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General discussion

What format is best for Pictures to Cds?

May 3, 2004 5:36AM PDT

which one of the formats are best to record pictures to CDs. I know some of the formats take up more storage space , could it be it will reprudce a better image? please send your coments
Thanks Mike

Discussion is locked

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Re:What format is best for Pictures to Cds?
May 3, 2004 7:53AM PDT

Most digital cameras record in JPEG format. JPEG supports variable resolution and compression and is best suited for digital printing. This would seem the most desirable.

In "very" general terms, more resolution means more space/storage required. If you want a picture that will be printed 3 x 5, it will usually require less resolution / storage than one you might want to later print as 8 x 10, 11 x 17, poster size etc.. You can put a lot of pictures on a 800MB CDROM at a very high resolution.

The other common forms of encoding pictures are BMP, TIF and GIF and many others. They each have some advantages and special graphics applications, but the "standard" method to record photo graphics is JPEG.

Hope this helps.

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Re:What format is best for Pictures to Cds?
May 3, 2004 8:19AM PDT
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Re:Re: What format is best for Pictures to Cds?
May 3, 2004 9:00AM PDT

Other angles? The conversation going over in http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6138-0.html?forumID=31&threadID=21579&start=0 was about what program to use for slide shows on CD.

I believe mike_2507's question was more in the vein as to what image format (i.e. JPG, TIF, GIF, etc.) to use in regards to tradeoffs with file sizes and picture quality.

I agree with jconner that JPG (which is also JPEG or "Joint Photographic Experts Group") is probably the best to use.

Now, mike_2507, when you finally decide what image format you want, then you might want to consider what burning program you want to use (you might be limited to whatever you already have) and maybe consider what sort of file structure to use (folders or not, etc.) and what program to place on the CD so as to aid the user in watching those images.

If you have Windows XP, there is a real nice tool that is free from Microsoft called "Slideshow Generator Powertoy for Windows XP"
You can find it by searching Microsoft's website for "powertoy."

Also, built into Windows XP is an automatic function to autorun a CD of images as a slide show (if you have not disabled that feature already).

Both of those solutions require that you using Windows XP, and that might be limiting yourself, especially if you are going to use that CD of pictures on other people's PCs.

You might want to consider a more universal (Windows platform universal or even a Win/Mac compliant) slide show player.

Lots of choices for you, when you are ready.
Good luck!

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No limits.
May 3, 2004 9:33AM PDT

The offer is what it is. Another perspective on how to store pictures.

I know it may be confusing to take that sip from the firehose...

Bob

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''Choices''!
May 3, 2004 9:27PM PDT

For your own piece of mind and learning curve, please access "Wayne Fulton's" Web site and do some reading.

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Re:''Choices''!
May 4, 2004 4:32AM PDT

Mike, no one really answered your question. Here is some of the answer, but not all. Basically you are limited by
what your camera records in. If you are limited to the
JPEG choice, thats it. If you have more choices, here's some basic info. JPEG is the most common medium to transfer images, especially on the web, but it compresses the image and information is lost(and can never be recovered). I choose the TIFF(or TIF) format to save image to my Harddrive and to burn to back-up discs. The tradeoff is no(or very little) information is lost, but you have larger image files. That's one of the reasons I burn to disc, to clear the HDD as well as safety. I leave them in this format to edit also. When
transmitting on the web(as in emailing), I reformat the sent image to JPEG, as a TIFF file is very large and whoever you sent it to will say words you might not have heard before after the time even a broadband connection takes to download it. Hope this helps. chuck