These photos, let me show you them
December 17, 2009 5:32 AM   Subscribe

Can anyone recommend a simple PC slideshow application for a friend?

Most of the other slideshow questions I could find had various levels of additional difficulty, but really I just need to find a simple 'ware-free slideshow program for PC for a funeral this weekend. Doesn't need to be free (though reasonable is good), no internet features (no internet will be available at display time), no music, no text, just a series of digital photos displayed on a laptop hooked to a projector.

I don't believe PowerPoint is an option, but if anyone can vouch for Open Office's Impress as a viable alternative for this use, I can get that installed for her.
posted by Lyn Never to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)
 
Best answer: Assuming you're on Windows, there's a built-in slideshow option for a folder full of images. Instructions for Windows XP here.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:51 AM on December 17, 2009


Best answer: Every decent image viewing application I know of does this; just look for the "slideshow" function. One very popular and functional image viewer that offers a slideshow function is IrfanView. Another image viewer, which happens to be my favorite free Windows viewer, is Imagine; it's quick, lightweight, and very versatile, and the slideshow function (which I believe is invoked by pressing "Control-H") is very functional.

OpenOffice Impress works fine for some things, but it's far too complex for what you're hoping to do. It's a program for putting together presentations which might take the form of slideshows - but since so many image viewers do slideshows, why go to the trouble of importing each image, placing it on a page, and saving the whole thing as a slideshow-type PDF if all you want is to show pictures in sequence? No - just get Imagine or IrfanView and it'll be much easier. Just open up the first file in the folder in your viewer, and then turn on "Slideshow" and let it go.
posted by koeselitz at 5:53 AM on December 17, 2009


Best answer: Google has a pretty cool photo screensaver. It kind of looks like someone is flipping through snapshots.
posted by gregr at 6:16 AM on December 17, 2009


Best answer: The simplest, cheapest and easiest option would be IrfanView.

After installing, select slide show from menu, choose the directory (or photos from different directories) and some options (how long to display each photo, looping, etc) and hit play.
posted by special-k at 7:23 AM on December 17, 2009


Best answer: Isn't there a built-in screensaver in Windows that displays pictures (and allows you to specify the folder, if desired)? Why not use that? It's free, and it's already installed.

Alternately, the Google screensaver is good, or Picasa.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:54 AM on December 17, 2009


Best answer: Ive fallen in love with Animoto.com recently. Not free, but reasonable. Online but you can burn the finished product to DVD. The results are amazing and usability is incredibly easy.
posted by edman at 9:50 AM on December 17, 2009


Best answer: ACDSee was my favorite. It has way too many features but you can ignore them. It's focused on rapid display of images and it does that pretty well. IrfanView is almost as good and is free.
posted by chairface at 10:44 AM on December 17, 2009


Response by poster: Thanks everyone! Best answers all around!
posted by Lyn Never at 1:30 PM on December 17, 2009


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