Wanted Photo Slideshow on DVD (1000s of photos)

[thefritz_j]

I have 1000s of photo's I'd like to make "browse-able" on a standard DVD player.  My photo's (mostly JPGs) are organized in folders by year and then by upload date.

I've tried using Roxio DVD maker but for some reason after adding two or three folders worth it runs out of space (4GB max?).  I suspect that it is making Full Motion video out of my still photo's (60 fps? 2 seconds each photo + transition ?)

I'd like to be able to pick a year/folder and then select play and see all of the photo's from that folder and child folders.

Heard of anything like this?

[lanux128]

i think that's what these type of programs do, they convert JPGs into still MPGs then make movie out of it..

i'm using Nero Vision Express and in NVE's help file, there is a mention of a technical restrictions. perhaps this restriction applies to other photo vcd/dvd slideshow makers & cause you to run out of space?

F.Y.I. You only can add a maximum of 99 pictures to a slide show due to technical restrictions! 
Create an additional slide show if you intend to add more than 99 pictures!

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[rjbull]

People who do computerised slide shows tell me the best thing is ProShow Gold, $69.  There's also a non-gold edition at $29 that I haven't heard of before.

[Carol Haynes]

You can make them 'browsable' on most DVD players by simply adding folders of JPEG images to a blank CD or DVD. Most DVD players these days will let you look at DVDs full of folders of photos.

As above though I think there is a maximum of 99 folders and 99 pics per folder because of the way DVD players work.

If you want browsable collections which you can use via a web browser (and still be viewable on a DVD player as JPEG folders) then I use ArchiveCreator which is produced explicitly for archiving digital photographs. It stores your photos in folders with folders of thumbnails and a simple web interface. The best bit is that it will span multiple volumes but all the photos are accessible from any disc in the collection which makes finding photos really easy. See http://www.pictureflow.com/products/archive_creator/index.html for details.

PS: ArchiveCreator also supports Camera RAW formats as well as JPEG, TIFF etc. If you want to see full details (help files) including shots of how it works and the kind of output have a look at http://www.pictureflow.com/products/archive_creator/HelpFiles/index.html

[superboyac]

People who do computerised slide shows tell me the best thing is ProShow Gold, $69.  There's also a non-gold edition at $29 that I haven't heard of before.

I second that.  Proshow Gold blew my mind the first time I used it, and the current version is stunning.  If you want even more flexibility and pro options, they also have a package called Proshow Producer...but it's roughly $400.  I don't know what additional features it has, but it's hard to imagine it justifies that price.  It must specifically tailored for professionals.
http://www.photodex.com/

[thefritz_j]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'm gonna try the "trail" of ProShow Gold.  Maybe this will be Xmas!

Also, lanux128, when it says "Create a new silde show" for shows with more than 99 photos, do you think it means that only one DVD can have 99 photos or folders?

[Carol Haynes]

I think DVDs have a limit of 99 folders with 99 entries per folder

[thefritz_j]

Do you think the limit is 99 folders in the root or 99 folders limit including nested folders?  Let's say it branched out, like in my case, in years like this:

2001
  \____Jan
  \____Feb
  \____etc.
2002
  \____Jan
  \____Feb
  \____etc.

So this would be 8 folders, but only 2 in the root and 12 in each year folder.  (okay I know maybe I'm a bit over-organized!  , obsesive compulsive organizer perhaps?). 

I guess I'm wondering if it's 99 total folders or could I have 99 folders each with sub 99 folders? 9801 folders?

Thanks for bearing with my weird questions.

[Carol Haynes]

Sorry I can't find any reference when  I tried to check this so I think I may be a bit confused.

Are you producing DVD-Video 'slide' shows - ie. the output is a video track or chapter? I seem to recall that DVD-Video can only support 99 tracks each with 99 chapters - but that may be a restriction imposed by some DVD player manufacturers.

Whatever I can't see anything wrong with a track structure of years and a chapter structure of months.

Note there is an ISO restriction of maximum video file size of 2Gb (which is why DVDs have VOB files broken into chunks).

[mse-ron]

Roxio MyDVD 8 does not have that limitation.

Include up to 999 photos in each slideshow DVD menu

Now that said, it's not quite the same as a browseable disk, but will auto play them.
 
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/mydvd/premier/features.html