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 DVD PixPlay
 Checking this program-some questions
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anuhea2

USA
10 Posts

Posted - Sep 08 2008 :  11:19:53  Show Profile  Reply
Trying the preview version 4.01, looks great for slideshow to DVD. Have looked at PhotoStory3, Photoshop Element, yours is really nice. Story3 audio fades out at the end of the slides (yours just stops) but the slide show creation is lousy. Element is great for scans and slide edits, but does not have DVD burn(earlier version), or inexpensive updates.

I like your forums, lots of insights like the "AutoCrop", the really nice (//) to get multiple lines of text, (I was getting mad at this, having to use multiple text windows) and some of the hints on timing etc.

My problem. I tried to create an 11 slide test project to DVD, 10-15sec/per display, with 3sec transition and an audio overlay. The slideshow details indicate a 3min show, and about 140MB file for DVD and 30MB for VCD. When I chose to save the PC version to a file, I expected a .WMV file that could be played. I did not see one other that all my images with text (jpg) the mp3 file and a few others. How do I replay the slide show on another computer? Also, the first title page frame did not display (the rest did, along with the audio)when I just tried the TEST button. It does when doing PREVIEW

Next problem. When I tried to create a DVD only, it took 25min, and 6500 frames (I understand that there are 25frames/sec of slideshow). The DVD playback to my TV and gave me a better indication of the cutting off of the bottom text issue that I've read in the Forum. When I looked at the DVD, I noticed a large amount of written area. My question is: if I do a 30min slide show, with 100 slides, will my time be many hours, and am I going to run out of DVD space? Is the approx sizes on the SlideShow details close?

xequte

7042 Posts

Posted - Sep 08 2008 :  12:33:20  Show Profile  Reply
Hi

If you want DVD PixPlay to simply create a playable video file (such as WMV, though MPEG is recommended) then select File > Burn Slideshow and choose the Video Format option right at the bottom. You specify the video format on the next page.

If you can reproduce the title page issue please e-mail me the following file:

C:\Program Files\DVD PixPlay\PixPlayLog.txt

For best compatibility with DVD players, PixPlay always "overburns" the disk, that is, it burns much more of the disk than it actually uses.

Building a slideshow for burning is a very CPU intensive task and thus can take quite a while, particularly if your PC is not very fast. You can speed up the process by:
- Using the Low or Standard encoding option, rather than High quality
- Avoiding the use of motion effects and/or transitions


Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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anuhea2

USA
10 Posts

Posted - Sep 08 2008 :  13:57:18  Show Profile  Reply
Thanks, the Burn to disk, under File, then choosing the "Other Video Files" and changing the Video Options to "Custom Format" did the trick. The panels were there in the Burn Wizard, but I did not look past th PC or DVD format selection. I then chose Output to disk. Looks like a PC version is just your internal PXPViewer.exe, and cannot be played without your program. The Other Video files, is what I was looking for. I still plan to create a DVD, but was playing with the PC option. Why do U like MPEG instead of WMV?

Creating the PXPViewer.xe was very fast. Now, I'm creating the MPEG. This is much longer creating a video file and over 3X's larger than the WMV format. I also reduced to Standard quality.

I will log off and retry the TEST for the PC inorder to get you a clean log file. I did notice that the last slide with another Title frame worked. Also, when I placed another Title frame in front of it, it now displays. When I remove the first, it fails.....must be something I'm missing under Properties. The Preview works, with the Audio starting about half way through the first slide (using a custom panning). When using TEST, I get only the audio and a black display. The 2nd slide and audio is good. I will send the log.txt
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xequte

7042 Posts

Posted - Sep 09 2008 :  02:02:40  Show Profile  Reply
Hi

The MPEG encoder is slightly better in DVD PixPlay than the WMV one, so i would expect the quality to be better.



Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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anuhea2

USA
10 Posts

Posted - Sep 11 2008 :  10:36:14  Show Profile  Reply
First of all, I purchased this program for my small project. I found that it provided me with the basic tools and a DVD disk. I know that there are other more robust pgms that cost a lot more, however, one cannot spend lots of time and $ learning all the cubby holes that are available. I did find things that I wondered how to do, but I will comment on another forum.

My task created 82 slides, 20min (10min, 5min trans) using added text to motion images. It took 2.5hrs to create the DVD using standard format to DVD only (I turned off all other programs, must just be an old XP, with only 512mg ram). I plan to test a higher quality after I finalize all the arrangement. I found that your really need to play with the motion and transition effects. So many to choose from, but using the "frame property preview" that shows the two adjacent frames with the transitions, made seeing the effect...at real time.

I like the // use on titles, being able to preview on a specific frame, the full screen previews. The graphics library is limited as well as the minimum text editing.

The creation of mpeg and DVD seems like a long time. I have not compared with other pgms since it would require importing, editing and adding music + spending time just to compare. As I said, PixPlay was better than low level programs like PhotoStory 3, AND, it was relative easy to use, once U got the option buttons set. Besides, this FORUM is a great way to review others problems/solutions
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