You may want to checkout this new software for creating slide shows
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http://www.untitled-app.com/>
It’s still in Public Preview it maybe what you are after
ProShow can only produce one slide show per vcd where ProShow Gold can produce a "menued" vcd with multiple slide shows. I would recommend that you start their free trial with the Gold version since if you start with ProShow and decide to switch to Gold the 10 day trial clock cannot be reset. I found it to be a good piece of software that produced pretty good VCD’s though there was just enough keystone effect (possibly tv/dvd dependent) to keep me from buying it.
The PC slide shows produced are awesome.
Bob
Robert you are correct about the possibly tv/dvd dependent issue but this is a DVD player problem not the software. I do get the feeling that the regular version is mainly for people that just want to do the occasional slide show. It is much more sophisticated than sitting at home with a slide projector 🙂 I do have the Gold Version and it has many features that are a giant step forward. The Ken Burns slide motions along with the caption effects make for a very professional package. Although these are good I like the fact that I can do a voice over. If I have do a remote slide show I simply ship off the CD and can stay home. The nice thing is I can also put a disable in the program so it will quit on a given day or after a certain number of plays.
When I downloaded the demo the trial period was 15 days but you should know if you want it within the first day or two.
Grant
Grant,
You’re right. It was 15 days. Senior moment. I just wanted to warn him about going the less expensive route first. What set me back was that the help facility in ProShow included the instructions from Gold for creating multiple shows per VCD and I wasted a good part of that 15 days trying to accomplish something that couldn’t be done. When I finally found out that I needed Gold, and when the clock didn’t reset for Gold, I only had about 5 days left. I agree that it is an excellent piece of software but not for my particular home theater equipment. The PC shows worked perfectly.
Bob
Grant,
Do you produce VCDs or DVDs? The reason I am asking is, I downloaded the evaluation version of MemoriesOnTV. I burned a VCD and I am definitely not impressed with the picture quality on the TV. Now I am debating to buy a DVD burner, which I probably should have anyway.
Juergen
Juergen
I don’t use this program for vcd or dvd I use Proshow Gold. The only thing I used "Memories" for was to create web slide show and while it only really does one thing it is very fast and he price was right.
Grant
Grant,
How does the picture quality on VCD vs. DVD compare, using Proshow Gold?
Juergen
Juergen
Unfortunately I am just a poor boy so do not have a DVD burner so can’t make a comparison. The VCD is only limited by the quality of my playback equipment. The 15 day demo should show you if it fits your needs. The Pro version is the one I have and I think it is outstanding.
Grant
Thanks Grant, I’ll try it.
Juergen
Juergen,
Full TV/DVD quality is 640×480 in square pixels.
VCD is a quarter of that (320×240).
SVCD (SuperVCD) is 480×480.
Even full TV quality (640×480) is terrible compared to your average computer nowadays (1024×768 or higher). So these Ken Burns-type programs that let you zoom in on a picture are really handy.
Lou.
Lou,
Thanks for that info. I still want to try out Proshow, just to see. But it looks like I may have to go out and get a DVD burner. The TV-slideshow that I produced with MemoriesOnTV, other than the TV quality, turned out really nice, with great transitions, some Ken Burns type effects and perfectly timed music.
Juergen
Lou M or others
We live in the USA and have an HD ready TV and a DVD player with progressive scan (which I think is needed for the HD capability from the player). Does that change the pixel dimensions that I can use for creating a slideshow on DVD ? If yes, do you know if Proshow or Proshow Gold supports whatever pixel dimensions would be optimum for us?
Thanks for your help.
Barbara
When you create a DVD, the final video must be in the standard DVD format. The dimensions are 720×480, and that is the standard and it is not changeable. If you are creating a VCD or SVCD, the dimensions are 480×480, and that is not changeable either. Those are the formats that are used.
If you just burn your images to a CD so that they can be displayed by one of the newer DVD players, then you can just save your images at whatever dimensions they are, and the DVD player will display them. At least that is how my Toshiba behaves.
Barbara,
As Jim and I noted, current DVDs support only 640×480 (measured in computer-style square pixels) / 720×480 (measured in NTSC TV’s rectangular pixels). HD TV’s can’t extract any more information out of a DVD.
The good news is that soon everyone will have to buy new HD-DVD players. 🙂 Seriously, the industry is in the process of coming up with a higher resolution HD-DVD standard. Of course, nothing is that simple: just as we had the DVD+R and DVD-R wars, we will have HD-DVD vs. BlueRay wars.
One way or another, there will be higher resolution shiny round discs in the not too distant future!
Lou
Will this require an HD-Visa card as well? 😉
Ray
Ray,
Probably more like Mega$-Visa card. 🙂
Bob
Yeah, and an HD brain to go along with it. I’m afraid when that happens I’m just going to have to forget about it. 🙂
Thanks folks for the information.
Barbara
Thanks Jodi, looks like they have quite some choice. I’ll check it out more closely tomorrow.
Juergen
Juergen, here’s a place that was recommended to me. The SONY at the bottom of the page is out of stock though 🙁 $100 off…I snoozed so i losed.
<http://www.meritline.com/dvddrives.html>
Jodi,
It’s almost a good thing for you… I’ve had consistent problems with various Sony drives (CD-RW, DVD-ROM) over the years. Until I switched and got a another drive.
I don’t say don’t buy a Sony… But be careful and look for reviews before getting one.
And a few months ago, Sony had to recall their DVD-R discs (blank media), sold in North America for quality issues.
It’s like Sony + DVD = problems…
Ray
Ray, that’s interesting. The SONY was actually recommended on Tech TV’s Screen Savers as an all around good buy….and that was before the discount ! Either way, like Juergen, I will shop around and no doubt read reviews for considerations. I will need a DVD burner soon for projects at hand. I had read that VCD format was no better than VHS ….VH what you say ? Ya, exactly. Although I have also considered a new PC with DVD burner capabilities…..much more affordable and common these days. I am still looking for a tower for my daughter so I’m thinking since I’m only the maid around here I deserve the new toy 🙂
Well.. Perhaps Sony’s quality has improved lately. If they’re recommended by TechTV, then who am I to argue! 😉
If you change your current computer, give this one to your daughter. That’ll be her tower. And for the kind of work you do, I believe you seriously deserve a new computer. It’s not like if it’s gonna get used as a game console. I’m sure you’ll make good use of it!
Ray
