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creating a high quality slideshow/DVD slideshow

QueBert

QueBert

Lifer
I want to make a slideshow DVD of family pictures for everyone in my family. I have tried demos of about 14 so far and they all feel amateurish. I want a program that has quality over quanity, I don't need 500 generic ass cheap looking transitions. I'd like to create something elegant, Ken Burns effects would be nice. Outside of spending a bundle on Vegas Pro or Premiere Pro I'm out of ideas. Here are a few of the ones I've tried so far

Ulead Pictureshow 4 - easy to use, good for most regular people I'd imagine, but I didn't like it.
ProShow - the transitions were horrible
MySlideShow - ugh I did not like it

I'll be honest the rest I tried I didn't even want to remember the named. My budget I guess would be $150'ish. I don't even think a "slideshow" software exists that cost that much, but I would be willing to pay that to be able to create a really nice looking one. I tried the S.S. feature in Adobe Encore 1.5, it's pretty nice but it makes every picture it's own chapter in the DVD, which gives a very noticeable pause between chapters and throws off the whole seamless effect I'm after.



 
I have had very good success using ArcSoft DVD SlideShow. Am now working with Corel Media 1 (new) and it is excellent. Great transitions, musical background, Ken Burns effects, etc.

There are different approaches to follow for a generic DVD that can play on any home entertainment system, or one that plays on a computer only.

Picasa is OK in some respects but it is a total abortion when it comes to saving files in different places and drives. I call it "cloistered." 🙂
 
corkyg & mc866 thanks I will look into both, Corel 1 sounds like exactly what I want going to try the demo now.
 
download the demo for Photo DVD Maker Pro & Corel One, Corel had an interface like I'd see on a kiddie program, I couldn't really get past how clunky and n00bish it looked. Photo DVD Maker Pro seems pretty slick. but I created a test slideshow with 5 pics, all alpha fade + pan & scan and it said it was going to take over an hour to render! I let it run a few minutes to see if it would pick up speed, nope. Gonna have a about 250 pics in the final project. If if takes an hour + for 5 pics this is gonna be a long process 🙂
 
The rendering process is pretty common. I routinely make DVD slideshows with AcrSoft using as many as 800 photos and MP3 music files. The process for the master disk takes about an hour to an hour and a half. That is normal. But, after that, copies can be made as quick as your burner can handle it.
 
you said 800 pics though, I was trying to render a mpeg that had 5 pictures in it, 10 seconds each total that would be under a minute, can't see it taking the same amount of time for 5 pics as your 800 pics. I will add a ton of pics and see what it says for estimate.

*checked*

tried 36 pics and it was saying 6 hours, I let it run until 2% and it's sloooow. 800 pics would take 6 days at this rate 🙂 maybe I should try AcrSoft, something isn't right here.
 
I am right now in the middle of creating a DVD using ArcSoft Slideshow. There are about 800 pictures divided into 4 menu selecteable shows, each with about 4 MP3 files as background, all using "Ken Burns" motion and random transitions.

It took me two days of on and off work to edit the shows and finalize them.

Now in the production phase, and there are 6 steps.

1. Check the disk. (Done quickly)
2. Transcoding. This must be done for each menu selectable show. Ergo, this will be done 4 times.
3. Authoring. This has to be done for each sub-show. Likewise, 4 times.
4. Building the image map.
5. Burn the file.
6. Close the disk.

It is now transcoding the second sub show. The first took 25 minutes. I'll summarize when it is all don - I estimate about 2-3 hours total.
 
My estimate was pretyty close. Number of pictures was about 635, and 12 MP3 files were used. The slides were divided into 4 sub-shows, each menued in ArcSoft DVD Slideshow.

Transcoding is done for each sub show separately. Same for authoring. Also, I used the option to place a complete JPG archive of all pictures used in afolder that can be used as a image file source. Total burn size was 3.91 GB - just made it onto a standard single layer DVD+R disk.

Total time for FIVE copies was about 3 hours. Am now burning the Lightscribe labels - about 30 minutes each. These will be ready to mail tomorrow.
 
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