Looking for slide show generator

[lclarsen]

Hi,

I'm looking for a simple slide show generator. I have tried a bunch but none seem to fit my needs which I think are quite modest, IMO.

It must accept JPEGs, allow different exposure times for individual images, it must export to either AVI or MPEG-2 or support frame serving. AND it must have a simple fade to black - fade in from black transition effect. I can't believe how few programs include this, the simplest, transition effect. I hate those cheap swirling "see-what-I-can-do" transition effects. Don't need 'em!

Anyone know of a program, preferably freeware, that can do this stuff?

BTW: I tried Microsoft Movie Maker, but I don't like the export function - "too user friendly" - I want to know the technical details of what I'm exporting!

[guns1inger]

Have you done a search of the forums ? This is discussed/asked regularly (at least once a day, it seems)

[shimonmor]

Take a look at this post.

[lclarsen]

Yes, I did a search and did not find an answer to my question. This is discussed/asked regularly (at least once a day, it seems)

shimonmor, thanks, I guess I have to keep trying out slide show applications until I find one which fit my needs.

[shimonmor]

I kind of went through what you are going through. I downloaded every trial and free application out there and the only program which does what I want is Premiere. It's not cheap and sometimes not the easiest method but it's powerful.

All the other programs were lacking in some way...most notably Quality. Their output would look awful on a DVD player and standard TV (especially if applying any motion like zoom). Premiere gives you a lot of control. I guess most NLE programs should work.

[mastersmurfie]

try Slide Show Movie Maker (if you haven't already). I've used it several times for slideshows.

AND it must have a simple fade to black - fade in from black transition effect

can't remember if this is one of the transitions or not

mastersmurfie

[Des]

I have fallen in love with Pro Show Gold. Well worth the money; it produces great looking shows with great sounding music. It will sync the slides to the audio for you and write out virtual any type of media file.

I throw a folder of images on it, hit random order till I get a first image up that I like then rando the transitions and the motion (so the slides move and are not stagnent). Usualy takes me longer to selrct the music than the prgram takes to work. I love anything that let's me be lazy and still looks like I did a lot

I think they have a free trial on their website.

--dES

[tin2tin]

Here we go again...

Well DVD slideshow GUI could be a solution... and is free... it'll do the simple fades as well as more advanced transitions for you... randomize them... you can even make your own transitions... and you can add music... texts... divx avi's... and generate multiplexed mpg's or even an iso with chapterpoints for each slide - so you can press the next chapter on your remote and the dvd will go to the next slide in the dvd-slideshow-movie... the next feature to come is the so called Ken Burns effect(pan, zoom, tilt on slides)

The only trouble in this is that I'm still working on it... and there might be bugs... so all I ask is a bug report if you encounter any.

Have fun,
Tin2tin

[kisrum]

I fiddled with ProShow Gold and Memories on TV before paying ($53.00, I think) for Memories on TV, with the mpeg2 plugin included. Couldn't get ProShow Gold Ken Burns effect to behave, otherwise PSG seemed a little simpler to use. Took me a week to figure out how to alter slide length on individual slides, but finally figured it out. MoTV will export to vob files (or direct to DVD which I haven't tried) which I then use womble to tack the slide show on to the end of DV movie.

I haven't tried a fade to black transition in MoTV but I use the crossfade almost exclusively. Like you, I hate all the rinky-dink transitions. If I couldn't find a fade to black on MoTV, I guess I'd just insert an all black .jpg in between each photo and then crossfade.

Music import seems easy and reliable enough, although I haven't tried actually syncing music to a slide show.

I haven't tried any of the freeware, but probably should have. Good luck.

[shimonmor]

Well, I downloaded the ProShow Gold 2.0 trial today and tried it out and I must say that overall, I am impressed. It does most of what I want and the quality is very good (better than Premiere 6.5...see this post). I was having some jittering and quality issues with Premiere 6.5 on certain slides with motion effects.

It's not as flexible as Premiere but it is very simple to use although not completely intuitive. One of my complaints is that if you do use motion (zoom) effects, I can't seem to get them to continue their effect during the transition. The slide will zoom and then stop and then the transition begins. I find it annoying when watching. It doesn't look as smooth as a zoom that occurs throughout the time the slide is on the screen...inlcuding the transition period. If someone knows how to get around this, I'd be glad to learn.

I have a few other minor quibles but I am satisfied and will probably purchase this program. I haven't had any rendering issues but I've only used it once.