DVD slideshow software

<p>I am trying to find a way to make a DVD for a client that showcases the images of an event. It should be able to be viewed as a slideshow on a TV (from a DVD player) and a computer. I have tried making a slideshow in iPhoto then exporting to iDVD and also making it directly in iDVD but the final burned DVD - 1) the quality is really poor and 2) I can't get it to play on the imac I created it with. BTW, the iphoto slideshow seems excellent quality before I burn it.<br>

Does anyone know of a purpose-made software that can create these kind of slide-show DVDs for clients, or can the Apple software iDVD give decent results (ie am I too stupid to do it correctly?).<br>

Many thanks<br>

David</p>

<p>Some Mac users prefer FotoMagico or Photo to Movie for creating slideshows. While it can be done in iMovie/iPhoto/iDVD the rendering engine is optimized for DV type material. Keep in mind that when going to a video DVD that your resolution is severely limited by the DVD specification itself (720x576 PAL I believe). I also strongly recommend adding a motion keyframe (Ken Burns effect) to an image. The DVD video specification was all designed around <i>moving</i> pictures, not stills. As far as looking good prior to the burn, you are looking at the un-rendered, full quality piece. Google MPEG 2 compression to learn more about the compression process. Finally, the pinnacle software to use for slideshows would be Adobe's After Effects. But that might be out of the Budget (and has a bit of a learning curve).</p>

<p>One more note: as far as playing back a DVD, the most common culprit is low quality blank media and/or a burn speed that was too fast. Middle of the road burning speed is good for burning a video DVD.</p>

<p>Hi, David. I think iMovie is the best slideshow software for Mac. Try to specify a higher resolution. Do you have only a Mac? In my windows, I use <a href="http://www.ourpix.com/dvd-slide-show.html?page=125">Wondershare Movie Story</a> for slideshow making and burning onto DVD. It does a good job and results in good quality if I set the resolution to 720 or 1080. Maybe you could switch to windows and find a decent DVD slideshow software. Good luck.</p>

<p>I highly recommend ProShow Producer or ProShow Gold for creating Slide Show presentations if you have a PC. Producer is the professional version, Gold is standard version. Check out the site, which has some amazing presentations from pros using the software.<br>

<a href="http://www.photodex.com/">http://www.photodex.com/</a><br>

Check out the featured photographers.<br>

<a href="http://www.photodex.com/sharing/spotlight/featured">http://www.photodex.com/sharing/spotlight/featured</a></p>

<p>Hi David<br>

I use Studio 11 put out by Pinnacle for all my projects on my PC, then DVD player to play on TV.</p>

<p>Hi All</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses. I tried the fotomagic but didn't like the results as you have to export as a quicktime movue which is quite low-res, but eventually seem to have found that making an iMovie then burning it to DVD using iDVD works pretty good on TV and computer. Just have to see if the DVD will also work on a PC (as well as a Mac).<br>

Thanks again<br>

David</p>

<p>Exporting to a QT movie doesn't have to be a lower quality (many tv shows and Hollywood films have been done in QT). In fact, it won't be any lower quality unless the default is something of a lower quality export or you choose a lower quality export. In this regard it is much the same as iMovie which defaults to (if memory serves) a H.264 type of QT file for export which is great for playback and crap for rendering to a DVD which compresses it yet <i>again</i> to a MPEG 2 file. If the final product is going to a DVD, a resolution of 1280 is a waste: the DVD specification won't support it. Standard Definition NTSC is 720x480 (PAL slightly different). HD can be 1280x720 or 1920x1080. But unless you are going to a Blu-ray disc and subsequent player, you won't get that resolution. I think Toast (and I know DVDSP) will burn H.264 onto a SD DVD, up to about 20-minutes I think. But you still need a player that can decode H.264, and most don't. The whole point of the matter is knowing what your source material is vs you final product. Only when going to the final product should you be compressing the source material. If you allow iMovie or any other software to export at something different than full quality, then the final DVD will be compromised due to multiple renderings.</p>

<p>All of that said, some Mac users will use ProShow via Bootcamp/Windows. For me, if you are going to go to that kind of trouble, I would just bight the bullet and get Adobe's After Effects. Stay in the animation codec until going to DVD. Keep in mind the animation codec will create a HUGE file (my last 10-minute slideshow was like 13GB!). But you can't beat the quality!</p>