Blu-ray show

[weekendwarrior Profile Private message]

Hi,

I am preparing a slideshow (Proshow gold) with over 500 images and creating the show using Blu-ray format, hoping that will produce nice sharp images on the TV screen.

Need to know what picture size L x H and dpi to use for inserting images?

Regards,
John

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

Whatever you've got, use that. It's not recommended that you change them just for the use in a show. They'll get rendered to the right dimensions for whatever output type you select.

Dick

[weekendwarrior Profile Private message]

This is the closest thing to a straight answer I have found on this question:

http://www.slideshowblog.com/2012/08/ti ... lideshows/

One of the most common questions I am asked is “What size should my files be when adding them to ProShow?“. The short answer is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. That’s why I usually reply with the following: ”Best in, Best Out “. By that I mean if you import better quality images, you will see better quality results when you output your show.

As there isn’t a single way to define “best”, let’s take a look at a few guidelines to help you figure out what “best” means for you.

A Great Minimum Size
The closest thing to a “best answer” is this: make sure your images are no smaller than 1920×1080 pixels. Why? Because that is the file size for full, 1080p HD video. If you’re making a Blu-ray disc or uploading HD videos to YouTube, resizing photos to 1920×180 will make sure that you’re images will at least be formatted to the native resolution of HD video. As a bonus, 1920×1080 also puts you well above the minimum size for every other output format.

When Big is Too Big
While ProShow is absolutely capable of handling very large files, “Best in”, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to, or even want to import your largest files. As cameras continue to create larger and larger files, this becomes even more important.

For example, my DSLR takes pictures that are 5184×3456 pixels in size. I know most of us hate doing math, but think about that for a second -that’s over 2.5 times larger than full 1080p HD video (1920×1080). That’s definitely a lot of data! In fact, the problem most users run into when using large files is their computer’s ability to process all of that data. Especially when trying to create shows using hundreds of huge files.

When to Use Extra Large Files
I’ll typically only use super large files for certain parts of my show. Specifically when I use effects that zoom in more than 10-20%. Here’s why….

Let’s say I’m going to make a 1080p, HD video and I’ve resized my photos to 1920×1080. What happens if I use a Zoom of 100%? I’ll start to see some fuzziness and pixilation. Why? Because I’m trying to zoom in on something that is already “full sized”. However, If I use the original, extra large from my camera for that effect, I am now working with an image that is 2.5 times larger than the 1920×1080 limit of HD video. That gives me more data (and resolution) to work with, which will in turn provide more clarity when using those high zoom values.

Generally speaking, if I have a show that features 100 images, I may only use an extra large version of an image on 1 or 2 slides total.

Resizing With the Lightroom Plug-In
If Adobe Lightroom is a part of your workflow, then give the free ProShow Plug-in a try. By default, the plug-in is configured to create copies of your images that are resized to a maximum height or width of 2800 pixels (2800×1575 for a 16:9 Widescreen image). That’s about 1.5 times higher resolution than HD -plenty of size for just about anything you’ll need to do in a show.