mustfishjoe Loc: Naperville, Il

I've used Microsoft Movie Maker for a lot of years now starting very basic and expanding with each new dvd burned BUT it has it's limits and I want to start using a program where I can do more "trick stuff". Based on what I've seen here I'm really leaning towards Pro Show Gold. Actually I'm about 90% sure that IS the way I'm going. STILL I'd really appreciate hearing from any of you of your knowledge/experience with this program. No doubt there are pros and cons so PLEASE be brutally honest! REALLY enjoy this site! I READ it everyday!

Iduno Loc: Near Tampa Florida

I have Pro Show Gold and consider it only for slideshow presentations. It does allow imbedding of movie files into the slide show but I've never thought of it as a movie maker. For movies I try to use Sony Vegas Pro albeit the learning curve is a bit steep. I'm also trying Power Director and it looks very good, and was rated very high in online reviews. Of course there is Photoshop Elements Premier. Haven't used it but suspect it is also very good and seems reasonably priced.

woodworker236 Loc: Western, Pennsylvania Home of the first JEEP

I also am looking for a good slideshow program. When I use the micro soft movie maker on my windows 7 the disc will only play on my computer I don't know why.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

I use Pro Show Producer. This program will give you all the control and trick stuff you are looking for. However, it has a steep learning curve. Here is some information on the program.
http://www.photodex.com/proshow/producer

spy351 Loc: North Carolina

I have used Pro Show Gold for the past couple of years and am very pleased. Its very user-friendly and has been more than adequate to meet my needs. I dont think you will be disappointed.

Julian Loc: Sarasota, FL

I use FinalCut Pro on my Apple; perhaps the best program out there but somewhat pricey. Adobe Premier does a good job as well. I use it on my PC.

mustfishjoe Loc: Naperville, Il

GEEZ!

I HOPE I'm doing this right ;-)

Thank you all so much for the quick answers and advice! Really appreciate it.

mustfishjoe Loc: Naperville, Il

Woodworker: Sorry I can't help ya with the DVD Playing problem. I'm on XP BUT I have had some "issues" with Movie Maker over the years and found an excellant web site where I was able to find "solutions" at:

www.windowsmoviemakers.net

I'm sure there are other sites as well but this is the one I always found helpful.

Hope it helps!

woodworker236 Loc: Western, Pennsylvania Home of the first JEEP

Thank you!

achammar Loc: Idaho

I just purchased Nero 11 and it has a good movie maker. It is more dependable than Windows Movie Maker (WMM) and synchronizes music with the slides better. The thing I really hated about WMM is that you had to put each transition in manually between each image, and that took forever if you have a lot of pictures.
You mentioned you wanted more tricks...I've used WMM for years also and you may already know this one, but here is a really cool effect in case you want to try this...
Take and put the same picture in twice one right after the other.
On the first one add an "Ease Out" and a "Grayscale" effect.
Don't add anything to the second image, but put a "Wipe, Wide Down" transition between the 2. That's one little trick in case you don't know that one yet and it looks cool. You can also replace Grayscale with "Hue Cycle entire color spectrum" and that's pretty cool too, or you can even put 3 of the same images in a row, have the first 2 both ease out, one with the color spectrum, second with grayscale, and 3rd with nothing, with the wipe wide down transition between them...
That's not what you asked, but just wanted to throw that in...I have learned the similar effects needed in Nero to accomplish the same thing. Nero is much more dependable, burns better, but it has a learning curve...and I can put all the transitions in with 2 clicks....soooo much faster...
:-)

mustfishjoe Loc: Naperville, Il

LIKE the idea for WMM! Gonna try it.

I DID wind-up opting for the Pro Show Gold Program and while I'm looking forward to using it I'm also sure I'll be using WMM while I AM learning pro Show...afterall...the "Show" must go on ;-)

Anyway..between the new slideshow maker and my new T3i I gotta lot of reading and learning to do and just "shooting".

THANKS to everybody again for all the advice

Ya all have a GREAT and SAFE Holiday Season!

Newsuan Loc: Coatesville

I have pro-gold and it stops rendering my videos at 77%. Can't complete one with a nice amount of photos. Tech support is baffled !!! need help