Best quality DVD output software for maintaining photo quality

[P_Erickson]

Hi,

I've been making video slideshows of my still photos with PhotoStory3 for Windows, and the quality is okay, but I haven't found the right tool to create a DVD for people to play on a TV DVD player, which renders an acceptable quality for the photos to be appreciated. I'm considering trying Power Director 10, but I think I'll still have the quality problem when I try to create a DVD. What do avid amateur photographers use to keep the quality high when you want to show off your photos to ordinary people who aren't that computer savvy and will only be able to view it on a normal household DVD player on a TV? Is this an impossible quest? If I've spent time and effort to create a beautiful photo, it's hard to see it all blurry and degraded.

Thank you!

P. Erickson

[TreeTops]

DVD resolution is 720 x 480 pixels pixels so your great quality photos will be downsized to that resolution when you create the DVD. You don't need power director for that. Just use Windows Movie Maker. Other DVD resolutions can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video
or here: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

[P_Erickson]

Thank you TreeTops! I use Windows Live Moviemaker sometimes, but PhotoStory3 gives me more control over the panning effects. The
output for playback on computer renders acceptable quality and the file on a CD plays back on various computer monitors also with acceptable quality, but when I go to put it in DVD format to play on a TV the quality suffers badly. So, you're saying that it's the resolution lost rather than compression or formatting for DVD, so there's no magic software out there that will render the quality I'm hoping for? I don't know enough about DVD format and compression to know how to tweak things when I try to create a DVD from my .wmv file. Do you think the problem is with me not knowing what settings to use? How do photos on tv programs seem to show up so crisply? I guess I would need the services of a professional video studio to do an acceptable job rendering a DVD from a .wmv file?

[TreeTops]

Can you upload some of your stuff with photos to Vimeo so that we can take a look. I think they will accept .wmv files.

[P_Erickson]

Okay, they're out there on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/40700058?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cliptransco...aign=adminclip

[P_Erickson]

You can particularly see it at about 4min 14 seconds in on the mpeg2 version. Although, I notice vimeo's conversion of the wmv file introduced a few artifacts of its own! This video wasn't the best choice for showing the problem, but it is evident on those iris petals, and is more noticeable on my other videos. Anyway, thanks for having a look, and trying to help! We'll see... I may just have to put a little sort of disclaimer on my dvd covers explaining my dissatisfaction with the quality of photos that can be rendered and shared on dvd.

[El Heggunte]

The best approach IMHO would be, create your slide show in Avisynth, encode to MPEG-2 with a high-bitrate quantization matrix, and only then author your DVDs

[P_Erickson]

Uploaded a more pronounced example of some artifacts in an mpeg2 conversion from wmv:
http://vimeo.com/40703343?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cliptransco...aign=adminclip

At 54 seconds the daffodils strobe and at 1:23 the wall is hideous. There's much more, but I can't bear to watch it!

So, El Heggunte, I will check out AviSynth. Thank you for your suggestion! Tomorrow's another day, this one's spent, and so am I.

If anyone else has any other ideas, I'm wide open. Thanks so much!

[_Al_]

Not a good idea to compress it once to wmv and then again. You like that PhotoStory3 but can you export video out of it in some lossless or uncompressed format?

Also DVD usually has interlace footage, is your wmv progressive? That would bring another degradation while making interlace DVD.

[P_Erickson]

Well, thank you _Al_ ! That's what I was wondering, if I could find some software that would allow me to create the DVD file directly, because PhotoStory3 does not do that in the free version. So, I've identified a few different products and intend to give the ones that have a free trial period a try, to see if the quality is sufficiently better to warrant spending a little money, which I'm quite willing to do, as long as there is a noticeable improvement in the output DVD quality. I looked at some info about AviSynth, and with the long list of various projects I've got, I'm not sure I have the time to devote to learning all that at this time, however, it does look like it would allow me to output to DVD with a much higher quality result.

I don't know what progressive means in this context, I'll have to look that up! Thank you for the helpful info!

[jagabo]

I don't know much about it but look into DVD Slideshow GUI (free).
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/188464-DVD-slideshow-GUI-development-thread

[manono]

So, I've identified a few different products and intend to give the ones that have a free trial period a try, to see if the quality is sufficiently better to warrant spending a little money, which I'm quite willing to do, as long as there is a noticeable improvement in the output DVD quality.

You've been using garbage. Take jagabo's suggestion and go with DVD Slideshow GUI. The best such program doesn't cost a dime.

[poisondeathray]

If you're coming from the photo world, it's not possible to get even remotely similar quality with DVD-Video

720x480 resolution will just kill your quality. Even blu-ray has a maximum resolution of 1920x1080

Compare that to a 18 megapixel DSLR will output 5184×3456 resolution photos. Even a cheap point and shoot will produce nice photos. A typical 8 megapixel model will output about 3500x2300

Resolution isn't the only factor that determines quality, but it is a large factor when you downscale by such a large amount

Not everyone has a blu-ray player, but most people have access to internet. If you want to demonstrate your photo work, I think a better idea would be to make a HD video and put it on vimeo or youtube. DVD resolution is just too limiting

[P_Erickson]

Okay, the decreased resolution does seem to be the culprit and is unavoidable. I downloaded DVDSlideshowGUI and it is really quite powerful and not too hard to use at all. It will take some tinkering around with it to exercise the control it gives you. Seems like it will allow me to do more, ultimately, than PhotoStory3, so thank you all for your tips and advice! You answered my question, but I still wonder how smoothness and non-flickering, non-strobing, non-pixelated stills on tv are able to be created. Wouldn't the decreased resolution problem show up there too? Why isn't there flickering/strobing during zooms and pans of stills in a tv ad video? Just don't understand how it appears so smooth and with decent appearing resolution. Like on a nature program when they zoom in on a still photo of a spider or flower, or zoom in on a face in an old photo. I don't expect that I can accomplish that with the tools I have at my disposal, but I just wonder how it's done. Anyway, if the answer is too complex to address in this discussion, that's cool. Thanks so much for your help. I'm on my way with my limited resolution DVD giveaways. I guess since they're free, those who receive them won't be likely to complain, and I'll just have to live with the fact that tv viewing of my stills is not a particularly satisfying way for me to display them!

[poisondeathray]

Okay, the decreased resolution does seem to be the culprit and is unavoidable. I downloaded DVDSlideshowGUI and it is really quite powerful and not too hard to use at all. It will take some tinkering around with it to exercise the control it gives you. Seems like it will allow me to do more, ultimately, than PhotoStory3, so thank you all for your tips and advice! You answered my question, but I still wonder how smoothness and non-flickering, non-strobing, non-pixelated stills on tv are able to be created. Wouldn't the decreased resolution problem show up there too? Why isn't there flickering/strobing during zooms and pans of stills in a tv ad video? Just don't understand how it appears so smooth and with decent appearing resolution. Like on a nature program when they zoom in on a still photo of a spider or flower, or zoom in on a face in an old photo. I don't expect that I can accomplish that with the tools I have at my disposal, but I just wonder how it's done. Anyway, if the answer is too complex to address in this discussion, that's cool. Thanks so much for your help. I'm on my way with my limited resolution DVD giveaways. I guess since they're free, those who receive them won't be likely to complain, and I'll just have to live with the fact that tv viewing of my stills is not a particularly satisfying way for me to display them!

Most shows on TV are done with video editing programs eg. FCP, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro

But there is no reason you can't do similar things like panning or zooming, Kens Burns Effect etc.. in DVD SlideShow GUI or similar programs

Unless they are old programming, or local Public TV stations, most TV shows and nature programs are HD in North America (Discovery Channel, National Geographic etc...).

The motion strobing might be from your settings. Interlaced NTSC video is 59.94i, but if you made a 29.97 progressive video, it has few motion samples per second (but full vertical resolution) . It also might be from the way you made you composition. You have control the speed and cadence of your zooms, pans or any aimiation parameter in editing programs. For example , a slower pan over 3 seconds will be less jerky than one over 1 second.

Flickering might be due to a number of things like poor deinterlacing (if you made an interlaced DVD), poor encoding (MPEG2 artifacts), improper resizing - hard to say without a better description

[jagabo]

Avoid overly sharp resizing and you'll get less flickering edges. Encode 23.976 fps progressive with pulldown flags. Encoding 29.97 fps interlaced leaves you at the mercy of deinterlacing algorithms on modern equipment. Make sure the software pans over the larger image, then resizes, rather than the other way around. Pans will be smoother if you make sure they move by an integer numbers of pixels per frame.

[Gavino]

Pans will be smoother if you make sure they move by an integer numbers of pixels per frame.

That's not an issue when using KenBurnsEfffect in DVD SlideShow GUI, as it uses subpixel shifts (via the Avisynth resizers).

[Cauptain]

PD10 have a very nice photo video editor. Great profiles. I use this for my family shots.



Claudio

[P_Erickson]

Oh, you are all so terrific to supply such great info! To summarize what I am gleaning from the suggestions y'all have made:

1. Looks like DVD SlideShow GUI has great control, smoother pans, and the price is right and I already downloaded it yesterday

2. Since tv resolution is 720x480, I will be losing a great deal of resolution

3. Given that resolution, a smaller bitrate would yield higher quality, except in the case of pan/zoom effects where a higher bitrate would be better to render motion more smoothly, so not under 4000kbps, but maybe around 5500-6000kbps

4. Create them as progressive scans rather than interlaced to reduce potential de-interlace problems and fps at 23.976 (not sure what pulldown flags are, but it's good to use them?)

5. Pan and zoom more slowly over several seconds to reduce strobing

6. Not sure how to control resizing to make it proper and not overly sharp?

7. Use the highest quality MPEG-2 encoding (if I can figure out what the differences are and best settings)

So, tomorrow I delve into creating my next video slideshow and will post a link to the result on youtube or vimeo, and will meanwhile keep checking here. Again, thank you!

[manono]

3. Given that resolution, a smaller bitrate would yield higher quality, except in the case of pan/zoom effects where a higher bitrate would be better to render motion more smoothly, so not under 4000kbps, but maybe around 5500-6000kbps

Using VBR encoding the available bits will be distributed where needed for the final file size (bitrate) you set. I don't know whether or not I understood you properly, but a lower bitrate never gives better quality than a higher bitrate for the same scene. It is true that a lower bitrate for a static scene might give the same or even better quality than a higher bitrate being used for a motion scene (panning and the like). But that's the encoding program's job to figure out. The idea is to fill the available space on the DVDR, and you'll use the highest average bitrate you can.

2. Since tv resolution is 720x480, I will be losing a great deal of resolution

DVD resolution is 720x480. A good Hi-Def TV set is 1920x1080.

[jagabo]

6. Not sure how to control resizing to make it proper and not overly sharp?

I don't know the program, but if it gives you a choice of resizing algorithms Bilinear will be less sharp than Bicubic, Lanczos or Spline36, etc. It will also avoid over sharpening halos if your source is already sharp. And it will slightly reduce grain noise rather than accentuating it.