Poor quality Photo Slideshow with Vista

[1206nick]

Hi there,

i was hoping someone out there could either help me and or advise me. This is my first post and I am new today to this forum.

I have recently upgraded to Windows Vista Home premium (from XP) with a new Dell PC Intel Core duo E4500. 2 gig of ram and an intergrated Intel Media graphics accelerator 3100.

I have noticed when I view my photos as a slide show, either in The photo Gallery or the My Pictures folder slideshow option, the picture quality seems very poor. With XP it was crisp and great quality.

If i use the fade option in between slides the pictures seem very blurry and if I use the classic option (my preference) for the slide show the photos, while becoming much sharper and less blurry they are almost pixalated and blocky which is also no good. When I view the same photos using other applications such as Nikon picture project, Nero 8 or even set it as a desk top background the photos are fine, sharp and clear. This is very wierd.

I have obviously looked at my graphics score, after doing a bit of research, which is 3.6 (I understand a minimum of 3.0 is sufficient for Vista slideshow).

I know I am not using a dedicated graphics card but the onboard option surely should be enough to view a few photos in a slide show. My old PC had a graphics card that is about 5 years old and that still operated my slideshow with no problem and with crisp and clear imaging.

I have searched the web for any possible solutions but have not found this particualr problem anywhere and when i rang Dell they just tried to sell me a Radeon graphics card. I would be happy to pay for a card only if this will 100 % cure this problem. I don't use a PC for much, burning CD's and viwing my photos is about all so i only wanted a fairly average spec machine. I do not play games or watch HDTV or anything that would require a top spec video card.

I am hoping there is someone with a bit of knowhow out there that can help me!!

Also as an afterthought the slideshow will also not play any video clips (created with my Nikon camera) in the slideshow either, even though they will play seperately using Quicktime. If i select any video clips with the photos the slideshow does not work. I thought with Vista selling itself as a multi media centre that these problems should not be occuring.

Please help. and thanks in advance.

1206nick wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> i was hoping someone out there could either help me and or advise me.
> This is my first post and I am new today to this forum.
>
> I have recently upgraded to Windows Vista Home premium (from XP) with
> a new Dell PC Intel Core duo E4500. 2 gig of ram and an intergrated
> Intel Media graphics accelerator 3100.
>
> I have noticed when I view my photos as a slide show, either in The
> photo Gallery or the My Pictures folder slideshow option, the picture
> quality seems very poor. With XP it was crisp and great quality.
>
> If i use the fade option in between slides the pictures seem very
> blurry and if I use the classic option (my preference) for the slide
> show the photos, while becoming much sharper and less blurry they are
> almost pixalated and blocky which is also no good. When I view the
> same photos using other applications such as Nikon picture project,
> Nero 8 or even set it as a desk top background the photos are fine,
> sharp and clear. This is very wierd.
>
> I have obviously looked at my graphics score, after doing a bit of
> research, which is 3.6 (I understand a minimum of 3.0 is sufficient
> for Vista slideshow).
>
> I know I am not using a dedicated graphics card but the onboard option
> surely should be enough to view a few photos in a slide show. My old
> PC had a graphics card that is about 5 years old and that still
> operated my slideshow with no problem and with crisp and clear
> imaging.
>
> I have searched the web for any possible solutions but have not found
> this particualr problem anywhere and when i rang Dell they just tried
> to sell me a Radeon graphics card. I would be happy to pay for a card
> only if this will 100 % cure this problem. I don't use a PC for much,
> burning CD's and viwing my photos is about all so i only wanted a
> fairly average spec machine. I do not play games or watch HDTV or
> anything that would require a top spec video card.
>
> I am hoping there is someone with a bit of knowhow out there that can
> help me!!
>
> Also as an afterthought the slideshow will also not play any video
> clips (created with my Nikon camera) in the slideshow either, even
> though they will play seperately using Quicktime. If i select any
> video clips with the photos the slideshow does not work. I thought
> with Vista selling itself as a multi media centre that these problems
> should not be occuring.
>
> Please help. and thanks in advance.
===================================
The following articles may offer some ideas:

(939395) When you view an image in Windows
Photo Gallery on a Windows Vista-based computer,
the image is yellow
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939395/en-us

Microsoft PhotoBlog Frequently Asked Questions:
http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/pages/faq.aspx

I'm thinking it may be worth a try to install
Windows Live Photo Gallery....it may help
with the QuickTime .mov files also:

Windows Live Photo Gallery
http://get.live.com/photogallery/overview
released 11-06-2007

This article may clarify:

My camera takes Quicktime video. How do
I see those files in the Windows Vista Photo Gallery?
http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/pages/faq.aspx#q10

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

[1206nick]

Thanks very much John,

I have read the info you suggested and also downloaded the live photo gallery. Unfortunately my slideshow feature still appears low res and blocky in classic theme and blurry if i go for the fade in and out option. It is very frustrating as i used the slideshow function on XP all the time.

Is there any other reason that the slideshow should be low resolution and poor quality??

Also you were quite right that the the live photo gallery will now display my quicktime video clips and play them if i click on them, however if they are selected for the slideshow they do not get included. It just skips past any video and just displays the photos. I understood that Vista slideshow was supposed to display video clips as well as photos.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on the above problems!