LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

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LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby RoseW » Fri Dec 28, 2012 9:33 pm

Just found this software and downloaded the manual....impressed with all the facilities.
I have been using an assortment of 'wares' to produce mp4 slideshows with effects- ffdiaporama being the latest)
After much browsing through this forum and links to pin down the dimensions of an image that would be projected from a LCD (Epson 7200 default 1280x800 widescreen) which would be attached to a laptop (Win7) I have concluded that the .exe file is not the way to go but use the HD video format.
The actual creation would be done on a high end desktop(amd 8 core, 16 ram, AMD Radeon 7700 and 27 wide monitor (1920x 1080) BUT its the laptop with 4G ram and generally lesser ability overall that would be the source for the projector. It might be that the laptop doesn't have the 'oomph' to operate the exe file.
I'm still not clear on the actual dimensions to export out of Lightroom for use in the PSG using the wide screen crop
The original image could be 5100 pixels wide if left with the 16:10 crop...or I can establish a 'resize' dimension. I thought I had to size the image to fit the projector's default.
Am I translating what I have read that the original size could be exported and the preference settings in PSG designate the output?

P.S. I haven't downloaded the PSG software as yet....just used the evening to investigate all the possiblities <grin>The pdf manual contents certainly impressed me.

Rose
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby briancbb » Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:18 am

I have never used a projector, but this link you may find useful.

http://www.slideshowblog.com/category/how-to/page/3/

Welcome to the forum, Rose.
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby RoseW » Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:11 am

Thank you very much. The articles on that link included exactly what I needed for confirmation.
The article at the top of the current list included the phrase 'better to scale down than up'. I hadn't read words that expanded on 'scaling'. Mainly the concept came across that scaling wasn't a terrific thing to do. By chance, in anything that I have done to date with borrowed projectors have had the images be slightly larger than the equipment default.

This Proshow Gold appears to have all the tools in one package where as I have been using a series of tools to get the same finished project.

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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby GVGeorge » Sun Dec 30, 2012 8:54 am

Based on my limited experience I suggest giving the EXE option a try. Image quality and transition smoothness are excellent on my aged laptop.

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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby pilotdan63 » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:38 pm

I agree wih CVGeorge . . . exe files usually play very smooth and sharp. Give the exe option a try and if this doesn't meet your expectations you can always revert to the HD MP4 file type.

Good luck :-)

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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby DickK » Mon Dec 31, 2012 7:42 am

You may be right about the laptop and using the EXE, although most of them play just fine on my laptop that's really old and even lower specs -- so it's worth a try. There's really only one way to know and that's to try it both ways and see what happens. Throw some images into a simple test show and see what happens.

As far as resizing your pictures, there are a lot of discussions about that here and a search will turn up some. In general, "use what you've" got is the right answer. The size of the image is going to get scaled down to suit whatever the output format settings are during the render process. An EXE is a little bit of an exception there but even then the real process of making the images fit the output dimensions happens in the ProShow software. The other issue is that you do NOT want to resize the images down to what you want the output to be -- that leaves no opportunity to zoom the image or several other kinds of motion during the slide show. With really large images it's okay to resize them but keep each dimension at least double the pixel count of the final output format so there's plenty for motion effects and zoom.

Dick
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby RoseW » Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:36 am

' The size of the image is going to get scaled down to suit whatever the output format settings are during the render process.'
This is the 'small' detail that hasn't jumped out at me in any of the text I have browsed through in the last couple of days. There is emphasis on the landscape features (16:9, 4:3)
I have concluded that if I crop in Lightroom to the 16:9 format then Its my choice as to what actual area gets displayed versus leaving the whole dimension from the Canon 7D and the software chooses the area while rendering???

I am supposing that the specifications connected to a projector (Epson W7200, 1280 x800)have very little to do with the production. This projector info had my thinking go into 'Goodness, I have to resize ALL the images!!'
Its a relief to read that this is not the case.
Sometimes its better to know almost nothing because the first slideshow I did was used with a rented projector and I just 'did the photos' and never thought about what the projector features were <LOL!>

These presentations are for horticultural clubs and the one in progress is for next spring so I have the time to explore the Proshow software. Its a 20 to 25 minute presentation with approximately 150 to 200 images. I'll test out the exe style vs the HD routine.
Thanks
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby DickK » Tue Jan 01, 2013 9:07 pm

For various reasons, there are those that prefer to resize their images outside ProShow but it's not necessary and if carried too far, can be a problem.

With really large images, you might see the ProShow software get sluggish during the process of making the show largely due to the fact the larger images need larger amounts of memory to manipulate and make greater demands on the CPU during a preview when the software has to render the show to video frames on-the-fly. Generally that sluggish behavior will only happen on older machines or those with relatively low specs. Most people won't see that and are, I think, better off just leaving most JPG images alone as far as size goes and using them as-is.

On the other hand, many people (including me) do spend some time editing the images I'm planning to use in the show. I'll do most of the lighting adjustments, crops and color adjustments outside ProShow -- PSG does have some simple edit functions, and I use them, but an image editor has a lot more flexibility. (I use PhotoShop Elements, but it will be true of pretty much any editor.)

In the end, the best way is just try a few things and see what works for you.

Experiment and have some fun with the pictures.
Dick
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby RoseW » Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:00 am

This ended up being the successful routine:
'In the end, the best way is just try a few things and see what works for you.
Experiment and have some fun with the pictures.
Dick'
I have experimented with the trial download. Ended up editing the 'wizard result' <grin>
Today I started from scratch using the Lightroom plug-in export tool = EXCELLENT!
This eliminated my quandry as to what size the image needed to be.
Also, the image sits in the slide area better if I have not cropped in Lightroom.
I thought I would have to crop all the selected images to a 16:9 or 16:10 resolution.
I was interpreting that the process would crop off part of the image and I wouldn't have control over that

The 'save as an executable' runs well from the laptop. I was pleasantly surprised with that.

Now I'm ready to purchase and I assume that I will be able to continue with the sample 'show' created today and the save procedure will eliminate the gold banner.

I can understand why the banner is there but it is a little much when doing a fair evaluation.
There are an astronomical amount of choices for all the 'bells and whistles' and I'm keeping it simple at the moment.

Rose
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby DickK » Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:34 am

RoseW wrote:Now I'm ready to purchase and I assume that I will be able to continue with the sample 'show' created today and the save procedure will eliminate the gold banner.


Yes, once it's registered that should go away--it's not in the PSH file that is the show, just added by the software.

Dick
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Re: LCD projector slideshow via Proshow Gold

Postby RoseW » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:08 am

Just a followup now that I have completed 3 major projects for a projector.
I ended up saving as mpg 2 using the custom section in PSG.
An AVI format was quite acceptable but results in a huge file.
The .exe is quick and easy but that initial 'presenter' icon isn't an asset.

It turns out that the 'secret' to 'big screen' look is the distance the projector sits from the screen. I tried various measured distances and 8.5 to 9 ft fills the very wide screen.
Calibrating the Epson projector with an Xrite Colormunki device made an outstanding difference even though there are many choices specific to the type of show projected within the projector.

The VLC media player in full screen mode will present 3 separate shows in sequence. I used this structure rather than embedding a short introductory show and a short ending. These were both specific to the group viewing and likely wouldn't apply to another group if the main show was to be presented again.

I had more mental stress in the area of what width or height to export the image than anything else. The original images are 5184 x 3456 I ended up going with 2800 wide and applied an export sharpening in Lightroom. That gave opportunity to fill frame and use closeup zooming otherwise fit frame was satisfactory.

The music files stopped making 2 copies with drag and drop but the file list wouldn't refresh and I couldn't get a music file to insert into the middle of the timeline (music only for a few slides; none before or after) otherwise all went well. I made use of many suggestions posted in these forums including making my own transitions with two slides. So from zero to three in one month <LOL!>
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