FAQs - Watching photo slideshow on TV

Questions

The slideshow DVD cannot play on my TV. Why?

What are video aspect ratio and TV cropping?

The outer parts of some pictures are cropped when playback on TV. Why?

I don’t like some pictures being cropped. Is there a solution?

There are black bars around photos when the slideshow playback. Why?

Why there is no transition effects when the slideshow playbacks on TV?

Why are some photos much smaller than they should be when playback on TV?

How to improve the picture quality of the slideshow?

Only see menu while playing on TV. Why?

Answers

1. The slideshow DVD cannot play on my TV. Why?

Please review the following checklist to see what possibly could be the problem and how to fix it.

(1) Does your video player support the disc type?

DVD players can play DVD, VCD and SVCD discs.

VCD players can only play VCD and SVCD discs. Note that VCD player can not play DVD discs.

(2) Do you select the right TV system?

Before burning the slideshow as DVD/VCD movies, you should choose a TV system, NTSC or PAL, so that the encoding of the slideshow video complies with the TV system standards used in your country.

• NTSC (National Television System Committee) is the analog television system used in the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and some other countries.

See the complete list

• PAL (Phase Alternating Line) is a color encoding system used in Europe, Austria, New Zealand, China, India, south-east Asia, west Asia, North Africa, Brazil and large parts of the world.

See the complete list

2. What are video aspect ratio and TV cropping?

Aspect ratio

The aspect ratio of an image is its width divided by its height. Two common video graphic aspect ratios are:

• 4:3 (1.33:1): universal for standard-definition video formats

• 16:9 (1.78:1): universal to high-definition television and European digital television

Cropping

Cropping refers to the removal of the outer parts of an image to improve framing, accentuate subject matter or change aspect ratio.

TV screen's physical aspect ratio and the video’s aspect ratio may not necessarily be the same. In certain circumstances, pictures/videos may be cropped to change from one aspect ratio to another, without stretching the image or filling the blank spaces with letterbox bars.

Converting formats of unequal ratios is done by either cropping the original image to the receiving format's aspect ratio, by adding horizontal mattes (letterboxing) or vertical mattes (pillar boxing) to retain the original format's aspect ratio, or by distorting the image to fill the receiving format's ratio.

Since the advent of widescreen television, a similar process removes large chunks from the top & bottom to make a standard 4:3 image fit a 16:9 one, losing 25% of the original image.

TV cropping in Photo DVD Slideshow

In the case of displaying picture slideshows on TV screen, most of the pictures will be cropped about 5%, on the edges of the pictures. Photo DVD Slideshow supports TV cropping from 0% to 25%. The default setting is 5%, if the TV cropping is enabled.

If you got widescreen LCD TV, cropping is not necessary. You can de-select the TV Cropping option

In the “Burn Disc” tab, click the “TV System” sub-tab, and you will see the “TV Cropping” option and setting. Once the “Enable cropping” option is selected, you can drag the slide bar to increase or decrease the percentage of cropping.

Learn more about Video aspect and cropping at Wikipedia.

3. The outer parts of some pictures are cropped when playback on TV. Why?

There are two common video graphic aspect ratios: 4:3 (1.33:1) for standard-definition video formats, and 16:9 (1.78:1) for high-definition TV and European digital TV.

Pictures/videos may be cropped to change from one aspect ratio to another, without stretching the image or filling the blank spaces with letterbox bars.

In the case of displaying picture slideshows on TV screen, most of the pictures will be cropped about 5%, on the edges of the pictures. Photo DVD Slideshow supports TV cropping from 0% to 25%. The default setting is 5%, if the TV cropping is enabled.

If you got widescreen LCD TV, cropping is not necessary. You can de-select the TV Cropping option

Learn more about aspect ratio and cropping.

4. I don’t like some pictures being cropped. Is there a solution?

Sure. If you do not like some pictures being cropped on edges due to aspect ratio reason, you can turn off the TV cropping option.

When cropping is turned off, black bars will be added to fill the blank space, in order to fit the aspect ratio. You will see black bars on both left and right sides of the pictures, or around the pictures. Learn more about black bars around slideshow photos.

5. There are black bars around photos when the slideshow playback. Why?

When you transfer widescreen pictures to video formats while preserving the original aspect ratio, the so-called black bars appear.

There two types of black bars: Pillarboxing and Windowboxing.

Pillarboxing is the display of an image within a wider image frame wider by adding lateral mattes; for example, a 4:3 image has lateral mattes when displayed on a 16:9 aspect ratio television screen.

A pillarboxed image: displaying 4:3 picture in 16:9 screen

Windowboxing occurs when an image appears centered in a television screen, with blank space on all four sides of the image, such as when a widescreen image that has been previously letterboxed to fit 4:3 is then pillarboxed to fit 16:9.

A windowboxed image

6. Why there is no transition effects when the slideshow playbacks on TV?

If you burn the slideshow to VCD 2.0, then there will be no transition effects. VCD 2.0 is best for recording still images, with high resolution, great compatibility with most DVD players, but no transition effects or background music can be used with VCD 2.0 format.

7. Why are some photos much smaller than they should be when playback on TV?

Aspect ratio and standard resolution

8. How to improve the picture quality of the slideshow?

The picture quality of slideshow is determined by a combination of various factors. You may have to trade one thing to get others.

To get better slideshow quality, you can:

• Choose high quality pictures for making slideshows. This is the most essential and critical measure.

• Choose “Excellent quality, slower encoding speed” to burn the slideshow.

• Turn off Pan and Zoom effect

• Turn off transition effects

• Burn slideshow to VCD 2.0 Still Image Disc. Still image has better quality than moving pictures. The slideshow in VCD 2.0 is still slideshow, only without transition effects or background music.

9. Only see menu while playing on TV. Why?

If DVD menu is added to the slideshow movie, you should use remote control device to select an album and press the Play button to play the slideshow.