Slideshow

[Inspeqtor]

I made a slideshow for my wife using PSE5 to make the slides, then putting the slideshow together with Proshow Gold. My problem is the top of the slides are cut off while viewing them on a standard 4:3 television. Can someone tell me what the proper pixel size is to start using in PSE under File/New/Blankfile? I need to resize these to make them look better.

Thank you

[Inspeqtor]

Another thing I did was to add canvas size to one photo on top and bottom to add some text within that area. Some of the top is cut off, but the bottom is ok. I will need to fix this as well, but not sure how. I saved it in PSD form, so I can move the text around, but in using the crop tool to try to resize it, my only option of course is No Retriction, or one of the photo sizes, 4X6, 5,7. 8x10 etc. I don't know how to resize this to fit a TV screen, plus keep the text in there somehow.

Again, Thank you

[TonyW]

Charles. There's a Blank File preset in PSE5 called NTSC DV 720x480 (with guides). That's the one to use for a DVD for a North American standard TV. TV's cut off the edges but if you avoid the outermost area shown by the guides that shouldn't happen. If you want to be really sure stick to the innermost area although most TV's these days will handle the intermediate area.

Now why 720x480 pixels is 3x2 and not 4x3 escapes me for the moment but I'm sure there's a good explanation :)

Tony

[Inspeqtor]

Thank you Tony! I will give that a try.

[Inspeqtor]

Tony,

I did give that a try, and it does seem to work better. I like the guides! That is a big help. I did a test run by only making 2 text slides, then I went into Proshow Gold to make a test slideshow to burn to DVD and see ow it looks.

I am really puzzled. When I burned the DVD and put it into my DVD player, now it says the DVD is unreadable and insert another disk. I burned a second DVD with the same results.

I am heartbroken as it seems I will not get this done for my wife. :(

[TonyW]

Are you using the same DVD's as you used before? Can't imagine the slides would make any difference - sounds like something went wrong in the burning or maybe your DVD player doesn't like the type of DVD you are using.

Tony

[Inspeqtor]

Are you using the same DVD's as you used before? Can't imagine the slides would make any difference - sounds like something went wrong in the burning or maybe your DVD player doesn't like the type of DVD you are using.

Tony

Yes I am using the same DVD's from the same pack as before. I ued the same settings in Proshow Gold as before. I have no clue what to do now :(

[ATR]

Charles,

Strange.

Suggestions

1. Take the DVD disc that your player is rejecting and explore its contents in the computer. Confirm that the disc shows two folders, OpenDVD and VIDEO_TS, which are typical of the DVD-VIDEO file structure.

2. Recheck your batch of discs to make sure they are really all the same.

3. Recheck your software to double check the DVD-VIDEO creation option settings.

4. Recheck your player specifications as to disc types.

5. Try again.

Are you using Brand X for both creating the slideshow and generating the DVD-VIDEO from it?

Besides Photoshop Elements 5 do you have Nero software with a DVD-VIDEO plugin? If so, we can talk about plan B, if things get desperate.

ATR

[Inspeqtor]

Charles,

Strange.

Suggestions

1. Take the DVD disc that your player is rejecting and explore its contents in the computer. Confirm that the disc shows two folders, OpenDVD and VIDEO_TS, which are typical of the DVD-VIDEO file structure.

2. Recheck your batch of discs to make sure they are really all the same.

3. Recheck your software to double check the DVD-VIDEO creation option settings.

4. Recheck your player specifications as to disc types.

5. Try again.

Are you using Brand X for both creating the slideshow and generating the DVD-VIDEO from it?

Besides Photoshop Elements 5 do you have Nero software with a DVD-VIDEO plugin? If so, we can talk about plan B, if things get desperate.

ATR

ATR,

I have to leave for work in a short while. Looking at the DVD, it shows 3 folders:

Audio_TS
Show_1
Video_TS

This is the same as the program that does run.

When I made the test slideshow I used only 5 slides; 2 text and 3 photos. I am wondering now if that is too little information for my DVD player to read. When I get home tonite, I am going to make the full slide show using the blankfile that Tony suggested and see if that was the problem.

The DVD's are made by(for) Staples
I have Nero StartSmart which I can burn DVD's for backing up, but I don't think I can make slideshows with that.

Thank you for your help! This forum is the best!!

[ATR]

Plan B, Photoshop Elements 5 and Nero, if necessary

Nero Start Smart Interface
Gray looking clip on left edge, click on that to open panel showing list of applications within Nero.
Select NeroVision Express.
In the dialog that opens, it should say "What would you like to do?" If it shows the option, "Make DVD", followed by DVD-VIDEO, you are in business.
Just bring into Nero your slideshow which was saved as wmv with NTSC profile and process it through to DVD-VIDEO following the menu instructions.

At this point, it is not obvious to me what happened to cause your problem with the ProGold software. If the burn problem does not resolve, can you still save the ProGold slideshow so that you can burn it in Nero if your Nero has the appropriate application?

ATR

[Inspeqtor]

I just wanted to report to everyone that I did indeed get the slide show done! I was told it went over very well.
This was for my wife's boss as he is retiring at the end of this year. There was a retirement party in his honor Friday. He knew nothing about the slide show my wife and her co-workers put together and that I made for them. My wife said she looked over at him a couple of times and saw tears streaming down his face. When she went back to their office, she put the DVD on his desk. Awhile later he came in and asked if he could get a copy and my wife just pointed at his desk which produced a huge smile on his face.

That says it all :)

Thank you everyone here that also helped in making this slide show a success!

[ATR]

Charles

Curious, how did you resolve your issues?

Sharing of memories such as you did was the greatest gift. And, it is a good example of the impact that photo/video editing can have on our daily lives. Congratulations on your success.

ATR

[Inspeqtor]

ATR,

I still used Photoshop Elements 5 and Proshow Gold. I am guessing the reason the slide show did not work earlier was because I did not have enough slides in the show for my DVD player to read.

Thank you for your kind words.