Help with slide production--please!

[Harlan]

I'm just about exhausted with Roxio 9. I successfully produced a number of slide shows with audio background using Roxio 6 and 7, but version 9 is giving me fits. Sometimes when I produce a slide show with audio, it works, but mostly it does not. I think I follow instructions reasonably well, but the results are usually disappointing.

 

If you want to create a slide show with audio, where do you begin? Do you click on Create DVD on the Welcome screen? Then do you click on Add Slideshow, and work on that screen? Or do you click on File|New Project|DVD? I like to use the Storyline and Timeline windows, and that seems to be available only in Videowave which can be opened by clicking on the Edit Video option on the Welcome Screen, but it appears that one can create a new production in Videowave as well as editing an existing production. I am confused.

 

When I have finished putting a slide show together, including audio clips for background, the real problem surfaces with the attempt to burn. I insert a blank DVD-RW in my DVD+/-RW drive, and click on burn. Sometimes I am told that the disk is full--it is not--sometimes I am told to insert a disk, but it's already in the drive; sometimes the disk burns until the last moment of the burn, then an error message tells me that there has been a problem and the burn is canceled. Sometimes the burn seems to be successful, but the DVD will not play on my computer. Yet, sometimes it will play on the DVD player, but it is not good quality. Infuriating!

 

I guess what I am asking is your recommendation on what program to use for creating a slide show with audio background. Also, any general advice on burning would be most welcome.

 

Related question: what is the difference in files with these extensions: dmsd, dmsm, dmss? My productions have different extensions, and I'm not sure why. The productions are saved automatically in different folders, and I do not understand why.

[Harlan]

The program to use for creating a slideshow is Videowave - it offers the most flexibility and can be saved and used as a basis for other productions. I always launch it via the Start button on the TaskBar. I avoid the Roxio Home page for starting programs. After creating (and saving) your production, you can 1)"output" to a video file, 2) send the production directly to myDVD for menu creation and burning or 3) close Videowave at this point.

For options 1) and 3), you launch myDVD and then use Add Title to add your productions. For 1) you add the created video file while for 3) you add the Videowave production file(the one with the dmsm extension)

 

the dmsm,dmsd and dmss files are simply a listing of what is included in your project, the editing to be applied, menus to be created etc. dmsm is for Videowave, dmsd is for myDVD and dmss is for Create Slideshow I believe but I have never used this since I always start my slideshows in Videowave. The productions can be saved to any folder you specify when you use Save As, I never use the defaults.

 

 

I tried the slide show production again. From the Welcome screen, I clicked on Edit Video which brought up Videowave. In the Welcome to Videowave popup, I clicked on Create a New Production. I then proceeded to put the slide show together in Storyline and Timeline. Then I clicked File|Burn with My DVD Express. The burn began and proceeded for a few hours. It hung on Overall Progress 97%; Current Task: encoding movie 99%. It remained hung for another couple of hours. In Task Manager, it registered as Not responding. I let it hang another couple of hours, hoping it would respond, but eventually terminated the non-burn. I looked at the disk in Windows Explorer. A popup window labeled Windows Cannot Access thie Disk stated: Windows cannot access this disk. The disk might be corrupted. Make sure the disk uses a format that windows recognizes. If the disk is unformatted, you need to format it before using it. A check of the disk Properties notes that the disk is full.

 

This is the same scenario that has happened the last 3 or 4 times I have tried to make a slide production. The DVD-RW disks were new. What have I done wrong? Or is my Roxio 9 program defective?

[bimicher]

I'm just about exhausted with Roxio 9. I successfully produced a number of slide shows with audio background using Roxio 6 and 7, but version 9 is giving me fits. Sometimes when I produce a slide show with audio, it works, but mostly it does not. I think I follow instructions reasonably well, but the results are usually disappointing.

 

If you want to create a slide show with audio, where do you begin? Do you click on Create DVD on the Welcome screen? Then do you click on Add Slideshow, and work on that screen? Or do you click on File|New Project|DVD? I like to use the Storyline and Timeline windows, and that seems to be available only in Videowave which can be opened by clicking on the Edit Video option on the Welcome Screen, but it appears that one can create a new production in Videowave as well as editing an existing production. I am confused.

 

When I have finished putting a slide show together, including audio clips for background, the real problem surfaces with the attempt to burn. I insert a blank DVD-RW in my DVD+/-RW drive, and click on burn. Sometimes I am told that the disk is full--it is not--sometimes I am told to insert a disk, but it's already in the drive; sometimes the disk burns until the last moment of the burn, then an error message tells me that there has been a problem and the burn is canceled. Sometimes the burn seems to be successful, but the DVD will not play on my computer. Yet, sometimes it will play on the DVD player, but it is not good quality. Infuriating!

 

I guess what I am asking is your recommendation on what program to use for creating a slide show with audio background. Also, any general advice on burning would be most welcome.

 

Related question: what is the difference in files with these extensions: dmsd, dmsm, dmss? My productions have different extensions, and I'm not sure why. The productions are saved automatically in different folders, and I do not understand why.

 

The program to use for creating a slideshow is Videowave - it offers the most flexibility and can be saved and used as a basis for other productions. I always launch it via the Start button on the TaskBar. I avoid the Roxio Home page for starting programs. After creating (and saving) your production, you can 1)"output" to a video file, 2) send the production directly to myDVD for menu creation and burning or 3) close Videowave at this point.

For options 1) and 3), you launch myDVD and then use Add Title to add your productions. For 1) you add the created video file while for 3) you add the Videowave production file(the one with the dmsm extension)

 

the dmsm,dmsd and dmss files are simply a listing of what is included in your project, the editing to be applied, menus to be created etc. dmsm is for Videowave, dmsd is for myDVD and dmss is for Create Slideshow I believe but I have never used this since I always start my slideshows in Videowave. The productions can be saved to any folder you specify when you use Save As, I never use the defaults.