What are the top "photo and video to dvd" creation tools?

[extent]

So you mean that the reason as to why widescreen dvds (16:9) and fullscreen (4:3), both may have the same resolution when their stats are checked upon in a player (that I mentioned before using VLC), may simply be because they all have to use this, as its the pal dvd standard? That 720x576 is essentially the "grid" that everything works within- so fullscreen or widescreen movies may or may not be stretched or shrunk within it, in order to play at their correct aspect? Unless its absolutely necessary to see everything in any added media (photography probably being the most likely), Id rather not have to include any borders as an actual part of any of my own videos or slideshow photo images. I dont mind having to lose a small part of the image or video in order to fill out a widescreen tv, as long as it still gives an acceptable watch in its original aspect ratio, im happy. In comparison, in the past I have bought plenty of anamorphic widescreen movie dvds, and when played on my 4:3 tv, never had any issues

Im trying not to get too confused here, at least when it comes to using MF and the correct options to use If you tried moviefactory, does that mean that I should never really be selecting the 16:9 "display" option at all, if this is only ever adding additional borders to my added media - that should stick with 4:3 and simply crop my media, if required? Im guessing if this is a "yes" then I will be unable to include any proper widescreen menus, if MF does not let me add images to create a menu of the correct aspect? MF only works with its own templates. I still think that I might be better off looking for a more advanced tool, as MF is very limited with its range of options, and Id rather create my own menus from scratch rather than have to work with its set templates. Ive stuck with it at the moment as for basic slideshows it still does the job, and I can copy and edit its templates, despite its limitations in other areas (such as with menu audio, eg only up to 30 seconds is possible).

I was unable to test anything out today on any ws tv, but will try and get something sorted this wkend. thanks for the reply

[DB83]

You may be trying to complicate matters. I also may not be helping.

720*576 is, as you correctly state, the DVD standard. You can not make a 4:3 dvd and expect that to show perfectly in on a 16:9 tv. You will either lose detail top and bottom as the 4:3 frame gets cropped. Modern tvs NEVER stretch the image to fit the screen (atleast I do not think a setting within the tv allows for that). But a 4:3 source CAN be made into a 16:9 dvd by applying a 'original source'/'Pillar Box' flag when the disk is authoured. Then you see the full image and borders left and right. As I said much earlier, you should NEVER see borders on all four sides.

Now, if the default display (the tv) is 16:9, it is natural that you want proper 16:9 menus, images or movies in the display and without any borders. I see no reason why MF WITH THE CORRECT ASSETS can not do that. So you then ask "What are the correct assets ?". A clue can be obtained by looking at the content folder in the MF directory. There 16x9 backgrounds are 1024*576 whereas 4x3 backgounds are 768*576 and HD backgorunds are 1920*1080. It now follows that if your image is not consistent with these then you are going to get borders on your menus.

We have already discussed the slideshow images but we can also now see that the images will have to be these sizes to absolutely guarantee no borders and, more importantly, no loss of detail.

As for the video element, I normally do not let my authouring programs do any scaling (even if they can). I always import bespoke assets ie compliant 4:3 or compliant 16:9 clips into them pre-made with a video editor.

[extent]

ok I will try setting MF7 to its 16:9 display, and only use photos for slideshows that are absolutely identical to its own default 16:9 backgrounds, with the exact 1024x576 resolution, to see if MF7 does show them better than before on a ws television, without the top and bottom black border area. If MF lets me create a widescreen dvd with a menu but without content, then I will also try that to see how it displays on a widescreen tv. I will try a dvd with image resolutions that are lower also, perhaps one disc with differing resolutions that are lower than 1024x576, and one mixed with 1024x576 or lower, to see what the result is.

If nothing works, then I will just have to assume that the MF 16:9 option is there to simply add border to all content to give the 'widescreen look' on a 4:3, and little else. If the above does work, then I wish they had stated within the program that I needed use certain set resolutions in order for dvds with widescreen content to display properly, which would have saved me alot of hassle. Not being able to use 16:9 photos that are bigger or smaller in resolution, despite being of the correct ratio, is awkward-if that is the case. I will probably be looking for a program that can do everything MF can, but better-perhaps one that can automatically re-scale my added items for dvd to fit a widescreens tv screen vertically, keeping the aspect ratio without image distortion, if so.

If none of the above works, and if yourself (or anyone) has a widescreen tv at home, and is searching for something to do, lol- I would ask to try out MF7 to see if they can get a MF7 dvd running with a widescreen menu and very short slideshow, all showing correctly on their widescreen televisions without top and bottom borders, and report back here in what media they used, resolutions etc I would like to hear some more recommendations as to what I could use instead of MF7 that do a similar job, more than one program or not- in which I can a create a dvd with a widescreen menu and widescreen content, as long as my added content plays on a widescreen tv with its correct aspect ratio... not having to only add media of the exact same resolution, if that is the case with MF, in order for everything to show properly. The best thing about MovieFactory was probably in its ease of use, with alot of good looking basic templates, easy for creating quick family photo slideshow dvds, but I would like to find out about programs that give alot more editing capability, being able to create my own templates with my own added imagery for menus also. Im trying out Magix PhotoStory at the moment, but it seems to be having alot of trouble in recognising some forms of media that it supposedly can use, and its layout is perhaps not the most straightforward, but thats "another story"... lol, sorry ... !!

thanks

[DB83]

Just for a giggle, I took one photo and created some different versions - I am testing this on MF6 and have no need to upgrade.

1024*576 (the default) = no 16:9 borders
1600*900 = no 16:9 borders
2048*1152 = no 16:9 borders
800 * 450 = borders
768 * 432 = borders
600 * 388 = borders

Now check the maths and all these photos are 16* pixels x 9* pixels but I suspect that anything less than 1024 pixels wide will give you borders. Do not ask me why that is except that 1024/16 = 64. And I doubt if there is any program on the planet that will rescale whatever you throw at it to guarantee 16:9 and no borders.

Equally, just because your video has exact 16:9 dimensions, there is no guarantee than any program on the planet can rescale it for true 16:9 under the DVD spec with no borders. I do not have anything to test this out which is why I ask for one of your samples and we can then check like with like.

[extent]

Do you mean that with MF6, set to its 16:9 option, that with your first test you show- that you were able to add 1024x576 images to create a simple slideshow, and no borders were visible on your widescreen tv? You are using a widescreen? lol

Today, I did exactly the same in MF7 - I edited/cropped some photos with photoshop down to a resolution of exactly 1024x576 (no black areas on the photos), saved them as JPG and added them to MF7 using one of its default ws templates to create a simple slideshow. I did not add any movies, so to speed up and fix this issue I was only using slideshows with photos of the above resolution. On the widescreen tv, with the tv display set to its default mode- unlike any ws movie which always look ok, my MF dvd on screen always looks like this :-


[Attachment 3384 - Click to enlarge]

If I change this default display mode on the widescreen tv to its "auto" option, it tries to fill out the screen with the content, and always looks like this :-


[Attachment 3385 - Click to enlarge]

Its not just my media that may have the problem, as Ive tried wallpaper off the net now at this same resolution, and the same problem is occurring. Thats why I assumed that the 16:9 mode in MF must add borders top and bottom to the original image, to be viewed only on a 4:3 tv. The photo slideshows (and videos, when I tested earlier) on the widescreen tv also take up the same area as a menu does above, no difference, same bordered area. I dont mind not having "perfectly 16:9" content, but on a widescreen tv I want the correct aspect ratio, and do not want large top and bottom borders. Slight borders left and right are not a problem. So my only option to watch my slideshows without stretching any photos seems to be to view them on the ws tv as shown in the first photo above. Or to try MF6, if that really does work better...

[DB83]

I can not view your 'attachments' there seems to be a problem there so I can not comment on them.

But I also do not quite understand what you are trying to say right now. Are you saying that even using 1024*576 images in a 16:9 dvd that there are still borders when you view this dvd on your widescreen tv ?

[extent]

yes, using only 1024*576 images on a 16:9 set dvd with one slideshow, have borders on a widescreen tv.
My attachment links above dont work on my mobile browser either, they only work when viewed in windows IE or firefox ..so heres a direct link to the jpgs instead:-

Its a mock up, but its accurate! Here's my dvd on the tv, with its tv display set to "default" :-
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7577/fin1g.jpg

...and here's and the same dvd on the same tv, this time set to "auto", where the tv is trying to fill out the entire screen- ignoring aspect ratio :-
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/7552/fin2a.jpg

The menus content shows identically from within this same area when selected, with the black borders of the same size and positioning. The tv is unable to fill the top and bottom of the screen in "auto" display mode, which is why I thought before that the 16:9 option always added black borders to all added media and its menu, not suitable for use on a widescreen tv. If you can get a MF6 widescreen dvd to fill out the top and bottom areas of a widescreen tv using images of the same resolution, then it sounds like MF7 may not be working correctly. If so, then I will try out MF6, or even another ws tv, if I can get access to one. thanks

[DB83]

Well smth is certainly not right.

Can you up the dvd folder for this sample ?

[extent]

if you mean the dvd VIDEO_TS output, then here is a quick test sample that shows large borders all over, and also top and bottom when using the auto stretch function of the tv, as in my imageshack samples. try it on your own tv if possible and let me know if you see borders as large, if at all! it contains the one slideshow with 1024x576 added jpg photos (no idea who is in the first pic, some tourist, lol-not sure if they saw me at the time-haha). the dvd display was set to 16:9 within MF7, using differing default widescreen MF templates :-

http://www.mediafire.com/?np9betm3bjc4m3l
http://www.mediafire.com/?cpg1mlhfuju7uwp

I shouldve probably tried one set to 4:3 just for the sake of it, but I would assume that you will have the same problem on your tv, as the dvd player I tried before has no issues with ws retail movies, only my own creations! again, I wouldnt mind if these MF discs only had very slight bordering, even all over, but they are large, and hardly what you would expect when viewing any dvd on a widescreen television.

[DB83]

Ok. I have the uploads. But I have also been on the red grape so I will not check these out until tomorrow AND on a widescreen tv.

[DB83]

Ok. I burnt your two folders this morning and, just for an even playing field, one of my own using 1024*576 image and MF6.

The tv is a 28" Sony Widescreen CRT. When the tv is turned on, it reports the viewing format is 'Zoom'. When the disks where inserted, the tv reports the viewing format is 'Wide'. I did not set this tv up.

All the disks, the two you produced and mine, were identical in performance. That is to say they filled the screen with no borders. In fact I first thought there was a small border on all of them but that was actually the non-viewing area of the screen.

I can not test these on a LCD or other type of widescreen tv which typically has no non-viewing area.

To recap. These disks are fine on the equipment I have at my disposal and we have used different versions of the same program - if you want the folders of my disk I can upload them. You also state that commercial disks have no issues. These two statements now appear contradictory. I really do not know where we can go from here since your program is now producing proper 16:9 slideshow disks. Apart from the fact that we have not started on video yet.

[jagabo]

if you mean the dvd VIDEO_TS output, then here is a quick test sample that shows large borders all over

Your DVD player is set to output a 4:3 image. So the 16:9 DVD is being output letterboxed into a 4:3 frame (borders top and bottom). Then the TV is taking the 4:3 image and adding borders to the left and right to fill out its 16:9 screen. Go into your DVD players setup and change the output to 16:9.

[DB83]

if you mean the dvd VIDEO_TS output, then here is a quick test sample that shows large borders all over

Your DVD player is set to output a 4:3 image. So the 16:9 DVD is being output letterboxed into a 4:3 frame (borders top and bottom). Then the TV is taking the 4:3 image and adding borders to the left and right to fill out its 16:9 screen. Go into your DVD players setup and change the output to 16:9.

But the OP has already stated that commercial disks play fine and without borders.

[jagabo]

The DVD ISO image in this post:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/325295-What-are-the-top-photo-and-video-to-dvd-crea...=1#post2015155

plays properly as 16:9 for me. The menu fills the screen of the 16:9 HDTV. The slideshow doesn't fill the width of the screen because he started with 1280x800 images (AR = 14.4:9) -- narrower than a 16:9 aspect ratio. The software did exactly what it should have done, pillarbox the images. The IFO, BUP, and VOB files all have proper 16:9 flags. The image in the menu VOB file completely fills the 720x576 frame. The image in the slideshow VOB file fills a 648x576 portion of the 720x576 frame with black pillarbox bars to fill out the frame -- exactly as it should given the aspect ratio of the source images.

The VIDEO_TS folders in this post:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/325295-What-are-the-top-photo-and-video-to-dvd-crea...=1#post2015708

are similar except there are no longer any pillarbox bars in the slideshow because the source images were 16:9. The IFO, BUP, and VOB files all have proper 16:9 flags. The images fill the 720x576 VOB frame. When viewed on my HDTV the picture fills the display completely.

[DB83]

Ok. I think this is what I determined from looking at the samples.

But what it does not explain is that he states that commercial 16:9 dvds display correctly whereas he states that the 16:9 dvds he creates even with the correct source images at 16:9 do not.

I can well understand your notion of the dvd player outputing 4:3 and I did ask the OP to confirm that his settings were corrcect.

[jagabo]

If it's really true that the OPs DVD player and TV are set up to play commercial anamorphic 16:9 DVDs properly (ie, the player is set to output 16:9, the TV is set to display that input as 16:9) then:

1) His player has an odd bug where it handles DVD+-R media differently than pressed media.

2) There is some obscure bug in MovieFactory that causes some players to interpret the 16:9 flags incorrectly.

3) He's playing a PAL disc on an NTSC system (I didn't notice any mention of where he is located) and it isn't handling the conversion properly.

[extent]

Its a pal disc on a pal system, uk. Its good to know that my 16:9 set dvds play as they should in widescreen on both of your players, on 16:9 tvs in standard "auto" mode, filling up the screen almost entirely top and bottom without changing aspect, and pillar boxed for showing some items when necessary according to size. So its either an obscure display option well hidden on the dvd player or tvs that ive tested. I suppose 16:9 mode in any creation tool adding borders to the overall dvd sounded possible at the time, but if this was true, no doubt the same borders would have shown on a 4:3 tv, and in vlc on the pc (surely noticable in windowed mode), but they didnt show. So I think that just about sums it all up. Perhaps that was why I wasnt getting any help from the official forums for the dvd program I used, if it was an issue with the tv or player. I can re-check the last tv and dvd player yet again tomorrow to see if there are any seperate hard to find options for rewritable discs, or manual to see if they are fully supported. I suspect that they are supported as my burnt disc was also tested on the same system (dvd+r) and had the same all round border, so display options needing to be changed on the last player must surely be the cause, especially if there are any seperate for dvd-r/rw media. The last player did have a very basic menu when viewing it yesterday, but will give it a double check. If that doesnt help, perhaps try other modern players on the same widescren tv if possible The last player used in my test was a sony, two in one vhs/dvd player....

thanks for all the help

[DB83]

It is most unlikely that you would find a setting on the player for self-made disks.

They either work or they do not. Do a search in these forums and you will probably find lots of scenarios where self-made disks do not work in players - poor player, poor disk, bad burn, any combination of these and others besides. Sony players are usually fine but I suppose you can always have a bad 'un. But now it has been established that the program is correctly making the disk you can discount that.

I may add one rider to that which really should not make any difference. I suspect you do use MF7 to burn the disk you are creating. Try to make a disk but instead of burning it with MF7 just use the program to 'create folders' and use imgburn to do the actual burning.

[extent]

I always create the "VIDEO_TS" folder, then burn with ashampoo... so I could do the opposite, use MFs burner for once and see what happens. Its just good to know that the program is not working incorrectly, at least with a crt widescreen television (jabago, is your hdtv screen lcd or crt)? If its not lcd, then lcd could still be an issue, even if unlikely. If its lcd, then perhaps I can add images and video of any resolution after all.. just not on the last particular players I tested out! I will still be reading the manual of the last tv and dvd player tomorrow to see if I can come up with a solution that I can see working myself, and ill no longer have to worry. If I find the solution on the player, or if it turns out to be an incompatibility problem after all with my discs, and I can be sure of that, I will note it here-thanks

[jagabo]

The DVD player I tested on is a Philips DVP-5990. Connected to a Samsung LNT-4665 LCD HDTV with an HDMI cable. The DVD player is set to upscale to 1080p60.

[extent]

this has been one long thread.. only to eventually/probably find out that the tv or players I used just werent 100% compatible, or has some obscure hidden options, lol. I always use verbatim +r and +rw dvds for my slideshow/video discs. thanks for the tv+player info

[DB83]

Well I would certainly try the MF7 burner but also do try imgburn. I suspect you are using the free version of Ashampoo. Seems to offer a lot for no cost (apart from the spam you get in your mail) and who knows that may be the real culprit.

[extent]

I tried different burners, and they made no difference. The screen is the same, still bordered top and bottom. There werent any settings on the tv or player aside from 16:9 or 4:3, and they were tried out with both 16:9 and auto. I got the brand wrong - it was the first player that was the sony! - the vhs+dvd in one (tested on last, and today) was a daewoo DF4700. The tv is a relatively small lcd widescreen, a Humax LU23-TD2. I also made a temporary backup today of a widescreen movie (1.77:1 on box) onto the same brand of dvd+rw, and there are no borders top and bottom when the tv is set to widescreen, only borders left and right appear when the menu is being viewed. The movie shows as it should do, so its probably not that.

With my own creations, perhaps moviefactory may be not setting something right that makes the player (or tv) incapable of upscaling to fill the top and bottom screen borders, or going above a certain maximum size, if its not a fault with both players/tvs I tried out. I will try out yet another brand of widescreen tv and player later on and give you the results... If you are both not having any problems, it cant just be my luck that up to 3 different tvs and 3 players wont work for me! lol so, third time is lucky.. (possibly) lol

[jagabo]

I didn't mention it earlier but I tried the DVD (from the ISO image) on another DVD player and 19" LCD HDTV (component cabling). It had a proper 16:9 image that filled the screen. I burned the ISO image with ImgBurn onto a DVD+RW.

[extent]

I might try an iso with ImgBurn, thanks. No doubt burning as an iso or from video_ts shouldnt make a difference-at least if MF is creating them with the exact same content. With dvds created in MF, I just wonder what the chances are of them not having some much needed settings that (some?) players might need in order to zoom to fit a screen? if MF is not adding some much needed info to its creations... Im not sure what info might be on a standard dvd - what the BUP or IFO files exactly contain relating to how to display, alongside the VOB movie content, or if there are tools to read or edit each fully, if needed, to find out if anything might be missing.

As well as another tv and player, I think Ill try another slideshow tool that lets me create to 16:9, as a final (!) test, on the same tested out tv/players. That might give me an idea if MF really is not adding much needed info or not for the players/tvs to display properly. The only trouble ill have then is finding one that can create a full disc in its trial, and works well on a 1.6Gghz/1Gb pc! lol

[jagabo]

IFO files are essentially little programs that tell the DVD player how to play the VOB files. They can override the aspect ratio settings encoded into the VOBs. BUP files are backup copies of the IFO files (in case the IFOs are damaged by a scratch). MediaInfo and IfoEdit both reported that the IFO, BUP, and VOB files were flagged 16:9. I don't know what's left that could be confusing your DVD players.

[extent]

I forgot about MediaInfo, I think that was suggested before and I did try it out. If theres no extra info at all in preventing the image filling out the screen more a certain level within that (if possible), then I really dont know either. Im going to try one last player and ws tv, and a different program altogether to create a ws slideshow, to see what happens *crossing fingers*

[jagabo]

What kind of cables are you using to connect the DVD player(s) to the HDTV(s)?

[extent]

they are lcd tvs, but Im pretty sure that the tvs Ive tried out are not hd. If you are both using hd, and I am using a more standard lcd, then that could have been part of my problem - if movie discs also didnt work that is ! but they do lol. so its a bit of a mystery. for a freebie tool to also test out on my players/tvs, I might try DVDSlideshowGUI, it seems to have good ratings, supposedly relatively easy to use as a combo of tools, and Ive used GUI for dvdauthor before which it uses for creating menus, so it might be worth a go

ps one last thing to make sure Im not the one at fault here - if anyone could create a simple 16:9 MovieFactory dvd, with a default menu and simple slideshow, say two random images, and upload the VIDEO_TS or iso, I will try burning it myself for use on the same tv-that way ill know its not just me simply missing something in MF, lol. thanks if possible

[DB83]

I did offer that to you yesterday. But never mind. I will do another in the morning (having tested it first) and send the link over.

At least some can then be amused at my crap photography.