Scan & Fix 50 registry issues FREECNET Editors' review
Custom slideshows are a great way to display your favorite photos and videos to friends and family. PhotoStage Slideshow Producer shows that slideshow makers don't need to be difficult to use to produce great results.
The best sign of a well-designed user interface is when you can jump into a program without having to consult the help feature first. PhotoStage Slideshow Producer has just such an interface. However, should you need it; a link to an ample online Help page is available. PhotoStage's process is broken down into steps so you can't go wrong. We started first by adding our media files, which included a mix of digital photos and a video. From there, we were able to add effects to each file, including the ability to crop, resize, and change the hue. But you can take it all a step further and add effects that turn your images into old film, oil paintings, negatives, sepia, and more. Our next step was to add transitions, such as Cross Fade, Revealing From Top to Bottom, and so on. We were pleasantly surprised to find that PhotoStage offers a narration feature that let us add our own music to our slideshow; you can even record your own voice, if you have a microphone. The Save step gave us numerous options for saving our newly created slideshow, including saving it as a Flash file, DVD movie, or a data disc, or we could save it to our hard drive or portable device. We saved our slideshow to our desktop. It took a few seconds for it to save, but in no time, we were able to play our newly created slideshow back.
PhotoStage Slideshow producer will appeal to users of all skill levels. It installs desktop icons without your permission, but it uninstalls cleanly. We highly recommend it.
Publisher's Description
From NCH Software:
With PhotoStage Slideshow Producer, create slideshow of your photos. Share your memories with a multimedia slideshow, combine pictures, video clips, music, and narration, and burn to DVD, share online, or save for other portable devices. Features include photo transition and effects: choose from a wide range of transitions, panning and zoom effects add extra dimension, preview the effects in real time, and customize the duration of the effect, complete photo optimization, audio tools, upload directly to YouTube or Facebook and share online, and export video slideshows as Flash.
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All versions:
3.2 starsout of 52 votes
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Current version:
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"Clunky, clunky, clunky"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.17
Pros
Non! These words simply are added to meet the minimum characters required.
Cons
Clunky. The dictionary definition of clunky is " awkward or unsophisticated . That describes PhotoStage well. I tried the free version. Maybe the paid versions are better. I would give it no stars but such is not possible.
Summary
The free version proved to be a big waste of time.
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"saves defective files, adds ad-links"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.17
Pros
Can produce a slideshow without music okay
Cons
slideshow with music track comes out all screwed up.
Summary
The worst kind of "free software"; defective, adds ad-links to more programs these people sell, should not be listed on CNET at all.
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"Worked great for my needs."
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.17
Pros
Easy to use
Cons
Nothing wrong
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"Good product easy to use and does what it says"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.17
Pros
easy to use
fast to install
i can add text and effects from within the program
also able to add music and voice overs
does what it saysCons
Not actually free. Its only free for a trial period, but its not that expensive to buy
Summary
As a user with what I guess to be intermediate skills, I think its the best of around ten others that I tried out
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"BringItIn!"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.11
Pros
BringItIn!
Cons
BringItIn!
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"NOT FREE: Limited trial only"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.11
Pros
Works ok, but only for week. then you have to pay.
Cons
Actually Not Free
Summary
In wrong category... "Free trial", not "Free"
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"Very good, little bit more then basic"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.11
Pros
Easy to use, good crash and recovery routines, good features, for me the best software to create simple but nice home videos.
I used it to create a DVD from images and videos. It takes a while to import everything (rather old PC).
It crashed 2 or 3 times (on windows XP and an rather old PC) but it did an amazing job of recovering an automatically saved project file (lost practically nothing in all crashes).Cons
It crashed a few times, effects cannot be assigned to one file-type, videos and images placed on the time-line don't represent their actual timeframe (audio does), they are just a thumbnail with a time label.
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"Easy to use, lousy end product."
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.11
Pros
It's easy to use, but ends up being a waste of your time because it is indiscriminate in what photos it allows you to import.
Cons
Won't import certain photos, and there seems to be no defining characteristics of those it won't import. Spent hours playing with file size, type, etc. to no avail on certain photos - which I wanted in my show. It also crashes for no reason.
Summary
I have used many video editing and slideshow programs, and while not expert, I'm no novice either. I have ample ram and and i7 processor, so that isn't an issue. I decided to try Photoshow because the 'trial' show worked well. Then I bought the full version. No matter how easy something is to use, if you can't get the finished product, or include pictures that are important to the production, it's not worth the time or money. It is a waste of your time and money.
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"Bad interface, crashes often, stay away"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.11
Pros
Very easy to learn.
Cons
Too many to list! crashes when making the movie, can't see a preview of the pictures so it is difficult to see a picklist of what pictures you have to choose from. Also tried to export the project to an external drive and then open it up with another (faster) laptop which did not work.
Summary
Developers really need to go back and rework this product, I spent way too much time creating a project that should have taken no more than 10-20 hours and I probably spent over 120 hours because of the the crashing. Windows movie maker is much better.
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"Repeatedly crashes when burning DVD"
Version: PhotoStage Slideshow Producer Free 2.11
Pros
Relatively intuitive
Cons
Useless for distribution if it won't burn a DVD.
Summary
A real waste of time if your goal is to burn a DVD.
