What our customer's say!

"For beginners and those with simple requirements, only", Ulead's CD & DVD PictureShow Deluxe Version 3 is a cosmetic improvement over Version 2. PictureShow 3 features a new simplified, straightforward interface; adds Pan and Zoom motion effects, a nice set of matched visual and audio (instrumental) themes, and the ability to drop clipart on top of one's pictures.

PictureShow 3's new interface divides the program into three distinct parts: 1) Organize; 2) Theme; and 3) Burn. In the Organize section, users select pictures for and arrange the order of the pictures in the slideshow. In the Theme section, users select one of thirty themes, which consist of a matched menu and audio soundtrack, in which to present their slideshow. The Burn section is where users may put their VCD, SVCD, or DVD slideshow on disc.

The 30 themes, divided across six categories (Fantasyland, General, Holiday, Special Events, Sports, and Vacations), make it very easy for a mainstream user new to photo slideshows to create a good-looking slideshow in a very short time. Ulead also provides a free download on their website of 43 menu templates taken from PictureShow version 2, that enables users to load and edit their PictureShow 2 slideshows in PictureShow 3. These templates, however, do not include matching audio soundtracks.

PictureShow 3 retains two major weaknesses from its predecessor:
* It is very difficult to use more than one music piece for a slideshow soundtrack.
* It is also very difficult to synchronize a slideshow's duration to its audio soundtrack's duration -- that is, to end the slideshow and its music at the same time.

In the PictureShow program, unless otherwise manually specified by the user, a music piece will repeat itself until the end of the slideshow. This may not be noticeable for instrumental compositions, but it is quite conspicuous for any vocalized song. To use more than one music piece, the user must preview the slideshow to determine the slide where the current music piece ends, and then manually insert the next piece of music at the next slide.

The new "Match slideshow to audio duration" function seems to work only if the soundtrack consists of a single piece of music longer than the slideshow duration. In other words, the function is quite useless. For all other instances, ending the slideshow and its music at the same time must be done through painstakingly manual trial-and-error. The user must manually calculate the total duration of the audio soundtrack, and then adjust the per-slide duration of the slideshow accordingly.

Consumers new to photo slideshows and with simple requirements -- i.e., those who are willing to keep their slideshows within the time limit of one music piece, will like Ulead's CD & DVD PictureShow Deluxe 3. But experienced users and those who have want to have longer slideshows (e.g., for vacation or wedding reception photos) should consider other software first. Photodex's ProShow, for example, allows the easy use of multiple music pieces in a slideshow soundtrack; and can synchronize a slideshow's length to its soundtrack's length automatically.