Encore CS4's Slideshow component= WORTHLESS

Question

Hi,
When I create slideshows in Adobe Encore CS4 and then build them, they look "fine" when played on a computer DVD player.
However, when playing the authored DVD on an actual DVD player attached to a TV, the playback is cropped, images come out extremely dark, and each song flickers at the start of the slideshow.
I've done a lot more testing of building slideshows in Adobe Encore CS4, before I came to this realization:
ADOBE ENCORE CS4 IS FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR WAYS OFF FROM BEING READY FOR PRODUCTION USE FOR SLIDESHOWS. DO NOT USE ADOBE ENCORE CS4 FOR ANY SORT OF ACTUAL PRODUCTION USE FOR SLIDESHOWS.
I am extremely frustrated how obvious that there was absolutely no quality assurance testing with Adobe Encore CS4. When you use Adobe Encore CS4, the whole feel of using the software is that it was totally rushed out the door at about 55% complete.
My top complaints:
-When importing multiple images to the Encore library, occasional images do not get imported at all(WTF???????????????)
-images that are imported to the Encore library occasionally LOSE THEIR ORIGINAL ASSET when saving, closing, then re-opening a project.
-Encore CS4 slows down literally, exponentially, as you add a lot of images to the library. At about 500 images of about 3-4 megs each, my Core 2 Quad with 6 gigs of ram slows to a crawl.
-when in the slow state, Adobe Encore CS4 crashes randomly (and this slow state is when most of the slideshow editing needs to get done)
-authored playback is cropped
-authored playback comes out extremely dark on DVD players
-99 slide limit, which is overcome by dividing the slideshow into two slideshows, but.. there is a long and awkward pause when shifting between two slideshows during playback
Using Adobe Encore CS4 for slideshows is gauranteed to leave an extremely bad user experience and some loss of respect for Adobe.
I have no choice but to learn what other DVD slideshow building software is out there. So far, Nero, and even Windows Movie Maker, which comes free with windows seems better than Adobe Encore CS4, in terms of building slideshows.

Answer 1

I've been using Adobe Encore CS4 to author Blu-Ray discs with slideshows on my iMac.  I've found a solution that seems to work well.  But I don't use the Encore slideshow editor for this purpose.
When I import high-quality 16:9 JPEG photos directly into Encore and build a slideshow using the Encore slideshow editor, the results are terrible when viewed on a big-screen HDTV connected to a Blu-Ray player.  The colors seem off, and the resolution is horrible.  There are all sorts of jagged edges and other artifacts.  A slideshow on a standard-definition DVD built using iPhoto and iDVD looks much better than a "high-definition" Blu-Ray slideshow built using the Encore CS4 slideshow feature.
A better solution is to simply build the slideshow in iPhoto, cropping the individual photos to 16:9 (or using the 16:9 setting on your digital still camera, if it has one), and export the iPhoto slideshow as a high-definition QuickTime movie file (*.mov).  You will have to play around a bit to find the option in iPhoto that allows custom export settings, but once you find it you can encode the entire slideshow using the H.264 codec with full 1920 x 1080 resolution.  Then you can import the resulting *.mov file into Encore as an asset, then create a timeline for it.  You basically treat it like a movie in Encore.  The final result looks great on my 1080p TV.  Breathtaking, in fact.
Encore CS4 for Mac seems to have lots of bugs in it.  For example, I just downloaded the latest update yesterday (I think it was 4.0.1).  Now, whenever I try to build a Blu-Ray project, I get an error message, no matter what I do.  Even if I start a new project from scratch.  So I had to use Apple Time Machine to restore the previous version of Encore (4.0.0.258), which works fine.
Another bug is that you can't change the title of an HD menu in Encore.  Encore has a very limited number of HD menus.  If you want to change the title of an HD menu from the generic one provided ("Our Travel Diaries", for example) to your own title ("Our 2009 Summer Vacation", for example), you can't do it in Encore.  Well, maybe YOU can.  But I can't figure out how to do it.  So I export the menu to Photoshop Elements, change the text there, and re-import it into Encore.  You can change the titles of buttons directly in Encore.  But not the actual menu title.
Also, Encore has caused trouble for me when I try burning Blu-Ray rewritable discs.  So I simply use Encore to create a *.iso image file, then burn it using Roxio Toast 10 Titanium.
Anyway, with these various workarounds, I'm finally able to create high-quality Blu-Ray discs with movies and slideshows that look great on my 60-inch Sony SXRD 1080p TV.
It's a shame that somebody doesn't produce a simple interlocking suite of consumer-grade Mac-compatible tools that can be used for the entire HD workflow from camera to Blu-Ray disc, similar to the way in which iMovie, iPhoto, and iDVD work for standard-definition DVDs.  Apparently, the latest version of Adobe Premiere Elements for Windows does this sort of thing.  But there's nothing equivalent for the Mac.  And Apple still seems to be dragging its feet with regard to Blu-Ray.
Some people have expressed the opinion that it's OK for Encore CS4 to include a slideshow editor that's essentially useless.  I tend to disagree.  Any significant feature that gets added to a piece of software and that's advertised as being useful ought to work at least reasonably well.  But then my background is in the hardware industry, not the software industry.  In hardware, even a minor glitch can cost a company millions of dollars in lost revenue, recalls, loss of customer confidence, etc.  Software designers, by contrast, seem to be able to get away with a degree of sloppiness that would quickly bankrupt a company in the hardware world.
However, I'm at least grateful that by using Encore CS4 in conjunction with Final Cut Pro, Compressor, iPhoto, Photoshop Elements, and Toast, I'm able to produce a very nice Blu-Ray disc that provides jaw-dropping picture and sound quality for movies and slideshows.