How to make the best DVD

[imfinewine]

I've tried to do DVD's different ways and the quality has always been so-so.

So for my benifit and all the other newbie's can you Pro's give us a hand? Please feel free to respond to just one or more of the questions.

Starting at the beginning, Let's go for burning a DVD at Mpeg 2 @720x540. Goal, get the best possible DVD quality of our slide show possible....period.

Q1:

What resolution is best to set the photo slides at: is 72dpi, (same as computer) OK or better to go to 120 or higher? I've done 11" x 17" pic's at 180dpi and see no real difference than set at 72DPI. Does image size matter?

Q2:

When I do slides at a small size, say 2"x3" they look fine on the computer but real bad on DVD playback, but even the full screen slides are still not great but are almost acceptable.

Do smaller slide pic's have to be treated differently?

Q3:

Time to Burn... I read some other posts here on the best way to burn, using different methods. But haven't seen any agreement. What's produced the very best results for you?

Q4:

I'm using "Sonic MY DVD" (which has beening rated good on quality) but am not happy with the DVD playback. It's just so-so. The quality is not even close to my computer playback.

I was able to use P2E's AVI file imported to Sony Screenblaster then burn MPEG2 to Sonic. REsult's...OK, but laking anything close to my computer clarity.

When I try to import P2E ( as a custom avi or other) directly to "My DVD" it crashes. Anyone have any experience on this? It just doesn't like the AVI file for some reason.

Thanks in advance to all you good people!

-Dave

[nickles]

I am far from being an expert in the area of video but will try to answer some of your questions. I have made several DVDs for NTSC from PTE slideshows that I am quite pleased with.

Concerning screen resolution:

Unless you have an HDTV, don't expect the same quality of image on your TV as you get on your PC monitor. A TV creates the image from 400-500 horizontal lines, or effectively 400-500 pixels. Set your PC monitor to 640x480 and look at your PTE slideshow, this will probablly be the best you can expect on your TV, as the resolution will be similar.

Think in terms of pixels and lines instead of inches. Does a 2"x3" slide measured with a ruler on your TV, actually measure 2"x3"?

I made an earlier post of my method that can be adapted to PAL. You may have already read it but it is located here:

My PTE to DVD Method

You might go through the following thread that discusses resizing AVIs for DVDs that was posted a couple of months back:

Resizing for AVI?

The following useful site is reference in this thread:

A Quick Guide to Digital Video Resolution and Aspect Ratio Conversions

I hope some of this might help.

...ken