Slide show conversion takes long time

c5021081 · Post by **c5021081** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:22 pm

Hello.
I'm trying to create a slide show on a DVD based on 4 small Video Studio projects. Each project contains some jpg pictures, a background mp3 audio and transition effects. Each project has the following settings
PAL 25 fps
MPEG 24 bits 720x576 25 fps
Lower field first
DVD-PAL 4:3
Video Data rate Variable max 6000 Kbps
LPCM Audio 48 Khz Stereo
When creating the disc I first tried to add the projects, but when starting the output, after 4 hours it was still at 5%.
After reading the hints for the best practices in this board, I changed the workflow, and now I'm creating a video file from each project first. If I choose the same settings as the project, or DVD or Mpeg-2 (all of them have MPEG 24 bits 720x576 25 fps) the rendering is extremely slow, and I think this causes the slow conversion in my first attempt. But I don't know how to explain this...
On the other hand, the rendering is quite fast if the format is 24 bits 352x288 25 fps.
I'm not an expert, but I think that , since these are only pictures + transition effects, no video clips, the difference is the resolution of the image, which should be similar to a Video CD.
I'm new of this board , but just reading some posts I see that there is a lot of knowledge and expertise here.
Is there any suggestion which could help me to find the best balancing between quality and conversion speed? What do you recommend?
Thanks a lot.
Dino

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:35 pm

I had a similar experience once and found that by doing the following it only took a few minutes rather than a few hours.

Step 1.
Save the audio as an audio file.

Step 2.
Delete the audio. Now render the video

Step 3.
Add the rendered audio file to the rendered video file and render a new combined file.

Regards
Steve J

c5021081 · Post by **c5021081** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:55 pm

Hello Steve.
Thank you for the reply. I've followed your hints: saved the audio file , removed the audio files from the timeline, saved the project. So the project contains now only the pictures and transition effects.
Now I've started the creation of the video file, using the same settings of the project (i.e. 24 bits 720x576 25 fps) but the first few minutes are not really encouraging: it looks slow as before....
In the preview window I can clearly see how slow it is comapred to the rendering done with 352x288 , just looking at the transition effect development...
I'm now trying to remove also the transition effects (I'm using the nice flip album...).
Any other suggestion?
Thanks a lot.
Dino

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:58 pm

Aha!! The 'nice album transition' has been causing a LOT of trouble. Try using another one, like a simple cross-fade.

It is a shame, since the album transition is a good idea which appears to have been badly executed...

jchunter · Post by **jchunter** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:59 pm

Dino,
By all means, do not lower the frame dimensions to 352x288 unless that is the resolution of your jpegs. Digital photos from my 5-year old Sony have a resolution of 2048x1536 and yours must be at least that big.

When you create the video files of the first (smaller) projects, you have to limit the frame size to DVD quality: 720x576. Set the video bitrate as high as possible (VS9 lets you set 8264Kbps) to preserve as much resolution as possible from the pictures. On a pure slide project, users have reported the best results with Field Order property - Frame Based.
Creating the video file should not take much time.

Then, when you add these video files in Create Disk, set the burn properties to exactly match the video file properties and you should experience no delays in burning.

c5021081 · Post by **c5021081** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:29 pm

Hello again.
I've removed the transition effect "Album", back to 720x576 , set the Video Data Rate to 8000 (same as the DVD output) and set the Frame based type.
The rendering looks much faster now (I've no transition at all and no audio), so it looks like that my problem was really the "nice" Album transition...
Is there any way to customize this transition to let it be suitable with the rendering?
I'm using VS 8: does VS 9 have the same transition , with similar problem?
Thanks a lot for your kind help!
Dino

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:31 pm

You can of course theoretically customise the album transition as you can with most of the others. But I think most of us have found that whatever we do, that particular transition simply causes trouble, period, and so we now avoid it. Shame.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 1:43 am

If I am going to use any of the album transitions I set it up to render overnight. As mentioned above, those transitions although vry nice take an age to render.

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:29 am

c5021081 wrote:set the Video Data Rate to 8000 (same as the DVD output) and set the Frame based type.

Hi Dino,

I'm a bit concerned that these two things may have slipped thru the cracks, as it were!

If you want to render the project quickly, and without losing quality, you should match the output video settings to the source material - which you earlier posted as 6000 kbps variable bitrate.

If you are making a DVD to play in a set top DVD player connected to a TV, you should also not use frame based output - it should be lower or upper field first, again depending on the source material (possibly called field order A or B in earlier versions of VS)

Doing the audio the way Steve J suggested makes a lot of sense, since Smart Rendering can lead to some audio sync problems, and Steve's way ensures that you end up with continuous audio.