Ok thanks. I am not in front of my computer right now, so I can't even think of the rendering options off the top of my head. Well, one problem is that I don't know of the video options the hotel (where the reception will be) actually has. They may have a DVD player, they may have a cd player and vhs.

Always be prepared; create both a DVD and a VHS cassette.

I would totally agree with Chienworks.

Although you could render and burn to DVD....or even a VCD that plays on DVD Players, it is a tricky proposition to know if the DVD Player will play your burned final product.

Until the VCD technology is as much as it is overseas (asia...me thinks)...for that special day, I would rely on VHS mostly.

Actually, I would create VHS for the to be played at the reception....and a VCD disc to be played on computers/DVD Players that play them and pass them out as keepsakes. And then, take 'orders' for anyone who wanted a copy on VHS. Then dupe the original VHS.

Of course....I would do all of that AFTER the honeymoon!! :-)

Congrats!!

Thanks for the replies. If I decide to use DVD as my format, do I want to scale my pictures to match that of the dvd resolution?

Photoshop offers a size of 720 x 534 for a NTSC DV/DVD. I have been scaling them to around 420 x 380 or so. I just don't want distortion when I put it on dvd. Your comments are appreciated.

No need to scale your pictures at all, as long as you're in the ballpark to being with. Drop the picture on the timeline, bring up Pan/Crop, right-mouse-button click on the frame and select "match output aspect". Vegas takes care of everything for you.

Do I have to do that with every picture? Also, in Vegas, is there that SAFE AREA I have to worry about when putting my pictures. Like wide or tall pictures.

Thanks

Also, is it better to go with a larger picture resolution for quality purposes. I know it all gets enlarged in respect to the screen size of the television, but currently my pictures average about 430 x 400 or so roughly. Would it be better to get it closer to the 600's? Just wondering

By default there is a safe area already in the vegas window - but you can resize it or ignore it if you want. My advice would be to work with a handfull of your objects to get a good feel for how it will turn out and then eyeball it from there.

Trust me...once you do one or two projects - it's all pretty much the same.

As for quality of your images - sure, the better the image you are working with the better they will turn out once rendered and played back. But again, I would suggest not to over think the process. Just start off with a good handfull of images (five or so) and render the project and see what it is gonna turn out like.

I did a similiar project for a graduation - images of the graduate set to some music....a little 1 minute snippet of a montage. Even at the highest settings it didn't take too long to render. And like I said - once you do one or two projects...you really get a good feel for how it's gonna turn out (it's all pretty much the same after that).

Hope that helps.

Thanks for all of the help. Just out of curiosity, where is the "safe area" that is built it. Are there dotted lines?, i don't see any.

I agree with you on the don't over think statement. Many people, including myself all the time, find out something, then almost go overboard trying to make it the best and most perfect, when it can never reach that level. I am a perfectionist.

On your preview screen, there is a little checkerboard window next called overlays right next to the resolution setting (preview, good, best,...). Make sure the "safe area" of that overlay is turned on and you will see the dotted lines that show the safe area (outside dashes) and actaion area (inside dashes). Just keep what you want people to see on the TV inside of the safe area.

dave

Above the preview window, click on the "#" button.

Well, I added my pictures, transitions, and music, then rendered them to NTSC DVD , then through it into DVD LAB, and burned a 1 minute dvd (on rw of course), and when I played it on my tv, everything looked fine. Except for one thing. It seems like my pictures are more left aligned of center then actually CENTERED. Like, the black space between the left side of the tv and the picture is less then the right side of the screen and picture. I never moved or panned the picture, just through them in there and that is what happened. One reason why I chose not to MATCH SOURCE OUTPUT or whatever those two choices are (basically where it fits the image to the screen), is because it cuts off some important parts of the picture that would be past the safe area. Most of my pictures, like i have said before, range from 430 x 400 or so. So they aren't getting near the DVD resolution standard. Any help is appreciated on this matter.

Thank you

p.s. This forum is so fast and helpful

The lack of centering is most likely due to your television being out of adjustment. It will probably be in a different possition on a different television. This is part of the reason that overscan past the safe areas exists.

Well, I tried it on another television, a large 50+inch television, and it appeared similar to the problem on my television.

As long as the project is centered in VV, you can be assured that it is properly centered. If you have borders, know that some tv's will not be centered correctly and you will see it off to one side. I purchased 2 new 13" tv's for video work and they are both off, new.

thanks.

When some of you choose to do slideshows, do you NOT set the MATCH OUTPUT ASPECT, cuz like I said earlier, it really seems to expand the picture past those safe areas, cutting heads off and such.

Ideally, the photograph itself should take into account the safe areas of the TV screen. In other words, if you have a 4x6" photograph, you should have at least about 0.4" between the tops of people's heads and the top edge of the picture and at least about 0.6" along the sides that you don't mind having cut off by the television. I realize this isn't always possible and you'll have to deal with the pictures that you have. However, when scanning pictures in or working with files from digital cameras, don't pre-crop right down to the subject. Leave some room around the subject for the overscan areas.

Often i don't crop or resize my pictures at all before bringing them into Vegas. I drop the uncropped picture onto the timeline then bring up Pan/Crop, set the Match Output Aspect Ratio option, and crop there. With the SafeAreas overlay turned on it's very easy to decide how best to crop and still have the subjects within the safe area.

Ditto here. I use my TRV950 to capture the picture, move it into the project, and crop there. Then there is no worry of distortion of the picture.

.02 worth...

Thanks for the tips. Well, i finally figured out the pan/crop feature. Something I have decided (with the help of your comments) is simply take my images that I have already cropped and saved, and once I load them in, instead of matching source or whatever, I am going to use the size feature in the pan/crop, and just shrink the image until all of it falls inside the dotted lines.