DVD slideshow GUI - development thread.

[Mike99]

Can I burn to DVD-RAM? I thought ImgBurn could write to RAM and I went into settings checked the DVD-RAM box. But it does not work. I get an error message that the disc is not empty & it will erase the contents. After writing I checked the disc & it has the typical DVD-R folders & files. And it will not play in my DVD player.

Since I'm still trying different things with DSG it would be nice to write to DVD-RAM. Please let me know if this is possible.

Thanks in advance.

[tin2tin]

Never tried it. According to wikipedia it has Less compatibility than DVD+RW and DVD-RW. Have you succeded in playing any dvd-ram dvd on your standalone?

Don't know much about ImgBurn - maybe you should ask your question over there?

[tin2tin]

New DVD slideshow GUI release candidate: DVDsGUI0899RC4.exe

With another round of bugfixes, new icons and a nice default slide thanks to my brother.

@ Olivier: I added French to the menu and a Locale/fr/fr.po file. When you installed Poedit just open that po file write the translations into the right collum save and send me the files(.mo and .po). If you save into the same folder under the same name - you'll be able to see your translation in the gui.

[Mike99]

Never tried it. According to wikipedia it has Less compatibility than DVD+RW and DVD-RW. Have you succeded in playing any dvd-ram dvd on your standalone?

Don't know much about ImgBurn - maybe you should ask your question over there?

My DVD player is a Panasonic recorder/player and is RAM compatible, which is what I mainly use.

ImgBurn did burn to the RAM, but not in the correct format. It created the typical VIDEO_TS folder & its files, vs the mpg compatible file. I did try exporting an ISO file from DSG to ImgBurn and got the same results. I thought about exporting an mpg file, but ImgBurn does not appear to accept this. I'll check at the ImgBurn forum.

[Aliby]

I am having trouble getting DVDSlideShow to render all my photos. If someone can assist me with trouble shooting I would appreciate it.

I have 51 photos
It will render the mpg or iso. (THe same happens if I try preview)
When played back the photo's run OK with burnt in sub titles until about photo 22nd photo
Then it still change the subtitle, but the photo "freezes" for the next 26 photos.
The last three photo's appear OK right at the end.

I have tried various backgrounds or transitions (or none)
I have tried updating using the patches on this forum, even using the latest RC3.
That makes me think it it a config problem not a bug.
I have a DELL M90 dual core. 13 Gig free disk space, 2G memory, Quatro FX 2500M (512MB)


Thanks for the help,

[tin2tin]

Sounds like mplex is misbehaving. Try to find a newer version on the net and exchange it with the one in the main DVD slideshow GUI folder.

Alternatively download and install Gui for dvdauthor and export to .gfd format from dvd slideshow gui and load that file in Gui for dvdauthor and let it handle the authoring(Muxman is used as authoring software instead of dvdauthor).

[Mike99]

What is the best way to update DSG to DVDsGUI0899RC4.exe?

Will it overwrite all the old files or should I uninstall the old version first?

And the same with the other applications that came with DSG, such as AviSynth and Xvid.

[tin2tin]

Just uninstall DSG, and cancel reinstalation of avisynth and xvid if you all ready installed them with one of the latest RC's. Avisynth in the RC's is newer than previous versions, so it makes sense to update that.

[tin2tin]

New patch: DVDsGUI0899RC5.zip
Unzip and overwrite the old files in the main folder of DVD slideshow GUI.

Dvdauthor has been replaced by Muxman. I hope this will give you guys better results...

(This means no mplexing when authoring dvd's. Mplex is still muxing mpgs.)

[olivier]

Hello tin2tin,

Here are the french translations for DVD slideshow GUI below. With that, my whole french family will be able to use DSG!

A little thing in DSG: If I click Cancel in Slide Settings, DSG updates the list, even if nothing has been modified. Sometimes I have more than 1000 slides in a slideshow, and I have to wait for DSG, which updates the 1000 slides. Could it be possible to do nothing when I click Cancel ?

To finish my post, I had memory problems last year; but the last version of Avisynth has made huge memory enhancements, and I can now make a slideshow of 2h30min in one single process (using frameserver to create m2v/mp2), sky is the limit!


fr.zip

[tin2tin]

Here are the french translations for DVD slideshow GUI below. With that, my whole french family will be able to use DSG!

Great! This is way cool to see the whole thing in french! I hope it didn't cause you too much trouble.

A little thing in DSG: If I click Cancel in Slide Settings, DSG updates the list, even if nothing has been modified. Sometimes I have more than 1000 slides in a slideshow, and I have to wait for DSG, which updates the 1000 slides. Could it be possible to do nothing when I click Cancel ?

Yes, I'm investigating this now. The thing is that the nifty transition preview somehow when running updates all spinners and textboxes in that window and when okaying/canceling everything is updated in the listctrl.

To finish my post, I had memory problems last year; but the last version of Avisynth has made huge memory enhancements, and I can now make a slideshow of 2h30min in one single process (using frameserver to create m2v/mp2), sky is the limit!

Wow, you must have the world record in making long slide-shows in DSG! What are you frameserving to? Is Hcenc and soundout (the DSG way) causing you problems when rendering that long slide-shows?

Thank you very much for the translation!!!!!! It will be in the next installer.

[Edit: fixing Cancel in Slide Settings wasn't that hard. What is more difficult is Okay because the previewer somehow updates everything in the window, all settings are returned as changed, and will be updated in the GUI, eventhough the user didn't update them. ]

[tin2tin]

Okay, got a new release candidate for you. This time it's a full installer.

With the new french translation. ^
Bugs in Slide Settings fixed
Bugs in Animation tool fixed.
Muxman instead of dvdauthor+cygwin.
New icon.
And an installer change - now you can uncheck Avisynth and Xvid if you allready have them installed.

Get it here: DVDsGUI0899RC6.exe

(I know I should try to fix the cutting of help lines in the statusbar - and the helpfiles/credits needs a serious update too, but after that I thing we're getting close to an actual release. )

[Mike99]

Will a slideshow of 1000 slides fit a one DVD-R? Not that I plan that, but is there a typical maximum?

When Project Settings is opened, the displayed picture has the right edge cut off if the Safe Area is unchecked or reduced in size. Since the picture edge is cut off so is a long subtitle, and you cannot see it is all going to fit. Is there a setting that allows the full picture to be displayed with no Safe Area?

[tin2tin]

Will a slideshow of 1000 slides fit a one DVD-R? Not that I plan that, but is there a typical maximum?

Dunno. Never tried it. Tecnically it is possible with the gfd export to make a dvd with 9000 slides - if your computer have enough ram and harddisk space to render the included video-slideshow.

When Project Settings is opened, the displayed picture has the right edge cut off if the Safe Area is unchecked or reduced in size. Since the picture edge is cut off so is a long subtitle, and you cannot see it is all going to fit. Is there a setting that allows the full picture to be displayed with no Safe Area?

Could you somehow illustrate what your problem is? In Project Settings all of the image should be visible?

[Mike99]

When Project Settings is opened, the displayed picture has the right edge cut off if the Safe Area is unchecked or reduced in size. Since the picture edge is cut off so is a long subtitle, and you cannot see it is all going to fit. Is there a setting that allows the full picture to be displayed with no Safe Area?

Could you somehow illustrate what your problem is? In Project Settings all of the image should be visible?[/quote]

In Project Settings all the image is visible when there a large enough Safe Area. But as you start decreasing safex and safey the image increases and eventually hits the right side of the window & gets cut off. The left side is OK.

What I noticed is that even with the default Safe Area, there is less background showing on the right side than on the left side. IOW the image is not centered in the display window. I can drag the right edge of the window to the left & make it smaller, but cannot drag any further to the right.

Does that description make any sense? I can send you a picture or screen print if you let me know how.

[Mike99]

Sorry to bother you again, but I have another question.

I tried importing a few AVI files that were made with a digital camera. But I get an error message that DSG can’t load file. “AVISource: couldn’t locate a decompressor for fourcc mjpg”.

The files do play OK with Windows Media Player.

What does the error message mean and can I correct whatever needs to be done?

Thank you again for all your help and advice.
Mike

[tin2tin]

On avi use mediainfo to find out what codec is used in your file. Then get ffdshow and make sure that a video decoder for that codec is enabled(and the avisynth decoder isn't disabled).

On the Project settings thing. I can't reproduce it here. The only thing I can see is that the Safe y value needs the correct limit for all other formats that PAL 4:3. If you can make a screenshot of it I might be easier for me to understand your problem.

BTW. the project settings is just an indication of how it will look, and not the actual preview. So you need to preview (in Media Player Classic) to see what your slideshow will look like.

[Mike99]

I installed mediainfo and ffdshow (version 20080927, rev 2156). My avi files are J-MPEG. There are so many settings in ffdshow & I’m not sure which to check & which to leave at default, and I do not want to disable the AviSynth decoder as you mentioned. I have never worked with video, avi or codecs before so I am probably over cautious on what I’m doing. Please forgive my asking so many questions.

During ffdshow Setup there is a Select Components window and “VFW interface” is checked by default. I presume I need to also check “AviSynth scripts serving”.

Below that is a box for “Application plugins”.
I presume I should check “AviSynth”. But what about “VirtualDub” and “DScaler”?

Further along is a “Select Additional Tasks” window where you select the codecs and MJPEG is already checked along with several others. I do not see anything there regarding an AviSynth codec. Is there something else there to be checked?

Will ffdshow interact or affect my other video program? I prefer it not to make any system wide changes. For example, not affect Windows Media Player, at least not till I get more familiar with video.


What's the best way to get a screen shot to you regarding the Project Settings?

Thank you once again,
Mike

[tin2tin]

On ffdshow and avisynth:https://forum.videohelp.com/topic345545.html#1809710
Did ffdshow help you on importing that avi?
Read this if you want to know what ffdshow is: http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/

On screen shots: Ctrl+Prt Sc will add a screen shot of your screen to the clipboard. Open mspaint and hit Ctrl+v to paste the clipboard content into mspaint. Save to jpg.

On questions: Google and the search function here on videohelp are your friends...

[olivier]

What are you frameserving to? Is Hcenc and soundout (the DSG way) causing you problems when rendering that long slide-shows?

In DSG, I export the slideshow to AVS and open it in VirtualDub. Then I start frameserving in VDub for TMPGEnc, to encode in mp2/m2v.
I was doing this because of Avisynth memory problems in DSG, and because I knew VDub/TMPGEnc softwares.
Also HCEnc generates mp2/m2v files, but I have no control on output settings in DSG. In TMPGEnc, I can output m2v for the exact capacity of a DVD, to have the best quality for the length of the slideshow (eg 2h30)!
Then I use GFD to create the DVD, with the generated ssa/mp2/m2v files.

Will a slideshow of 1000 slides fit a one DVD-R? Not that I plan that, but is there a typical maximum?

I don't think there is any maximum, but you must be ready to lose DVD quality with video length. Longer slideshow, less quality. Quality starts decreasing for slideshows of more than 1 hour 2 minutes.
You can use Videohelp Bitrate Calculator to see how bitrate decreases with the video length:
https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

tin2tin, in my opinion the last release candidate could be a commercial release! Thank you so much for this nice software, really the easiest one to make slideshows.

[Mike99]

On ffdshow and avisynth:https://forum.videohelp.com/topic345545.html#1809710
Did ffdshow help you on importing that avi?
Read this if you want to know what ffdshow is: http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/

On screen shots: Ctrl+Prt Sc will add a screen shot of your screen to the clipboard. Open mspaint and hit Ctrl+v to paste the clipboard content into mspaint. Save to jpg.

On questions: Google and the search function here on videohelp are your friends...

ffdshow did not help. I still get the same message: “AVISource: couldn’t locate a decompressor for fourcc mjpg”.

MJPEG was already checked and I also checked Other MJPEG, but it made no difference.

I did Google & searched for info on ffdshow. The hits I looked at were either for home theater or the setting tutorials did not deal with my situation.

I know how to do a screen print, I just don't know how to get it to you. But I found out what was happening. I was working with a monitor resolution of 800x600 and the DSG main window did fit my screen perfectly. So I never had to increase the resolution. The Project Settings window is just a tiny bit larger, but workable. But the right side of the image gets cut off if the safe area if small or zero. Even if I drag the window to the left, I cannot drag the right edge to the right. Probably because it’s at maximum size.

However if I change the monitor resolution to 1024x768, it will show the proper whole image in Project Settings. Obviously the problem was on my end and I apologize for any inconvenience.

Getting back to the avi problem. I don't know if it makes any difference, but the avi was made with a Canon digital camera, not a camcorder. Any suggestions?

[tin2tin]

@ olivier

tin2tin, in my opinion the last release candidate could be a commercial release! Thank you so much for this nice software, really the easiest one to make slideshows.

Great thanks! How do you want me to credit you for the french translation? (I was a bit surprised that 'font' is 'police' in french. Than might cause some funny misunderstandings. )

Also HCEnc generates mp2/m2v files, but I have no control on output settings in DSG.

When rendering DSG gets the settings from the HC.ini file(open in Notepad). Read up in the HCenc docs on the options for the ini file. But HCenc can't tell you if your slideshow will be bigger that the dvd capacity.

Do you know that ffdshow has a function called 'Makeavis'(in the Start/Programs/ffdshow menu), which will add a small avi that loads your avs script and allows you to load you avs script into any app which takes avi(even MS Movie Maker), so maybe Vdub isn't needed in your workflow?

@ Mike99
Avisynth is the "video engine" of DSG. And DSG also allows importing of .avs files(avisynth scripts). Maybe you should try the various ways to load video with avisynth: http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Importing_media
Writing an avisynth script can be fairly simple. Use Notepad or AvsP to write a line like this:
DirectShowSource("d:\clip.avi", fps=25, convertfps=true) # adjust fps if necessary
And save as .avs. And open that new file in DSG. BTW. DSG only takes 25 (PAL) or 29.97 (NTSC) frames pr. sec. 'Assumefps(25 or 29.97)' can be used as command to make sure that the frame rate is right.

There is also a new ffmpegsource import filter you could try out.

[olivier]

How do you want me to credit you for the french translation? (I was a bit surprised that 'font' is 'police' in french. Than might cause some funny misunderstandings. )

Your thank you gratifies me enough, and this is a small thing compared to your work! Yes, police now appears everywhere in France and Canada, and even in DSG

@ Mike99: for your MJPG problem, I think you need to use a MJPG decoder. There is a trial one at www.pegasusimaging.com/picvideomjpeg.htm.
user mystery194 had already problems with his Canon Powershot, look in this forum for solution and avs script to test...

[Mike99]

Thank you tin2tin and olivier.

The AVI is from my older digital camera and is 15 frames per sec. I will follow your suggestions & look at the links that you provided. For starters I guess the fame rate needs to be changed.

[olivier]

Ok, so you need avs for each of your avi videos, to change framerate to PAL or NTSC.
I use AviSynth Batch Scripter to batch all my avis to avs. Then I import avs in DSG. It is important to have a good template for your avs script; if you don't then the mpg output will be incorrect.
Here is the template I use for my camera videos (avt extension). I assume this is for a PAL DVD (anyway all dvd players play both ntsc and pal, but if you want NTSC you can change LanczosResize and AssumeFPS parameters). I use the Amplify function because my avis sound lower than mp3 songs imported in DSG:

# -----------------------------------------------------------------
# Name : Default ABatchScript Template v2
# Author : Steven van Cauter
# Movie : %PATH%\%CLIP%.%EXT%
# -----------------------------------------------------------------

# 1) Store parameter in variable named "Clip"
Clip="%PATH%\%CLIP%"

# 2) Set clip as AviSource
AVISource(Clip+".%EXT%")
#loadplugin("E:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\FFMpegSource.dll")
#FFMpegSource(Clip+".%EXT%")

# 3) Resize to PAL square-pixel frame size
LanczosResize(720, 576)

# 4) Convert frame rate to PAL, also adjust audio
ConvertToYUY2() # Required by ConvertFPS.
ConvertFPS(29.97) # Convert frame rate to NTSC(p), duration unchanged
AssumeFPS(25, 1, TRUE)

# 5) Restore audio sample rate to a standard rate
#ResampleAudio(48000)
SSRC(44100)
Amplify(5)

[Mike99]

I got the avi to work, sort of. I found a program called VirtualDub and converted two avi videos to 29.97fps. The original 15fps avi which lasts 12 seconds & also a 30fps which lasts 94 seconds. Both conversions appear to play properly with audio in Windows Media Player.

I was able to add them to DSG, but now the video plays longer then the audio. The audio length appears correct, but then it stops & the video keeps playing. The 12 second video lasts 16 secs and the 94 sec video lasts 192 secs.

The original 94 sec avi was a 172,232 KB file size. VirtualDub has selections for different compression codecs. When I used the “ffdshow Video Codec” it created a 11,589 KB avi file which is the version that lasted 192 secs. But I also tried the “Uncompressed RGB/YCbCR” codec and it created a 2,527,479 KB avi file. When using Windows Media Player with this big file the video stuttered a bit and the audio broke up a lot. With DSG it played extremely slow & the audio broke up even more.

I checked the new files with MediaInfo. Converting using the “ffdshow Video Codec”, MediaInfo indicated that the video codec was “MPEG-4 Visual (XviD) (Simple@L1).“ and the audio was “PCM (Microsoft) (Little / Unsigned)”

Using the “Uncompressed RGB/YCbCR”, MediaInfo indicated the video codec was “RGB” and the audio was “PCM (Microsoft) (Little / Unsigned)”.


olivier -

I had done all this before before reading your last message. I have been experimenting all afternoon. Before trying another program, any suggestions on which codec in VirtualDub I might try? I realize you do not use this program, but what results should MediaInfo be displaying for the proper codec?


Update to avi,

I burned a DVD with the short AVI just to see what it would look like on TV. Audio & video both lasted 12 seconds. This was taken at an amusement park & the audio is essentially background noise so there is no lip sync. But the video played fully to completion & ended after playing 12 secs like it was supposed to. But it still takes 16 secs when viewed in DSG.

Any suggestions?

[tin2tin]

DSG is most of the time not able to preview "video"-slides in the right framerate. It's playing the slideshow script from RAM. Don't worry, what matters is how the rendered slideshow looks. And you don't need to make a dvd to check the sync issues. Just make an mpg or flv.

You should give Oliviers script a try. That way you won't loose quality by converting to an intermediate format.

[Mike99]

I'll give Oliviers's script a try. I know this is a programming forum, however I'm not a programmer. But I will give it a try.

[Mike99]

I installed AviSynth Batch Scripter and am completely lost. There is no help file and I have spent the last hour Googling using different search parameters in order to find a tutorial. But no such luck.

As mentioned I am not a programmer so I am probably in the wrong forum. But DSG does such a great job creating a slide show that I’m willing to take the time to experiment & figure things out. I can type a script in Notepad, but I have no idea what to type. If you can point me to a tutorial or some instructions I would sure appreciate it.

Thanks,
Mike

[tin2tin]

Well to get you started either use Notepad or better AvsP to type in(copy/paste) the code.(In AvsP you can instantly see the video created by your script. And with a lot of helpful features for coding in avisynth)

You have allready installed the latest avisynth(with DSG). You can find the docs in Start/All Programs/Avisynth 2.5/Avisynth documentation.

The main Avisynth page is here: http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page.
There is a nice section on getting started here: http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page#New_to_AviSynth_-_start_here

But actually the fastest way is to copy Oliviers script into AvsP. And change this "%PATH%\%CLIP%" into where your avi file is located on your harddrive ex. "c:\MyAvi.avi" and hit play. This script will allow you to import you avi file into DSG as a PAL file(25fps).

Have you searched this thread for Canon? Because as Olivier mentioned there was another person how needed to import videos from a Canon camera with an avisynth script. I can't remember the result.

And btw. the absolutely best forum for avisynth scripting is forum.doom9.org

So your first thing is to import a avi file, convert it to the rigth framerate and import it into DSG. When you got that to work, you can start digging into the batcher.