VSO’s PhotoDVD is a nice way to create a dvd slideshows of your favorite photos. It’s easy to use, but it also has a lot of features to configure to satisfy the more advanced users. The features of PhotoDVD include DVD subtitles, background music, a great amount of different visual animation effects and much  more. PhotoDVD is one software that no digital photographer should live without.

Preconditions

• Download PhotoDVD: Click here. PhotoDVD is shareware, so you may want to have a look at VSO Software homepages for purchasing options.
• Some photos or other image files

Settings

At first we shall set up the main settings. You can find your way into the settings window by pressing the button Settings at the bottom of the main screen. In the Language tab you’re able to change the language of the program. For the first timer’s I wouldn’t recommend to change the language from the default English, because some of the steps descrived in this guide may differ among the languages. In this screen you can see the version and (in some cases also) the author of the language pack next to the language selection.

Anyway, after you’ve decided the language you want to use, just continue to the Imaging tab. Here you can configure issues conserning about the individual pictures of your slideshow.

The Quality settings are quite straight related to the animation quality (which corresponds to the processing time), but also to the smoothness of the movement effects. So if you’re not in a great hurry, set both quality setting as High. The quality settings are divided into two groups: pan and zoom effects. Pan effect define the quality of horizontal and vertical movement of the picture animation in the slideshow, whereas zoom effect defines the quality of visual magnifying of the pictures. You can also define the Filter which will be used for processing the slideshow.

Right next under, you can see Properties options. Here you can configure the animation properties of the slideshow. Background Color defines the color that will be used to fill the rest of the screen when the picture doesn’t totally fill it. In Cutting you’re able to cut the pictures so that only some part of the picture will be seen in the slideshow and the rest of the screen will be filled with the background color (I’d recommend to disable this option by defining cutting to 0). Amplitude defines the intensity of vertical movement of the picture in the slideshow, whereas Zoom Factor defines the overall magnifying level (and so also the intensity of zoom) of the pictures in the slideshow. I wouldn’t recommend to use the cutting option unless you’re going to disable the amplitude option. When doing like this, you’ll lose some parts of the pictures to be shown in the slideshow, but in other hand this is how you can concentrate the most important object of the picture and cut off the rest of it.

In Timing you can choose the display time of picture in the slideshow (Display every image for) and the duration that every picture transition will take (Transition). According to VSO Software’s documentation, the JPEG safe mode should enable the PhotoDVD to open some badly formatted JPEG images, but unfortunately we do not have suitable test content at hand in order to test the feature. In case you have trouble with your JPEGs, then this option might be worth a try.

Move next to the DVD Format tab. This is easy but very important tab: if you are planning to use this dvd (picture slideshow) in Europe region, then choose PAL -format. Conversely, if you are probably using the dvd in any other region (i.e. America, Asia…) choose NTSC -format. TV screen option is a bit more complicated: if you have a widescreen lens in your camera, then you should choose wide screen option automatically. Otherwise it’s about your TV: if you’re using a wide screen TV, then choose 16:9 option and similarly if you’ve a 4:3 (full screen) TV, then choose 4:3 option. Also think about this: if you DON’T HAVE a wide screen lens in your camera (so your pictures are in 4:3 aspect), then the pictures look larger if you choose 4:3 option. This is why I’d use 4:3 option even though I have a wide screen TV, but it’s only my opinion. You should try both options and check how they look in the preview (I’ll explain this feature later). Note that even if you have a wide screen TV and you choose 4:3 option, your pictures won’t be spread, so don’t worry about that. When chosen the wide screen option (16:9) PhotoDVD will only add bigger black borders into both sides of the slideshow.

Continue to the Subtitles tab. If you wish to write some comments (i.e. to explain the situation in the picture), make sure you have choosen Add comments to the subtitles option. The numbers (#1, #2 and #3) mean that you’re able to define three different subtitle streams for your dvd (similar feature like different language subtitles in commercial dvd movies). The two letter ”words” symbols different languages/options (fi = Finnish, da = Danish, en = English…) so if you want to create only one subtitle stream, then you should ignore the other subtitle options. The subtitles will be written later. Next to the two-letters there is the font editor where you’re able to define font type, font style (bold, italic…), font size, font color, and even the character set (Baltic, Russian, Arabic…). Here you can also integrate an HTML code line into the subtitles or underline the subtitles optionally. The last two options in this tab aren’t extremely important, so don’t mind about them if you don’t know what they are. Add a subtitle channel by filename creates the name of the subtitles from the filename. Remove extensions from the filename removes the extension word from the subtitles’ filename.

In Chapters tab you’re able to split the slideshow into chapters. This is definetly recommend if you’re going to put a large number of pictures into the slideshow (which is also highly recommended). So if you’d like to create the chapters, then tick off Automatic a chapter every option and define the time (in minutes) of every chapter in the field next to. You’re able to create up to 99 chapters per slideshow.

Continue to the Media statics tab. It is definetly recommended to tick on Allow VSO Software to collect DVD -media and burner data option if you are connected to the internet. This option will collect data information about your DVD media, about your DVD burner and about the success rate of your recordings. Nothing personal or any other information from your computer will be sent, so don’t worry about your privacy. The collected data will be used for developing the PhotoDVD software, so it would be very helpful to choose this option if you have connected to the internet.

Accept your changes by pressing OK to return to the main screen.

Dealing with the images – the main screen

To add an image to the slideshow, press Add image button (1). PhotoDVD supports a huge variety of the most popular image formats including: jpg, gif, png, bmp, psp, tiff, psd, pdd, pbm, sgi, rgb, win, ico, wmf, scr, eps, rpf, pic, cut, pcd and many other. If you have lots of photos in the same folder and you want to include all of them to the slideshow, then press Add folder button (2) and choose the correct folder. Note that it’s much faster to Remove (3) some individual photos than to add individual photos (if you have several photos in the same folder, but you don’t want to include every photo into the slideshow). If you wish to change the order of some pictures in the slideshow, then use the Arrows (4, 5) to move the position of pictures in the image list. You can also change the order of the picture by right-clicking the picture you want to move and by choosing Move picture to position. If some individual photos are turned upside-down, you’re able to turn them Clockwise (6) or Counterclockwise (7) to solve the problem. To configure the subtitles, individual duration times and some other things concerning about individual photos’ settings, access Additional Editing (8) (I’ll return to this feature later).

You’re able to change the viewing mode between List mode and Miniature mode (9) in the main screen. List mode is otherwise similar to miniature mode, but it doesn’t show the mini-picture on the left side of the picture specifications in the image list, so in my opinion the miniature mode is more practical to use (at least when editing individual pictures in the image list). Besides, you can always change the size of the mini-pictures in the image list with View size slide (10).

Remember that the more pictures you add, the less time you’re able to give for an individual photo. The point is that you can add as many pictures as you want to your slideshow, but the limiting issue is time: a regular DVD-R disc have the capasity of 120 minutes (2 hours) which means in practise that your slideshow can go on at most 2 hours (you can see the used running time on the right side of the main screen). If you have less photos, then it’s recommended that you choose longer viewing time for individual photos and maybe also longer transition time (you can find these options at Settings → Imaging).

When you’ve loaded your photos in the main screen you should save your project (File → Project → Save Project As) before continuing. If something goes wrong (i.e. system crashes down) or the end result (the DVD slideshow) isn’t satisfactory, then you have at least some kind of insurance so that you don’t have to start it all again from the beginning…

Additional Editing

In this window you’re able to configure some settings conserning about the individual photos. Animation: when chosen Auto, the animation will repeat a regular formula: down vertical pan, zoom in, right horizontal pan, up vertical pan, zoom out, left horizontal pan, down vertical pan… Zoom In will magnify the picture, Zoom Out will draw the picture away, Horizontal pan will move the picture sideways, and Vertical pan will move the picture lengthwise. Note that if you want to use these options, you’ll have to set the corresponding properties at the imaging settings (Settings → Imaging). For instance: if you want to use Zoom In or Zoom Out animations, you’ll have to enable Zoom Factor at the Properties by configuring its intensity. Correspondingly, if you want to use Horizontal pan or Vertical pan, you’ll have to configure Amplitude’s intensity.

Animation Factor: here you’re able to define the movement intensity of animations during every individual photo. In practise, when chosen None there won’t be any kind of zoom or pan in spite of what you’ve defined earlier in the settings (Settings → Imaging). Correspondingly, when chosen High you’ll get the maximum intensity of animation effect (the same intensity what you defined in the settings earlier). Respectively Low and Medium gives you lower intensity of animation movement than High. I’d recommend to use always Medium or High, and for defining the wanted intensity of animation movement I’d use imaging settings (remember that in imaging settings you’re able to define a different intensity for pan and zoom effects). I’d use this animation factor feature only for exceptional pictures where I’d want to define a different intensity of animation.

In Additional Editing window you can also change the Transition (time) and the (picture viewing) Duration time for individual photos. For instance, if you have one or few more individual photos which are somehow more important personally for you, then you can extend the duration time of that photo. Or if you have few quite similar pictures of the same object, but you still want to include them all into the slideshow, then you can shorten the duration time of those pictures.

On the bottom side of the Additional Editing window you can see some extra buttons. Here you can change the editable picture (1), rotate the picture clockwise or counterclockwise (2), remove the picture (3), turn the picture black and white (4) or sepia coloured (5) and mark and define the focus point (6). The color effects (4 & 5) are very nice features: with these you can add some extra emotion to your awesome snap shots! When using the focus point (6), you’ll be able to emphasize the most important objects of the picture. If you’re not going to configure any subtitles or additional effects (see Animation, animation factor, transition time and duration) or you just want to hide these properties temporarily, you can do it by pressing Show/hide animation properties (7) or Show/hide Subtitles panel (8). You’re also able to see the order of the picture in the slideshow (9) in this window. You can define the subtitles for the picture in Subtitles field (10). As mentioned earlier, you’re able to create 3 different subtitle tracks (i.e. for different languages) for the slideshow and here in this window you can define them. Choose the number of the subtitle track and type the text to the text field. On the right side of the text field is another button where you can access to the Subtitle options (Settings → Subtitles).

When you’ve finished with the animation editing etc. And you feel you’re ready to continue, close the Additional Editing window and press Next button.

The audio screen

In the next screen you’ll be able to add the background musics. Exactly like with the subtitles, you’re able to create three seperate audio streams of which you can choose one on time when playing the slideshow dvd with dvd player. Just like in the previous screen, to add an audio track to the slideshow press Add Audio button or Add Folder button. PhotoDVD supports all the most popular audio formats including: wav, mp3, flac, ogg, wma, mpc and ape. For this reason you don’t have to do any extra audio conversions to get them included into the slideshow. PhotoDVD doesn’t include the audio volume level balance feature like many burning softwares, so you’d better to check and correct the volume levels of your audio track (for example with Audacity).

You’ll be able to add as many tracks as you want to, but remember that there’s no sense in creating a longer audio strem than the slideshow itself is. If your audio stream will still become longer than the slideshow itself, then the last audio track won’t be played completely and the music will be faded away during the last seconds of the slideshow. Respectively, if your audio stream is shorter than the slideshow, then the audio stream will start from the beginning right away when it comes to an end (over and over again until the whole slideshow ends).

PhotoDVD includes an integrated audio player so you can listen to the tracks in the same software. Note that the correct playing time (which you can see on the left side of the audio track in the list) doesn’t correspond completely with the playing time in the preview feature (the audio track may lag during the preview, but if the processing succeeds the audio will work correctly).

The final check-up

Now it’s time to prepare the images for the final step. Use Preview feature to watch the theoretical result. Pay attention especially to these issues: the right background music starts at the right moment, the volume of the music tracks are about at the same level, the subtitles’ font is satisfying, the pictures are in the right order. When you’re satisfied for the preview, press Next to continue to the final step.

The output screen

First insert a bulk dvd-disc to your dvd-drive. Here’s your last chance to change the video format (1). If you wish to keep and store the original picture files into the dvd disc (the pictures will be written into a separate folder), tick off the Store source files (2). If you see a red dot next to Target Device (5), check the blank disc you just inserted to the dvd drive, and press Refresh button (6). In Target Device you should have automatically chosen your writing dvd drive (3) and the recommended writing speed (4). If you haven’t updated your firmware (the software of the dvd drive), I wouldn’t recommend to use the max writing speed. In Volume Label (7) you can define the title of your slideshow disc. SAO options (8) should be left Automatic if you haven’t configured SAO manually.

When you’re ready with these options, press Next. In the very last screen you’ll see the summary of the process. Press Next to start the show.

The processing time depends on the length of the slideshow (including its content) and the capacity of your computer. Average, it will take 1 to 2 hours.

Note that the complete slideshow will be played automatically when you insert the dvd in your dvd drive or in a stand alone player, so no menu will be displayed. Also the subtitles won’t be played automatically, so you need to choose them from the subtitles menu.

Now, enjoy your photo slideshow DVD and impress your friends with the professional quality output!