I’ve been using Ulead DVD PictureShow and the new DVD MovieFactory 2 (which now supports slide shows) and I find the VCD Slideshow quality to be outstanding. I watch thses on a 36” TV and they are absolutely gorgeous to my eyes.

I know that quality is a subjective thing but I am very happy with DVD PictureShow and DVD MovieFactory 2 for VCD slideshows. Not only can you add audio but if the audio is too short it will repeat it to match the length of the show. Download the trial versions and give them a shot. You have nothing to loose.

~jr

thanks for the info.
yes, svcd is very good, but the compatability with set top dvd units is the problem. my panasonic will not play an svcd, the jvc will. both will play a regular vcd.

i've gotten into dvd, and get great reuslts, but want to fool around with vcd and svcd since they are so inexpensive.

thanks again, and maybe i'll try those demos.

ciao,
joe s

Chienworks,
could you please explain that further about how nero handles stills? how does it make a player to show hi res photos? do these other vcd authoring softwares also make hi res photo shows the same way?

also, will ulead dvd picture show allow me to import compliant vcd, svcd and dvd files without re-encoding them to mpg? i'm partial to TMPGEnc, and prefer it to other encoders.

thanks guys

joe s

DVD PictureShow will not allow you to import MPEG files because it only works with still images as its source. DVD Movie Factory 2 will allow you to import compliant MPEG files made with TMPGEnc without re-encoding them. I’ve done this.

~jr

thanks jr.
i'm in the process of trying the demo of dvd movie factory. i have not actually burned a disc yet.

i've been making dvd's with dvd complete, slideshows and video, and have gotten great results, esp encooding my mpg2 in tempgenc. but i want to fool around with vcd and svcd too. with nero i can make both, but not with functional menus, and not with music.

nero makes stills even on vcd that look fantastic. i still am not clear if dvd move factory will make the slideshow as an mpg 1 movie clip, or do it like nero does. i'm green in the vcd field!

of course i can make a slideshow in vf then go right to vcd, or render the dv to mpg2 for svcd. but i want to make one with functional menus, that looks darn good.

thanks for the info.

later,
joe s

Picture Show and Nero are making SVCD-Still discs. The SVCD-Still standard is 720x480 the same as NTSC DVD. Downside is that it does not allow for any transitions as cheinworks said earlier it creates a series of still images. You can add music but your sync capabilities are non existing as all slides are displayed an equal amount of time. If quality of output is your main concern then an SVCD-Still is your best bet for VCD/SVCD output.

I have read almost all of these recent posts and have learned a lot PLUS spent some more money. What I have now is VideoFactory 2 with the MPEG encoder, Ulead Picture Show 2, Ulead MovieMaker 2, XATshow 5.1b7, Plextor CD writer, Sony DRX-510UL external - USB2 DVD writer, 2 each internal 7200 HD (25GB, 40GB), plus 3 each external Maxtor 120GB - 5400 on USB2 (yes, that's slow, but they work fine), 434 Mhz Intel processor with 384 MB ram 4 years old - yes, it's time for a new one). I'm not doing any video capture yet so campus speed is not a problem (I think). For viewing, I have Sony DVP-NS700P DVD player connected via component video to Sony 65 inch KP-65WV700 HDTV. As you guys know, between all this hardware and software there are a ton of options and I'm looking for the best final experience - sitting in a comfortable chair and enjoying hi-quality viewing of my pictures (and later, my Hi8 movies).

Just like JoeS, I want to produce slideshows on CD (VCD only) and DVD for myself and also to send to friends. At the moment, here are my observations:
1) VCD slideshows produced with Picture Show work fine but picture quality is poor.
2) VCD slideshows produced with XATshow have noticably better picture quality. XATshow doesn't have the nice wizard the Picture Show and MovieMaker do, but the end result is better.
3) I created an MPEG2 file using VideoFactory and inported that into MovieFactory, along with other slideshows created by MF (including the same one that I MPEG2'ed). While watching this, I can quickly switch from the VF produced MPEG2 and the MF produced video. The VF MPEG2 is noticably better quality.
4) I created the same slideshows on DVD as above using Ulead MovieFactory 2 and, to my eyes, the results were the SAME as what I created with XATshow. Better than PictureShow/MovieMaker, but NOT any better than XATshow. Needless to say, after spending $400 plus $$ for DVD media, I was disappointed.

I will play around a lot more, but if any of you can advise me, I'd appreciate it much. Again, bottom line, best possible image resolution and clarity on my HDTV set. I have a memory stick reader built into the TV and pictures viewed this way are VERY good -so that is my standard. The best VCDs and DVDs are not there yet.

> I have a memory stick reader built into the TV and pictures viewed this way are VERY good -so that is my standard.

I think this is an unrealistic standard based on today’s software technology. I am no expert but I think you want to know why the memory stick reader on your HDTV with 1080 lines of interlaced resolution looks better than your DVD MPEG2 with 480 lines of interlaced resolution? Just a guess, but I would imagine that it’s because your memory stick has 4 times the resolution of a DVD. No matter what you do, your DVD is only going to use 720x480 of your HDTV while the memory stick can display the full resolution of the original image.

~jr

Yes, I realize that - I didn't mean to imply that I expected the DVD video to look that good. So it seems to me that the weak link in this whole chain of digital camera to HDTV is the DVD specification, like you say, limited to 480 lines of resolution.

I suppose I am at the limit of what can be done with the current DVD standard. When HD DVD comes about, it should be a lot better.

Even the latest movies on DVD are not at all the quality of HDNet. HDNet off of DirecTV looks even better than still photos via memory stick. HDNet just blows me away.

Yea the output device does make a difference. I had a conversation with someone early on (I’ve been making VCD’s for about 3 years now) who was telling me how great his VCD’s looked. Then I found out he was viewing them on a 19” TV which, of course, looked a lot better than my 36” TV which showed compression artifacts that aren’t noticeable on a 19” TV. When I viewed my VCD’s on a smaller TV they looked better too. You are going through the same thing. Just the burden of having the latest technology I guess. ;-)

~jr

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