Slide Show

I know there are a ton of slide show programs out there. Just trying to get an
idea what one you guys would recomend. Something That I could title, add
captions to pics, transition between pics, add sound and music and burn to a
DVD. I am looking for a program that I can put in an unlimited nimber of pics

MSug2 wrote:

I know there are a ton of slide show programs out there. Just trying to get an
idea what one you guys would recomend. Something That I could title, add
captions to pics, transition between pics, add sound and music and burn to a
DVD. I am looking for a program that I can put in an unlimited nimber of pics

Yep, there are a ton.

I looked into this in July, and selected ProShowGold from
http://www.photodex.com. None are perfect, but I think this is
currently the best package, and I tried out demo versions of more than
a dozen.

It has nice transitions, and the ability to do pan, zoom, and rotate,
across your images. For example, I have a show where I have an 8MP
image of Bryce Canyon, Utah. I start with the entire image, then zoom
in to the left side, then pan across the image. This makes for an
impressive show, and grabs the viewers' interest.

You can adjust the dislay time and transition time of every slide (or
all slides at once). Titles can be anywhere, and you can disolve in
the titles. Sound of course, and good control over syncing your show
to the sound. During playback, if you pause the show, the sound stops
too, and when you continue, the sound picks up where it left off. It
is easy to use. It can create executable slide shows, DVD movies,
screensavers, and autorun CDs.

I have found a few small disadvantages. For example, when you create
an executable and run it on your computer, the run-time control is
limited. There are keystrokes to move foward and backward, but no way
to for example jump to slide # 123.

The license agreement is bad (in my opinion). You agree to let the
program transmit information back to Photodex, and you agree to let
the program store information necessary to protect against piracy.

Cost is around $70, relatively expensive compared to some other
packages, but I found nothing else with its features.

Support is poor -- I had some problems and questions and my first
three emails went unanswered. My forth generated answers from 3
different people, but they didn't agree on the answers!

Somewhat less capable but freeware is MyAlbum at
http://www.myalbumpro.com. It is first an image management program,
but it also builds slide shows. The latest version supports
transitions, and changeable individual slide timing. You can add
music/sound. You can add a caption, but the placement options are
limited to a few locations, as I recall.

I don't think it creates DVD movies, if that is what you want to do.
(If you want to run this on a DVD player, then you need a movie. If
you just want to run a program from a data DVD, then any of the
executable slide-show programs should work.)

I did have reason to email the author, and he responded quickly and
was helpful. If the current feature set meets your needs, then this
would do admirably. If not, I don't think you are likely to see major
feature additions in the near future.

A freeware option for producing movies from slides is SlideShowMaker,
from http://www.joern-thiemann.de/index.html?/tools/.

This makes movies from images. It supports transitions, pan and move,
and sound. Limited to 2 GB maximum file size, less than half a DVD. To
make a DVD movie, you first create an AVI movie, then use another tool
to convert it to DVD. With a large number of images, this process is
very slow.

HTH,

Terry

MSug2 wrote:

I know there are a ton of slide show programs out there. Just trying to get an
idea what one you guys would recomend. Something That I could title, add
captions to pics, transition between pics, add sound and music and burn to a
DVD. I am looking for a program that I can put in an unlimited nimber of pics

Yep, there are a ton.

I looked into this in July, and selected ProShowGold from
http://www.photodex.com. None are perfect, but I think this is
currently the best package, and I tried out demo versions of more than
a dozen.

It has nice transitions, and the ability to do pan, zoom, and rotate,
across your images. For example, I have a show where I have an 8MP
image of Bryce Canyon, Utah. I start with the entire image, then zoom
in to the left side, then pan across the image. This makes for an
impressive show, and grabs the viewers' interest.

You can adjust the dislay time and transition time of every slide (or
all slides at once). Titles can be anywhere, and you can disolve in
the titles. Sound of course, and good control over syncing your show
to the sound. During playback, if you pause the show, the sound stops
too, and when you continue, the sound picks up where it left off. It
is easy to use. It can create executable slide shows, DVD movies,
screensavers, and autorun CDs.

I have found a few small disadvantages. For example, when you create
an executable and run it on your computer, the run-time control is
limited. There are keystrokes to move foward and backward, but no way
to for example jump to slide # 123.

The license agreement is bad (in my opinion). You agree to let the
program transmit information back to Photodex, and you agree to let
the program store information necessary to protect against piracy.

Cost is around $70, relatively expensive compared to some other
packages, but I found nothing else with its features.

Support is poor -- I had some problems and questions and my first
three emails went unanswered. My forth generated answers from 3
different people, but they didn't agree on the answers!

Somewhat less capable but freeware is MyAlbum at
http://www.myalbumpro.com. It is first an image management program,
but it also builds slide shows. The latest version supports
transitions, and changeable individual slide timing. You can add
music/sound. You can add a caption, but the placement options are
limited to a few locations, as I recall.

I don't think it creates DVD movies, if that is what you want to do.
(If you want to run this on a DVD player, then you need a movie. If
you just want to run a program from a data DVD, then any of the
executable slide-show programs should work.)

I did have reason to email the author, and he responded quickly and
was helpful. If the current feature set meets your needs, then this
would do admirably. If not, I don't think you are likely to see major
feature additions in the near future.

A freeware option for producing movies from slides is SlideShowMaker,
from http://www.joern-thiemann.de/index.html?/tools/.

This makes movies from images. It supports transitions, pan and move,
and sound. Limited to 2 GB maximum file size, less than half a DVD. To
make a DVD movie, you first create an AVI movie, then use another tool
to convert it to DVD. With a large number of images, this process is
very slow.

HTH,

Terry

ProShow Gold

ProShow Gold

"MSug2" wrote in message
...
I know there are a ton of slide show programs out there. Just trying to
get an
idea what one you guys would recomend. Something That I could title, add
captions to pics, transition between pics, add sound and music and burn to
a
DVD. I am looking for a program that I can put in an unlimited nimber of
pics

Pro Show Gold at photodex.com is absolutely fantastic.

I just posted a link in another thread to a few of my first attempts using
the program.

If you've got a fast connection and up-to-date computer, you can view them
on PHotodex's free web-space at:

Click the following link to view the collection:
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum.html?bm=38335
(Click on one ofthe three shows, then click the thumbnail and watch.
-To view full screen...if your card can handle that well...right-click and
then hit "full-screen")

You'll need to download their free viewer applet (like PowerPoint's view
applet that allows people to view that don't own the full PowerPoint
program).

The applet is totally safe/benign, and gives great results if you've got a
good connection/video card.

Transitions galore (literally HUNDREDS)...text effects (though the shows I
posted don't realy highlight this), and it creates not only DVD videos, but
exe files, screensavers, e-mail attachments, free web shows on their
web-site, video CD, and more. Truly a great program.
-Mark

"MSug2" wrote in message
...
I know there are a ton of slide show programs out there. Just trying to
get an
idea what one you guys would recomend. Something That I could title, add
captions to pics, transition between pics, add sound and music and burn to
a
DVD. I am looking for a program that I can put in an unlimited nimber of
pics

Pro Show Gold at photodex.com is absolutely fantastic.

I just posted a link in another thread to a few of my first attempts using
the program.

If you've got a fast connection and up-to-date computer, you can view them
on PHotodex's free web-space at:

Click the following link to view the collection:
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum.html?bm=38335
(Click on one ofthe three shows, then click the thumbnail and watch.
-To view full screen...if your card can handle that well...right-click and
then hit "full-screen")

You'll need to download their free viewer applet (like PowerPoint's view
applet that allows people to view that don't own the full PowerPoint
program).

The applet is totally safe/benign, and gives great results if you've got a
good connection/video card.

Transitions galore (literally HUNDREDS)...text effects (though the shows I
posted don't realy highlight this), and it creates not only DVD videos, but
exe files, screensavers, e-mail attachments, free web shows on their
web-site, video CD, and more. Truly a great program.
-Mark

Hi,

Pro Show Gold is the preferred slide show software for our Digital Photography
club in Florida
Rosita