DVD slideshow manual control

[jon22]

Hi

I've been creating PicturesToExe slideshows for years, and using the mouse buttons to manually move forwards in the slideshow at the appropriate time. I don't want the slides to just run through automatically.

Now I want to do the same thing for a slideshow on my TV from a DVD, using the next and previous buttons on the DVD remote control. Is this possible? So far, I've created a DVD from PicturesToExe no problem, but it just runs straight through the slides automatically.

I can't see where in PicturesToExe the settings are to adjust how the slideshow runs from the DVD? There are settings to adjust the main menu picture, but I can't find the settings to make the slideshow run manually...

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

Jon

[Ken Cox]

ONCE IT IS IN THE DVD PLAYER - the player has control

use the buttons on the remote

ken

[jon22]

Yes, the next and previous controls on the remote work to move forwards and backwards in the slides.

BUT, the show on the DVD is automatically moving forward between the slides before I click anything. I don't want it to. I only want to go on to the next slide when I press next on the remote (just like I do on the computer using the mouse buttons).

Is there any way of preventing it from automatically moving between the slides. Or at least adjusting the length of time which each slide shows for before automatically moving on. I can't seem to figure out how to adjust the way the DVD plays the slides at all...

Thanks again

Jon

[fh1805]

Jon,

The DVD player does not have a computer in it, at least not in the sense that we normally mean. Therefore it does not have any concept of "a slide" or of "manual control" of when to move to the next slide as in a PTE slideshow. The DVD player is designed to play video streams. These are a continuous sequence of frames. Each second of one of your slides will comprise either 25 or 30 frames (depending on whether you are in a PAL region or an NTSC region). I believe that the best you can hope for is to use the "Pause" and "Play" buttons on the DVD remote control in combination with quite short slide elapsed times, perhaps just two or three seconds. You can then pause on each slide.

regards,

Peter

[jon22]

That makes sense. Hadn't thought about how DVD's work... I guess pausing and playing will work o.k.

Thanks for your help,

Jon

[davegee]

Jon,

There is one other alternative.

If you have a laptop and a HD TV you can usually connect the two together and instead of using a DVD you can play the EXE file on the laptop into the TV in HD resolution.

Best option - a TV and Laptop with HDMI connections but, if you don't mind the drop in quality, most TV s will have VGA connection so you will get a compromise situation where you will be able to use the forward and back arrows. Quality should be better than DVD.

DG

[jon22]

I'm currently still in the dark ages without a laptop or a HD TV. But considering getting new equipment and that is one of the main reasons I'm trying to understand what I need to do to be able to get slideshows going on the TV. Had thought that I'd just need to get a HD TV and use the DVD method.

But I hadn't realised that using DVDs would result in a poorer quality image - if I need to get a laptop or the quality is going to be poor then so be it.

All my pictures are 1024 x 768 pixels.

If I buy a HD TV but use the DVD method, are the images going to be significantly poorer quality than using a laptop with an HDMI connection?

(I don't really understand how a TV (or monitor) squishes or expands the 1024 x 768 pixels to match the screen resolution of say 1920 x 1080 pixels. Would using a DVD, effectively compress the number of pixels and then artificially expand them again to fit on the screen, losing lots of detail?)

(For anyone else who is trying using DVDs, I've been playing with it and realise that what I said above was wrong - when you use the next and back buttons on the DVD remote control, what it does is move to the next chapter - not the next slide - obvious really from fh1805's post. And the minimum chapter length is one minute - so as my slides were set to move from one to the next every 5 seconds, clicking "next" on the remote was actually skipping about 12 slides each time! In short you can't do that - the only way is "play" and "pause".)

[davegee]

Jon,

It's not a quick answer!

If you use the DVD route you are effectively reducing your 1024x768 images to 720x576 and the DVD player is then interpolating the 720x576 back up to your TV Screen resolution.

If you have a newish HD TV you will most likely have a number of options which are "better" quality.

You could connect your computer via a VGA connector which, although it MIGHT have limitations, will allow you to view an EXE or an MPEG4 file at the same resolution that you would be able to set on your computer monitor. However this is an analogue signal.

For the ultimate viewing experience I advocate the use of computer>HDMI>HDTV. This allows for the viewing of (up to) 1920x1080 resolution PTE shows on a 1920x1080 TV with virtually no losses whatsoever. This would also allow the MANUAL control that you want.

The alternative to this is that modern HDTVs will almost certainly have a built-in Media Player which will allow you to plug in a USB memory key with an MPEG4 of your PTE show and play it at virtually the same quality as the HDMI route. This USB route will not allow the playing of EXE files - you have to use MPEG4.

Swings and roundabouts - the MPEG4 is a bigger file but the advantage is NO CABLES.

DG

[fh1805]

Jon,

A year or so ago, in a similar position to yourself with regards an ageing TV, I decided to get a HD TV with a USB input port. I can now produce a "HD Video for PC or Mac" from PTE and copy that onto a USB storage device and then play that back through the TV. The quality, when viewed on the much larger screen and from across the lounge, is almost identical to that of the PTE EXE file viewed on the smaller computer monitor at a couple of feet away.

If you are going to buy your new TV from a local store, why not create such a video file and then take it with you on a USB storage device and insist that you see the resultant quality for yourself before you buy.

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

Good advice from Peter with one addition.

The TV needs to be (IMHO) set to a completely neutral colour setting to get the best viewing experience from your MPEG4.

DG

[jon22]

Thanks very much for all the advice everyone... I'd seen these new TV's have USB slots but didn't realise you could convert PTE slideshows to MPEG4's and then play them directly in the USB slot.

Like using DVD's, that would have the big advantage of not having to buy a laptop! But at better quality.

Just one final question - am I right to assume that MPEG4s will have the same issue as DVD's with regard to manually controlling the slideshows - presumably they are just a video file again which doesn't recognise "slides" etc so you can't move to the next one? But presumably you can "Play" and "Pause" again just like with DVDs, but with the TV remote this time?

Think I will buy a new TV first and see how it goes with the MPEG4 method. Then consider a laptop at a later date. (Think I might also start saving my pictures at a higher resolution!)

Thanks again for all the help.

Jon

[goddi]

...Think I will buy a new TV first and see how it goes with the MPEG4 method. Then consider a laptop at a later date. (Think I might also start saving my pictures at a higher resolution!)...

Jon

================

Jon,

Take Peter's advice. Make several MP4 files with PTE. Make them as complex as you can to tax the TV. Bring them on a memory stick to the store and test them out (do it on a laptop too, if you are looking for one of them too). For TV's, I know several models of Samsung will play the PTE's MP4 format slideshows. Some models will not. Make the slideshows in 1920x1080 for a full screen view. It should knock your socks off.

Gary

[fh1805]

Jon,

Yes, you are correct. TheMPEG4 is a video stream and so you will only have "Pause/Play" control. But as Gary has said: the quality, in comparison to DVD-Video, will knock your socks off!

Good luck with your purchasing.

Peter

[davegee]

I can highly recommend the SONY range as being fully compatible with the PTE MPEG4s.

Don't think that "bigger is better"!

A 50" HDTV has the same resolution or number of "pixels" as a 32" HDTV so the quality of the smaller model is likely to be better than the bigger TV. What determines the size that you need is the viewing distance.

DG

[Delicate]

Jon, without any deeper thoughts of what I'm saying, silly me...

Going back to your original issue, maybe you could extend the duration of each slide in your show (30-60sec ?), triming the duration to correspond to how far the show would "jump" by pressing next on the DVD remote?

Ps. The "Pause and Play" method might need a press on different buttons?, but would certainly have a better control of the flow of your show.

Gegards, Jan

[Ken Cox]

YOU HAVE VARIOUS CONTROLS ON THE DVD PLAYER REMOTE - fast forward - pause - fwd - back - frame advance etc -- get the neighbors kids or grand kids to show you -- that is what i do when i want it right

-- why i even had to get a grandson help me fill out a form yesterday before i signed it

ken