Is Vegas a good program to make a simple photo slideshow
 

and output to DVD? Or are there better alternatives? I need to make a slideshow DVD that can be played on a standalone DVD player, between 100-150 jpeg files.

Thanks,

Yeah it'll work. I've done too many to count and still do it. I work the stills in Photoshop and then set em up a Vegas timeline, use Excalibur to get me started if I'm doing a Ken Burns effect, fineline it, render to MPG and go into DVDA to burn. I'm sure there are probably better ways but this has worked for me for a long time, no reason to change.

Thanks Don,

The output is standard DVD, do you recommend that I reduce the resolution of the jpeg files before importing into the Vegas timeline? The resolution of each file is 3872 x 2592. Are there any advantages to keeping it the same vs. reducing it? If reducing, what should I reduce it to?

I would edit photos in Photoshop. Crop it to correct aspectration ja size it to final pixel size. Editing color and proper sharpening. Save for high quality jpg in sRGB color.

Unless you're doing deep zooms, the usual recommendation is that your images should be no more than twice your project size which, in this case, would be 1440 x 960.
Use a free program like IrfanView to do the resizing (and renaming if you want) to an entire folder very quickly. It's batch processing tools are quite good.
The advantages are less strain on your computer due to the reduced file size.
A smaller image also means less chance of the image shimmering.

Hey Don, I have a new program which makes the process even easier and smarter. You should check out Montage Magic!

Edward,
you know I forgot all about that. I remember you talking about it and I even looked at it at your site and just forgot. I'll take another look at it.
Thanks