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  1. Member CP/M User's Avatar
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    I guess this has been discused heaps of times in here, I did a small search though though didn't really see anything which relates to what I getting.

    What I was just enquiring about is I made a DVD as a slideshow of still photos I took from my camera, at first I made it based on the original (4 megapixel) photos and just bearly made a DVD of it and when I played it the flicker was so bad on my TV screen I had to switch it off. Afterwards I realised I was hurting my machine because I was using massive images which wasn't necessarily (since the resolution of a CRT TV Screen is around 700x500 pixels - which varies depending on if the TV is PAL or NTSC - my TV is PAL though will do NTSC). So I cut the images back to 640x480. The flicker was significantly reduced, though I was suprised there was still some flicker and just wondered what I was doing wrong. Some photos seemed to look okay, though others had a little bit of flicker in them, and just wondered if a black border around the edge of the photo will eliminate this cause some of my photos still seem to be going over the edge of the screen and are being chopped off?
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  2. Here are some tips:
    1.When making a slideshow 4:3 DVD set your camera to 4:3, if you're making a 16:9 DVD then set your camera to 16:9(if available).*
    2.Set your camera to 2-3MP, anything more is a waste of space.*
    3.If you have to crop then don't go below 768x576 for 4:3 and 1024x576 for 16:9.
    4.Use a program that uses anti-alias and anti-flicker filters, also set the program to "keep aspect ratio".
    5.When encoding use "frame based" instead of "field based".
    A CRT tv is not the best for viewing slideshows because of the inherent flicker and overscan, it will look better on an HDTV or PC monitor.

    *A 3:2 ratio and higher MP is better for printing.
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  3. If you're refering to DVD slideshow GUI, here's how to fix it.

    Open Project Settings.
    Find the Post-process(slideshow) combobox.
    Select Anti_flicker_Minor.avs

    If this isn't enough try medium or major.

    The post-effect will add blur in the y-axis only.
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  4. Member CP/M User's Avatar
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    Sorry folks, I'm using the Slideshow program which comes with Cyberlinks DVD Solution. I'm only using Version 4, though I think that's all I need. I'm just wondering if it's the sharpness of my images which is causing all the issues, I thought that since I've playing JPEG Photo CDs on my DVD player before this wasn't an issue, though I might check this again.

    I have a program with my DVD Solution which allows me to take JPEGs and automatically adjust the Balance, which I think is a combination of taking the Contrast and Brightness (cause there's automatic settings for those too) and levelling it out, any thoughts into if that's worth trying to see?

    MOVIEGEEK - my program is fixed 4:3 aspect radio, I can tell my program to do either NTSC or PAL - because PAL is the standard used in Australia I generally use PAL, I'm not sure what you mean by setting my camera to 16:9 or 4:3 - it's only "still photos", I'm not cropping those photos - merely resizing them to 640x480, is that still a problem? It sounds like your programs are somewhat more technical at tweeking where's mine seems to involve a lot of automation cause the slide show kind of does everything like a Wizard. It only offered me a small number of menu screens for me to select my DVD Menu, though fortunately for me I was smart enough to take a screen I wanted - throw it into where all the other screens were and make a small file which tells the program where to slot in the visuals of that slideshow - as a preview box.
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  5. Most digital cameras allow you to set AR and 4:3 is perfect for DVD, 4:3 photos will fill the entire screen without being distorted. As for 640x480 it's not recommended for DVD because it will be stretched to fill the screen, it's better to let the program compress 768x576 or higher.
    If Cyberlink DVD Solutions won't allow you tweak the settings then you need a better program such as DVD Slideshow GUI.
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  6. Member CP/M User's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by MOVIEGEEK
    Most digital cameras allow you to set AR and 4:3 is perfect for DVD, 4:3 photos will fill the entire screen without being distorted. As for 640x480 it's not recommended for DVD because it will be stretched to fill the screen, it's better to let the program compress 768x576 or higher.
    If Cyberlink DVD Solutions won't allow you tweak the settings then you need a better program such as DVD Slideshow GUI.
    Where would I find the Aspect Ratio on my Digital Camera?, I've been right through the thing and it doesn't seem to appear on it.

    I don't seem to have any problems with the 640x480 images I have on my DVD itself and they don't appear stretched. In my program itself it allows you to select 640x480 as the Canvas size, though when I try out my new DVD I'll go 800x600 and see what happens. Am I asking for trouble if I throwing in Portrait Photos - 600x800 as well cause it appears that my 480x640 photos I've got on my current DVD have been scaled down.

    I guess the flicker wasn't as bad as what I realised (I've checked my JPEG Photo CDs which are doing the same thing), but I've got a DVD Set with a Component Video from the DVD to the TV and it appears the only thing I'm getting as sharp as a tact on it is the Menus & DVD related stuff - though I definitely notice a big difference when I'm watching a good DVD of a movie. Flicker is something I would expect to see more from an AV Connection, though just maybe 640x480 and telling my program to use the Highest Quality Setting perhaps means I should at least make my photos 1280x960? I'll trying some test runs by downsizing my 4 Megapixel photos to 1280x960 and see what happens.
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    I take my pictures with the standard High Resolution setting on my Canon Rebel XTi. I use Adobe Premiere Pro and import those into the program. I put the images (JPG) on Video track 2. The images are all around 3MB each. I do not modify them as that would take a long time. When they are on the timeline, I resize one image to 112% and it then fills the whole frame (NTSC 4X3). Then copy that pic, and paste attributes on the rest with one click. I modify individuals later if I want to change one individually. Those images that do not fill the screen (rotated, resized for zooming, etc.) I put a color matte on video track #1. It is like putting wings on the video. I render the presentation and don't have any flicker or other unwanted things. If I capture and freeze a frame of video, I save it as a BMP (that is what Premiere does), use Photoshop or Premiere to deinterlace it and that solves jitter problems. A video may use a mix of video and stills and I have no problem with transitions between them.

    I just finished, today, a 1 hour 20 minute video with such a mix, with audio, with about 700 jpg pics and have no problem with them. It is encoding the video whilst I am at work.
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    Okay I think I've got to the bottom of things, and I think the problem with what's happening in relation to what I'm seeing on a TV screen is it's something which is gonna happen regardless of what I do - so in other words it looks like it's all based on what a CRT Screen is set out to do. The problem I think is when you're watching a TV Show or Movie, the slight flicker effect is there, but because you're dealing with moving pictures, you eye doesn't catch on it as much. Classic Movie where you see a lot of it happening is Cary Grants Blue Striped Long Sleeve Shirt in Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch A Thief". The issue I have is because I'm showing a Still Photo straight to screen - no movement, is the effect is more catchy. I was also seeing a lot of this flickering effect while watching Digital TV with a Standard Definition Set Top Box on a CRT TV!
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  9. Hello,

    Can I add to this thread please? I imported some shots from my camera by Import Folder. When I viewed them in the preview window to the right they are huge and only part of them can be seen. I would like to zoom in and pan around etc so that the slideshow looks a little better whn it plays. I was advised not to crop to scale when importing as this makes zooming become pixalated. What size is it bst to import or can you set the preview pane so that more of the photo is on display?

    Thank you as always,

    Best wishes
    Graeme
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  10. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    If I know I'm doing a DVD (or any other SDTV) slideshow, I always prep my higher rez pix in Photoshop using a batch process that, besides shrinking down to SD size, will keep the correct AR for the pic - applying Letterboxing borders - and then APPLY A ~1pixel vertical-only motion blur (if you want it less than 1 pixel's worth, apply an appropriate amount PRIOR to downsizing). Never had any problems with flicker in 10 years. EVER. And NO excessive blurriness either.

    Scott
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  11. Hello Scott,

    Thank you for the quick reply, I'm bugged and want to get on with my slideshow!

    What is the correct size to shrink down to as in SD size? Is AR, aspect ratio? I understand about the vertical blur, great tip. So am I right in thinking the origional images were too big? It's just that they were too big to fit in the preview frame and do anything with like panning .

    Also, can I be cheeky and ask one more question? Can I use Adobe Premiere to export to DVD alone to play on TV. I think I might need something like Encore to set up buttons and menus but I would like to try my slideshow on TV first?

    Thanks so much,

    Best wishes,
    Gareme
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  12. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    AR is aspect ratio. There are 2 inherent kinds (PAR and DAR) and 1 lazy, derived kind (SAR).

    Correct SD size (if going to std DVD-Video):
    NTSC= 720x480 (4:3 or 16:9 screen)
    PAL= 720x576 (4:3 or 16:9 screen)

    As an example, if I took a nice digital SLR camera with 5MP, it's got 2592x1944 pixels, with a PAR (pixel aspect ratio) of 1:1 or square pixels, and a DAR (display aspect ratio) of 4:3. In this instance, there's no need to letter/pillarBox.

    First, I'd downsize by a factor of 4.05 to get a 640x480 image (in square-pixel terms), then resize to NTSC tv's PAR of 0.9090909, so I'd get 704x480 (NOT 720x480), then I'd pad a miniscule pillarbox to fill out to 720x480.

    Then I'd use MotionBlur, VerticalOnly, 1pixel.

    Of course, you could resize anamorphically and go directly from 2592x1944 to 704x480 and then pad, skipping a step and a very slight loss of quality.
    Plus, you could presume that the downsizing imparts it's own blur/interpolation, which may be all you need for your picture to not flicker.


    You can use Premiere (pro or elements) or AE to export from. They have "flicker filters" available, which should do similar things, however I like exacting control which THOSE aren't. I find it much easier to do a prep pass while they're photos and then load them into the video editor sized exactly as need. At that point you wouldn't need to use the flicker filter.

    I agree about exporting as a Frame-based MPEG encoding, unless you're doing much in the way of transition effects (which work much better in Field-based mode) or a Ken Burns effect on the image itself. If you were to do that (KB), it makes much more sense to use a correct tool that can hand the original image size but creates it's own "SD-rez" viewport/window/frame that will end up getting exported. AfterEffects can do this, as well as any other decent compositor, plus a few editor plugins the work semi-independently of the editor, plus a few P&S-capable slideshow-specific apps.

    Scott
    Last edited by Cornucopia; 14th Dec 2014 at 06:02.
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