Slideshow picture quality on output?

[brianschiel]

Hi,
I'm a newbie to Premiere Elements. I imported the pics as PSD. The picture quality on the final slideshow is OK but not great. I'm using good equipment....Canon 30D with L glass and touching up in Lightroom.

Just before I burn to DVD I'm moving the 'slide' to highest video quality as my DVD is big enough.

Any thoughts? Is there something I should be tweaking??

Thanks,
Brian

[ATR]

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bc14b78

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbebfd1

The above is some reading material that may be of interest.

Import, PSD?????? I may be off track, but I do not see that as an import file type for Premiere Elements.

First, what version of Premiere Elements are you using and where is your slideshow coming from, Photoshop Elements (version?), from creating/burn all within Premiere Elements, or from some place else.

Second, what are you using to view your DVD-VIDEO slideshows produced by Premiere Elements, SD/HD?

Third, if Adobe products,
(a) If slideshow is coming from Photoshop Elements as wmv, are you setting the correct profile for DVD-VIDEO before that wmv writing begins? If you are using Photoshop Elements 5.0, do you mean sending over slideshow as is rather than using the wmv route?
(b) In Premiere Elements, do you Render in the Edit Module before going to DVD Module for the burn to disc? Also, I suggest you try using the checking off route “Fit Contents to available space” and see if you observe any change in quality from what you have been doing. What does your slideshow look like in Preview DVD before you get to the Burn part?

That is it for now. Please let us now how you are doing.

ATR

[Barb O]

Import, PSD?????? I may be off track, but I do not see that as an import file type for Premiere Elements.

ATR

PSD format is OK for Premiere Elements. I think I have brought photos files as PSDs in to Premiere Elements v3. But an even better reference is the "Adobe Premiere Elements 2 In a Snap" book page 96 that says it is a good format for bringing in graphics (for which you may want to retain transparency) in to Premiere Elements.

However, remember that the resolution of a DVD is the equivalent of 640x480 photo file pixels (slightly different if you are in Europe with the PAL standard). So you can't get the same resolution as your PC monitor.

And the consideration of the large pixel resolution photo files causing problems in Premiere Elements does apply to PSD files just as it applies to other file types for still images.

Brian,

I suggest that you post the responses to ATRs so there is more info with which to analyze your problem.

[ATR]

I have Photoshop Elements 3.0/Premiere Elements 2.0.

I stand corrected. I always knew that the DVD Templates were .psd files, but I was not aware that you could import .psd to the Timeline. I never tried it. But when I double checked just now, .psd was under supported files types for Still Image File Type.

Need to look into that. Thanks.

ATR

[brianschiel]

Hi,
What does ATR mean? In anycase, thanks for the advice. Additional information...I just resized (before import) to 720X480. I suspect the results will be no better in that YES...the preview is not good. Still trying! :-)

Thoughts?
Brian

[Barb O]

Brian,

To truly judge final quality of an image, you generally need to burn a DVD.

I suggest that you use a R/W DVD if you have one and burn a DVD: then go play it on your TV in order to judge the quality.

[ATR]

Brian,

I just saw your post with question marks. What exactly did I post that created problems for you? If you want, I would be willing to go into greater detail on specific points that you define.

I asked all those questions to try to pin point the origin of your issue. It was not clear to me what program the slideshow was coming from as well as what you were using to view the slideshow when you were judging its final quality. Those references and any links within the links should have helped, but I will watch for any future comments/questions/clarifications.

ATR

[CFGattis]

I have been having the same problem with a DVD I am working on, but wondering after reading the articles you mentioned if the problem will go away when played on the TV. I put the slide show together in PSE5, and then sent it to PE3. Does PSE5 automatically adjust the stills to fit the TV screen or is this done later. I purposely used high res. photos wanting better quality not realizing that the program would have to reduce anyway. Will it work, or do I need to go back and redo the slideshow with lower res. stills and send the them another way?

[ATR]

CFGattis

I will be sending you more information, but just for now I wanted to concentrate on one point about when this resizing business is done.

Keep in mind that I have Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Premiere Elements 2.0. But, some basic ideas should apply. When you have the Photoshop Elements 5.0 Premiere Elements 3.0 combo (just that combo), you have the options of sending over the wmv slideshow written in Photoshop Elements 5.0 or the slideshow as is to Premiere Elements 3.0.

If you go the wmv route....in Photoshop Elements 5.0, the profile selected for the wmv (before the start of its writing) will set the sizing. If you want this wmv slideshow to go to Premiere Elements for DVD-VIDEO, it should be with the profile named: DVD NTSC Output, description included 720 x 480 with frame rate of 30 NOT "High Quality Output". Read all the available profiles and their description to see the options.

To get to these options....when you get to Output as wmv or equivalent for your program...
In the Adobe Photoshop Elements dialog that appears, the reading should be something like:
"The current profile for this .......: High quality Output"
Below is a circled area saying: Change WMV output quality, click on that.
In Choose Profile, scroll through the options and select DVD NTSC Output with the description 720 x 480 frame rate 30.

If, instead of the wmv route, you used the slideshow as is route to Premiere Elements 3.0 from Photoshop Elements 5.0, the resizing would be done in Premiere Elements 3.0, probably during the encoding/burning step.

But, wherever the resizing is done, the more stress on the system with the amount of resizing demanded.

Next, if necessary, Rendering in Edit before the DVD module (red line across the top of track) and realistic expectations in viewing DVD-VIDEO to be product before and after (when, where.....).

Please let me know if we are going in the right direction here or going off the track.

ATR