So I am really into making slideshows. And I'm seriously looking into buying a Mac. The one problem I am having is I can't seem to find slideshow software that is better than Proshow Gold, that I have been using on the PC.

I've seen Fotomagico, and used it a little, it is a good program, but it still seems like a step back from what I have on the PC. I know that Macs are supposed to be the machine for multimedia stuff, so what am I missing? Is there some really good slideshow software out there that I haven't found? Any help would be great because really would like to by a mac. I am currently working with a pretty sizable slideshow on my Mac. I must admit, the first thing I've missed since switching to my Mac and leaving my pc, is ProShow Gold.

It seemed to have everything you needed for making a great slideshow. This show which has about 350 slides, I will be attempting with the Fotomagico software.

The process that I used to make my first slideshow on my Mac was to import my pictures into iPhoto. Created a slideshow inside of iPhoto. Then exported into iMovie to covert the file so it could be burned and viewed on a TV with the best resolution. Then after all converted in iMovie, I saved it.

I then opened iDVD and opened the movie file I just created. Then burned it in iDVD. That is an awful long process.

The quality isn't bad either. Not as bad as some. But not as good as it could be. In fact, even in ProShow, I didn't think the quality was that good either.

It has something to do when the files are converted. But it's the process on a Mac that surprised me. There really has not been a great program made yet for the Mac that showcases your photo's the way a Mac should. They are supposed to be superior graphic handlers. And they are in general.

But not when it comes to making a slideshow of good quality, that you want to burn and view on a t.v. I really think that type of program (slideshow to dvd) has just not been perfected on either pc or Mac. Your photo's should look as bright and crisp as they do on our monitors.and they just don't. Hopefully some day some genius program writer out there will come up with something great. I'll post my thoughts on Fotomagico when I've finished this next slideshow. Email me anytime with questions. Looking for a really good slideshow program I have been looking on the forums for information on where to find a really good slideshow program to use on my MAC.

I just recently switched over from a PC and used to use a program called Proshow Producer by a company named Photodex. Does anyone have one that would offer features like: multiple layers on one slide, chromo keying out certain colors, multiple tracks for audio and a wide variety of transitions with the ability to customize just about every aspect of the show. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Matthew.

I have been looking on the forums for information on where to find a really good slideshow program to use on my MAC. I just recently switched over from a PC and used to use a program called Proshow Producer by a company named Photodex. Does anyone have one that would offer features like: multiple layers on one slide, chromo keying out certain colors, multiple tracks for audio and a wide variety of transitions with the ability to customize just about every aspect of the show. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Matthew. Best Slideshow software I appreciate the responses. I actually did look at Photomagico but some of the things I want to be able to do are just not possible.

One thing I want to be able to do is chroma keying out a color on a slide or video clip. Another thing is to have multiple layers per slide. If anyone here is really big on making slideshows with some simple special effects I want you to take a look at a quick example I put together. Keep in mind that the timing is off and this is nothing more than just some examples I put together.

The show will take a minute or so to buffer but this will give you an idea of the kinds of things I want to be able to do. Here is the link: Click One more quick question. I am very new to the MAC and I have purchased some programs that I think will help me accomplish these things once I learn how to use them. I recently purchased Final Cut Studio & Adobe Web Premium. If you have any experience with these program I would love to hear the feedback. Regards, MAtthew.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Final Cut and/or the Adobe programs that you already have would cover your slideshow needs, but I'm only guessing since I'm not familiar with either. The problem with those may be the learning curve that you might have to go through in order to accomplish, among other capabilities, the specific job for which ProShow was tailored to. I'd say if the suggestions made here don't work for you then you might have to consider sticking to Proshow and run it by way of BootCamp or a Windows virtualization method (Fusion, Parallels, etc). It's the case with a bunch of other Windows programs to which people have been accustomed to and don't find a Mac correspondent.

Slideshows and Final Cut just curious.what version of Final Cut do you have? The latest version of Final Cut Studio found here has all you'll need. Even final Cut Express (much less expensive and scaled down version) has a lot of great features to create a fantastic slideshow. The Studio version has every feature that can imagine and you can make some amazing presentations with it.

It includes DVD Studio 4 which only comes with the studio version. You can create some hi-def slideshows with that program. Although if you don't need all of the advanced features of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express has every feature that ProShow Gold has. What I have found since switching to a Mac was that instead of having one stand alone program for photo editing, layering, animated titles, and smooth transitions for slideshows, you have to use multiple programs to accomplish a beautiful end product. But once you learn more about editing, authoring, and lay-out, the Mac is workhorse and can handle whatever you got! Finalcut Express has about everything you need. I remember creating a slideshow for a family reunion with ProShow Gold.

It would freeze my pc up time and time again. Then I would get lucky and it wouldn't freeze.but when I went to burn my dvd creation, it would have issues burning it. In fact, the family slideshow I made ran an hour and 10 minutes. After 5 attempts to burn my show, I told myself this was the last time.and it burned. Two weeks after my reunion, I bought a Mac. I was very surprised that there really wasn't a stand alone program like P.S.G. What I realized was that it was because Mac users want to be able to control it more.

Put their twist on it. Basically to really be able to take it to the next level. I've learned to do that now. I tried Fotomagico and it was a nice program. As you said, it didn't have some of your favorite features that p.s.g.

You are correct.it doesn't. But you can edit you photo's before the slideshow in Photoshop and then bring them into the Fotomagico program. I'm sure you have tried Photoshop. It is limitless.

I also want to add that Apple has a great emulator program called VMware Fusion 2. Here's a link to it I have heard that this program works great with running Windows program on an Intel Mac. I personally have never used it but I have a pal that works in the graphics arts business and runs some major Windows graphic programs on his Mac with this program. I think it's worth a shot if you are dead set on ProShow Gold.

If you decide to go that route, I'd be interesting in hearing how it worked for you. I hope all of this info helps. Best Slideshow Software I know this thread is 'so last year', but I am in a similar boat. As a ProShow Gold user I tried the basic iLife tools and wasn't satisfied. For my most recent backpacking trip (the John Muir Trail) I went back to PSG and it worked just fine in a VMWare Fusion 2 (Windoze-on-a-Mac) environment.

(They do sell VMWare at the Apple site, but it's not an Apple product as someone may have implied. Great software, though, if you have Windows only apps you just gotta run.) I am leaning toward Final Cut Express 4, and since I don't find a trial version available, I'll ask here: FCE does allow a mix of images and videos, as well as built in DVD Authoring, right? (I may not know what all 'Authoring' implies, but in PSG you basically have full control over the entire dvd, including creating the initial splash clip for a teevee dvd and then the main menu, and then generating a DVD image file at a number of different quality levels that can be burned to disc, and of course all the transitions and audio - both soundtrack and audio per slide or video clip together in one show.) My impression is that FCE will be able to do most of what I'm used to with PSG, but it is not so strictly aimed at 'slideshows' so might take a bit more of a learning curve. Not sure who might read this, but I am curious what the initial poster, Pacatak, ended up doing. I will probably download free trials of Fotomagico and any others first. Another FCE related question would be (since this is the Mac Rumors site), wouldn't it be about time for Apple to release an FCE 5?

Typically they manage to do that a short time after I purchase something. Any comments/info appreciated! Just curious.what version of Final Cut do you have? The latest version of Final Cut Studio found here has all you'll need. Even final Cut Express (much less expensive and scaled down version) has a lot of great features to create a fantastic slideshow.

The Studio version has every feature that can imagine and you can make some amazing presentations with it. It includes DVD Studio 4 which only comes with the studio version.

You can create some hi-def slideshows with that program. Although if you don't need all of the advanced features of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express has every feature that ProShow Gold has. What I have found since switching to a Mac was that instead of having one stand alone program for photo editing, layering, animated titles, and smooth transitions for slideshows, you have to use multiple programs to accomplish a beautiful end product. But once you learn more about editing, authoring, and lay-out, the Mac is workhorse and can handle whatever you got!

Finalcut Express has about everything you need. I remember creating a slideshow for a family reunion with ProShow Gold. It would freeze my pc up time and time again. Then I would get lucky and it wouldn't freeze.but when I went to burn my dvd creation, it would have issues burning it. In fact, the family slideshow I made ran an hour and 10 minutes.

After 5 attempts to burn my show, I told myself this was the last time.and it burned. Two weeks after my reunion, I bought a Mac. I was very surprised that there really wasn't a stand alone program like P.S.G. What I realized was that it was because Mac users want to be able to control it more. Put their twist on it.

Basically to really be able to take it to the next level. I've learned to do that now. I tried Fotomagico and it was a nice program. As you said, it didn't have some of your favorite features that p.s.g.

You are correct.it doesn't. But you can edit you photo's before the slideshow in Photoshop and then bring them into the Fotomagico program. I'm sure you have tried Photoshop.

It is limitless. I also want to add that Apple has a great emulator program called VMware Fusion 2. Here's a link to it I have heard that this program works great with running Windows program on an Intel Mac. I personally have never used it but I have a pal that works in the graphics arts business and runs some major Windows graphic programs on his Mac with this program. I think it's worth a shot if you are dead set on ProShow Gold.

If you decide to go that route, I'd be interesting in hearing how it worked for you. I hope all of this info helps. So I am really into making slideshows. And I'm seriously looking into buying a Mac. The one problem I am having is I can't seem to find slideshow software that is better than Proshow Gold, that I have been using on the PC. I've seen Fotomagico, and used it a little, it is a good program, but it still seems like a step back from what I have on the PC. I know that Macs are supposed to be the machine for multimedia stuff, so what am I missing?

Is there some really good slideshow software out there that I haven't found? Any help would be great because really would like to by a mac. Click to expand. I am currently HOUNDING Photodex! Here is what I emailed them this a.m.

I'm actually a 'Mac' user that got into your product with my Dell XP Media Home Edition. I just want to know is there a 'forum' I can participate in just in case you hear my plea and create a 'Producer' for Mac.talk about rejoicing in the isles!! There just isn't a product out there that comes close to your program and the 'control' the user has with creating their slideshow!! I have talked online to several new Mac users that had PCs that are missing their 'Producer' software!

It's just leaves you empty using something else while knowing what you could do with Producer!!! Come on folks!!! There are LOTS of us Mac users wanting to use PRODUCER!!! I have training DVDs and everything.I also have CompuPic!!! All that $$$ and I can't use it on my Mac!! Don't tell me to spend MORE $$ and buy products so I can run Windows!!!!

Why buy a Mac if you're just going to run Windows? May as well stick with a PC!!!! Is there a 'feed' or something i can follow just in case ya'll decide to grab the Mac market??? Not to mention your customer service is great!! If I had $$$$ I'd fund the development myself!!! I'm SERIOUS!!!!

I just need to be in the loop if someone comes up with something where I can run your program on my MacBook without buying Windows, etc. Thanks for listening.you know I'm going to keep pestering ya'll, don't ya? Going to go to the Mac Forums now and tell THEM to get on the ball and start emailin ya'll!! $$$ (future revenue) TALKS!!! I know this thread is 'so last year', but I am in a similar boat. As a ProShow Gold user I tried the basic iLife tools and wasn't satisfied.

For my most recent backpacking trip (the John Muir Trail) I went back to PSG and it worked just fine in a VMWare Fusion 2 (Windoze-on-a-Mac) environment. (They do sell VMWare at the Apple site, but it's not an Apple product as someone may have implied. Great software, though, if you have Windows only apps you just gotta run.) I am leaning toward Final Cut Express 4, and since I don't find a trial version available, I'll ask here: FCE does allow a mix of images and videos, as well as built in DVD Authoring, right? (I may not know what all 'Authoring' implies, but in PSG you basically have full control over the entire dvd, including creating the initial splash clip for a teevee dvd and then the main menu, and then generating a DVD image file at a number of different quality levels that can be burned to disc, and of course all the transitions and audio - both soundtrack and audio per slide or video clip together in one show.) My impression is that FCE will be able to do most of what I'm used to with PSG, but it is not so strictly aimed at 'slideshows' so might take a bit more of a learning curve. Not sure who might read this, but I am curious what the initial poster, Pacatak, ended up doing. I will probably download free trials of Fotomagico and any others first. Another FCE related question would be (since this is the Mac Rumors site), wouldn't it be about time for Apple to release an FCE 5?

Typically they manage to do that a short time after I purchase something. Any comments/info appreciated! Well, I saw the emails that people were responding to this. I'll tell you what I did. I finally bought a Mac about 9 months ago. I love it and all its functionality, but I'lll reiterate what has been said. For slideshows nothing beats proshow.

If you want all the funcionality that you get with proshow you'll have to go with Final Cut express, but then you have a hugh learning curve and once you know what you're doing, it still takes a lot longer to make a slide show that same way you would have with ProShow. IF YOU EVER READ THIS YOU ARE MISSING YOUR TARGET MARKET. THE MAC IS FULL OF PEOPLE WHO LOVE AUDIO VIDEO STUFF, AND NOTHING GETS CLOSE TO YOUR PRODUCT.

So after I got frustrated with final cut, and realizing that Fotomagico and all the others were second rate, I 'aquired' a windows license and installed Parallels. If you are planning on running ProShow on your mac you need parallels. It allows you to drag and drop your pics from the mac desktop onto your windows desktop. It will mirror your drives. And its only 40 bucks. It runs really well.

There only hicup is when I play back the show unrendered in proshow it comes up pixelated. That may be because I only have 1 gb of ram. I'm upgrading soon. Aside from that it runs better then it did on my old Dell machine.

Hope this helps. Proshow without VMWare and Windows?

Shady Lady # of keys on a piano (88), Well, as you've seen via this thread, ProShow in Windows under both VMWare and Parallels works. Now don't get your hopes up, but someone I work with said something about having installed just what you're looking for on his Mac - a virtual environment running a free windowsish os, and if that's true, there's a slight chance that windowsish os would run ProShow. I just Googled and found an open source virtual machine (VirtualBox), but it didn't say anything about a free windows clone.

The friend at work is off for at least one week, and possibly two, camping and getting far far away from computers. (I work in IT.) I'll make a note to check with him when he's back, but like I said, don't get your hopes up. Just by writing it, it sure seems too good to be true, so maybe I just heard him wrong and what he installed was only an open source virtual machine. I work at a university and VMWare Fusion was only $40 with the education discount. I did have Parallels before and it never did work right, though it works fine for others where I work. (VMTools - I think that's what the Parallels add-on is called - would never install and I couldn't use shared resources.) VMWare Fusion is marketed by the old Aladdin company (inventors of StuffIt), so though they don't make it, they think it to be good quality. A friend that works for Aladdin (or whatever they call themselves now) put it this way about VMWare Fusion: It simply works.

I'm hoping that there will be a next release of Final Cut Express and it will be easier and better. But yeah, I do wonder how far off the ProShow software is from being able to be released for the Mac.

That would be sweet. Thanks, Rich Apple. I'm another long time ProShow user. I also now have macs, and also own First Cut Express. While it 'can' do much of what Producer does, it is nowhere near as quick and easy for slidehows. So I too would love a native Mac OS version of Producer or even just PS Gold. I would even buy another license if it were available, and certainly there is a decent untapped pool of prospects in the mac world that would become customers.

In the meantime, I reluctantly stick with Producer running on XP under Boot Camp, because I am more concerned with the solution than the tool. New Final Cut Pro 7 released by Apple What most would call Final Cut Studio 3 - but like a lot of their stuff Apple is dropping the number for the 'suite' - is now out and one wonders if they added a conveniently easy way to build a quick slide show by bringing in a herd of stills and film clips and setting them up with some default transitions the way ProShow does so easily. Getting the $1300 software to be able to do easily what the $80 software does would seem like a good marketing idea, even if the actual goal of Final Cut is more about film editing, etc.

The theory I've heard is that now that the new Final Cut Studio is out (Final Cut Pro 7 is the key software in the suite, and I guess it isn't sold by its lonesome), a new Final Cut Express (currently at 4) can't be far behind. If easy slide show set up is in Final Cut Pro, then odds would be good that Express will have it too.

Of course I'm just making all this up. But, uh, not the part about the new Final Cut Pro 7 being out as a part of the new Studio. Running ProShow Producer with Parallels on MAC I have been using ProShow Producer on my PC for several years.

I recently bought a MAC with Parallels so that I could run ProShow Producer. I cannot get my audio files (either music tracks or sound clips) to import into projects. I have copied my audio files to 2 hard drives, my shared folders and on the windows desktop. Sample music files are within the project folder. I have also tried to copy music from a CD to no avail. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program by downloading it from Photodex website.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to fix this problem? I need help Hello Guys, I'm writting from Portugal.

I was in the need of buying a new PC and because my main hobbie is Photos and sound I have decided to purchase a Imac. I'm happy with most of the aspects but when I tried to make a slidshow I was realy disapointed with the Iphoto. I've also tried smaller softwares available in the net for free but were even worst. Like most of you I'm also a big fan of Proshow gold and was quit chocked with your statements.

I don't understand why Mac doesn't have anything similar or better. I don't want to instal windows in my Mac and still hope to find a good software.

Does someone have any suggestion? I'm just comming from holidays with excellent photos!! Please somebody help me!! I'll be waiting for your earliest reply. Thanks much in advance, Joao. Slideshow for Mac It's interesting reading all of these posts here about a simple task that we all love to do.making a photo slideshow.

For us former pc users that loved ProShow Gold, the equivalent (which really isn't an equal match) for a Mac is Fotomagico. I will say it's a pretty nice program with many nice features but it's not as good a ProShow. The solution is to run a virtual machine like Parallels Desktop, or one like that, and see if you can get ProShow to work. Reading the earlier posts, someone mention that they got the program to work with VMWare Fushion.

Give that one a try if your Mac has an Intel processor. It's nice with some of these VM (virtual machine) programs, that you don't have to boot camp or dual boot your Mac. From what I've read, they run right from your Apps. That is if you're still in love with that program and can't live without it. I miss it.I won't lie. I have spent hours searching and reading, trying to find something that is the same.

There really isn't anything the same as PSG. In the end, i'm a Mac guy now.and never looking back. I fix my mom's pc constantly and I don't miss having to do that weekly on my old computer. So I probably wont be the one that figures out which vm program you'll need to get ProShow to run. I'm not going to boot camp my Mac either. Almost done here.So I've used Final Cut Pro and Express, iPhoto, iMovie, and Fotomagico to try to find something comparable to Proshow, and I've yet to find that for a Mac.

Best Slideshow For Mac

I will keep searching though.just like the rest of us. And when I find something as good as PSG, I promise I will be here posting. Good luck to all of the slideshow junkies that are like me.on a stable, very useful, very reliable, Mac.