Page 588 - ProShow Producer Manual

588 22. Creating Output for the PC

but supports all of the advanced features you expect like Menus
and Branding. Executables are the way to when you want your
show to play with absolutely no quality loss due to video
encoding.

• Autorun Disc is essentially an Executable that is burned to disc
once it’s made. In all other ways the show that is burned to disc
for an Autorun Disc is identical to an Executable. An Autorun
Disc is a good choice if you want to give someone a high-quality
show on a CD or DVD that will play on a PC. The viewer just puts
the disc in their computer, and the show starts automatically.

• A Video File gives you the tools to create your own pre-rendered
video file in just about any format you can think of. Render your
shows to AVI, MPG, WMV, or MOV files in just about any
combination of resolutions and encoding types. Video files are a
great choice if you intend to incorporate the show into another
video production, or if you will be playing the show on a
computer that can’t handle the real-time rendering needs of an
executable.

In this chapter we’ll be looking at all of your Executable and Autorun Disc
options. For details about creating a Video File from your show, please see
Chapter 20, Video Output.

Executables vs. Video Files
When it comes to creating output for the PC, executables and video files
offer two very different choices.

A key difference between the two options is that video files are rendered in
advance. That’s why videos take some time to create – your PC is rendering
all of the images and compressing them into a video file. Executables are
different. These shows render in real-time. That means they’re drawn and
moved as you actually watch them.

While both will offer great quality, Executable playback can may be affected
by PC performance -You may see different playback results on different
computers. Generally speaking, video files will offer the best combination
of playback quality and PC compatibility.