chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

My wife has just retired and she is currently in the middle of producing a slideshow still using Proshow Producer. She is quite happy with the software but it won't handle 4K (only HD). So we are looking for a replacement that is preferably free although we don't mind buying a copy for a reasonable price (one off not subscription) . Online suggests Photopia but at USD250 per year as a subscription only (Photopia Director) for something she may only use once every 12-18 months no way will she pay that. A typical show may have up to 100 slides and a good few video clips and at 4k resolution so it is not small. Probably 20-30 minutes long. We don't know the size but I suspect several GBs.
Another possibility is PTE AV Studio Pro. We would prefer replies from users who are familiar with Proshow Producer and who have transitioned to something else. There seems to be a goodly number of possibilities but we don't want to have to go through dozens of trials because this will take until Xmas to do it properly.
Proshow or Photodex disappearing has been a bit of a pain in the rear end.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you don't want to change to a new video editor, video upscaling software is a possibility. If you do a search you'll find everything from free options to AI assisted options.

Canisdirus

DaVinci Resolve will do 8k video...and naturally slideshows.

It's about 295 bucks...but I'm sure you can find a better price.

Considered to be the best out there...for the coin.

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

Again there are cheaper .... but this is good software with very helpful user forum.

https://www.wnsoft.com/en/pte-av-studio/download/

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

All video editing programs work. Free are Window's ClipChamp and Apple's iMovie. BlackMagic offers DaVinci Resolve in both a free and paid version for either system.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

My wife is already part way through a PTE AV tutorial. It is looking to me that it might come out with the thumbs up.
A lot of contenders looked more like video editors with no mention of slides whereas she was looking for the other way round. She said that PTE AV looked very similar to Proshow Producer so this might be the pick. And none of that subscription stuff but who knows down the track. Thanks for replies so far.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

The free version of Davinci is more than all you would need. An excellent recommendation for a slide show

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

This website has lots of good tutorials.

https://beckhamdigital.photo/whats-new-in-pte-11/

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Thanks for that. She appears to have already found him.

lnl Loc: SWFL

I used Proshow Gold until I couldn’t. After going on the hunt for a replacement, I “bought” PTE AV studio based on the recommendation of dannac. I became involved in a lot of scanning since and haven’t learned it as well as I need to, but it certainly seems to do more than Proshow. It has a lot of ways to do fun things without being over the top.

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

I have not used ClipChamp much yet, but it looks like it has lots of options if you are on a Windows computer. Also, the Photos program does slide shows nicely, and it can move you seamlessly to ClipChamp. Just place your photos in a folder, open Photos and migrate to the folder, select the slideshow button from the top menu bar, and open the first icon in the resulting screen to adjust the options for your slideshow. Free and easy to do.

Video programs will do still photos for a given length of time for each photo. The output will be a video which is actually a slideshow. --Richard

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I forgot that Photos would do slideshows. I've been using Lightroom Classic, Premiere Elements and Premiere Pro long enough that Photos improvements have slipped by me.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Proshow Producer (next up from Proshow Gold because the Gold version didn't do some things that Producer can) allows you to do neat things but especially embedding slides AND videos into a production AND produce DVDs (not that DVDs are any longer a requirement but who knows). There are a lot of video editing programs and slide production programs but far fewer programs that seamlessly deal with both as their main purpose. My wife has downloaded PTE AV Studio Pro but is still organizing her photos and videos so hasn't tried it yet.
I wonder if Photodex was running on a shoe string budget and couldn't manage to convert to 4k so it was easier to fold ?
Davinci Resolve might be an option which we will look at if PTE bombs out. It is twice the price of PTE.

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

I am curious about what features you and your wife think you need to pay for in a slideshow program. Can you share some of your ideas?

Also, when you say you need a program that handles 4k, do you mean videos or still images?

Over the years I have found that the free software that comes with Windows has done about all I needed to do. So, I am wo9ndering what I (or you all <smile>) have missed. --Richard

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

To deal with this as 3 separate points -

1. Not me but my wife. She is a graphics designer. She cannot remember now why she chose Producer instead of Gold (which she had first). Basically if you don't say to yourself, while using the free programs, I wish I could do this then you don't need the higher end program. We don't know at this stage which version of PTE AV we might end up using but the Studio Pro has 'Quick style for slides' and 'Envelope tool (keypoint control of sound volume'. The standard version, Studio, doesn't have these. We will find out. As an aside the writers and sellers of thee programs always want you to find a reason to have to upgrade by putting some useful things into the Pro versions as an enticement. If you don't need these things then don't buy it.

2. She wants a program that handles 4k for the whole show. So anything that goes in needs to be high resolution. If you shoot 4k video then why downgrade to HD if you don't need to. Same with photos. No sense in downgrading the photo quality if you don't need to. She has already processed a few samples at HD and showing these on a 4k TV you definitely notice HD stuff isn't as sharp.

3. As I said my wife is a graphics designer. She notices things that maybe you don't. And wants things that maybe you don't. Hence you both have very different needs. One of these is resolution. If your TV is HD only then you will be satisfied with less. We now have a 4k TV and sharper is better (for sharper read higher resolution). We accept the fact that if we are showing the slide show on somebodies HD tv it won't look as good as it could. But they will be used to that anyway. Plus higher end programs often provide tutorials etc that may be useful especially for the higher end functions.