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

[extent]

Ive just tested on another 16:9 tv... and this third time... WAS very lucky! The disc showed in widescreen, with no bordering at all. So the only conclusion I can come to is that my widescreen dvds are created in a way that some players or tvs cannot deal with in order to fill the entire screen, perhaps very unusual, but seemingly true. I will still try other software to be read on the same systems, to see if its a problem with all packages with their outputted dvds, or just MF output. I thought I would save you the hassle the other day of having to upload your own discs, if they are MF then they will no doubt be handled in the same way. If you have uploaded anything already with some great photo content then I will try it on the same players-who knows, the troublesome hardware may even like MF6, if thats what you are using, as opposed to MF7. thanks for all the help.

[DB83]

Wot. And deny everyone my wonderful photography. No, I will save that for another day - and it's all on the the web if you know where to find it.

I am curious about something. Most of us have access to one or maybe two tvs. You seem to be able to pull them out of the hat at will. You don't live in Dixon's shop window by any chance ?

But seriously, it was said all along about settings. I assume that you are using the same player for all these tests since if you do mix 'n match you may come on another day and then wonder why things are not working again.

Sometimes it is a process of elimination. We discovered that the pics were not the right dimensions for full widescreen. Personally, I would prefer to see them as complete as I took them, subject only to essential editing. So borders would not bother me in the slightest. But once we get that right we can then, as we have, concentrate on the equipment since it is also now provedd that there is nothing amiss with the MF program.

I still tend to think that you have overlooked something with the settings on the tv. Some can be fickle and the manuals are not always that helpful. The biggest mystery is why commercial disks played fine but even the ones you burnt, which we now know to be correct, did not. Unless, of course, you have inadvertingly confused yourself with having all these different tvs to test.

There is only one thing that was never fully explored although my friend did ask. I do not recall seeing a reply. He asked about the cable you are using to connect the player to the tv. One loose pin and the whole ball-park moves.

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I pulled the tvs out of two relations homes, and one friends, to test! ...well, not literally - I pulled my discs out to play in theirs at least. not far to travel either... but Dixons wouldve been even easier!!!! plenty to choose from so it was 3 differing tvs, and 3 differing dvd players. Im not carrying anything around with me to test, s*d that, lol. I wanted my discs to play full screen in most players, so having the same player was not completely necessary. I just wanted to see how my discs would fare.. and so far, its one out of three homes. ok, including both of yours, in which you both stated it worked fine- its really 3 out of 5. hurrah! lol.

For all players and all the tvs, I tried both 16:9 and auto display modes. In the last test with the option of either giant borders all over with no distortion, or a stretched image with top and bottom borders, no other settings were available via the remote for the both the tv and player display. They were pretty general on both, being taken up by options relating to the audio or video look (eg brightness), theme (a color/brightness/contrast combo, eg "warm"), screen ratio, or cabling options (scart etc). I tried everything- and I usually take all day until I get it right. Nothing was successful in the first two tests. The players were connected to the tv via scart-both tvs had two scart sockets, and the second scart socket was either empty or taken up by a freeview box (the last test with the brand/model names I listed above).

Having commercial backups work, auto scaling to fit, and then my own discs not doing this, on the same rws, without changing any settings in between on the players or tvs, is a mystery. as the last model stated in its booklet, +rws were fully compatible. if any display settings were incorrect, im sure the commericial discs would have the same issues. With your own tests, and my last test with the player/tv combo that had no problems and did show the dvd-rw properly, I deliberately added images of differing resolutions/aspect, so this at least proves that MF does not require me to edit everything down to 1024x576 in order to work, but I will try another slideshow program to test on the last failing tv/player combo, and thats it - if it works with differing dvd creation software, then it may be a MF issue, and if it doesnt, then it could be tv or player incompatibility (or *cough* missing settings).. and ill leave it at that!

[jagabo]

The players were connected to the tv via scart

SCART only carries standard definition analog video. The signal format for 4:3 and 16:9 is the same -- the only difference is a flag in the PAL line 23 data that tells the TV to stretch the 16:9 to widescreen. I wonder if there's something stupid about those DVD players where they refuse to output widescreen if there is no AACS encryption or no Macrovision flag? You could test this by copying one of your commercial widescreen discs. I thought you mentioned doing this earlier but the post escapes me...

Ah, found it:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/325295-What-are-the-top-photo-and-video-to-dvd-crea...=1#post2016046

I guess that rules out the AACS/Macrovion thing.

[DB83]

The testing of the disk prepared by MF on equipment not normally on your disposal proves one thing - that the disk has been prepared correctly.

That you can play commercial disks correctly proves another thing - that your own equipment is set up correctly.

So there just remains a quirk from the time your own disk is authoured to when you attempt to play it in your own equipment.

But since you continue to point the finger at MF, I will try to dispell that with my offer of my own creation. Prepare yourself for the crap photography.

http://rapidshare.com/files/417586742/test.zip.html

The folders were created using MF6 but I ask you to burn them, not with Ashampoo but, with imgburn just in case Ashampoo is creating the incompatabilty for your own player. And if you can also burn them on to a DVD -RW then all the better as that is what I use.

I have set this up as a 'tutorial' deliberately using images at the wrong (original dimensions) to start with and finishing with two different images at the correct dimensions which should display correctly in a 16:9 tv with no borders whatsoever.

What I did notice was that the borders were more prominent on the 4:3 LCD monitor than on the 16:9 CRT but they are still there on the CRT

[jagabo]

What I did notice was that the borders were more prominent on the 4:3 LCD monitor than on the 16:9 CRT but they are still there on the CRT

LCDs usually overscan less than CRTs. That would explain the larger borders on the LCD -- you see more of the frame.

[extent]

ok will test this one out on a dvd-rw using imgburn 2mrrw- cant wait to find out the result! nice photos, but I think your garage needs some new windows from that last one ???! lol- jk!

[extent]

OK, so the video options on the tv are set up as :-

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9422/1setupoptions1.jpg
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4045/2videooptions1.jpg
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/6160/3videooptions2.jpg

I have the choice between PALBG, PALII, and PALDK in the "main setup", but they do not seem to make a difference-I try out your dvd, and another of my own that I have now created using DVD Slideshow GUI (good tool, might use this more often than MF, as im not limited to using default templates, etc).. I also try my own previous MF7 creation, and nothing is working.

So I decide to do one thing at the VERY last minute, and thats to double check the scart setup - I realise that both systems (a recordable freeview box, and a dvd player) are connected to the 2 scart options on the tv individually. That cant be right, and would also be very awkward to use, always having to either change channels or possibly even switch one box off to use the other. I decide to connect the dvd player to the freeview, and only connect the one scart from the freeview to the tv, and this is what I get :-http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9488/4preview.jpg wahey! my problem is solved, on all 3 dvds its 16:9 without borders! It doesnt make any sense as to why this would do the trick, or why cinema dvds automatically show at their correct aspect ratio, so still confused, players and/or tvs must treat commercial discs differently to burnt dvds, but the simple cabling re-order worked. I dont get it. It must be a similar issue with the first television, or something just as odd causing the aspect problem. Putting the blame on MF or any software my mistake of course thanks

[DB83]

I am relieved to read that you have finally solved the problem.

Now if the tv has two scart sockets, there should be a control, via the remote, as to which one is feeding the tv. On my Humax remote there is a tv/av button and when I press that I can select the source.

But if, on the other hand, the tv just determines the source automatically by which ever one is on at the time there could well be a conflict when more that one source is trying to feed the tv.

[extent]

yes, I think that same option was on the humax tv remote also, I forgot about that, but the tv could also automatically switch to whichever was switched on also, so, as you mention- perhaps the tv did have a minor display conflict/confusion when the freeview box was both in standby or fully on while a dvd was playing, despite the image being clear enough on any dvd. The above humax had freeview also built in, but the individual freeview box underneath it could record, which was why it was connected up to it. The only other thing I forgot to try out at the time was to disconnect all cables from the freeview box to the tv completely, and only have the dvd player up and running to the first scart connection, but I got it right in the end.. just! I had enough help from here anyway, might not have bothered to find a solution without it lol. thanks!