New to Slide Shows and Been Googling and have some queries !

[cleary]

Hi, I am new here and have been googling Photo Slide shows for over a week.
My OS is xpsp2 and I have a couple of digi cams one is a Panasonic Lumix LZ7 which the better half and I started out with and then just bought a Canon S5 IS and have several Canon printers 9100, 4300 and a couple of Pixma 5000.
We are "baby boomers" that formerly used Nikon 35mm SLR's and our family have been on their own and out of the country for several years now; so our photo taking is of various content now.
I also have a Panasonic DVD mini dv corder and a Rode zoom mike. I haven't ventured into the editing arena yet.
I would like to focus on the Slide show aspect first.
I have had so many recommendations of slide show apps... Movies on TV, DVD Slide Show Builder, Pro Show Gold etc. and have done a lot of reading on them and have found areas that concerned me and then stumbled across Ulead and ventured here.
It sounds like DVD Movie Factory 6 Plus may suit my needs.
I want to be able to use background music from our massive CD collection.
(BTW, is there a volume output controlled on this version...I guess what I mean is that some of the CD's are not all mixed at the same level and I would not want to have to be turning the volume up and down on the end product DVD while viewing it. I would want it at a constant level. Just a query.
I also want to include scanned and saved 35 mm pics in my slide show.
Will this program play both on DVD stand alone players and notebooks.
As I plan to do volunteer work and will be hooking up my notebook to an overhead projector and wanted to know whether the app's finished product on a DVD could work on both types of units?
Almost every program that I have looked at required me to d/l MP3 and our home here is not into MP3's and I don't want to get into converting my CD's to MP3, I believe by ripping in Windows Media Player.
I am an amateur who wants a moderate learning curve, however is willing to read and grow.
But to start off I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out the program.
Would this program be the best for my needs per the described questions noted above.
As far as video editing etc. that will come much further down the road. It is slide shows that interest me at the moment.
Thank you for your time.
I respect the expertise here and perhaps this app is not the right one for me and another on the list might be worthy of examining.
Again, kind regards.
BTW, I have also read that one has to use very high quality DVD in order to assure no loss of photos some time down the road. Does anyone have comments on that issue.
I do use good quality media, which BenQ recommended for my 3 (16x) burners; however the better half and I were talking about the storage of slide shows and media quality.
Cheers. (BTW, this question is basically from a prior post of why is Corel getting out of Picture Show 4.....by an earlier poster and my read of Steve's experienced reply).

[sjj1805]

MovieFactory will do all of that.
Laptops will play DVD's.
No matter what the quality of the DVD disc it is still vulnerable to scratches, being accidentally snapped in half or catching fire - as with all valuable computer material you cannot make too many back ups - and ideally keep at least one back up in another building. No one wants their home to catch fire or be hit by a runaway lorry but these things happen.

Your choice of software depends upon how much work you want to do yourself as opposed to how much work you are willing to leave to built in automation routines in these kind of programs.

I use MediaStudio Pro 8 (Not Vista compatible) for creating slideshows but it takes a lot of work - this is out of choice. The easiest software but not "the best" is pro-show gold.

If you have Vista then the Corel alternatives to MediaStudio Pro are
MovieFactory and VideoStudio.

VideoStudio offers more control and contains multiple video tracks, a title track and two sound tracks. You can also synchronize your slides with your chosen background music.

Like most things more control also means a steeper learning curve, plus more control also means you end up taking longer to do things - that is however offset by the better finished result.

[cleary]

Is movie factory ok for standalone dvd players....I did not understand from the prior post.
And what is the downside of Pro Show Gold. I have been looking at that program...but see some "freezing" issues.
As a hobbyist, I won't be spending a lot of time with this program as my main hobby already exists and that is to convert my older video cassettes to DVD as I mentioned I am a baby boomer and most of my videos are not being made into DVD b/c I presume not many "boomers" want them???
However I am an audiophile and love my music. (music concerts of various genre)

I want something simple to operate for my photo slide show, so that I don't have to sit down and spend hours prepping for the project which will be for my volunteer work at a seniors home or a family gift or just plain for ourselves.

I would like reasonably decent quality with control of consistency of volume throughout the slide show in case of badly mixed cd's.
One other program mentioned was from wonderware? I have had no time to research it yet. Any comments on all of the above would be appreciated.

I should also say that I would like text, simple transitions and good consistent sound from cd's of my own choice. We are not MP3er's at this state of our age !
And don't listen to music while we work on our notebooks. xpsp2 and 2 gigs toshibas. About a year and a half old units.
As mentioned earlier my pics are stored in 2 Western Digital ext HDD and both are clones.
One is off site in case of a fire etc. and at the moment they only hold 100 pics as we still print out our favorites and print pics at the store and sometimes at home.
Your professional conduct, attitude and experience at this Forum is greatly appreciated.
Sometimes beginners bear the brunt of chastising comments at Forums... a reason that I gave them up for awhile.
This Forum indeed reinstates my faith in professional communication.
Thankyou.

[michaeltee]

cleary,

MovieFactory, PictureShow and VideoStudio are all capable of burning DVD discs that will play on computer DVD drives and standalone DVD players.

PictureShow actually has a few slideshow features that aren't available on MovieFactory however it is strictly 4:3 aspect ratio (no widescreen) and (as Steve mentioned) for Win XP only. MovieFactory is a multi-purpose program that offers most of the slideshow features from PictureShow and adds some additional capabilities in the areas of menu customization (authoring), disc copying and video clip editing. It is also capable of outputting in both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio as well as high definition (with optional PowerPack). Of the two programs, PictureShow is the easiest to learn although the slideshow UI in MovieFactory is somewhat similar and certainly not difficult. Neither of these programs allow you to combine slides and video clips in the same show. VideoStudio has a slightly steeper learning curve but (in my opinion) is the most intuitve timeline editing software on the market. The benefit is complete control over virtually all aspects of your slideshow and movie projects. If you feel you might want to expand your creative options at some point, VideoStudio is well worth consideration.

As for more specifics on these programs, Corel publishes comprehensive feature brochures in PDF format for all of these. I'd highly recommend that you view them for purposes of comparison.

VideoStudio 11.5 Plus
http://www.ulead.com/vs/UVS11Plus_FB.pdf

DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus
http://ulead.com/dmf/dmf6_plus_features.pdf

CD& DVD PictureShow 4
http://www.ulead.com/pex/pex85_features.pdf

Regarding similar software made by other developers, we really can't go into great detail as this forum is primarily for discussion of Corel, Ulead and Intervideo products. That said, understand that all video editing programs, no matter how simple they may be to use, are very complex in their make up. Because they draw upon so many resources and configurations within your computer (and also must interact with changes that have occurred within your computer over time), all are subject to possible crashing and/or other issues. For this reason it is ALWAYS recommended that you experiment with trial versions before deciding on a specific program. In short, investigate the features of various programs, narrow your choices, experiment with the trial versions, and then purchase the software that best meets your needs AND runs well on your PC.

Hope that helps

[cleary]

Thx Michaeltee....I did really want an app simple to operate with this windows xpsp2 2 gig notebook, however it sounds like I will have to do Trials first.
Since using my Hauppauge unit to convert vhs to dvd is my hobby, I thought that I would look to an easier app to do slide shows. However since I want to play it on a Stand alone player, PC, have sound sync with pic and I would like to have an "application" within the program to maintain the music at the same audio level...realizing that not all music is mixed at the same level and I would not want to spoil my pics by audio booming and then subsiding.
My notebook as mentioned is a year and a half old and I have no great plans at the moment to run for Vista.
My other notebook came with it and I had the store tech do a back up of the program and then clean it up and install xpsp2 b/c Vista was just to buggy for my enjoyment.
I guess slowly that problem will go.
In the meantime I have to get on with my work apps and hobby apps, otherwise life is rather miserable.
I need to do a lot more reading of the Links that you kindly provided and go from there.
I indeed was surprised to see Ulead was purchased by Corel. It is an older version of Ulead that I use with my Hauppauge Unit but it works great and my dvd's from vhs source are great.
I thank you for your comments and I will have to do some conscientious reading now.
Best Regards.

[michaeltee]

Re audio, if I recall correctly, only VideoStudio allows you to adjust the volume of background tracks on an individual basis. You might find it easier to rip your CD tracks to mp3 or wav files before adding them to a project. There are quite a few audio converters that will not only rip your tracks but apply "normalization" (and in some cases) "maximum db" settings so that your track levels are consistent and ready to use without need of adjusting within your video editing software. There are also a number of mixer apps that allow you adjust audio levels using a visible wav form representing your tracks. If you haven't used these types of programs, they might sound difficult but simple audio adjustments often fairly simple to do.

[cleary]

Hmm....so what you are saying is to take each song off the cd's that I want and rip them to mp3 via program that will normalize them all to the same volume level. Any suggestions of such programs so that I can search them out.
Comments greatly appreciated !
Thank you.... especially giving me more insight on the program that would likely be most suitable !
Again thx.

[michaeltee]

Hmm....so what you are saying is to take each song off the cd's that I want and rip them to mp3 via program that will normalize them all to the same volume level. Any suggestions of such programs so that I can search them out.
Comments greatly appreciated !
Thank you.... especially giving me more insight on the program that would likely be most suitable !
Again thx.

No problem. I'm sending you a PM with suggestions.