building slide shows for television

[ljb]

What software do I need to build SVCD's and display on my television? I also
need to be able to write the project files from another application such as
MS Access which contains my slide sequence and captions. I tried PhotoStory
2 and 3, was disappointed by the resolution and that the project files are
binary. I tried Photo2cd from photo2cd.com and was pleased that the project
file was formatted as XML which I can write. The resolution seems good on my
television however I used a trial version limited to 20 slides. I can't tell
if the company is still in business. Their web site doesn't seem to have any
recent content and they don't respond to my e-mail. Has anyone else tried
Photo2cd? I've also tried Roxio 6 that came with my CD writer. With it I
haven't been able to create the slide show menus or reliably been able to
play them on my DVD player.

thanks
LJB

 

[David Candy]

You have to use PS3 to output it in SVCD TV format (PAL or NTSC as appropiate). Choose SVCD format in PS3. Then you need to BUY an addin for Nero from Nero (or pirate it - search the web) which is $14 odd I think. Then just follow the wizard in Nero. You computer can't show it unless you buy another addin for Media Player.

The quality is as good as a computer unlike VCD (which is like a 1980 computer).

SVCD is owned by the Chinese government as they were concerned about corporate extraction of rents on DVDs. Any Chinese DVD player (which most are) should show it.

 

[q_dise]

I have not experience in Photo2cd, I used Photo2VCD Studio and it
worked well for me. It allows you to burn photo slideshows to SVCD
directly and view them on TV, with all the VCD menus created
automatically. You can have a try it from http://www.photo2vcd.com
There you can find more interesting products!

 

[Rehan]

I tried PhotoStory
2 and 3, was disappointed by the resolution and that the project files are
binary.

If you want to stick with PS2 or PS3 the resolution issue can be fixed.
The VCD engine in PS2 is not encoding with good quality. You can use
TMPGenc to do the encoding and burn it using nero or other svcd
authoring app (ulead movie factory etc).

For PS3 the quality issue arises due to a bug in the VCD/SVCD/DVD
profiles. See the www.papajohn.org and PS3 > "saving" section. you
should be able to find DVD profiles for PS3. Use these to make your
movies and then use TMPGenc to encode to MPEG2. This combination has
given me excellent results.

Project file for PS3 is also editable:
<http://www.windowsphotostory.com/Guides/Inside-the-wp3-format/wp3-photos-story-format.aspx>


Furthermore if you are looking for one software solution to all your
issues then consider ProShow Gold:
<http://www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold/>

It has a text based project file which can be edited as you like.

 

[ljb]

If you want to stick with PS2 or PS3 the resolution issue can be fixed.
The VCD engine in PS2 is not encoding with good quality. You can use
TMPGenc to do the encoding and burn it using nero or other svcd
authoring app (ulead movie factory etc).

For PS3 the quality issue arises due to a bug in the VCD/SVCD/DVD
profiles. See the www.papajohn.org and PS3 > "saving" section. you
should be able to find DVD profiles for PS3. Use these to make your
movies and then use TMPGenc to encode to MPEG2. This combination has
given me excellent results.

Project file for PS3 is also editable:
<http://www.windowsphotostory.com/Guides/Inside-the-wp3-format/wp3-photos-st
ory-format.aspx>


Furthermore if you are looking for one software solution to all your
issues then consider ProShow Gold:
<http://www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold/>

It has a text based project file which can be edited as you like.

I purchased a copy of ProShow Gold,
<http://www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold/>, and am very pleased with
it. I'm able to produce the *.psh files from my Access database in seconds.
(The database contains my photo captions and slide sequence.) Its easy to
open the file in ProShow Gold and tweak the transitions and caption
placement.

thanks
LJB

 

[Guest]

So am I to understand from your post that if I produce a slideshow in PS3,
save it with PapaJohn's DVD NTSC profile (720x480) that I should then use a
program called TMPGenc (googled and found the download site) to convert to
MPEG2 and that when I use the authoring program that I purchased, Roxio EMC
7.5, that I should get the great clarity the profile sets but avoid the
problem of the video being choppy and the audio out of sync????

Oh, I do hope that is what you are saying!

thanks,