long as it is less than 300 mb).

Maybe, I'm just blind and can't see that my images look bad??? It
is a good idea.

I did suggest a new DVD player, didn't I? Anyway, the networked
DVD is your best bet, then you don't need to burn anything, just
have them on the PC and view them on the TV.

Not sure I understood you here. Which is attached how?

Do you mean this:

PC----wire----> DVD----air----> TV

or this:

PC----air----> DVD----wire----> TV

I have a GoVideo DVD
player and a ReplayTV, both of which allow me to view digital
pictures on the TV. I've found this is really great because you
can show your images to large groups without having them in the
computer room.

I had about 15 people over at the house working on a project for my
job and all of us need to look at some pictures we just shot, so I
tossed them on the Replay and we watched them from the living room.
I don't think that the 16 of us could have fit in front of my
computer.

I'm just wondering, why would anyone mess with the VCD format? VCD
quality, under the best of circumstances is poor. SVCD is pretty
good, but there are DVD players that have difficulty with it. As
cheap as DVD burners now are, why not bite the bullet, buy a DVD
burner, and get into slideshows with real quality. Since I've
installed a DVD burner I've never looked back.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

Very good point. The drive I'm using to burn the slide show is a
DVD+. Unfortunately, my current dvd player in my stero system is a
DVD-, so I never got that far.

I'll have to replace one or the other or both eventually, and
they're both cheap, so I suppose this is of no real consequence.

But it irks me that I used to be able to do something perfectly in
an earlier rev of nero, only to not be able to do it in a later
one.

--
http://www.pbase.com/quikag

You know, I've had a lot of jobs... boxer, mascot, astronaut, imitation Krusty, baby-proofer, trucker, hippie, plow driver, food critic, conceptual artist, grease salesman, carny, mayor, grifter, bodyguard for the mayor, country western manager, garbage commissioner, mountain climber, farmer, inventor, Smithers, Poochie, celebrity assistant, power plant worker, fortune cookie writer, beer baron, Kwik-E-Mart clerk, homophobe and missionary. But protecting Springfield, that gives me the best feeling of all.

-- Homer Simpson

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

I bought an Apex AD1110 DVD player at Walmart for under $40. The
little bugger plays -everything-!, VCD, SVCD, DVD, MP3, plain .JPG
files, you name it. Best $40 I ever spent. I had to laugh when I
had an SVCD disk and a guy I knew had an expensive Denon DVD
player. Wouldn't play in his machine, but the cheap Apex unit
played it fine. Get one... you won't be sorry.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

Nero seems to allow only 99 photos in a slide show on dvd.

I've read that this is a limitation of dvd's in general, and not nero.

I've also read that you can set up 99 "chapters" of 99 photos each. Is this true?

Furthermore, can I set up each frame to wait for "infinity" so that I can "jump" to the next frame by pressing the > > ~ button?

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

I bought an Apex AD1110 DVD player at Walmart for under $40. The
little bugger plays -everything-!, VCD, SVCD, DVD, MP3, plain .JPG
files, you name it. Best $40 I ever spent. I had to laugh when I
had an SVCD disk and a guy I knew had an expensive Denon DVD
player. Wouldn't play in his machine, but the cheap Apex unit
played it fine. Get one... you won't be sorry.

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

1. I read online from someone that the ad-1110 is awesome, but to stay AWAY from the ad-1200.

2. The ad-1110 is dvd-r only. That's kinda a pain, since many folks these days can burn only + (think dell).

 

[Truelight]

Nope, the AD1110 will play both +R and -R discs. My Liteon DVD burner from NewEgg will burn either format and I've burned both. They all play fine on the Apex player.
--

• Rick

http://www.pbase.com/truelight

 

[SteveB]

I think it's true but I'm too lazy to prove it, I definitely read this about 99 "chapters" a while ago somewhere or other, but I believe it's the reason I can step backwards/forwards in a NeroVision Express slideshow but not Proshow Gold (or anything else I've found so far) on my domestic DVD player.

Nero seems to allow only 99 photos in a slide show on dvd.

I've read that this is a limitation of dvd's in general, and not nero.

I've also read that you can set up 99 "chapters" of 99 photos each.
Is this true?

Furthermore, can I set up each frame to wait for "infinity" so that
I can "jump" to the next frame by pressing the > > ~ button?

--
C75OUZ