Optimimum size for standard DVD

[mhwarner]

I need to make some standard DVDs for playback on unknown systems (i.e., maybe HD, maybe not). What is the optimum (and maximum) project size I should specify for the project. I can do this by trial and error but I thought maybe someone has a quick answer. My pictures are 3:2 format and I don't particularly want to change that. I am open to adding a background on which to overlay them to provide a better format. I've made DVDs before sized at 1024x768 with project set at "Virtual size of slide" but on some systems the bottom of the slide gets chopped off. If this has been discussed somewhere in the forum, I'd appreciate a link as I couldn't seem to find it with a search. Thanks in advance.

[davegee]

Whatever project size you use, if you make a standard DVD it is going to be interpolated down to 720x576 (PAL) to make the DVD.

You need to set TV Safe zone (% of slide to show main images) to about 90% in Project Options > More and click Set For Existing Slides.

You also need to UNTICK "Fixed Size of Slide" in Project Options > Screen.

DG

[mhwarner]

Thanks for the quick reply, Dave! The

90% in Project Options > More

was a setting I had forgotten about.

[Lin Evans]

Probably 720x480, Mary, because you are in Arizona (NTSC)

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

Mary,

Presumably, you have a 1080 or 1200 High Monitor?

Make your show either 1620x1080 or 1800x1200 (3:2) and you'll have the best of both worlds.

You mentioned 1024x768 - if your monitor is that size make your show 1024x682 (3:2'ish).

Whichever you choose you can go for maximum quality in the EXE before letting PTE reduce everything to the lowest common denominator by making a DVD of it.

Consider this: If you know that it is going to someone with a (newish) HDTV try making a 1620x1080 H264 MPEG4 and offering that on a memory key. Maximum quality.

DG

[davegee]

you should also consider that a 3:2 show on an hd tv COULD be distorted in some cases.

short fat people.

dg

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I have made a 185MB sized Exe/project file into a DVD using PTE Video Builder, that is on a Pal TV system & a 4.7GB DVD disc, going much above that size would overload the disc. There were over 600 slides sized at 1024x768 & almost 70 music & sound effect tracks. It is the size of the project file that determines what will fit on a DVD, IMO 200MB is as far as I would try to go.

PS I made 150 copies of the DVD which went all over the world including Australia Canada & Spain with no failures.

Yachtsman1.

[mhwarner]

Thanks all!

These are photos of the riders I took as the photographer on a week-long trail ride recently. In addition to photos, I sold DVDs of a slideshow of the ride with music and titles. It's not something I am interested in watching or displaying for friends (and certainly not anything folks on the forum would be interested in seeing). I only wanted to make sure it could be seen on the least common denominator TV (as I know it would resize if someone displayed the DVD on a computer).

What I ended up doing is batch resizing the photos to 1536x1024 (which didn't require any cropping). I set the PTE project options to 4:3, added a background photo and then set "80% of the slide to show main images". That way, depending on the user's display, I believe at least the photo itself will show. I burned a 4 image DVD of the show and played it on my HDTV with my DVD player (rather old) and the main images displayed with a slight bit of the background at the bottom and a larger piece at each side (it's a piece of wood, so it looked ok). On my PC, the DVD shows the whole screen as I see it in PTE.

When doing my own shows for display I set them up to display properly on my laptop and then run them through an HDMI cable to the TV.

Thanks again to all for the help and suggestions.