Questions on DVD Pictureshow features

edsargent · Post by **edsargent** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:48 pm

I am a past user of Picture show 1 and current user of Nero Photo Impact Express and have three questions I would like answers to before I purchase.
1. With Pictureshow can sound (i.e. narration) be assigned to specific pictures. With some slideshows I would like to narrate what each image is.
2. Can narration and background music be mixed. I do not mean play one and then the other.
3. Picture show seems to to have Pan and Zoom. If you can only load NTSC or PAL quality what is the point of Pan and Zoom. Would they not be highly pixelated? I have several hundred panoramas that would be perfect for panning.

drmom11 · Post by **drmom11** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:18 am

You can download the trial before you buy.

There are a number of issues but if you can deal with these
or work around them V4 is quite nice for making slideshows.
If you read the threads in this forum you will see issues listed.
The most bothersome issue is the random crashing when you click
on something. To avoid loosing work save early and often!!!

1. Sound can be assigned to specific slides. V4 gives much better control over this than V3

2. You would have to do the mixing outside of PictureShow.

3. Pan and zoom effects do not effect the quality of the image as far as I can see. It gives a sense of motion to the stills and can be a nice effect depending on the subject. You can assign this per slide but it is a lot of mouse clicking for a large show. It lets you set a default for the entire show and there are anumber of options.

michaeltee · Post by **michaeltee** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:04 pm

drmom11 wrote: 2. You would have to do the mixing outside of PictureShow.

Hi edsargent,

You might also consider downloading the trial version Of Ulead VideoStudio 9 which makes this a simple task and offers lots of additional features you won't normally find in "slideshow only" proggys. VS9's storyboard mode is similar to PS4's editing UI and as you become more familiar with the program you can work in timeline mode for more features and creative control. Just a thought since you're thinking about new software

You can download the VS9 "Features" PDF here:

http://www.ulead.com/vs/vs9_features.pdf

Good luck with your projects!

edsargent · Post by **edsargent** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 7:30 pm

I tried VideoStudio 6 and had several issues. It refused to burn anything but VCD. Additionally I have need for menus because I want multiple slideshows on a single DVD so I tried to export MPEG2 (to maximize quality) with the intention of subsequently using the output in a Nero generated slideshow. But VideoStudio did not allow for MPEG2, dispite what the help file said. The imported result, I tried AVI and MPEG, the sound lagged the picture by several seconds. As a result I did not trust that an upgrade to VS9 would be any different so I purchased PS4.

michaeltee · Post by **michaeltee** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 2:27 am

Hi Ed,

I came on board with VS9 so it's difficult to comment on VS6 other than to state the obvious fact that it's ancient by today's standards. What few problems I've experienced with VS9 have been minor and quickly resolved. That said, video apps tend to be fairly complex. You hope for the best but a test drive is the only way to accurately evaluate. As for PS4, it does have it's limitations but depending on what you want to do, there are often workarounds, tips & tricks, etc., that can be utilized. In any case, almost all of the video software publishers offer trial versions and I've found it very worthwhile to take full advantage of them before shelling out the cash

-Mike