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Product Reviews:
**AMAZING PRODUCT! WORTH THE $$ SPENT**, March 10, 2005
Reviewer: J. Koss "Photo Lover"
Hi....I am a big fan of putting photos on DVD and adding music. I just
love it. I had bought more "photo to DVD" programs that I care to discuss.
I'm like a Mini Software Store at home. Here's my story. I hope it helps
everyone out there. Sorry for the length, but if you're like me, this is
everything you want to read. All questions answered.
I bought "DVD XShow" by "321 Studios", which I thought would be great! I'd
seen DVD's that were created with this program and they turned out
wonderful. Menus and all. So, I bought it. 2 months after I bought it, the
company went under. So, I had no tech support, no one to call, couldn't
get my money back, nothing. I had created a beautiful slideshow of my
friends wedding. Naturally, a wedding isn't just a few pictures. I had
about 115. The slideshow played beautifully but it would only take 1 song.
If I had more pictures than the length of the song, the song would just
repeat itself. So, I shortened the show. Went to burn it and it kept
erroring. Lost out.
Next program I bought was "DVD and PHOTO SHOW 2005" by "Magix". Oh my
goodness, what a joke. GREAT PROGRAM. Yes, it did everything I wanted it
to. I could add all my pictures, as many songs as I wanted. I controlled
where the songs started and stopped, etc. It was great! I was actually
REALLY happy with this product. Once you were all finished, you then
create your DVD menu/add your titles/credits/pick your layouts, etc...It
was awesome. Like something out of Hollywood. I created a MASTERPIECE.
Could have won an Oscar :o). I get to the "Burning" part. And it errors.
Over and Over and Over again. I contact customer service. They actually DO
try to help me. Turns out my burner wasn't compatible w/the program. I had
to buy a new DVD burner. I could use my CD-ROM if I wanted to burn a VCD.
But, with burning a VCD, you lose all your menu effects and graphics for
the DVD. So, I bought a whole new NEC DVD Drive. Had it installed...the
whole 9 yards. Even after that, it still wouldn't work. So, a customer
service rep sends me an email listing all and the ONLY DVD drives that
will work with this program. If your brand/model isn't on this list.
You've wasted precious time and money. A Real Shame. Cause it really was
great.
Next, I bought/downloaded "PhotoShow Deluxe" from "Simple Star". Awesome
program. They sent me the disc, so I had a hard copy. You could add ALL
THE SONGS you wanted. You could alter when and where they started and
stopped. You could add moving animation-ANYTHING. It was great. You put
all this hard work and time into your project (again...115 pictures-still
trying to finish this wedding DVD). Get to the "burning" section and find
out, you can only burn a VCD-which normally would be fine, but the VCD
only allows for the SAME SONG over and over again. BUT....You don't find
this out until you burn it. While in the program, it plays ALL your songs
beautifully. At the end, you're so happy for what you've accomplished only
to find out, it WONT PLAY all your songs. ONLY the first one you attached.
So, I cut the story again, took out the other songs. Now, it only played
the one song-start to finish with the pictures. Perfect. NO. When I went
to watch it on my DVD player. It just wouldn't play. So, I decided to
pause the "movie" and continue to hit the pause button to see the frames
and WHATA YOU KNOW?...It played...But, ONLY while hitting the pause button
and it totally cut my pictures in half. Next, I paid $40 more dollars to
upgrade to the next and most current version of this program. Here you can
(if you want to take this route) purchase what you've created to have
burned and mailed to you on DVD with a case and artwork for like $15.00.
Ok. I was getting desperate. I was willing to pay the $15.00 to at least
get this thing done now. Turns out while "sending" my show to the company.
My songs that were included in my show were all Copyrighted and I couldn't
have them burned onto my DVD. So, now I have all this time/money and Songs
gone. You can ONLY use THEIR songs which you can download for free to the
program. There are a lot. If you have no problem w/their music (which mind
you, except for Classical pieces, I have never heard of) then, this is a
great investment. You can burn VCDs or DVDs for nothing. But, if you don't
like their selection of songs. You're screwed. And they don't tell you
ANYWHERE on ANYTHING, that you can't burn or have burned a DVD disc w/
Copyrighted songs. Example: I had Louis Armstrong's "A Wonderful World" as
the starting song. No go. I Paid for a program, plus the upgrade and still
lost out here.
Next and last, about to completely give up...I went into Comp Usa and saw
this program. The Ulead CD and DVD Picture Show 3 Deluxe". I read up on
it, but now I'm skeptical with anything cause once it's opened you can't
return it. But, I take a chance. I didn't even know about the menu's part.
I only bought it because the box said you could add your own music. I
tried it. I really took my time with it and played with every section. It
was incredible. NOT ONE COMPLAINT.
I'm sorry to hear that people can actually leave bad feedback about this
product. I have no complaints whatsoever. The only thing that could be
changed is the length of time it takes to START the burning process. But,
once it gets passed that first stage, it flies. And when I put my "DVD" in
the DVD player. I had this AMAZING menu-All my music-fading in and out
pictures-It was awesome. I made a DVD for my boss and she told so many
people that I now actually have people willing to pay me to do their photo
shows. Maybe there is this other program out there called "PhotoDex's
Proshow Gold". Maybe it works great. But, nothing is perfect. This program
is very easy to use. It's well within a reasonable price range and it does
not have any flaws. I had 4 songs within the infamous "wedding DVD" and I
controlled where and when the songs started and stopped. I controlled how
long a picture was displayed for on the screen and I have also used the
"Match slideshow to audio duration". Both work impeccably. I honestly
don't understand why some of these people are complaining about this
product. You can have all the pictures you want to any length of time you
want with as many songs as you want. If you take the time to learn the
program, which for me was one afternoon, you won't be leaving bad reviews.
As for "old" systems. Sure. Understanding computers as I do, I can see why
it wouldn't work. Your computer is old. It doesn't have the capability or
memory or speed to handle this program. This program has ALOT of little
things in it. It can take up to a minute to for it to open. It's very
detailed. If you have an old computer, your computer is not going to have
the necessary or up to date information you need to run it. Plain and
Simple. This program has never frozen with me. If it freezes it's because
you're doing something at the same time that you shouldn't be. People take
their time to create such a memory. Don't do things that will cause the
computer to freeze up while your dvd is working or burning. I finish a
project and I get up and walk away. I can't wait for the next version to
come out. I tried to defend every critsism given as I truely feel this
product is amazing. There may be better ones with more variety or context
out there, but this one is great for what you pay and most likely want to
do. If you're a "professional" then why are you even looking at a
$40-product?
I hope this helps anyone who might have any questions or reservations. If
you have questions, email me. I would be glad to help you or answer them
for you. Have fun!!
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Ulead CD & DVD PictureShow 3 Deluxe
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