Good Slideshow software -> video file ?
 

Hi,

I'm looking for some good slide show software that will output a video file. There are tons of pacakges that burn directly to DVD (Ulead, etc.), but few will write to a AVI video file or MPEG2 that I can then use in my DVD authoring software. So far, I like the feature set and ease of use of Microsoft's Photo Story 3 (Free download). DVD Picture Show 3 is also quite good, but it offers no control of the compression in the VOB output files in the DVD image. Photo Story outputs a WMV file, DV or some MPEG2 for which I have no control over the compression. Then, my authoring program wants to recompress it. Any suggestions ?

Thanks

I gather that you're looking for a Windows product?

Since you are on this board, I'd figure you would own an NLE? I use Vegas for this, and something like Vegas Studio (the light version) would work, too. My non-DV friends use "Pictures to EXE" (http://www.wnsoft.com/), but it outputs an executable file, not an AVI or MPG.

Yes, I'm looking for a Windows product. Sure, I could use Vegas6 or Pinnacle Studio9 for this job. But really, I just want something that will produce a slide show + transitions quickly. Many slide show packages are fantastic, but their file output options are generally limited to VOB.

Microsoft Picture Show 3 will accept any size photo files,
and add a dissolve transition and intelligent Ken Burns effect to all with almost no editing. If you want to get better, it will quickly step you through a Crop tool that will help you reduce the black bars from a , say, 3:2 aspect ratio picture. This software helped me produce a slide show with 100 images
in about 30 minutes, including black bar removal. Very nice. Then, it encodes to 1024x768 or 640x480 NTSC. Very fast and cool. I just wish it would produce an uncompressed output or a highly programmable MPEG2 encode.

If you want something that will do a "slide show", buy PowerPoint since you're obviously comfortable with Microsoft software.

If instead of a "slide show you want a Non-Linear editor which can manipulate video and still imagery, you were already given great advice here by Brian: look closely at the features and capabilities of the entry level Vegas product Vegas Studio. You'll find it will do the things that you wanted Microsoft Picture Show to do. Best of all, you can download it for free and give it a spin, then decide if $100 is fair for the capability you asked for.

Ask, but then listen Grasshopper.

I cover sports event with video and a photographic assistant. For
the DVD, I like to include a chapter of stills from the digital camera.
The quality of the pictures from the Nikon D2H is MUCH better than anything I can pull from my Sony VX2000.

I have both Vegas 6 and Pinnacle Studio 9. Come on guys. I'm just taking a poll on slide show software to save time. Vegas
6 isn't a tool that can pan, crop and "Ken Burns" 100 pictures quickly.

It can do it very easily with a script. Check out the Excalibur PBS tool and the Ultimate S Photo Montage tool, for your Vegas 6 app. Either of these will automate the process. I've had several versions of the Excalibur tool and have used it several times to create the pan and scan photo shows interlaced with video similar to what you are looking for.

There are probably free scripts out there that will do part of the job automatically, or you can definately do it for free by just using the built in Vegas 6 capabilities.

Cool ! That's just what I was looking for.