Author Topic: slideshow to dvd making (Read 22,645 times)

tsaint · « **on:** December 30, 2005, 02:49 PM »

Hi,
on holidays in Singapore, taking plenty of family type photos and as a result I'm thinking about the best slideshow on dvd making software.
I can already do nero show time and Ive had a bit of a look at photodex's proshow gold and memoriesontv (havent burnt any dvds with either of those 2 though)
One reviewer suggested memsontv pics were a bit blurry - apart from that I liked the extra control it gave over panning and zooming.
On the other hand, photodex strikes me as producing quality products.
Any expert out there with ideas to set me straight?
thanks
tony

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2005, 01:37 PM »

Hi Tony, ULead DVD PictureShow is quite good.

However a good freebie is Microsoft's PhotoStory 3 is pretty good at producing slideshows with great pan+scan and music support. It produces WM compatible videos as standard, but there is a cheap commercial plugin (from Sonic Solutions, £12.99+VAT In the UK) for burning them to DVDs from within PS3, or you could use TMPGEnc to recode them to DVD format and then burn them using Nero. You can download PhotoStory 3 from the MS downloads website.

If I remember correctly there is a link in the software to Sonic Solutions DVD plugin.

I can email you a sample video from PS3 if you like (the smallest I have is 7Mb though - make sure your email provider will allow files this size) which shows some of the pan+scan/music and graphics effects within the package (things like charcoal/pastel picture conversions etc). PM me with your email address if you would like me to. Alternatively I could upload it to some webspace and you can download it.

tsaint · « **Reply #2 on:** January 02, 2006, 01:11 AM »

Hi Carol,
thanks for replying and thanks too for the sample offer.
I tried ps3 which seems pretty good until I got to the getting it to dvd stage. Then went the tempgenc + nero route and toasted 2 dvds.
The fairly lengthy log file mentioned "SourceBuilder: unable to use cache: 0x80004005 - Unspecified error" fairly early on, so that was a tad discouraging for trying to fix the problem.
Then decided maybe the sonic route might be good. Their website doesnt seem to offer a trial so I'm a bit hesitant to buy it sight unseen at $AU34.
That offer to upload a sample was v kind of you thanks. Because of the peculiarities of my internet access here I'm refraining from downloading as much as I can.
regards
tony

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #3 on:** January 02, 2006, 11:26 AM »

The Sonic plugin works fine for me.

If you are going the TMPGEnc + Nero Route you will need to author the DVD first, you can't just burn the MPEG files produced by TMPGEnc (though I'd guess you probably know that already).

tsaint · « **Reply #4 on:** January 02, 2006, 04:00 PM »

Hi Carol,
took a punt and purchased the sonic plugin. I can produce movies playable on the puter but after several efforts and a lot of wasted hours, all I get is a vague "error encountered" message at the sonic, dvd burning stage. Tested my dvd burner, and successfully burnt a data dvd using nero so the hardware seems ok. photo story 3 seems to be doing its job. I'm a wee bit frustrated. Wish I got a more informative error message to have something to go on

tony

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #5 on:** January 02, 2006, 05:25 PM »

Try this:

Start > Run > MSCONFIG > OK

Then select Startup > Disable All

and Services > Hide All Microsoft Services > Disable ALL

Then click OK and allow your system to restart.

Now try the burn from PS 3 again.

If it works you can start selectively re-enabling stuff in MSCONFIG and restarting again to work out what is causing the problem. If it doesn't work then there is something odd going on with your windows drivers.

It could be all sorts of things causing the problem so this is the easiest way to try and track it down.

superboyac · « **Reply #6 on:** January 03, 2006, 12:32 AM »

I can't say I've tried the other software mentioned here, but take a look at ProShow Gold. It is unbelievable software with probably all the options you can imagine.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #7 on:** January 03, 2006, 01:12 AM »

Looks very nice but $70 seems a bit steep!

tsaint · « **Reply #8 on:** January 03, 2006, 03:24 AM »

Carol, tried the msconfig route to no avail, BUT then decided to reduce the pic size to a max of 1280 ...
thats still a bigger resolution than needed but the downside is that the pics saved on the dvd arent the original size/res.
Still, it worked!!

Must have just overtaxed my computer (1.6Ghz, 1 meg ram, 20gig free hd space so didnt expect that)
I was happy with the quality.
On reflection, the only thing I wished was better is the timing control over the pan/zoom. Memoriesontv has control for initial pause,pan time, final pause.
Proshow gold allowed for zoom to a nominated position, but lacked control over pan size and time (from memory).
Guess none of them had everything I wanted but the photostory/sonic combo is a pretty reasonable compromise of cost/functionality.
Thanks for your advice
tony

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #9 on:** January 03, 2006, 09:18 AM »

Glad you got it working - yes I found PS3 didn't like extremely large files (I have a lot of photos taken with a Digital SLR and they can be up to 8Mb per picture - it certainly doesn't like these).

True that this results in degraded images on the disc, but TV/DVD resolution is so poor compared to the original picture that it really isn't going to be visible if the images are reduced in size/resoltion quite dramatically. If you want to store originals on the DVD why not create a top level folder on the DVD (called photos or something) and store the originals on the DVD too. Nero seems able to support this and it shouldn't affect the compatability of the resulting DVDs. I'm not sure though if this constitutes a mixed mode DVD or if you can just manually add a folder, I presume DVD players just look for VIDEO_TS and ignore other folders.

tsaint · « **Reply #10 on:** January 03, 2006, 10:13 AM »

I was hoping that I could "input" large files even tho the res was way too high for the sake of getting them stored automatically by sonic on the dvd.
Ive ended up with low res files stored there. So ....
if I uncheck the "save pics to dvd" box, how am I going to be able to get an extra directory of pics burned to the dvd? I assume I'd need to use a rw dvd (I've never been there before - don't know if I can use them in my dvd writer). I note you said Nero seems to be able to support this, so maybe I'll head to the IT mall tomorrow and buy a supply of cheap dvd rw disks. A warning voice in my head is suggesting I also buy some vallium to help the experiment along.

mouser · « **Reply #11 on:** January 03, 2006, 10:28 AM »

hehehe.

i believe the app that does this that i loved was:
http://www.arcsoft.com/products/dvdslideshow/

very easy to use and did an amazing job of automatically adding pan and zoom effects with no need for help from me.

im sure there are more customizable tools but this one was as pain free as you can imagine with very nice results.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #12 on:** January 03, 2006, 10:44 AM »

Unfortunaely DVD-RW discs aren't generally mutisession (like CD-RWs, CD-R). They are usally only RW in the sense you can reformat them and use again. Some DVD-RW uses can be multisession (like DVD-VR format discs produced by DVD recorders) but I don't think Nero can write them as multisesseion for DVD-Video discs.

Sorry I was being a bit stupid wasn't I !!

To produce them on Nero you you have to recode the output using TMPGEnc and build the entire DVD in Nero, thus not using the Sonic plugin.

I haven't got PS3 or the Sonic plugin installed at the moment so I don't know if this is possible. If you can create a DVD folder (VIDEO_TS) on your harddisc in PS3 or via the Sonic plugin, or an ISO image, you could then rebuild the DVD content on your hard disc and then add the photos in Nero before buring to a disc.

tsaint · « **Reply #13 on:** January 03, 2006, 12:13 PM »

Before my Sonic attempt, I tried tmpgenc on the photo story output and had a lovely set of files - vob and inf type thinggies which I tried to get nero to burn to a video dvd. Nero kept rejecting all except the vob and in the end, the bloody dvd seemed defective. So thats why I gave up on tempgenc
It's all quite mysterious to me

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #14 on:** January 03, 2006, 01:53 PM »

I know this may be seen as patronising but you were using the Nero DVD-Video template and putting all the files generated into the Video_TS folder ??

It seems daft to check this but I have chosen the wrong template occasionally by mistake and then things don't work.

tsaint · « **Reply #15 on:** January 03, 2006, 02:34 PM »

What I tried to do was simply copy the files generated by tempgenc straight to a dvd. Nero chided me for that choice and suggested I ought be choosing the "make your own dvd - video" option.
Trying to be agreeable, I acquiesced, and added them in that option. Nero then refused to accept some of the files, as I mentioned earlier, but accepted the vob(s). It did its thing and make junk. I didn't push the issue and changed to sonic. Sounds like you're suggesting I made a bad choice somewhere in there huh?

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #16 on:** January 03, 2006, 03:23 PM »

Have you tried "Make your own DVD" and just using the normal video file produced by PS3, without bothering to use TMPGEnc. Nero should automatically recode anything as required.

Just tried this and it works fine ... here is a sequence you can try ...

(1) Build you PS3 project and out put the slideshow as a .WMV file.
(2) In Nero go to "Make your own DVD-Video" and add the WMV file
(3) Do what is necessary to generate the DVD menus etc on the following screens.
(4) On the Burn screen select "Burn to Image Recorder" and choose ISO output when it asks for the file name to save.
(5) Use WinRAR to extract the folders from the ISO image on your hard disc or use Nero ImageDrive to mount the image and copy the folders.
(6) Add a folder with your original photos.
(7) Go into Nero Burning Rom and select the DVD Video Template. Copy the folders you have created (AUDIO_TS, VIDEO_TS and you original photos folder) to the root directory of the DVD-Video template
(

Burn the DVD to disc

You should now have a working DVD video with the slideshows on a menu screen, and also have folders on the DVD so that the original files can be accessed on a computer (like DVD extras on commercial discs).

Let me know how it goes.

tsaint · « **Reply #17 on:** January 04, 2006, 02:39 PM »

Thanks for your patience Carol!
I got to step 6 no probs, but don't seem to be able to choose a correct nero option to burn the files.
Tried
a. make your own dvd video" but that wont accept the jpg's
b. "make data dvd" - copied VIDEO_TS plus a directory of jpg's, ignored warning about how I should use the video dvd option, but on burning, that gives an error.
c. "copy multiple dvd video movies to one". That seemed the most promising ... all importing steps seemed to suggest things were proceeding normally, but I got a burn error again

Maybe the disks are sus?

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #18 on:** January 04, 2006, 04:50 PM »

You need to load "Nero Burning Rom" from the start menu - forget using Nero Quick Start (the sort of task orientated interface).

You should get something like this:

Select DVD Video on the left and use the Label Tab to give the disc a short name:

This brings up a template in which you can drag the VIDEO_TS to the root of this and it will add all your video files:

Now drag you folder of JPEGs to the root folder and it should create a folder with all the JPEGs in it:

Now burn the project and you should have a DVD-VIDEO with a folder of photos on it too. Here is the file structure of the disc I burned by this method:

The DVD works fine (using Intervideo WinDVD7 on the computer, I haven't actually burned a physical disc, just an image which I mounted in Nero DriveImage), and the photos are all there (even in the folder hieracrchy) and can be viewed by 'Exploring' the DVD on the computer.

tsaint · « **Reply #19 on:** January 05, 2006, 09:26 AM »

wow, thanks Carol. I didnt get a chance to try again today, apart from finally locating an exe which, when ran, was titled nero burning rom.
I dont have such a shortcut in my start menu, so it was only by trying all the exe's in the nero subdirectories that I found it.
I'm off to cambodia for a few days so won't have time to try it now till I return. Think I'll try it on a million photos of the Ankor temples - and I should post you a copy for all your effort helping me.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #20 on:** January 05, 2006, 09:33 AM »

I would be very interested to see it (if you can face posting me a copy). Let me know when you get back and if it all works I'll send you my address by PM.

Cheers - have a great trip Tony.

rjbull · « **Reply #21 on:** January 05, 2006, 10:57 AM »

The Royal Photographic Society's Colour Group has just distributed its annual exhibition CD-ROM (I have not looked at this) made with Pictures-to-Exe;

Quote

PicturesToExe has simple and intuitive interface, so creating of a presentation is very easy. All you have to do is choose some pictures (in JPG, GIF or BMP format). PicturesToExe will produce single EXE file, which contains all images inside. No additional programs (including PicturesToExe itself) are needed to run resulting presentation - only that stand-alone EXE file. And it will work under Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000 and XP. If your demands are a bit higher, PicturesToExe allows you to make much more attractive presentations, than simply changing slides. You can customize each slide by specifying background color or picture, adding comments, sounds, objects. Moreover, it's possible to use different cinematographic transition effects between slides, add background music (in MP3, WAV or MIDI format). And ability to exactly synchronize show of slides to music, placing points on the time-line. If it is necessary, you are able to protect your presentation by password and assign expiration date. Presentations can be automatic (by timer) or controlled manually, run once or continuously. If you prefer, you can create SCR files (instead of EXE), and use your presentations as a standard Windows screen savers. Ability to prepare DVD-Video disc. The program has multi-language interface (19 languages are supported now).

More here http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/index.html

Various registration options from $24 for private, non-commercial use up to $59 for corporate use.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #22 on:** January 05, 2006, 11:16 AM »

Just tried it - it is quite nice but does rather less than PhotoStory 3 does (which is free).

It also suggests buying ULead DVD Movie Factory to produce DVDs.

I would suggest if you are going to buy something from Ulead then CD & DVD PictureShow does everything in Picture-to-exe and more and also produces DVDs directly.

rjbull · « **Reply #23 on:** January 05, 2006, 11:25 AM »

I tend to avoid anything made by Microsoft, even if it's "free," simply because it's Microsoft. The point about buying Ulead is well made.

Is IrfanView on its own not up to the job? I don't think it can burn DVDs directly but assume most people will have freestanding software for that anyway.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #24 on:** January 05, 2006, 11:37 AM »

Point taken about MS, but PS3 is actually quite a nice little package and worth investigating if you want to do this sort of thing.

As far as I know Irfan View will display a slideshow on screen from a folder of photos. I'm not sure it can generate 'movies' though. I have never seen such an option. I am no longer using IrfanView so I can't check.