DVD Moviefactory 4 - Create slideshow problems

[Herbernator]

Hi all, First time poster long time lurker.

I'm having some trouble with DVDMoviefactory's create DVD slideshow.

I am able to put 4500 photos into the slideshow. Set the aspect ratio to 16.9 and burn it. BUT when viewed on a widescreen TV the pictures' look "stretched" (so that people look fat) I have specifically asked that the pictures keep their own aspect ratios.
Is there a way to fix this?

Here is a few details on the job in question.
-The project is in 16.9
-The project is PAL
-The images in question are photos and slides scanned by me (3200Dpi for slides 600DPI for prints) and a few digital photos (6megapixel camera)
-There are no transitions or pan and zoom.
-There is no music or narration.

Thankyou all in advance.

Herbernator.

[sjj1805]

4,500 in one slideshow!!
I do hope you've seperated them into viewable groups.

Despite setting your project to 16.9 for viewing on a 16.9 TV screen
your images themselves must have been taken in 16.9 mode by your digital camera. If not then you need to pillar box the pictures so that they do not become stretched.

[Herbernator]

4,500 in one slideshow!!
If not then you need to pillar box the pictures so that they do not become stretched.

In my slideshow, there are black bars on the top, bottom, left, and right.
I understand that a normal camera will take photos (either portrait or landscape) that is different to 16.9. I accept that.

That's not the problem though. Even with the black bars everywhere (which I want as I want the original picture aspect ratio) the pictures are still stretching. Am viewing on a plasma set to 16.9, DVD player set to 16.9 (so there is no modification of the picture)

Thankyou for your reply

Herbernator.

[heinz-oz]

Hi all, First time poster long time lurker.

I'm having some trouble with DVDMoviefactory's create DVD slideshow.
...
-The images in question are photos and slides scanned by me (3200Dpi for slides 600DPI for prints) and a few digital photos (6megapixel camera)
..
Herbernator.

Your TV is incapable of displaying images of that frame size. It can only display a certain number of pixels horizontally and vertically. SD PAL frame size is 720 x 576 pixels. Any image bigger than that will have to be resized to the correct frame size by DVD MF. HD TV is a slightly larger frame size but you need to burn that to HD disk, not DVD.

DPI (dots per inch) are a term used when printing and has no meaning when displaying a digital image. When scanning, this setting will affect the frame size of the image in pixels. Aiming for a larger frame size than what the TV can support is counterproductive because DVD MF has to down convert again to fit the frame size of your TV. It does that by discarding pixels and guessing the content of the adjacent pixels. It's much better to scan to the correct frame size and resize the large 6MP digital images to the right size using a good image editor. This does a better job than MF.

[Herbernator]

It's much better to scan to the correct frame size and resize the large 6MP digital images to the right size using a good image editor. This does a better job than MF.

Thanks for the reply Heinz, that answered my question.
Herbernator.