Software To Create A Picture Slide Show

[Mike Temporale]

I use Microsoft Digital Image Suit 9 and it comes with Plus! Photo Story Lite, which looks good at first. However it can only create a slide show at 320x240. The slide show I need to create is going to be displayed on a nice plasma screen (dimensions unknown) from my laptop. This is going to be displayed as people enter the hall. So I want something that can do high quality images.

Can anyone recommend a software package that's free, reasonably priced, or that already own, that can build and run a nice slide show with high quality images? I really like the functionality of Photo Story Lite, but the low quality of the images really sucks.

[SassKwatch]

Movie Maker?

I've only done it once, but seemed to work well enough.

[mrwickham]

For free, the Movie Maker is a good option. Output from photo story to a wmv file and then import it into Movie Maker. From there you can choose different levels of quality to output. You will have to download the higher level settings, but it's easily done.

Otherwise here is a listing of other good slideshow software. Not knowing your price range, or what you have already, please excuse any duplication.

MS PowerPoint (especially if you have a newer version or download the photo album plugin)

www.picturetotv.com has the nice Ken Burns effects

http://www.xat.com/screensaver_maker/index.html very nice piece of software that's easy to use.

All of these can create self running slideshows. Good luck and let us know what you end up using.

[sublime]

^Pride and Prejudice?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, then forget about that question.

[Mike Temporale]

Movie Maker?

I've only done it once, but seemed to work well enough.

Nice! The quality is better, but still not amazing. :( Maybe I should install Movie Maker 2 and try that version.

[Mike Temporale]

For free, the Movie Maker is a good option. Output from photo story to a wmv file and then import it into Movie Maker. From there you can choose different levels of quality to output. You will have to download the higher level settings, but it's easily done.

The highest level to download is 1024x768. Not bad, but I was hoping for better.

Otherwise here is a listing of other good slideshow software. Not knowing your price range,

I'm not sure of my price range. Right now, this is a one-off requirement. However, I could see me doing more slideshows for personal use if this turns out really nice.

...or what you have already, please excuse any duplication.

I don't know what I already have that might be able to handle this. So no worries. So many applications have so many features that it's easy to miss the fact that it can do what you're looking for. That's why I'm asking! :wink:


MS PowerPoint (especially if you have a newer version or download the photo album plugin)

www.picturetotv.com has the nice Ken Burns effects

http://www.xat.com/screensaver_maker/index.html very nice piece of software that's easy to use.

All of these can create self running slideshows. Good luck and let us know what you end up using.

Never thought of PowerPoint! And the other applications you listed look pretty good too. Let me try these out and I'll get back to you. Thanks.

[Bob12]

Something else you might consider is the slide show viewer built in to Windows XP

[Mike Temporale]

Something else you might consider is the slide show viewer built in to Windows XP

Slide show viewer? Are you talking about the screensaver? It's an option, but not really what I was hoping for.

[Mike Temporale]

MS PowerPoint (especially if you have a newer version or download the photo album plugin)

Just a little note for others, you don't need the plugin if you have PowerPoint 2003. It's built in. Seems pretty good too.

[Jason Dunn]

Sorry I'm late to the party. What you want is the full version of Photo Story. You can download higher resolution templates, up to 1024 x 768 I believe. What's the resolution on the plasma display? I'm quite confident that even if it's 1600 x 1200 or higher the 1024 x 768 rendered WMV files will still look awesome. Photo Story uses a "still image" WMV9 codec that is simply amazing.

I've worked with Photo Story a LOT, and there's nothing on the market like it (yet).

[Mike Temporale]

I don't know anything about the screen other than it's a HD Plasma screen.

I really like Photo Story Lite, but the quality was extermely poor. The full version is that much better? The full version is pretty cheap, however; I can't seem to buy it online from Canada. :( I guess I have to go to Best Buy and check it out. :(

[Jason Dunn]

I really like Photo Story Lite, but the quality was extermely poor. The full version is that much better?

Hmm. It's odd that you're saying the quality is poor - it's pure GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). Are your source images crisp?

Here's a movie that I made (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/files/photostory.wmv) when I scanned some photos 50+ years old. That video was rendered at 800 x 600, and the quality looks quite good even at 1600 x 1200 full screen. The source photos were all quite high resolution after being scanned - 5 MP or so.

The full version is pretty cheap, however; I can't seem to buy it online from Canada. :(

Yeah, they only sell the online version to people in the US. Canadians have to buy the retail packaged version. Contact me privately and I can probably hook you up. ;-)

[Mike Temporale]

I really like Photo Story Lite, but the quality was extermely poor. The full version is that much better?

Hmm. It's odd that you're saying the quality is poor - it's pure GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). Are your source images crisp?

I think they're crisp. All images were taken with my Canon s400. Here's a sample http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/jpg.gif Image1 (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/47/IMG_1543.JPG) (Size: 1,331.6 KB)
and sample http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/jpg.gif Image2 (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/47/IMG_1525.JPG) (Size: 1,708.6 KB). And here's the video that was produced by Photo Story Lite (set to high quality). http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/wmv.gif PhotoStoryLiteTest.wmv (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/47/PhotoStoryLiteTest.wmv) (Size: 196.8 KB) I'm watching the video full screen on my laptop which is running at 1400x1050.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm watching the video full screen on my laptop which is running at 1400x1050.

Yeah, the video is only 320 x 240 and it's only 13 kbps (that doesn't make any sense mind you, but that's what WMP is reporting). Anyway, run it at 100% size and if it's crisp (it will be), the problem is that you need to render it at a higher resolution. Let me show you something...(goes to work)...

[Jason Dunn]

Ok Mike, I took your two images and created two Photo Stories from them - one at 640 x 480 and one at 1024 x 768 (which required a custom template).

http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/wmv.gif 640x480.wmv (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/2/640x480.wmv) (Size: 202.1 KB)

http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/wmv.gif 1024x768.wmv (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/2/1024x768.wmv) (Size: 514.5 KB)

I think you'll find the results quite good. :-)

[mrwickham]

I use the Photo Story include in the Plus Digital Media Edition. I'm wondering if your Lite version only goes to 320 by 240. On the version I'm using that is the medium setting with the High Setting being 640 by 480. I think I would agree with Jason in that if you can use a higher quality encoding setting you would be very please with the results.
Here's what MS say about the 1024 x 768 Resolution Profile

"This profile provides 1024 x 768 pixel video resolution and high-fidelity audio. It encodes the audio and video streams at a higher quality than the standard audio and video settings in Plus! Photo Story.

This profile uses variable-bit-rate (VBR) 44 kilohertz (kHz) audio and VBR video at 24 frames per second (fps). The audio and video in the story are saved using a variety of bit rates, which produces a consistent quality throughout. The integrity of high motion or rapid changes in the video is maintained by varying the compression bit rate as needed.

Use this profile if your photo story will be played back from a computer hard disk.

Recommended system configuration for playback: 2.2 GHz processor with 256 MB of RAM or higher"

Hope this helps you. The images are priceless and should be seen in all their glory. I would suggest a little red eye removal however, but I'm sure you have already thought of that.

[Mike Temporale]

Ok Mike, I took your two images and created two Photo Stories from them - one at 640 x 480 and one at 1024 x 768 (which required a custom template).

The 640x480 is much better, however there is still a little roughness around the eyes. It's so small that most people wouldn't even notice it.

The 1024x768 is amazing. That's what I have been looking to do. Why is the Lite version so bad?! You know what, it would be fine if it wasn't labeled "High Quality", when in reality it's no where near high quality. :evil: And then when you look it up in the help it doesn't even say "to get better resolution buy the full version".

Alright, I think this is what I;m going to use. It integrates nicely into the software I already have, and it's pretty easy to use. Thanks for the help everyone. I'll try and capture the final product on my DV cam so you can see it in action. I think it's 3 weeks out. I'll post the follow up in this thread.

[Mike Temporale]

Use this profile if your photo story will be played back from a computer hard disk.

Recommended system configuration for playback: 2.2 GHz processor with 256 MB of RAM or higher"

Not a problem. 2.4 GHz laptop with 1GB RAM :mrgreen:

Hope this helps you. The images are priceless and should be seen in all their glory. I would suggest a little red eye removal however, but I'm sure you have already thought of that.

Thanks! However, these are just test images. If my expereinces are good (which it looks like they will be) then I plan on using this for more personal events.

The video I have to create is for a wedding reception. The pictures will be taken by a semi-pro photographer during the ceremony and group/family pictures after the ceremony. I need to put this video together on the way to the hall so that's it is up and running before guests arrive!! Right now I'm in high test mode. Making sure I know the software and can get the job done quickly.

[Bob12]

Something else you might consider is the slide show viewer built in to Windows XP

Slide show viewer? Are you talking about the screensaver? It's an option, but not really what I was hoping for.

No - in the "My Pictures" link from the start menu, once you have opened a folder of pictures, one of the options listed on the left side of the screen is to view the pictures in the selected folder as a slide show. You can allow it to run automatically or you can advance the pictures manually with the mouse.

[Jason Dunn]

The 640x480 is much better, however there is still a little roughness around the eyes. It's so small that most people wouldn't even notice it.

It really depends on the resolution it's being viewed at. One workaround would be to embed the video in a Powerpoint slide presentation and set the resolution of the presentation to 640 x 480 - you'd get no degredation from zooming that way.

The 1024x768 is amazing. That's what I have been looking to do. Why is the Lite version so bad?!

I think they really optimized for email scenarios, and 320 x 240 is pretty "big" on the Web today in terms of video.

[Jason Dunn]

The video I have to create is for a wedding reception. The pictures will be taken by a semi-pro photographer during the ceremony and group/family pictures after the ceremony. I need to put this video together on the way to the hall so that's it is up and running before guests arrive!!

I kid you not - if you don't care about setting each zoom/pan effect, you can go from start to finish in about 60 seconds, then it's just a matter of waiting for the video to render, which is quite fast. Photo Story is a very fast program for scenarios like this.

[Mike Temporale]

.. in the "My Pictures" link from the start menu, once you have opened a folder of pictures, one of the options listed on the left side of the screen is to view the pictures in the selected folder as a slide show.

Cool. I never noticed that before. (I really need to look around a little more eh!) Usually that's full of boring things like "move this file" or "rename this file". Thanks for the tip.

[Mike Temporale]

The video I have to create is for a wedding reception. The pictures will be taken by a semi-pro photographer during the ceremony and group/family pictures after the ceremony. I need to put this video together on the way to the hall so that's it is up and running before guests arrive!!

I kid you not - if you don't care about setting each zoom/pan effect, you can go from start to finish in about 60 seconds, then it's just a matter of waiting for the video to render, which is quite fast. Photo Story is a very fast program for scenarios like this.

Good to know. The Lite version is pretty quick, so I was hoping the full version would be too. The Pan and Zoom feature gives it a very elegant look, which is perfect for this event. :D

[Mike Temporale]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll try and capture the final product on my DV cam so you can see it in action. I think it's 3 weeks out. I'll post the follow up in this thread.

Follow-up time! Sadly, I have to report that the person scheduled to take the pictures failed miserably. - What a goof :evil: - So I had nothing to compile into a video except my pictures from the day. Unfortunately, I only took pictures of the Flower-girls (since my daughter was one of them) and never bothered capturing everything else that was going on. Why should I? Goof-boy was suppose to be doing that. :(

Thanks everyone for your help, I'm more than a little peeved that it never happened.

[Jason Dunn]

Follow-up time! Sadly, I have to report that the person scheduled to take the pictures failed miserably.

Ouch, that sucks! :-( That's why I tend to do everything myself, because I've found that I can't rely on most people. :roll:

[Mike Temporale]

Unfortunately, it wasn't my choice. I was asked if I could compile a slide show from pictures taken by said goof-ball. If they had told me that goof was being a goof, then I would have stepped up and started taking more pictures. Truth is, I wasn't around him until it was too late. So I didn't know that he was being a goof.

Ah well, they aren't upset, and they don't blame me... I just hauled 2 laptops and a DV camera to catch the final results, for nothing. :?