DVD slide shows

[Emma]

DVD Slide Shows! Lots of us say we wanna make 'em, but I don't see any technical support for HOW!

I'm putting it off because I don't have time to go research and learn new software etc, etc, yadda, yadda, you've all been there!

For those who actually MAKE these and don't just dream about it, HOW???!!!

Total newbie, need help!

For those who WANT to make these or become better at it, ask any questions you have.

Here are mine, but I don't know enough to have a lot of questions yet, so give unsolicited advice as well, please! :D
1. Software: what do you use, why do you like/dislike it?
2. Organization: I scrap out of chronological order, so how to "insert" a page that I do later? Just wait until you burn another back-up? (Supposed to redo CDs every 4-5 years)
3. Resolution for viewing on HDTV: 72pdi is only high enough for monitors and regular TVs, but I want to view my scrapbook on HDTV; 150, 300???

Let's get this party started! Lots of us DON'T print our layouts, and we need a good way to enjoy and show them off! Any advice is great, thanks!

[Pam]

Many DVD players will show a slide show of your photos or any JPG format layout or graphic - simply copy them to a CD and put the CD in your DVD player - a menu may come up to allow you to choose whether to just do a slide show or press the button when you want a new photo. There are programs that allow you to add transitions between each photo (like fade-in, or slide up or down, or page curl, etc. You can also add music from a CD to give background sound and/or talk (use your PC microphone) and describe each photo or narrate your show. My DVD player will also play MPG files -- not all of them do.

My DVD player will not play some formats of DVD on CD that others will allow. So first you need to check out what your DVD player will do. The programs I have tried are PhotoSuite, OnDVD, Broderbund's movieshop, and Video Explosion Deluxe. I also have Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album but haven't tried it yet.

I rename all of my digital photos - the first one I took today would be named 04042201, the second one would be 04042202, etc. That way they stay in the order in which they were taken. Experiment! Place some photos on a CD and watch them. Have fun.

[Amanda]

I actually make them quite often. My favorite program is PictureToTv because you have the most control and it will sync the slides to the music. I've also used Ulead's one, and a really cheap simple one called Simplestar photoshow. all of these have free trials.
The latest one i did was with PSP Photo Album. It didn't give me all the control I would like but it worked really well and it was easy.
I just use web version layouts on them. To insert a new layout you would have to re-burn a new slideshow but it they are easy to insert new layouts into.

[Lauren]

Oh now I have a question here in regards to this sort of thing- I made a cd of my layouts in jpeg to show on my tv via the dvd player -
The player supports jpgs and they all show up - but ewwwwwwwwwks they look gross - if I zoom wayyyyyyyyyy in you can see they look good but when I view them at full screen size they are horrible -
Do I need to resize them to vga resolution - or what is the problem do you think??

[Meryl]

Lauren I'm soooo glad to hear i was not the only one with this problem! & to boot it was so slow to load? maybe as Amanda says use the web version for speed but would that not make the quality even worse?

[Amanda]

I've never had to change anything with the color. Maybe its just you foreigners :D

[Meryl]

Oh yes Amanda - of course!1 we ALL know where everything is bigger & better!!! :D :D :D

[Amanda]

Deep in the heart of TEXAS!

[Lauren]

It wasnt the colour - it was just horrid to look at - worse even than a web graphic increased in size 100 times - except it was the other way round - cause when you zooooooooooomed way in you could see the quality was there - I think I will try reducing the resolution of the pics down to 480x640 and see how they look then - I did check the right type of tv system too - I remember that I had to do that - we use PAL here in NZ and you use NTSC in the US whatever the heck that means!!!

[Emma]

Meryl, I've discovered after living in Texas awhile that everything is actually bigger in Idaho. Trust me, from potatoes to deer to mountains and snow storms, Texas ain't got nothing but HOT!

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1377

Wonder how it'll look on my DVD slide show! I'll get around to it someday!

[Trese]

I use Ulead's DVD PictureShow 2. I will have to play and experiment and let you all know what I come up with. I too, noticed some looked great, and others horrible. I believe it was the size I was using. I just love giving these shows as gifts, and everyone just loves receiving them. I will give this a shot, as I have a day to myself on Friday, and will let you know. :)
Have a great day! :)

[AmyD]

I have windows xp and they have a free download called movie maker. I have not done so yet but I believe this does the slide shows with music and annimation and you can do it with a cd burner and watch on dvd player. anyone else used this?

[canay]

I have Movie Maker but haven't used it. I also have Jasc Photo Album but haven't used it for a slide show. I have a couple of other DVD making programs that came on my computer but haven't used them...

I think I balk when the first thing I'm hearing is that DVD players will not play some formats of DVD on CD that others will allow. So first you need to check out what your DVD player will do. I can barely even operate the DVD!!! We have like four controllers on the coffee table. I'll rent a DVD and need to ask my teenager to get it started for me. It's sort of wierd because I am very comfortable with technology and computers. But when it comes to our TV, Cable and DVD set up I get so :confused:

It will probably be like one of those things that when you finally do it, it takes five minutes is simple and you wonder why you put it off for so long! :o

Canay

[Pam]

For saving my digital photos to disk and just enjoying them, no software is needed except to write to a CD. Most players seem to recognize a JPG photo. My DVD player will not play the VCD format, but some do. Mine will play mpeg-2 movie files, which is what many of the software programs record in. Suggestions for photo size are a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio.

[Rebecca]

I actually make them quite often. My favorite program is PictureToTv because you have the most control and it will sync the slides to the music.

I have to agree on that one, I have the upgraded version MemoriesOnTV and absolutely adore it. Was easy to compile and burn. The only thing that confused me wa playing it you had to select a number on the remote and I kept hitting play over and over. So worth it though, you control where it can zoom to in the photo and like it was said before it fits it to the length of your music so no half repeats or cut offs.

[Ann Maree]

Saw this software for making dvd slideshows - thought it looked awsome - check out the slide shows you can download once you have the software. Look under styles tab for different shows.

http://www.3d-album.com/product.html

If anyone has seen this or tried would appreciate some feedback?

[beverly barone]

I love to make DVD Slide Shows. I am using DVD X Show be 321 studios. Not only can i add my photos but can add clipart frames, do fades and pans ,add narration and music.
I don't know about HDTV but you can play on DVD Player on Pc Or Tv. Take a look at www.dvdxcopy.com

[AmyD]

Amanda, with the picture to tv did you also have to get the mpeg converter?

[Ann Maree]

Saw this software for making dvd slideshows - thought it looked awsome - check out the slide shows you can download once you have the software. Look under styles tab for different shows.

http://www.3d-album.com/product.html

If anyone has seen this or tried would appreciate some feedback?


Found this review on web

http://www.3d-album.com/reviews/cache.htm

[Duchie]

Any one use a digital camerawith video audio capabilites and creat a move to play back in the DVD player>>> I have sojme video from my camera that Iwant to do that with but I can't seem to get anything to work properly...any help would be great!!!! I"ll even email you the clip If you ned to "play' to figure it out!@!@!@

[Emma]

We have a digital video camera that uses those tiny tapes: we just download it onto our computer and edit with Pinnacle Studio DV for home movies.

Maybe that will work for my scrapbook DVDs as well, hmmm...

I think finding the right software is what it's all about. Just getting it installed, playing with it, and asking questions here. I'd decided on software from the opinions posted here, but hopefully Pinnacle will work as I already have it!

[slickmouse]

I’m new here – but found this thread so thought I’d throw my 2 cents in.

I’ve just started with digital scrapbooking - but I have created DVDs with home movies. I’ve done both editing digital video from my digital camcorder and then inserted still JPEGs and MPGs clips from my digital camera. You can edit them together – throw music behind it and then create DVDs or VCDs.

I’ve also converted all my VHS-C home movies to digital using my camecorder as my digital converter and then edited them.

The key to playing it on your DVD player instead of a computer CD-ROM is to make sure your DVD player is compatible with the technology you are using. That’s already been said.

Most CD-RW ROMS will create a VCD and MOST NEW DVD players will play them. To create a true DVD you have to have a DVD writer. But you need to make sure you have one that records in the same format your player will play. When I was reading up on it a few months ago (when deciding which RW-DVD I wanted from Santa) there was not a standard industry format, thus you hear a lot about DVD-RW+ and DVD-RW- ; DVD-R+ and DVD-R-. There are still format wars going on like there were with Beta and VHS. However, most new DVD players will support either + or – formats. I’m talking way over my head now – so I’ll leave it at that. If anyone has specific questions – I’ll pull out my old research and refresh my memory.

I used Microsoft’s Movie Maker to create my DVDs…I think I may have dabbled with Roxi’s VideoWave too and I used MS Photo Show (or something like that) to add movement to still photos (it does some zooming in/out). I did this before I new about digital scrapbooking – so in some cases I scanned my paper scrapbook pages and inserted those as JPEG files.

I can’t remember what software I used to actually burn the DVD’s – but whatever it was it let me create menus. I’ve just purchased Ulead’s DiscCreator so I can get a little more fancy and customize the DVD Menus.

As far as video quality – I’ve never created a VCD – so I don’t know about that. I know the quality on the DVD’s I created was pretty awesome considering my movies started on analog VHS tapes and was converted to digital – AND were several years old.

[blessedbyGod]

I just recently purchased Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 and am quite pleased with it. I made a slideshow and the recipients LOVED it! I was actually surprised at how great it turned out... The pics I used were scanned and were quite old. I made them as DVD's and they played with no problem on our DVD player. The res was great! I set the show to 2 songs and the sound and everything worked together so well... I would def. recommend this software. Here's (http://www.roxio.com/en/products/ecdc/features_video.jhtml) a link to the website... hth...
~Marsha :D

[MystyB]

:)

It would be great to be able to get good information about putting our scrapbook pages on video slideshows. I have been practicing with a few of my software packages. I have tried Windows Movie Maker 2. You can insert your scrapbook pages, add effects and transitions, add music or narrations and it is really easy to use. I have been practicing with some other software but not enough yet to report here about it. I have downloaded some demo trials of Pro Show Gold and 3-D Album. They were ok but I think since they were just demos I had some problems with them (timing and sometimes the programs would freeze). They might be great in their more expensive versions. I have gone to the bookstore, searched the internet and other forums, and asked at the computer store about different programs. I have spent a lot of time on this so far and it has not been easy to get good information. I did learn that there are easier inexpenseive software programs and more technical expensive software programs. To get really technical you need a high PC system with lots of RAM and a good video card - but you don't need this for the lighter software. Not all DVD players will play the CDs we burn but most of the newer ones will. For the old ones I read that using a CD-RW instead of a CD-R might work. The pictures we insert for DVD need to be higher quality than the ones we use for the web. This is pretty long - so I better stop here.

[Daisy Blue]

Thanks for this thread and thanks for mentioning Windows Movie Maker.
I looked and turns out I have it. LOL
I've been playing with it for two days now and am having so much fun.

[MystyB]

Thanks for this thread and thanks for mentioning Windows Movie Maker.
I looked and turns out I have it. LOL
I've been playing with it for two days now and am having so much fun.


Hi, Just wondering if you are using the Movie Maker that came with Windows XP or if you have downloaded the new version free from Microsoft "Windows Movie Maker 2?" The new version is so much improved and is worth downloading. I am still researching different products for slideshows to get more professional results. I hope I can find something that we can rate high like Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro but I am also hoping I can find something not too expensive but professional. There are many companies that make different versions of multimedia, slideshow and video authoring like Pinnacle, Sony, Adobe, Ulead, Nero. There are so many but which one is the best? Is it worth it to pay a lot of money or are the inexpensive ones all I need? They range from $50 - $150 average home buyer products and then $150 - up to $1000. Any one else have ideas, experience and info?

[Amanda]

I've used quite a few and my favorite so far is PictureToTv. It was easy and it came with more options than some of the other cheaper programs.

[Daisy Blue]

MystyB I'm guessing it came with Windows. I didn't know I had it until I looked after reading this thread. This is my husband's computer and I only moved in with him last year after getting married. I'm still finding stuff on here I didn't know we had. I certainly haven't used everything. LOL

I'll have to check out the down loadable one.
I'm also going to look into the other ones when I have time to really compare everything and read reviews.

[grindavich]

I own 3D album Commercial and I love it, not only can I make wonderful CD or DVD presentation with sync sound, It also has page layouts, actually all the bells and whistles. If I design something and place it in this program, if I notice something I want to change, I can do it right in that program (Commercial) I did own the personal edition of this and loved it also, but being a photographer, I needed the commercial extras.




Saw this software for making dvd slideshows - thought it looked awsome - check out the slide shows you can download once you have the software. Look under styles tab for different shows.

http://www.3d-album.com/product.html

If anyone has seen this or tried would appreciate some feedback?

[sandi]

I've never made a slide show before and am trying to do one for my dil (sister's coming out party) The party is next Saturday so I don't have much time.

I do 12x12 layouts and save them in .jpg/72 - 500x500 pixels. I'm using Nero to make the VCD. Everything worked ok - (although they are a little blurry on the screen?) but the top and bottom of the layout is cut off.

I'm not looking for anything fancy - just so they are clear and the whole layout can be seen. They want to have the layouts going continuously during the party.

Any suggestions are appreciated - my dil will be here in two days to look at it!

sandi

[tshirt]

I have 430 pictures I took on my trip to Florida with my new 5 meg camera. I want to put them in a slideshow. Is there a limit on the number of photos in a slideshow? except for the size of the DVD. I seem to be having trouble burning one with Roxio 6 and my adobe premire keeps crashing.

thanks

[Emma]

I would imagine there's no photo limit but rather a total size limit. Does the show fit on the DVD?

[tshirt]

The 430 originals taken in highest quality come to 950 Meg so no problem there on a DVD. With Roxio 6 (i have win 98 can't use ver 7) I kept freezing the program trying to import them in the DVD builder section. I then moved over to the slideshow section and had to import 10 at a time after reaching 250 or it would freeze up and I had to start all over. I learned to make a save every so often! But the Slide show only plays on a computer. I even brought all 430 into Photoshop and did a batch reduction down to 800X600 cutting the filesize down to about 75K each. Still no luck making a DVD with Roxio. I did make a VideoCD but it won't play in my DVD player on the TV. I was thinking of getting a new program and did a seach on here. I was taking a look at the PhotoStory on CD & DVD program that someone had mentioned. Maybe I will buy that.

PS I have plenty of RAM - 512M , P4

[Pixel Pixie]

This thread has been around awhile but if anyone is still checking in on it...I've been using FlipAlbum and have been having good results. No problems. I'm sure that technology and software change so fast that those of you who posted a while ago may already be off and running with something that you found to work. Cheers.

[tshirt]

I see they have a standard, suite, and pro versions of FlipAlbum. The suite and pro descriptions mention that they can burn to CD and DVD but I could not find that statement in the standard description. I wouldn't want it if I couldn't burn a DVD with it.

[MaureenH]

I used to use flip album and really loved it. Just haven't been doing anything with it for a while. I just got a new TV with WEGA which is supposed to enhance showing photos directly from your computer...attach computer to TV. Haven't had time to read up on that yet either.

[Pixel Pixie]

I use FA5suite. It does video cd's in MPEG and slide shows in either cd format or video cd format which can both be played in my dvd machine and watched on our TV. It also converts to AVI format that can be converted to MPEG-2 by third party tools...ie Roxio. Then you can create super video cd's and dvd's (which ultimately hold more information). There is now a FA6 which may have upgraded some of these features...but I'm pretty sure you can download a free 30 day trial from their website. Check out their forums as well - I've learned a bunch from there.