remote control on slideshow recorded on CD/DVD

[SearchQuality]

When I produce a DVD I always take as source digital photos taken parallel to the event that is described in the video clips. These photos are first labeled, narrated etc then they become a slideshow, which in turn becomes a video clip to be inserted as a separate menu item on the DVD. This process works fine. But now I want to add a new capability to the slideshows. When the user selects a slideshow clip in the menu I want to give the user the capability to control the progress of the slideshow just as we do when using powerpoint in presentations. In fact it would be very nice if I can produce the slideshows with a horizontal or vertical strip displaying the slides as thumbnails and giving the user the possibility to advance the slideshow forward (or backward) using the remote control device of the DVD player. How can I do this. Please advise. Thanks in advance.

[usually_quiet]

I'm not sure I understand your question correctly. I'm just thowing out some ideas for consideration. I have never tried doing anything with a slideshow myself.

Dividing the slideshow video into chapters (each slide is a chapter) and navigating via the skip buttons might work.

To make the filmstrip idea work, you need to make a series of motion menus, and each would also need to be a switched menu. This will likely be a lot of work to impliment, This idea won't work if the slideshow video is not part of the filmstrip and is supposed to play continuously while the viewer navigates the filmstrip.

[SearchQuality]

Your first idea occurred to me and I did that. But it produces many chapters and is not practical. It would be nice if all that is done by some off-the-shelf software.

[usually_quiet]

I don't think I can help you any further. If you listed the software you are currently using for your projects, perhaps someone else could provide better suggeations.

The only software I have tried for slideshows is DVDSlideshowGUI, and I haven't succeeded with it yet.

[usually_quiet]

I was able to get DVD Slideshow GUI working, and it created a GUI for dvdauthor project file to author a DVD-based slideshow, although I can't get the project to run. (I haven't figured out the reason for that yet.) So, I examined the project file to see what it does.

There's main menu which contains a three buttons. One button plays a video for an animated slideshow. (There is a chapter for each slide.) A second button takes a user to a menu for the animated slideshow. (That menu can be used to access a chapter menu containing a thumbnail of the slide for each chapter of the video.) The main menu has a third button for accessing a sequence of individual stills, with each still being a menu.

One moves from the current still to the next or previous still by selecting one of the two arrow buttons on the menu. There is a third button that allows one to return to the main menu. However, if the menus containing stills were encoded as switched menus, then the left and right arrow buttons on the remote could directly control the slides being displayed.

I can't think of any other ways to impliment a slideshow using the DVD format. There may be other programs available that can automate the process to a greater degree than the one you are using, but it will still have to work within the restrictions imposed by the DVD format. All that is available to use are menus, videos/titles, and chapters, plus a limited number of commands that the simple operating system of a DVD player can recognize.

[SearchQuality]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I shall also try the software that you are describing. The explanation looks quite logical to me. I have heard of a package called Flipalbum. It creates a slideshow consisting of 3D pages and one of my friends says using the TV remote control it is possible to turn the pages, which gives a very real impression to the users. There may be other packages with similar functionality on the market. If I get more info or any practical experience on the subject I'll report back.

[usually_quiet]

The program your friend suggested sounds like it generates a far more sophisticated result than DVD Slideshow GUI, but DVD Slideshow GUI is free, which is why I'm using it. I won't ever need to make more than a few photo album DVDs. I just thought I'd turn a Power-Point slideshow my sister sent for my father's birthday into a DVD.

Even if the user interface of the finished DVD isn't as nice, the animated slideshow video DVD Slideshow GUI can be pretty cool. Background audio can be added and it gives users a large choice of transitions between slides. DVD Slideshow GUI might be fun for you to try, but the other program sounds like it is closer to the solution you are looking for.

[SearchQuality]

Of course as you say if you intend to do such a slideshow once a year then freeware is probably the best choice. I normally use ProShowGold from Photodex for producing slideshows from digital photos. The slideshows can be produced as avi or mpeg clips and can be burned on to DVDs authored by ProShowGold or by any other DVD authoring program. In digital video creation these clips produced from digital photos have become an integral part of my workflow. The function I am looking for will add a nice feature to the user interface of the DVDs. This is why I started this topic in the forum.

[tin2tin]

@ usually_quiet
About bug in DSG: I forgot to change the frames pr. sec. setting in the transitions to Ntsc. As a work around(till I got time to fix it) just turn the transitions off in TitleSet1Menu and TitleSet2Menu or open the transitions scripts and change 'fps=25' to 'fps=29.97'. I don't live in a NTSC country and tend to forget testing NTSC....

[tin2tin]

@ usually_quiet I've fixed that fps bug in GFD export, so now you should be able to export to NTSC without any problems. It's updated under the same name on the DSG homepage(I didn't bother to update the homepage for that small fix).

@ SearchQuality Take a look at the DSG homepage to see a video of the menu done by the 'Export fo .gfd' feature. However in GFD you can change anything in those menu, and make them the way you like.