4 replies to this topic

[nmstx]

I bought Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 Suite for my wife for one thing:  Her friends create cute picture slide shows.  These are not high definition masterpieces, but they are high resolution enough that they look like real pictures.  We have known people for years who make these, on Macintoshes, Laptops, PCs, etc., with Windows Movie Maker, Roxio, and lots of other types of software.  They all have some reasonable degree of resolution for burning to DVD and showing to people on an ordinary television.

Here is the problem.  When she tries to make one with Roxio on our computer, the resolution of the pictures is terrible.   I do not mean to say that it is simply less detailed than an ordinary phote.  Of course DVD / television resolution would be worse than that.  I mean to say that there are visible boxes of color, so that it no longer resembles a picture, and is worse video than any slide show we have ever seen from her dozens of friends who make these things.  

The difference is apparent immediately when we select a photo for a menu page (for example).  As soon as the photo is copied into Roxio, it becomes so pixelated that eyeballs look square and distorted and hairlines look like they have little staircases on them.   The problem carries over to burned DVDS.  We have no such problem with any other application on our computer.  Our pictures display with perfectly fine resolution on our 22 inch monitor, in other applications. print perfectly well from our printer, etc.

We have searched in vain for some sort of resolution, properties, or options setting in Roxio that would allow us to change the resolution.  What is going on?  We are not asking for HD spectacular settings.  We just want the finished product to look presentable like the ones her friends make.

PC = Dell Dimension 4500 2.4 Ghz, 1 GB Ram, 5 GB free HD space.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (DirectX 9.0c 4.09....)
Soundblaster Live! Value soundcard
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 Video
DVD Burner is Sony DRU 120c
Monitor is Samsung SyncMaster 225BW

[myguggi]

I bought Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 Suite for my wife for one thing: Her friends create cute picture slide shows. These are not high definition masterpieces, but they are high resolution enough that they look like real pictures. We have known people for years who make these, on Macintoshes, Laptops, PCs, etc., with Windows Movie Maker, Roxio, and lots of other types of software. They all have some reasonable degree of resolution for burning to DVD and showing to people on an ordinary television.

Here is the problem. When she tries to make one with Roxio on our computer, the resolution of the pictures is terrible. I do not mean to say that it is simply less detailed than an ordinary phote. Of course DVD / television resolution would be worse than that. I mean to say that there are visible boxes of color, so that it no longer resembles a picture, and is worse video than any slide show we have ever seen from her dozens of friends who make these things.

The difference is apparent immediately when we select a photo for a menu page (for example). As soon as the photo is copied into Roxio, it becomes so pixelated that eyeballs look square and distorted and hairlines look like they have little staircases on them. The problem carries over to burned DVDS. We have no such problem with any other application on our computer. Our pictures display with perfectly fine resolution on our 22 inch monitor, in other applications. print perfectly well from our printer, etc.

We have searched in vain for some sort of resolution, properties, or options setting in Roxio that would allow us to change the resolution. What is going on? We are not asking for HD spectacular settings. We just want the finished product to look presentable like the ones her friends make.

PC = Dell Dimension 4500 2.4 Ghz, 1 GB Ram, 5 GB free HD space.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (DirectX 9.0c 4.09....)
Soundblaster Live! Value soundcard
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 Video
DVD Burner is Sony DRU 120c
Monitor is Samsung SyncMaster 225BW

Have you installed the latest drivers for your video card?

[sknis]

Have you installed the latest drivers for your video card?

Here.  Make sure you read and follow the instructions "Driver Installation..."  That driver is for XP.   What screen resolution are you using? What other display settings?  That's a pretty sophisticated monitor for that card.  Have you updated Microsoft's DirectX 9c recently?  If not do so.

[nmstx]

Thanks to both of you for responding.  I installed the new driver and I think that did the trick.  I had thought I had found the most recent one when I re-installed Windows last year, but apparently I didn't.

[sknis]

Thanks to both of you for responding. I installed the new driver and I think that did the trick. I had thought I had found the most recent one when I re-installed Windows last year, but apparently I didn't.

I'm glad that helped.  Drivers are updated at random intervals; I've seen as many as 3 per year.  It is good to check every couple of months and to update DirectX 9c at the same time.

Thanks for coming back and letting us know.