DVD slideshow GUI - development thread.

[tin2tin]

Thanks for tracking down and solving this mpasource problem.
I've added this new mpasource to the download of DVD slideshow GUI.

Great!

[thorir]

Is it possible to offset the "safe" window off center?

I have an image that I'm using for the background with a large header and no footer, so I'd like to offset the images in the -y direction.

Any tips?

Thanks.

[tin2tin]

Is it possible to offset the "safe" window off center?

No that's not supported in the gui, but you can allways use the animation function to place images anywhere in the screen. Just add a keyframe at the start and at the end of the timeline at the new x,y position.

[thorir]

Thanks.

Great program!

[vjvital]

Thank You, tin2tin For this great slideshow maker !

But When i start using all of its great opportunities - i saw small bugs:

Videofiles coding with the codecs, in my case, MJPEG, which easily recognize such programs as virtualdub, cyberlink PowerDVD, Mediaplayer classic - NOT IMPORTING TO THE "DVD slideshow GUI"

You can be helpful program http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

OK !
I went a different way.
I start to use "uncompressed RGB" format - these videofiles are normally imported with the photos.

BUT when i starting export - i saw speed memory overload (http://www.globalclipboard.com/systemeye/)
and message with the memory error.

My slideshow not fully finished - only part of my slides are ok - other - not rendered !

Of course I can assembling my small parts of the slideshow - but whether this is the sence

What I am wrong

[salvatore]

I have troubles in using the program on Windows Vista Home Premium.
The program installs regularly, and I can import my JPG images, but the preview facility blocks itself because does not find a codec file.
Exploring the program possibilities I tried to export, and it works showing me a preview of the images.
I can also save the file, and subsequently run it, but when I try another set of images, either by selecting "new project", or relaunching the program, it gives an error message: "unable to save file", and from this moment on shows me always the first selection made.
I can only work by deinstalling and reinstalling the program.
Can anybody help me?
It is very difficult to know where to post this request in this forum, but I hope that someone more expert coul help me also for that.
Thanks,
Salvatore

[tin2tin]

@ vjvital - I'm not sure if I understand your problem correctly, but all video/audio formats avisynth supports can be imported in DVD slideshow GUI by writing a simple avisynth script(DSG can import avisynth scripts(.avs). Check this out: http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Importing_media. If you're having problems with memory try to higher the virtual memory on your computer or else you'll have to render your slideshow in parts and use ex. Mediajoin to join the files into one.

@ salvatore - I don't have Vista - so I guess you could say that Vista is not supported. However it would be nice if it did work. The preview is Media Player Classic running an avisynth script. Normally I suggest people to install ffdshow and enable the avisynth video decoder - but so far no one has replyed if this actually does anything for them - so I don't know if this solves the problem. It could be that you need a more Vista friendly version of Media Player Classic(there are loads of different versions around) or some kind of problem of how avisynth scripts is decoded on Vista. However if you can export succesfully it seems like avisynth scripts are processed correctly by either HCenc, avs2avi, ffmpeg depending on what format you're exporting to.

I can also save the file, and subsequently run it, but when I try another set of images, either by selecting "new project", or relaunching the program, it gives an error message: "unable to save file", and from this moment on shows me always the first selection made.

Do you mean as .gfd? I don't know about Vista - but it seems like Vista somehow is protected agains deleting and overwriting the DSG generated temp files. Could you manually delete the generated temp files before a new export, and check if that will give you an successful export?

[salvatore]

Hi tin2tin,
I do not understand completely your advise about ffdshow, and also what do you mean as ".gfd".
For a comparison I have downloaded and installed the program on a computer running WinXP Professional Edition and I could save several DSG files without the "unable to save file" message.
So the problem seems to stay with Vista.
However, on XP, when I try to export the file as .mpg an error aborts the program.
Same story with .avi and other formats randomly tried.
I tried several installations with identical negative results.
Can you kindly help me?
I like the program anyhow.
Salvatore

[tin2tin]

@ Salvatore

I do not understand completely your advise about ffdshow

Check this out: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic345545.html#1809710 - but only if you get an error when trying to preview/export.

.gfd= I'm sorry I meant .dsg. I guess there is some problem with wxbasic/wxwidgets(the programming language) and Vista, when saving files. If this is the case nothing will work on Vista... I hope there will be a new version of wxbasic out soon build with the latest wxwidgets, but as I mentioned I can't test Vista.

On XP Pro (did you check out the FAQ/Troubleshooting section of DSG?)
- What's the error?
- Can you preview? If not test if avisynth is properly installed by draging a .avs file(from avisynth/examples) into Media Player Classic (in the DSG folder).
- How many images do you have in the slideshow? You might not have enough RAM for long slideshows - test with a few images first.
- What version of DSG are you using?

[salvatore]

Hi tin2tin,
I will try your advises.
For the moment I bypassed the problem (in Vista) by reinstalling the program, importing the desired images and saving the project.
To make a new project I do not use the menu entry (which let me fall in the "unable to save file" problem), but I delete the existing images and charge new ones, save the project and so on.
I must leave always on the program, since if I exit and launch it again it will issue the same " unable etc," message after each import.
Hope to have soon a patch, but for the moment I can use it satisfactorily with this trick.
Another minor question: I see the image enveloped in a beige-brown square or rectangle depending on its shape, which steals some useful space.
Can I change/modify such envelope?
Thanks,
Salvatore

[tin2tin]

For the moment I bypassed the problem (in Vista) by reinstalling the program, importing the desired images and saving the project.
To make a new project I do not use the menu entry (which let me fall in the "unable to save file" problem), but I delete the existing images and charge new ones, save the project and so on.
I must leave always on the program, since if I exit and launch it again it will issue the same " unable etc," message after each import.

In the path name you're saving to are there any special letters? Is it the same problem if you change the path you're saving to? Open the .ini in notepad and check if the paths look okay? Maybe this could be a simple workaround: try to delete the .ini file in the main DVD slideshow GUI folder before starting it again.
Does any non Vista users have the same problem?

I see the image enveloped in a beige-brown square or rectangle depending on its shape, which steals some useful space.
Can I change/modify such envelope?

I guess you mean the background? The background image can be changed under "Presets". And the maximum size of the image can be changed by changing the Safe X and Safe Y values under "Presets". Read up on it in the "Help".

What about exporting and previewing, does that work now?

[fla_2]

Hi StephanC,

Try to get ffdshow, install it and make sure that under the Video Decoder Configuration, Avisynth isn't disabled.

Tin2tin

Hi Tin2tin,

I am having the same problem Stephan is having and I tried your suggestion with no success. Is there anything else I should be aware of ? Is there a checklist of what is needed ?

Thanks,
Jose Luis Marchetti

I was having the same problem as jmarchetti and StephanC on a very new and clean installation of XP SP2. Installing ffdshow as instructed didn't help me. What worked for me was downloading the free package from http://www.divx.com/ and installing only the codecs when running DivXInstaller.exe. Now the preview works. This happened on two different machines one XP Pro and one XP home. Hopefully someone can give a better solution since the free divx download is almost as big as DVD slideshow GUI itself or better yet the the installer should include whatever is missing.

[tin2tin]

@ fla_2 Good to know that installing divx fixes that problem for you. So the problem is connected to get Avisynth to work. Here's a FAQ on Avisynth installation troubles. . There is a part here suggesting installation of Xvid. Maybe it's enough to enable Xvid/Divx Ffdshow videodecoder?

[salvatore]

My problem is not in "saving", but in "importing".
The message "unable to save file" comes automatically after the importing operation.
I deleted the "new.ini" file, but the problem persists.
I saw also how to change some settings on the "preset" facilities.
Thanks,
Salvatore

[tin2tin]

Okay. "Importing"...

If I...
1. Import some images
2. Select new
3. Import some new images
...I don't get an error.

I suspect that there might be something wrong with the name of the path, where DSG is installed into... like special letters or something like that.

When you get the error: "Unable to save..." then open "new.ini"-file in Notepad and copy everything and paste into a PM(Personal Message) to me. Or upload the "new.ini"-file somewhere I can download it.

Can you confirm that everything else works on Vista?

[fla_2]

Hi tin2tin,

Thanks for the info but now that avisynth is working with the divx codecs I don't dare break it again to test the better solution.

For the demo DVD on your web site you have a really nice one-by-one feature. I noticed you asked the gfd development thread about how to accomplish this in a less tedious way. Did you manage to automate this feature at all or is it still tedious?

Thanks.

[tin2tin]

On the tutorial page: http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/tutorials.html there is a tutorial in words and there is also a tutorial in Flash/Wink here: http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/GFDexport.html on how to export to .gfd etc. It is very simple. Just export from DVD slideshow GUI to .gfd and open that file in Gui for dvdauthor, author and burn it.

[tin2tin]

Been playing around with some Free Frame Effects for transitions in DVD slideshow GUI.
Check the cool preview video out here!

And here's a preview of motion backgrounds made with Ffrend/Free Frame Effects and loaded as .avs background. They will change endlessly and are very small in file size compared to rendered video. Take a look here.

[olivier]

Hello tin2tin,
Your software is always so great , thank you! I have downloaded v0.81, and Classic windows file/media loader is easier than the old loader to select files
I have a little problem: I need to put .MOV files and photos in a slideshow. There is an AviSynth plugin for Quicktime files, called QTSource, avalaible here: http://avisynth.org/QuickTime.
So I built an AVS script for each .mov file, with a command line like QTInput(Clip, color=2, audio=true), instead of AVISource (you need to have QuickTime installed; if not use the FFMPEGSource command).
When I import, for example, 1 AVS then 1 photo then 1 AVS in DSG, and I export/open mpg file, the photo of the middle of the movie is not displayed; instead of it, it is the first image of the last video which is displayed.
I think the bug is only with QuickTime files; standard formats like MJPEG or DIVX work fine.
Any ideas ?
Thanks!

[tin2tin]

There is a new version out. With bug fixes and 12 new motion backgrounds and 12 new transitions - all based on Free Frame effects.

Maybe I've fixed what your're writing about. At least I couldn't reproduce your problem. I've tested with a slideshow with Quicktime video included here?

Try out the new version and let me know if it solves your problem.

[olivier]

Hello tin2tin,
Yes, it works with .MOV videos, as in your exemple. But it doesn't work anymore if you include a photo between video files.
I have tried v0.82 and I still have the problem...
Thank you for your really fast replies.

[tin2tin]

The numbers inbetween are animated stills/photos in my example. Could you post/upload/PM me the shortest possible gfd file which illustrates the problem and the quicktime avs script you're using?

[Edit: Okay now I see the problem, but only if the first slide is an .avs file. If the first slide is a photo(and then an avs...) there is no problem as far as I can see. There has always been a problem(which I couldn't fix) if the first slide in the slideshow is avs - that's why there is a warning written in the status bar when previewing]

[Edit2: Can you test this and check if this fix doesn't break some other things? Place it in the main folder of an installed DSG and run it from there. DVDsGUI_082_1_avs_fix.exe]

[olivier]

Your last .exe file resolves the problem.
Sorry, I have never seen the warning before you told me...
Now, I will test it with more photos/videos. If there is something else, I'll let you know.
Thank you, tin2tin!

[tin2tin]

I've added the fix for the bug Oliver found to the main download file on the DSG homepage. So no need to download the fix if you downloaded the 0.82 after today.

[TCY]

Thanks for your wonderful program. It is really quite easy to use.

I have completed my first project involving 70 JPGs and one song for a run time of about 3 mins. It is preset to NTSC 4:3 and all the slides are preset to with expo = 50 and duration of transition = 25.

The preview of the project looks wonderful. However, I run into trouble when I export the project.

The resulting MPG file has serious issues. The audio glitches on the first slide, but continues playing normally/smoothly for half of the show. The first slide transitions to the second, but then the show is stuck on the second slide while the audio continues playing. Eventually the slide will transition but not smoothly (ie jumps around out of order to different slides) and the audio glitches like mad at this point.

I re-exported the project (several times to different disks), but the result was the same (same file size also), so there does not appear to be a hardware glitch. I changed a few parameters (namely safe area). The exported file was of a slightly different size, but the contents were pretty much the same: audio glitches, stuck on second slide etc).

My rig is an Intel Q6600, running WinXP SP2 with 2.5GB memory and many GB of free disk space. I am using ver. 0.82 of DSG.

Since the preview of the project looked great, my guess is that there is an issue with the MPG encoding. Could you please provide me some pointers on what to do?

Thanks so much!

Tim

[tin2tin]

If the preview looks allright it your problem might be connected to the mpg encoder HCenc. Try to export to avi(no audio)/flv(audio) and see if you get the same error in the rendered file.

If exporting in those formats looks okay then might be some sort of max bitrate problem with HCenc. You could try with the earlier version of HCenc 0.21 and simply replace it with the one in the DSG folder.

Let me know if that solves your problem.

[TCY]

Hi. Thanks for the quick reply. I exported out to AVI successfully, so it was an MPG issue. I cannot find HCenc 2.1. Perhaps I can modify the .ini file. I've never worked with HCenc before so any tips would be much appreciated.

If I can't get HCenc to work, what do you recommend for recording this to DVD? I wish to have the clearest picture (and transition) posssible since it is for a memorial DVD for the family of my best friend. The AVI export looks OK, but I can see artifacts in during the transition.

Thanks.

[tin2tin]

Okay before trying the HCenc 0.21 try to lower the bitrate. In the main folder of DSG open the HC.ini file in Notepad and change it to this(lower the bitrate)and save it as HC.ini:

*cq_maxbitrate 3.0
*dc_prec       10
*WAIT          0
*BITRATE       7000
*MAXBITRATE    7500
*AUTOGOP       15

If this doesn't solve your problem try HCenc from here:
http://www.bitburners.com/category/software/video/hc-encoder/
There is also a GUI included so you can export a .avs file which can be rendered manually with HCenc so you can change the settings to your needs.

Btw. dissolve transitions might create spikes in the bitrate. So if there is a problem with the max bitrate try to avoid these kinds of transitions.

[TCY]

Thanks. Here's the status. I DLed ver 2.1 (thanks for the link) and set DSG to use it. I tried other transitions (other than Dissolve).
The resulting export to MPG is still messed up. Meanwhile the Previews are great.

So I exported just an AVS file. But the AVS file would not load into MPC.

MPC showed an AVIsynth error that points to a bug in the AVS file. There was a line in the DSG-generated AVS file that read:

c = (import ("C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI/Transitions/DissolveDark.avs"))

Notice the two forward slashes? So I replaced these with backward slashes. Then, I got another error msg:

LoadPlugin: unable to load "Posteffects\channelmixer.dll"

I fixed this second one by editing the DissolveDark.avs which was not pointing to the correct directory.

So finally, the AVS file loaded. Then I used HC gui and manually converted the file to m2v. This file worked.

OK. So at this point, I have an M2V file. Next thing is to attach sound to it and create a DVD player readable file.

I hope to do a few more compilations. So if you have ideas on how to make this work, I would love to hear it.
Thanks so much for your help.

Latest update:
- Using Export All, I have created the M2V and AC3 files for multiplexing through Imago. Did it once. Worked like a charm and now I have a standalone MPG file. This workflow is a bit more than I had hoped. But at least I have something I can present the family. THANKS!

[olivier]

To continue with Dissolve*.avs, I found that following AVS files don't point to the correct directory:

C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\Transitions\DissolveBlackWhite.avs(1): LoadPlugin("Posteffects\channelmixer.dll")
C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\Transitions\DissolveBright.avs(1): LoadPlugin("Posteffects\channelmixer.dll")
C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\Transitions\DissolveBurn.avs(1): LoadPlugin("Posteffects\channelmixer.dll")
C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\Transitions\DissolveDark.avs(1): LoadPlugin("Posteffects\channelmixer.dll")
C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\Transitions\DissolveDesat.avs(1): LoadPlugin("Posteffects\channelmixer.dll")
C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\Transitions\DissolveNegative.avs(1): LoadPlugin("Posteffects\channelmixer.dll")
C:\Program Files\DVD slideshow GUI\bin\readme_MPASource.avs(19): LoadPlugin("C:\myprojects\mpasource25\release\mpas ource.dll")

Easy to correct by ourselves, but maybe you can correct it for the next versions...
Thank you!