I believe you can do that with Irfanview. You would need to load the photos and sort them into the order you want then rename them so they remain in the sequence you desire. The slideshow can be set to auto or manual and you can adjust the timing to your needs.

Before sorting use Irfanview to create our introductory labels so you can place those in the right position before you number the set.

Here is a link that might be useful: Irfanview - get plugins at same time

You could use Windows Movie Maker. I love using this for making slideshows -it is by far the easiest and has the best features for its price (free- it comes with your OS).

I have XP, so it will not burn a DVD, but it will burn a CD. I do believe the Vista version will burn a DVD. There are many online tutorials to help your, but if you just follow the steps in the program - it is pretty self explanitory. Mine is listed under Accesories - not sure how it is listed in Vista.

In Vista, Windows Movie Maker is located in C/ Program Files/ Movie Maker

Here is a link that might be useful: Getting started with Windows Movie Maker

FastStone (156 transitions) and XnView (24 transitions) are two good programmes.
I think Irfanview only offers 2 transitions...Blending and Jump Cut.

Movie Maker has a 60 transitions, 28 video effects. You can add titles before, during, or after a video clip or still picture.

It is VERY easy to add music and narration. You can do both if you want. It is super easy to edit the lenght of the song to your pictures by dragging the line on the "timeline".

My best advice is to add the pictures, then titles. Then add the transitions/effects. Add your music and/or narration last. If you start moving things around - you can mess up your transitions, etc.

Also - it is a good idea to decide how long you want each still image to be shown before you start. It is easier to have it like you want it from the beginning.

Go to TOOLS->OPTIONS and set the length of time to show a picture, and the time for a transition. I set mine at 10 seconds per picture and 1.75 for a transition. You can always lenghten the time you want to show a certain picture by dragging it longer in the timeline.

I don't know of any other programs that are this easy to change the lenght of images - usually it is only one time for all.

Have fun - these are a blast to make. But give yourself some time to work on it :)

Thanks, everybody! Great ideas and suggestions. I'm on my way...

Okay, I decided to try MovieMaker and that looks fairly easy.

I also want to try Irfanview. I clicked on the link above and D/L it. I don't see any info on where or how to start using it.

Help, please?

Sue

go have a read

Here is a link that might be useful: here

abr4xii, that link brings me to a box followed by text with directions, which seem to be helpful, but:

After downloading and clicking on the desktop shortcut, I get a black screen. From there I can click File/Slideshow, then there is a box similar to the one in your link.

Is that right? I haven't gone any further because the black screen looks so odd and the box is not the same.

Sue

Open Irfanview
click on the blue square...top left, looks like a negative
Now you should have a box open with all that you need to
set up a slide show.
Top right..Look in: use that to find your music file..select a tune..click Add. Now find your picture files. If you want to add them all then click Add All. If you need to move anything highlight the pic in the lower box and click Move Up or Move Down
On the left select your options.Then Save
I save my shows as .EXE/SCR I have no idea what a .TXT file is for a slide show.
I think that covers it. someone else might have some input.

If I remember correctly you will have to insert music at the appropriate places which can be a nuisance to figure out.orrr you can use an MP3 joiner, join several tunes together (easy to do) to make one file that you will place first in the list...
Post back, let us know how it goes.

I'm back! I got busy with other things.

At this point I have 5 photos in a slideshow. I'm running into trouble saving it. I have it on my Desktop, and if I click on it I see it, but when the last pic comes up it stops and I have to end task to move on.

I will figure it out eventually.

Thanks again for the help.

Sue

I do not have Irfanview so do not know all it does.
I have come across this in reading about it:

"IrfanView's slide shows only play on computers. To create a VCD or DVD, you need the full version of Nero 6. Additionally, a free plug-in, available from IrfanView, is required."

Does that mean that you will not be able to view on TV what you burn to disk?

To get the photos onto the DVDs, programs such as Nero, Ulead and Roxio all make software that will create photo slide shows for your DVD player. These DVDs will work in all modern standalone DVD players.

I bought the software program Photostory from Bestbuy for $20.00 that I LOVE!
It comes with the authoring tool (encode) built in to when I burn to DVD, it will play on TV with my player and in my portable player.
You can import animations along with your photo's etc.
I had a ball with the last slide/movie I made. Wish you could see it. You would laugh at the animation along with my voice and music I added.

Urlee