Slideshow, music & print software????

[richwolf]

Hi,

I would like to put a slideshow together using audio voice, music and print and a few video clips. What is a good software for this? I am on a budget, so price is a factor.

Thanks all!

[emalvick]

There is so much you can do and use...

The best software is probably Proshow Gold, which you can download for around $60. It may be a bit high, but it can do everything quite well. ( www.photodex.com )

There is a more limited version of Proshow (you'd have to look at their website) that is cheaper.

Another software I found worked well was Magix Photos on DVD and CD (or something like that, www.magix.com ) I bought a copy around $40 but it was a bit challenging to use. It doesn't have all the features of the first software, but it has most.

ULead makes a program that works but lacks a lot of flexibility. I think it is around $40.

There are probably lots of others, and $40 seems to be standard. The one thing that you can use, however, that you may already have is Powerpoint. While Powerpoint isn't ideal, it can do almost everything you'd want (except maybe pan and zoom) in time, etc... The only drawback maybe the user interface, which is not catering to the type of application you are suggesting.
If you don't have Powerpoint I'd skip it, but a lot of people have Office and Powerpoint, so the option may end up being "free".

A lot of the software mentioned has free trials, although there may be some limitations besides the standard time limits.

Erik

[Bonzo]

I used a program called Xatshow, you can add pic's ( crop inhance images in the program ), video, music, text, menus and I even did a flash intro that I converted to mpg to use on the show :D

Looks like they may have a freeware version now; I did get a release 5.0 version on a magazine CD the other day; that may be what they are giving away but I think the latest release is version 7.0.

http://www.xat.com/xatshow/index.html

Anthony

P.S. If you use transitions the quility of the images is reduced - from my memory.

[emalvick]

I used a program called Xatshow, you can add pic's ( crop inhance images in the program ), video, music, text, menus and I even did a flash intro that I converted to mpg to use on the show :D

Looks like they may have a freeware version now; I did get a release 5.0 version on a magazine CD the other day; that may be what they are giving away but I think the latest release is version 7.0.

http://www.xat.com/xatshow/index.html

Anthony

P.S. If you use transitions the quility of the images is reduced - from my memory.

I think the reduced quality may only affect you if you plan on saving the shows to a VCD format. That seems typical for most slide show software. DVD's and other file formats such as exe shows, etc (depending on the software) usually won't lose format when transitions are used.

[richwolf]

emalvick,

Thanks for your advice. I downloaded a trial version of the Prosho gold and really like it. Fairly easy to use and very powerful.
I will end up buying it. $60 isn't bad for what I want to do. No need to save $20 by buying something that is harder to use and not as powerful

Thanks again!

[D_D]

Hi all! I want to advise you the proggy that records image and photoes to SWF Flash.Its nice program and easy to use.You can download it from here:http://geovid.com/Flash_SlideVidShow/
One more thing, It also lets you create HTML code for your Flash:)