DVD readability?

[dakotah_jackson]

Have put a batch of photos on DVD for looking at with a computer and DVD player

on TV. Some who got them can't open them on the TV. Some can't open them on

their computers. Re-did it with another DVD program supposed to make them

readable on DVD television players and now some who could read the first can't

read this and others can read it who couldn't do the first one.

 

Tried yet another program for this and got similar results.

 

How can I get the photos on a DVD so they are read on the various DVD players

without problems like this? Don't want to download yet another program and go

through this again unless it is pretty good and can write to the DVD's so they

can be read by more machines.

[Ed_Ingold]

There are no universal solutions to your problem. There are a lot of DVD players of various vintages, compatibility with DVDRs, and states of repair - nothing is going to work in all cases.

 

That said, many set top players will display JPEG files on a data disk as a slide show. It's best to put these files in the root directory of the disc, but some (including my ancient JVC) can read and open directories. It's best to size the image files for a TV screen (to fit a 720x480 box). Larger files will often display, but take much longer to update between files.

 

Video discs are more flexible and reliable. The still images are compiled into a "movie" and saved on a DVD in movie format just like a commercial DVD (but on a recordable DVD). Depending on the software, you can add titles, menues, transitions and a sound track.

 

Movie creation software comes free with a MAC, and is widely available for PCs (though you will probably have to pay for something that actually works). I use Adobe Premiere and Adobe Encore - not exactly cheap, but effective. (Slide shows are a sideline for me. The main use is for movie production.)

 

You have to cross all the Ts and dot the Is to achieve reliability. Software is only part of the equation. You need good discs (e.g., Taiyo Yuden), good burners (e.g., Plextor), fast processor and I/O, and a QC program to monitor error rates. Some players prefer DVD-R discs, but nearly all will play well-recorded formatted DVD+R. The +R discs have a much lower error rate and can be recorded faster than -R discs.

 

I generally use the creation software to make an ISO image file, and make hard copies by burning that file to the DVDs. The data has to stream without interruption, and this work flow avoids issues with software processing.

 

Video production is still emerging from its origins in high-end, proprietary systems and the hacker world. It's better now than 5 years ago, but you really get what you pay for. Many programs do only one thing well and have an opaque user interface.

[discordianist1]

Well one solution which might work with pretty much all players with dvd-r support is using dvd authoring program and making photos into either video or menu structure. Loads of work, but doable.

[dave_nelson___atlanta__ga]

I second using sofware to making a video DVD with your slideshow instead of delivering a disk full of JPGs. Some players will not display files over a certain size, some players are just clunky and do a poor job of playing through them, and to top it all off people will copy the JPGs off the DVD for many other uses.

 

With a video slideshow you can add music, transitions, and crop specifically for display on a TV.