|
Slideshow Formats |
DVD PixPlay supports all common DVD and VCD formats, though you may be a little confused as to which should use.
If you plan to share the disk with other people then you will probably be best to go for the most compatible format, which is DVD (if you can burn DVD disks) or VCD (if you can only burn CD disks).
If you are creating discs primarily for playback on computers you should
use the PC format which will autoplay on a PC. PC format slideshows
support manual navigation and can include extra
options such as printing and emailing.
Here are the specifics of each format:
| DVD |
PC |
DVD + PC |
VCD | SVCD | XVCD | XSVCD |
MPEG | |
| Quality | Excellent |
Excellent (original files are used) |
Excellent |
Fair (equivalent to broadcast TV) | Good | Excellent (equivalent to DVD disks) | Excellent (equivalent to DVD disks) |
Customizable |
| Resolution |
720x480 (NTSC) |
Customizable |
Customizable |
352x240
(NTSC) 352x288 (PAL) |
480x480 (NTSC) |
720x480 (NTSC) |
720x480 (NTSC) |
Customizable |
| Slideshow minutes per DVD ** | 180-240 |
Depends on size of images |
Approx. 90 |
N/A **** | N/A **** | N/A **** | N/A **** |
100-500 |
| Slideshow minutes per CD * | 15-20 *** |
Depends on size of images |
Approx. 10 |
74 | 35-60 | 15-20 | 15-20 |
15-74 |
| Compatibility with DVD players | Excellent (all players that support writable discs) |
Poor (many DVD players support JPEG images but you will lose your image order and effects) |
Excellent (all players that support writable discs) |
Very good (94% of players) | Good (74% of players) | Good (77% of players) | Good (67% of players) |
Fair (60% of players) |
| Ease of Playback on Computers | Very Good |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Fair ***** | Fair ***** | Fair ***** | Fair ***** |
Excellent |
| Supported Disk Types |
All writable DVD disks (also CD disks ***) |
All writable CD and DVD disks |
All writable DVD disks (also CD disks ***) |
CD-R or CD-RW | CD-R or CD-RW | CD-R or CD-RW | CD-R or CD-RW |
All writable CD and DVD disks |
* On a standard 74 minute CD
** On a standard 4.5GB DVD
*** DVD format on CD disks is termed "MiniDVD". This format is
not as well supported as standard DVD
**** VCD formats cannot be written to DVD disks
***** Read: playback
of VCD disks on a computer
CD or DVD Disks?
You can use DVD disks if you select the DVD format. The VCD standard does not support DVD disks so these formats can only be written to CD disks. You can also use DVD disks if you select the PC or MPEG formats.
DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW Disks?
Firstly check what format your DVD burner and your DVD player support. Assuming that all disk types are supported then DVD+R or DVD-R are recommended (with DVD+R having slightly higher compatibility with DVD players).
CD-R or CD-RW Disks (VCD format)?
We recommend the use of CD-RW disks, rather than CD-R as they are more compatible with DVD players (92% compatibility vs. 89% for CD-R).
What's the difference between NTSC and PAL?
PAL and NTSC are video standards used in different parts of the world. These standards determine how a picture is encoded for display on a TV screen.
As a rough guide:
NTSC is standard for North and South America and Japan
PAL is standard for Europe, UK, Australia, NZ and Africa
Note that almost all PAL players can also playback NTSC disks, so if you are unsure which format to use (because it may be played in multiple regions) then select NTSC format.
Also: