Creating WMV from Slideshow takes hours

[tigerG]

I have a slideshow of over 450 photos which runs about 50 minutes. When I try to create a WMV the estimate to complete is more than 5 hours. This slideshow will be displayed on a projection screen of 6 feet by 10 feet. I set the output to HD 1080. The photos are saved as JPEGs of 2230X1828 at 600 pixel resolution. Hard drive space is not an issue.

My processor is a 64 Bit Athlon 3800+ (2.4 GHz) with 2 GBs of DDR400 RAM and over 1 TB of disk space partitioned into smaller disk drives. I am running WinXP 32 bit SP3. The disks are internal SATA and EIDE drives.

Is there anything I can do to shorten the time it takes to create a WMV? Can I use a different file format that maintains the transitions and effects? PDF is created faster but it can't display the transitions.

[Wavshrdr]

I saw your post and decided to create an account to answer it. I recently ran into this same problem while creating a slide show with 650 photos that ran for 45 minutes.

I couldn't find any real solution other than faster hardware. I was doing it on a pretty fast laptop with XP Pro (SP3), 3GB RAM, Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz processor, 7200 rpm hard drive and better specs than quite a few home PCs.

My new PC just arrived about a week ago. I was eager to see what improvement I might notice on much faster hardware. Running this same task on my new PC running Vista Home Premium, 3GB RAM, 2 500GB 7300 rpm drives, but a Intel quad core 2.4 GHz processor saw my the time required go from almost 7 hours down to just a tick over 2 hours. This was doing the exact same slide show. It might have been faster if I had XP on the home machine but I haven't felt like installing it yet.

In effect you are creating video for the slide show and it takes a while to process it. The main reason I decided to buy the new home PC was because I thought I might be doing a lot more of these slideshows and I didn't want to wait so long. FYI, while I am a big fan of Athlon processors in general, most of the Adobe products I've tried seem to be faster when running Intel processors at least for the PC world.

The times you listed seem about right in my experience for what you are trying to do. Make sure you do a small test run at a lower resolution to make sure you have all the transitions setup the way you like. I must have spent a good 25 hours or more editing and arranging everything to get my 45 minutes of slide show the way I wanted it.

[ATR]

tigerG

Exactly what program are you using for the writing of your .wmv slideshow, Photoshop Elements 6? If so, what "Window Media Profile" are you using for the file size in the Save As A File/Movie File (.wmv) section before the writing of the .wmv?

You say that you set the output to HD1080. There is no 1080i or 1080p Window Media Profile in Photoshop Elements 6 (even via the Browse route). Or, did you manage to create your own Window Media Profile 1080 .prx file?

Although your posted issue is time necessary for the writing of the .wmv, what is the quality of the product that you are getting. I have comments about your photos saved as [2230 x 1828 pixels "600 pixel resolution"]. But, will hold back on that until I see more details of what you are doing.

To be continued, if you would like to....

ATR

[tigerG]

I am using PSE 6. I checked the prx file description and it is 720P not 1080. I also have Premiere 4 and that is where the 1080i came from. I have tried both PSE 6 and Premiere 4 to produce the WMV.

The images are scans of photos done at 600 PPI. I don't have the photos only the scanned image files. The files were scanned and then saved as PSD files. The length X width and resolution numbers in my post are based on the properties of several of the images while in Organizer. The wmv file will be run on a laptop and projected on a 10 X 8 foot screen using a high resolution projector.

Would I like you to continue. I am new to this slideshow business and I am open to anything that makes this a better presentation.

tigerG

[magicphotoman]

You should try ProShow Gold the best for creating videos with photos. You can get free 30 day trial

[ATR]

tigerG

Sorry for the delay in answering. Basic question that needs answering is:

Even with the long time in producing your .wmv, what does the quality look like when viewing on the intended screen? Are we dealing with long time to produce the .wmv as well as poor/mediocre quality of the finished product when viewed on your intended screen?

Either way, here are some things that need addressing, top of the list is images sizes. If I understood you correctly, you have these images that were scanned and put in a .psd file. You did not say what program produced the .psd file, but, since you are producing .wmv from it, I assuming that you did not run into any Photoshop/Photoshop Elements compatibility problems and were able to open this .psd in Photoshop Elements 6.

OK, you have the .psd open in Photoshop Elements 6. Go to the Image Menu up at the top of the interface, click on it, and then select Resize and then Image Size. What information do you see in the Image Size dialog:
Pixels Dimensions, in pixels
Document Size, in inches
Resolution, pixels/inch

My thinking here is this. You have a very large number of photos and, if the pixel dimensions of the photos in the .psd far exceed the final sizing for a 720p or 1080i end product, you might want to try resizing your photos accordingly. The following is included as a reference point for what I mean by far exceeding the sizes dictated by the 720p or 1080i formats.

In Photoshop Elements 6, 720p (1280 x 720) is top for .wmv profile (file size) options. I am not sure which workflow you have tried:
1. Create the slideshow in Photoshop Elements 6, output a 720p .wmv, bring that into Premiere Elements with a 720p or 1080i project preset, and then export via Share/Personal Computer/Window Media/720p or 1080i.
2. Create the slideshow in Photoshop Elements 6, output "as is" using the Send to Premiere Elements Option, and then follow the route to Share/Personal Computer/Window Media/720p or 1080i.
3. Create your slideshow in Premiere Elements and take it from there.

Note that when you are in Premiere Elements 4 and selecting the project preset, the 1080i description includes 1440 x 1080 pixels, not 1920 x 1080 pixels. The 1080i option does give 1920 x 1080 pixels in the final product because of the Pixel Aspect Ratio that is used, namely HD Anamorphic.

If quality does enter into this mix, I would be curious to see if workflow "2" above shows you any advantage.

Back to the production times....another area to look is your resources. Is your computer optimized? Have you gone into Photoshop Elements 6/Full Editor/Edit Menu/Preferences/Performance and checked out the settings there?

But, the important question is are you getting good results for your final product, except that it takes too long to produce? If you photo sizing is not oversized for the task and your computer is optimized, then what you are getting may be the best the can be gotten from your computer environment and these Adobe products. After ruling these factors out, you then may want to explore alternative products.

To be continued.........

ATR

[ATR]

tigerG

I just noticed that in my last response I missed the "photos = saved jpeg 2230 x 1828 600 resolution". So, the photos that are going into your Photoshop Elements 6 slideshow have pixel dimension of 2230 x 1828 pixels???

In my last response I concentrated on photos oversized in pixel dimensions. What I bypassed is ratio. The programs labor in having to deal with oversized photos as well as with any needed correction to a 4:3 or 16:9 ratio. Both 720p and 1080i use the ratio of 16:9. In this regard, the ratio of your 2230 x 1828 for 450 photos needs some looking into. I think that you are using something like 16:13??

Say, your workflow was to create your slideshow in Photoshop Elements 6 as 720p .wmv. That would mean that Premiere Elements would have to resize your 450 photos from 1280 x 720 pixels to 1440(1920) x 1080 pixels as well as correct what looks like your 16:13 ratio to 16:9. Time consuming?

Think about the above, check it out, and let me know if you think that I have gone off the deep edge with my suggestions.

To be continued........

ATR

[tigerG]

I have just learned not to edit replies in this editor. I spent 15 minutes composing a reply and the editor took me back to the login screen. Thanks for your replies. I am learning a lot.

Basically, I feel I'm too far along in Premiere Elements 4.0 with special effects to try to resize the photos. The event is next week so after I will have time to experiment and learn how to do this right. :D

I have a related performance question. I have an NVIDIA GEFORCE 9600GT that if I understand the documentation can accelerate mpeg 1/2 encoding. Is my understanding correct? If so, does PSE 6 or PE4 have the capability of using hardware mpeg encoding? Is this done by selecting a codec?

Steve

[ATR]

I base my responses on what works for me and/or from what I have read. Based on that, I do not have any worthwhile information on your last question.

But, I will share with you the bits and pieces of what I think I know on this topic, but.....

1. Premiere Elements 4 and 7 both use the Main Concept MPEG Video Codec for its MPEG encoding. I have never tried to go into the Premiere Elements program files to try and find it and replace it with another.

2. Most of the marketing info for the NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT talks of the enhanced performance (for gamers and HD and Blu-Ray playback) and CPU utilization. Sometimes there will be a small note about its offering of "hardware MPEG encoder". I got the impression that these "hardware MPEG encoders" work independently of a PC software program such as Premiere Elements. But, that still raises the question about the compatibility issues with Premiere Elements.

3. Since I am not sure how these "hardware MPEG (or for that matter hardware DV) encoders work, I will see if I can find out.

To be continued...........

ATR