[ScottBT]

Hi

I am thinking about buying ProShow Gold but was wondering if you can create a themed border with the slideshow taking place within it, just like the PhotoShow DVD in Flickr. Reason I'm asking is that I feel showing just photos is a bit bland.

Thanks.

[wabbitt]

I have ProShow Gold, and I'm pretty sure you can do exactly what you are after.

You can add a backdrop if you need which will add a little extra interest, but I've found it sometimes detracts from the actual photo's if it isn't done well. You can make the frame in photoshop, taking care to remember where the video cutoff points are.

Then you have the option of zooming, panning and spinning your photo's making sure that they end up within (or are restricted to) your frame.

One thing Proshow lacks is the ability to put more than one photo on a part of the show. It would be nice to have a few at once. So for example, you can 'throw' a couple of photo's on top of each other. Alternatively it would be nice have to have a picture-in-picture effect. Regardless, Proshow doesn't let you do that!!!!

On a side note;
I'm having other problems with ProShow (latest version too).

I tried to split a wedding into 8 chapters (e.g. Pre Wedding, Ceremony, Confetti shots, etc.) and although it looked like it worked, only the first four chapters would actually play in the DVD player.

ProShow is also 'regularly' crashing on me, wasting a lot of valuable time. This happens either during the addition of photo's or during writing of a CD/DVD.

In summary, I'm considering buying something else.

[ScottBT]

Thanks for that.

What other packages are you considering?

[rickyt]

If you like messing around with photo slideshows like me .........try Letts Photo Express by Canopus .Has some very nice and unusual transitional effects .I got a working demo from PC mag and was well impressed with it .I think it's only about £50 . Sadly the demo only allows the use of 1 mp3 for background music but ,its still worth a try.
ps. just done a search and found this:

h**p://www.canopusoft.com/lets_photo_dvd_features_2.htm

To help you get acquainted with the power behind Lets PHOTO DVD you can download a FREE, wizard-based version - Let’s PHOTO Express – which includes much of the functionality of the full product, but without the ability to fine-tune or burn to DVD (it can only output Windows Media files, for example).

it's only £33 plus vat

It seems the Express version is the cut down version , but is available as a free dowload to try. I thought is was great.Try it out for yourselves ,it's not going to cost you anything and you may like it.I put mine onto DVD by importing the file into Sonic DVD It , no problem.

[wabbitt]

Originally Posted by ScottBT

Thanks for that.

What other packages are you considering?

Not sure yet. Need to have a look at the market. But I need to be quick, because I have to do a slideshow of 90 photo's for a wedding!!!!

I use both Photoshow Gold and Photo2DVD Studio.
Both are great programs each with a little diffrent effects both produce DVD shows.

[ScottBT]

Could anyone tell me if photoshow gold closes/finalises vcds after burning? Reason I'm asking is that my Panasonic EH50 keeps telling me that the VCD is incompatible althought the VCD works fine on my older Phillips player.

[senu]

I have only made a few VCDs with PSG and they have played fine. Try to make a VCD elsewhere and see if the Panasonic likes it

My tuppence worth:
I have PSG 2.5 and 2.6 on different Winxp installs and have found ver 2.5 a lot more stable but not 100% so.
It does crash occasionally so its a good idea to save as you go along otherwise you might lose a whole project you just spent the last hr on.
Occasionally ( rarely) it hangs at the crucial Make DVD stage.

However, it can make images (ISO) which are less likely to make it crash and can be burnt using any Burning program later ( including Nero)

All programs can do this though (crash) so I always try to make a DVD folder or Image I can resort to if the actual disc burning operation fails:
That way I dont need to go thru all the rendering and multiplexing again

Ulead MovieFactory 5+™ is affordable and fantastic for making good quality DVDs: ( it is seldom ever unstable and I highly reccomend it)

I mention it because PSG is great at making slide shows ( esp with motion effects and transistions with little effort and skill but its DVD authoring can be weak.( like most built-in DVD tools). Movie Factory itself can make slideshows but I seldom use it for that purpose

I have ( for a while now) found it convenient to make an mpeg2 in PSG and author the final DVD in MovieFactory. This way the problem of multiple chapters not playing ( as mentioned above) is bypassed. I started doing it this way when a DVD made in PSG would not play and I had to repeat the whole project !!

In fact if I do a Video and Photoshoot of the same or a complimentary occasion, I use some stills for the video edit or grabbed frames ( from video) as stills .I then edit the video and output to mpeg2,
The photos then get turned into a slideshow in PSG and then output to a "DVD ready" mpeg2.

From these 2 sources I then create a DVD video in Moviefactory from the mpegs files.
It works a treat and you could put several slide shows from PSG made at different times on a DVD video . Only your imagination or creativity is the limiting factor.
Give it a go

I quite like PSG and have used it for a few years now. I have tried Ulead CD/DVD Pictureshow™ and a few other program ( one by Magix) and found PSG competes well.

PSG is not perfect but it does what it says on the Box ( very well) and most problems have a workabout. I have a small video tutorial ( from a mag pm me if you would like to have a look at it.)

[wabbitt]

Thanks for the information senu.

I've been very frustrated with PSG lately (with crashed, etc.).

I think I'll try the ISO option and see if it's better.