The meaning of the colors of the round dot
on the right side of the bar of “Target Device” are as
follows:
Red = no media
inserted,
Green = empty
media inserted,
Yellow = used
media inserted but rewriteable
PhotoDVD gives
me a brief summary of the details of my project.I accept and click next.
The following
window appears and I can see my slideshow being compiled.
Final step,
here I can choose whether to burn another copy
(very sweet touch and easy to use feature in case of offering
my slideshow to the other people who were on vacation with
me—or if my slideshow was of my kids growing up,
easy to burn multiple copies for the grandparents!)I can also choose to create another slideshow,
or open output folder in Explorer.
Of my one
particular slideshow created I first compiled a version
and made my target device my hard drive.I
did this to see if I liked the slideshow as
is before burning it to a DVD.
When I tried
to watch my slideshow, I did not see the subtitles and
I did not know how to change to a different audio soundtrack
(as I had created two).
I went to
the VSO website and filled out a technical support (downloaded
the support tool and filled out the little) form asking
for only the topic of my message(one of three choices), my full name, email address,
product, and message.
Surprised
10 hours later I had already received a reply saying that
I needed to use the remote control of my DVD player and
hit a button called “Subtitles” to go back
and forth between the different subtitle channels.The same thing goes for the audio soundtracks.There should be a button called “Audio” on
the remote control that should permit be to select which
soundtrack I want to hear.Curiously,
which I had not imagining I could listen to audio track
one and see subtitle channel 1 at the same time just as
I can watch Subtitle channel Two and still hear track 1
of audio! I thought that was pretty cool.When
creating my slideshow I thought channels 1 for subtitles
and audio corresponded!
VSO also wrote
back within a dozen of minutes after I wrote back again
explaining that I was actually trying to view my slideshow
on my computer.VSO replied:
Like I explained about using the remote control for a DVD living room
player, the same thing needs to happen when viewing on
the computer, however instead of pressing a button, right
click on your slideshow as it is being played. Select
something in the menu related to additional options,
display menu, subtitles, etc. Then you should be
able to browse through your subtitle channels.
I am impressed
by there technical support, that was really fast!
Conclusion
Overall PhotoDVD is extremely easy to use.I did not get hung up on confusing editing
features.I
created my slideshow in a straightforward manner adding
music, subtitles, focus points,
each of which personalized my slideshow too.The little tools found along the way like
the audio player are truly nice touches making this whole
process as simple as can be.The
picture quality was impressive and the transitions and
animation had a very soothing effect increasing the viewing
pleasure.For
those who want extra bells and whistles those are there
too within PhotoDVD, but for
people like me who want a program straight and to the point
with good results this is definitely the program for you.
Strong Points
---Automatic
animation
---automatically
creates chapters every minute, easy for skipping forward
to certain picture while viewing
slideshow
---Great project
manager
---Burning
engine is compatible with any DVD writer and player
Weak Points
---For those
who really want to purely edit pictures this is not the
application for them.PhotoDVD does not
allow you to crop pictures, take out red eye, and other
such features.
---Menus are
not yet incorporated into this version.VSO has communicated to us that this feature
will appear shortly
in one of the future versions.
Availability
Besides being
conveniently available for purchase on line, VSO Software
also offers you a free
trial period of 30 days for all oftheir products downloadable
here.
For the moment
there is not box copy of the software available in stores.
Tested on:
Intel 2,8GHz Prescott
EPoX 4PDA5+
512MB PC3200 DDR RAM
Windows XP Professional
UK
Seagate SATA 80GB 8MB
Cache
Plextor Premium
NEC 3500A with the last firmware from TDK which is the OEM version
of the NEC 3500A
BurnWorld.com is an independent product reviewer and is not associated with any company that is listed on our sites. On occasion we will receive free copies of software for testing & reviewing. We also receive compensation for certain products that are listed on our site. Because of this we would like to mention that this does not alter what we recommend. We take pride in only listing hardware & software that we feel is the best in class and what we would consider a 'safe buy'.
