I'm new to the world of creating multimedia presentations, and I'm having some disappointment with my first attempt at a simple slideshow made from high quality digital images and some audio clips. After some searching on the web, I decided to try the package dvdphotoslideshow - anvsoft was involved with parts of this at one point (now marketed by socusoft). The program is easy enough to use and has some nice features to it. I'm using the trial version, which differs from the purchased one only in the limit to the total slides. OK, so after composing the "album of images and audio", one either creates an ISO file or burns a dvd. I did the later (using the highest quality settings they had), and while it played on both my pc, I was less than satisfied with the seeming loss of image resolution (the sound quality is less important in this project). I then used Windows Media Player to view the jpeg images in a folder. The clarity was not much different - kind of fuzzy and not at all as clear as when viewed in say Paint Shop Pro or Adobe. So my question here - where am I to begin improving my mediocre results? Do I simply need a better player of a VOB file? Has dvdphotoslideshow produced a VOB with lossy images? Is the VOB format too lossy to begin with? Should I suspect the burning method?
well, how fuzzy? it'd be helpful if you can post a still screenshot of your presentation (or a short clip) so we can help out by the way, have you tried to play it on a standalone dvd player (not pc)?
OK then, I'd love to give more information about this, but I'll need a little help understanding how to post it. I've got a screen capture of Windows Media playing the the VOB file, and I also have an file of the original image, as an app like Paint Shop pro would view it. Unfortunatetly, if I capture even one of these in a word doc, it exceeds the maximum size limit I see posted on the attachments option. Of course I could knock down the resolution of the shots, but this would affect the result I am trying to show you. Can you suggest a better approach to supply data/info?
well you can open the files with your paint shop pro and export them to readable formats like JPEG and upload them to free image host like imagetitan or imagebam then post images (bbcode) here
Sorry for the hiatus, Alan - I hope you're still alive! OK, so here is an example of an image that in my version of Windows Media Player looks blurry. I seems I dont yet qualify for live links, so apologies but here is the location on imagebam http://www.imagebam.com/image/5b257226228075 To my standards, the image in Imagebam is subtantially clearer. The soles of the shoes are a good place to see the clarity - In Windows Media Player. the tread pattern is quite fuzzy - evidently this is not stemming from a poor original, based on what is shown in imagebam. Interestingly, when I view this same shot using Windows Photo Gallery, the image is again clear. I think this to be enough info to implicate Windows Media Player, and to look for alternative viewers. Am I being logical here?
Well, not precisely. The fuzziness I see in the wmp slideshow is more general, where as your example seems to have more "artifacts". My sense is that the look is similar to what you see when you save a jpeg file at a reduced resolution and everything looks softer, less crisp. I was hoping that you'd be able to see it the original picture in imagebam, but maybe its not viewable to you?? Do I thought this was for public viewing, but maybe I need to include you in a group or something. My take is that the picture put up on imagebam has plenty of resolution for a slideshow even on a large monitor, but that Windows Media Player has knocked down the resolution. I havent seen a lot of other complaints about Windows Media Player 11, but its hard to search on a problem called "resolution" (its a commonly used word). My version of wmp is 11.0.6000.6324 Alan, please tell me what info you might need to confirm my logic regarding the picture I put on imagebam. Or beyond that, is there a windows-based viewer tool that you prefer to wmp? Or, what verison of wmp have you found to be satisfactory (I was told window media player classic, but I dont know what version that is).