slide show to burn

[btweenuni]

Hello,
I am a newbie to both the forum, and to PSE4 and Premiere 2.
I am trying to make a slide show to music in PSE4, which seems okay, except that when I preview in PSE4, some of the slides I made with writing, don't show the letters.
Then I saved for burning and it brought me over to Premiere 2, but it did not burn a DVD for me???
Also, when watching what it saved on my computer in Windows media player, some of the pictures (say 6 - 12) played without the music, although looking at the timeline, it shows music under each picture and that the songs are back to back from each other. Any ideas? Or I'll just go back to my old slide show maker!
Thanks!!!

[ATR]

btweenuni

One answer does not always fit all, so a lot more details would probably help, but....here goes

(1) Make sure you are not overlooking something in the procedures. Recheck the details of how to generate a slideshow in Photoshop Elements 4.0 and burn to DVD-VIDEO with Premiere Elements 2.0 (if that is what you want to do). Check out the Help descriptions. The link below is to an Adobe link with a tutorial on the use of the programs that you have.

http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/storytelling/pdfs/digitalstorytelling_300dpi.pdf

(2) The "no show letters" was a long time issue in the forums here and elsewhere. I would have to search around to see if anyone ever pin pointed cause(s).

(3) Could you supply more details on "..., but it did not burn a DVD for me???" Play by play, exactly what happened? Where you burning to disc or burning to folder? Did you get error messages, freeze ups, burning aborting midway, etc?

(4) The usual basics tosssed around....
(a) In Premiere Elements, are you Rendering in Edit before going to the DVD module for burn to DVD-VIDEO (if that is the path being used)?
(b) In Photoshop Elements, are you setting the correct profile prior to the writing of the wmv? Very important!
(c) In Photoshop Elements, what is the description of your slideshow in terms: number of slides, resolution of the photos, time for the slideshow, features of the slideshow such as audio, transitions, pan & zooms, etc.
(d) Does you system need to be optimized....virtual memory, defragmentation? Any programs running in the background that you can shutdown while you are working on your project?

That is just a starter. I would not give up on the programs just yet. The answer(s) may be just around the corner.

ATR

[btweenuni]

ATR,
In answer to your questions...

The disc did not freeze, or anything. There just wasn't anything on the disc when it was "finished."

I believe PSE brought me to edit mode to transfer the slide show to disc. Sorry I have been working with my old program all day, and am a little burnt!

What do you mean by correct profile?

There are 159 slides, and six songs, for a total of roughly 28 minutes. There is only 1 pan and zoom. I've never used it before, and just wanted to see what it did. It says 120 MB. Not sure what you want to know about transitions?

My system hasn't really locked up. It has been defraged twice in the past two weeks.

Hopefully this will hep to get some answers.

Thanks!!!

[ATR]

btweenuni,

Good morning. Hope things are looking better.

Please excuse if I go over some things that you already know, but I do not want to overlook any possibilities.

For this post, I would like to focus in on "The disc did not freeze, or anything. There just wasn't anything on the disc when it was "finished"."
(1) Let us start with the Slideshow on the Timeline, in Edit Module.
(2) When you go to the DVD Module and are in DVD Layout dialog, does your Slideshow play after you press Preview DVD?
(3) If so, when you go on and you are in Burn DVD dialog, is your DVD Settings on Burn to "Disc" OR "Folder (4.7GB)"? The reason I bring that up is project should burn to disc with "Disc" setting, but burn to "folder" will result in project in a saved location and not on a disc.
(4) Assuming that you are burning to "Disc", do you get a message at the end saying that burn has been completed successfully?
(5) If yes to (4), what are you using for playback of the DVD-VIDEO that you jthought you had just produced?

Will re-focus if necessary.

ATR

[btweenuni]

ATR,
Thank you!
I have not been to bed yet!
I am trying to get something done up today as we have a gathering to get to this afternoon that I NEED this slide show for.
I believe the first time I tried it, I chose the 4.7 because I was getting the same thing as I am now, and that is that when the disc is selected, it says that the device is not ready. I have pressed rescan numerous times with no luck.
It did play in preview mode, but there was a gap in music which did not show in the timeline, for about 6 - 12 frames.
Hope you can help!

[ATR]

btweenuni

Just some quick follow up on the prior "focus" point:

Disc (not ready even after Rescan)
I have always had a problem with my Premiere Elements 2.0 and DVD-R discs. I get it to work finally but it takes a variety of tricks. The easy way out for me was to go for DVD+R, DVD+ or - RW disc. But, if you stick with the DVD-R disc for the DVD-VIDEO that you are making, you could try having disc in drive even before you open the program and/or hitting the Rescan/waiting for the Ready/when Ready, hit rescan again/wait for the next Ready. That should do it. (There is always the question "Will the player support the DVD disc type?)

Burning to Folder
You could try this in contrast to burning to disc. Keys to this are naming and remembering save location of the folder being generated. The folder generated contains the VIDEO_TS Folder which you then burn from the saved location to a DVD disc with the software that came with your DVD drive NOT the Premiere Elements burn. If you have Nero or RecordNow, you probably will be required to used the category for burning video files NOT create data disc.
...depends on the software.

In preparation for the next, focus point 2.....

If I recall, you said that your Preview did not look that great. When you had your project on the Timeline (in the Edit Module), did the video track have a red line across the top part of the track anywhere? If so, did you press the Enter key to "Render" before going on to the DVD Module?

More on focus point 2 later if necessary.

ATR

[btweenuni]

Hi,
My project didn't turn out in time.
I had just 1/4 of the pictures that I could transfer to my laptop in time for the gathering, and just had to play the music in the background, while media player or something on the computer just did its own slide show.
I played rescan numerous times. It was always saying that the device was not ready. I tried both DVD-R and DVD+R. I don't know. Could there be something wrong with my burner?
I tried having the disc in before opening PE, but no luck there either. I still want to finish the slide show because its actually a memorial for someone that passed away. I think its important for my mother in law, and nephew to have a copy of what I was working on.
If I just wanted to save to file and then burn, is it only the VIDEO_TS Folder that I need to transfer? Will the music transfer with that too?
The preview worked okay, its just that after the first song ended, it took several slides until the second song began, although in the timeline on both PSE, and PE they looked like they were right next to each other, with no gaps in between.
There is a yellow line at the top 1/4 edge of the video row, and a yellow line through the middle of the audio row. Then dividing the video and the timeline section, is a red line. I don't know if those mean anything?
Thanks for all your advice so far!
btweenuni

[ATR]

Sorry things are not going better, but.....

Just a thought, do you have more than one DVD drive on your computer?

Next, try the Burn to Folder Route with just the VIDEO_TS folder, using the software that came with the DVD drive. Do you have Nero or Record Now or something else for this purpose?

ATR

[btweenuni]

Thanks ATR!
I believe I have attributed part of my problem to the DVD burner.
I did a search for my issue and read this link....

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?p=659602

I believe LG is the problem. I spent $160 on that thing when I bought it and I hardly used it!

Anyway, I bought a Sony this time, and it seems to burn. Now my issue is the delay in music transitioning from one song to the second song. About 9 slides go by without any music, and in PSE 4, they show that they are back, to back, to back. So why, when it transfers over into PE 2, does the "gap" appear?

I may put another post out with music gaps or the like in the title (after I do a search for previous posts of course) to try and fix it. I am getting closer...
Btweenuni

[Chuck Engels]

A firmware update for the LG would probably fix the problem.

[ATR]

btweenuni

Glad to learn that you are making progress with your troubleshooting.

This is just a quick few questions about your audio gaps until (and if) you start another post on that aspect of the troubleshooting.

Have you looked into the audio file formats?
Is this problem unique to this one slideshow?
When in Photoshop Elements 4.0,
(a) You say that the two audio files look back to back, but have you rechecked the Edit Slide Show Audio (or equivalent location in 4.0) to verify the Start Time and Length set? Conflicts?
(b) What happens if you substitute with two of the audio files that came with the Organizer? After transfer, do the audio gaps still occur in Premiere Elements DVD Layout Preview?
Are you using the Fit Slides to Audio button when in Photoshop Elements 4.0?

Since the audio gaps are first evident in the Preview in the DVD Layout dialog in Premiere Elements, then the problem would appear to be in the transfer, not burning. Although there is no Fit Slides to Audio button in Premiere Elements, it might be interesting to create just video portion of slideshow in Photoshop Elements 4.0 and then add your original audio files from their saved location when you get in Premiere Elements 2.0 and see what happens in DVD Layout Preview there.

A lot of troubleshooting possibilities.

ATR

[btweenuni]

Hello,
Here is an update...
I did a search regarding audio gaps. The scoop is, I was using MP3 format. I converted them to WAV, and transfered them back in (back in PSE 4), then pulled everything back into PE 2, and low a behold, no more gaps!
It seems that PE 2 doesn't like MP3.
So now, albeit 5 days late, I have 4 copies of a slide show (and music too)!
I've mastered it for the time being!

Chuck,
I did look for firmware updates for the LG, but didn't see any on their website. I don't know if you read the link I attached to my previous email, but LG just doesn't seem to have a good rep. So far Sony is marvelous, and I bought an extended warranty because of my previous issues, and learning how easy it is for something to go wrong with these crazy things! Hopefully I am set for a while. Maybe now I should do some tutorials for these programs so I have a better idea what I'm doing? But sometimes trial and error is all the fun, right?

Have a good night!
And I'm keeping this link on my favories, as I'm sure I'll be back from time to time!
Btweenuni

[ATR]

btweenuni

Helpful hints are OK, but it great exploring and discovering. Thanks for sharing your results.

ATR