PROSHOW GOLD 3.0
by Dorothy Alexander
From Photodex Corporation Austin, Texas, USA http://www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold/

Cost: $69.96 USD
Recommended:
1 GHz+ processor
1 GB system memory
DirectX 9.0 or better
Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution video adapter & monitor
DVD+R/RW/ - R/RW writer for disc authoring Accelerated 3D graphics card with 64 MB RAM
Windows Ò XP
70 MB hard drive space for installation

Required:
500 MHz+ higher
512 MB system memory DirectX 8.0 or better
Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution video adapter & monitor
CD/DVD writer for disc authoring
Windows Ò /2000/Me/98
70 MB hard drive space for installation

If you have a lot of photos and want to impress your family and friends this is the program you should get. Instead of taking along the photos you can make a slide show, add motion, zoom in on points of interest and then add transitions and music and transfer it to any of these: CD, DVD, EXE, Flash, and HD Video. Another alternative would be to download it to your own website (if you had one) or register on Photodex website and upload your movie there for your friends to see. I used vacation photos from the past five years and made a on a mini DVD and took to Florida with us to show to our friends using our portable Polaroid DVD player. This show comprised 64 slides and 2 audio files with 2 minutes transitions. The DVD played for 7 minutes and used 237 MB. Comments were very positive and one couple where so impressed they plan to do the same thing with their photos.

This summer I plan to take all our old 35 mm slides and transfer them to the computer then using ProShow Gold make movies. This would be a great Christmas gift for family members dubbed, "This is your Life" from the nursery to the wedding ceremony.

Briefly this is what you do. Select images and drop them into the Slide List. Choose which one you want and drag it to the bottom of the screen. Add motion using pan, zoom and rotation effects. There are 280 high-quality transitions to choose from. View photos and make your choice then click on it to select. Browse your music files to find MP3 or WAV files and make a choice. Drag and drop these files into the Soundtrack Bar at the bottom of the Slide List. Music can also be added from a CD. You may need more than one piece of music depending on number of photos you have selected. You can sync your show to the soundtrack using the Audio menu. To do this, select Sync Show to Audio. You can check your work in the Preview Window as you go without having to wait. Also if you missed a photo, or have it in the wrong order, just drag it over to the proper place and carry on. When you are happy with your results burn to a DVD or product of choice. ProShow Gold is an amazing software and fun to use. There is a help menu, a tutorial and online training section. I enjoyed it so much that I found the clock stopped when I was doing it!

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