Slideshow Assistant Bugs In Mydvd?

[cdgaefke]

I'm having a very difficult time getting this to work. I'm trying hard to get 281 images (all JPGs) into a slideshow with music that's 18:04 in length (18 mins, 4 secs). Once, just once, I got the preview in the slideshow to show with the transitions where I want. That is, there are four pieces of music that comprise the 18:04 length. My wife and all got all excited, saved it, burned it, and lo and behold, the final production wasn't even close to what the preview showed us!

 

So I started over again, and here's what happening.

 

Even after mixing all four MP3s into one large WAV, the result is the same: slideshow assistant shows it at 281 images with 18:04 music length. If you do the math, that's about 3.86 seconds per slide. If I set it to 3.86 secs per slide, OR click the "Fit to Audio" button (when it's enabled!! why is it disabled sometimes!?!?), when I hit preview, it changes to 14:49 in length. Which, of course, makes the slides way too fast, the timing way off, and the slides end with 4 minutes left of the music and it abruptly cuts off when the slideshow is done.

 

What can I do to get this this working?

 

Thanks..

[JC]

I agree video wave is much easier to use.

[cdgaefke]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll give Videowave a try.

 

Basically, the slideshow assistant in MyDVD is broken..? Are there any plans to fix it? Is there anyone from Roxio here monitoring these posts?

 

 

Charles

 

For you first production, I would try using VideoWave rather than assistant. It gives you more flexibility and more options. It is easy to use. Open VideoWave and add several of your images to the storyline. Just a few so that you get an idea how it works rather than to add all of them and then have a problem. Select the first on and right click to set the duration. Apply it to all - uses about 8 to 10 seconds to begin with. Add in the transitions and set their duration. Now switch to timeline. Click on the icon that has the plus and minus signs. Make sure that two of the audio tracks are selected. Now drag the first piece of music to the firsta audio track.(see image) Watch and listen to the preview. Does that work ?

 

If so, you can do a bigger show. Save often and alternate saving to two different file names - just so you don't accidentally screw one up. That way you will have a back up. As you add more and more images, you will be able to drag a second and more audio cuts to the audio tracks. When you add the second, drag it to the other audio track and overlap it a bit. Now clcik on the speaker icon and select fade in. Select the first track and select fade in and out. You can now drag the second audio track to the left or right so that the fade out and fade in gives you a good transition.

[bimicher]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll give Videowave a try.

 

Basically, the slideshow assistant in MyDVD is broken..? Are there any plans to fix it? Is there anyone from Roxio here monitoring these posts?

Charles

 

I don't think the Slideshow Assistant is broken at all but behaving correctly.

 

You expect the slideshow to last 18min and 4 secs showing the 281 slides ar 3.86 secs each but it gets shortened to 14:49. What you are forgetting is the transitions which actually shorten the slideshow. I'll try to explain with a simple example.

 

Assume you have a slideshow containing 2 slides and you show each slide for 5 secs each. The total slideshow is therefore 10 secs long. Now add a 2 sec transition between the slides. The length of the slideshow does not increase by 2 secs but is actually shortened by 2 secs. This occurs because to create the transition the 2 slides are overlapped by 2 sec, that is, the first 2 secs of slide 2 overlaps the last 2 secs of slide 1 and the length of the slideshow is shortened to 8 secs.

 

If you expand this over 281 slides you can see how the overall length will be shortened.

[cdgaefke]

That makes sense. What's misleading is the Slideshow Assistant shows the length as being 18:04 ... until you preview it. Makes it very difficult to use. Gives me something to think about.

 

Thanks!

 

I don't think the Slideshow Assistant is broken at all but behaving correctly.

 

You expect the slideshow to last 18min and 4 secs showing the 281 slides ar 3.86 secs each but it gets shortened to 14:49. What you are forgetting is the transitions which actually shorten the slideshow. I'll try to explain with a simple example.

 

Assume you have a slideshow containing 2 slides and you show each slide for 5 secs each. The total slideshow is therefore 10 secs long. Now add a 2 sec transition between the slides. The length of the slideshow does not increase by 2 secs but is actually shortened by 2 secs. This occurs because to create the transition the 2 slides are overlapped by 2 sec, that is, the first 2 secs of slide 2 overlaps the last 2 secs of slide 1 and the length of the slideshow is shortened to 8 secs.

 

If you expand this over 281 slides you can see how the overall length will be shortened.

[cdgaefke]

Also, that doesn't explain why the "fit to length of music" option doesn't do just that ... nor does it explain why sometimes that option isn't available ... nor does it explain why sometimes the preview shows one thing, and the final result shows something else.

 

Charles

 

I don't think the Slideshow Assistant is broken at all but behaving correctly.

 

You expect the slideshow to last 18min and 4 secs showing the 281 slides ar 3.86 secs each but it gets shortened to 14:49. What you are forgetting is the transitions which actually shorten the slideshow. I'll try to explain with a simple example.

 

Assume you have a slideshow containing 2 slides and you show each slide for 5 secs each. The total slideshow is therefore 10 secs long. Now add a 2 sec transition between the slides. The length of the slideshow does not increase by 2 secs but is actually shortened by 2 secs. This occurs because to create the transition the 2 slides are overlapped by 2 sec, that is, the first 2 secs of slide 2 overlaps the last 2 secs of slide 1 and the length of the slideshow is shortened to 8 secs.

 

If you expand this over 281 slides you can see how the overall length will be shortened.

[sknis]

For you first production, I would try using VideoWave rather than assistant. It gives you more flexibility and more options. It is easy to use. Open VideoWave and add several of your images to the storyline. Just a few so that you get an idea how it works rather than to add all of them and then have a problem. Select the first on and right click to set the duration. Apply it to all - uses about 8 to 10 seconds to begin with. Add in the transitions and set their duration. Now switch to timeline. Click on the icon that has the plus and minus signs. Make sure that two of the audio tracks are selected. Now drag the first piece of music to the firsta audio track.(see image) Watch and listen to the preview. Does that work ?

 

If so, you can do a bigger show. Save often and alternate saving to two different file names - just so you don't accidentally screw one up. That way you will have a back up. As you add more and more images, you will be able to drag a second and more audio cuts to the audio tracks. When you add the second, drag it to the other audio track and overlap it a bit. Now clcik on the speaker icon and select fade in. Select the first track and select fade in and out. You can now drag the second audio track to the left or right so that the fade out and fade in gives you a good transition.

 

I'm having a very difficult time getting this to work. I'm trying hard to get 281 images (all JPGs) into a slideshow with music that's 18:04 in length (18 mins, 4 secs). Once, just once, I got the preview in the slideshow to show with the transitions where I want. That is, there are four pieces of music that comprise the 18:04 length. My wife and all got all excited, saved it, burned it, and lo and behold, the final production wasn't even close to what the preview showed us!

 

So I started over again, and here's what happening.

 

Even after mixing all four MP3s into one large WAV, the result is the same: slideshow assistant shows it at 281 images with 18:04 music length. If you do the math, that's about 3.86 seconds per slide. If I set it to 3.86 secs per slide, OR click the "Fit to Audio" button (when it's enabled!! why is it disabled sometimes!?!?), when I hit preview, it changes to 14:49 in length. Which, of course, makes the slides way too fast, the timing way off, and the slides end with 4 minutes left of the music and it abruptly cuts off when the slideshow is done.

 

What can I do to get this this working?

 

Thanks..