Customer Reviews

Kai's Power Show

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You have probably been looking for a slide show software for some time to show off your scanned pictures and slides. You probably want something easy to learn with lots of slide transitions and capabilities such as adding your voice narration, custom soundtracks and sound effects. And after you create your masterpiece, you want to share it with your friends easily.

I have used PowerShow for about 3 months and I can assure you it is the best software you can buy for your money to accomplish your slide show presentation goals. The software sets up very easily with no bugs or problems. You can easily import your scanned photos, choose from over 50 high quality transitions and view your masterpiece within about an hour. What wins the cake are the transitions: they include broadcast quality "page curls" and "liquid wipes" that you might see on MTV or travel type shows. The instructions are relatively clear and they are included on MS Word format.

When you play the show on your computer, the software simply accesses the picture files (so do not move the picture files after you create the show!). If you want to send someone the show, PowerShow will automatically copy all the picture files into a new folder. You simply add to this folder the included "remote" player that anyone could use to view your show. One warning: this file could get very large so emailing it might be challenging. Solution: I would suggest burning the show on a CD and just mail it to them or take it with you when you visit your friends and relatives (Thanksgiving/Christmas is coming up!)

The audio capabilities is very good and easy to use. For each slide you choose one of the many included sound effects. Additionally, you can record and insert any WAV format sound effect you choose including a voice over narration. One downside is the very large file size of WAV files and I would hope SCANSOFT will include MP3 sound file support in the future (hint!hint! SCANSOFT) The big plus, however, is that if you have a favorite audio CD, simply pop it into the player and tell PowerShow what track to play and when to play it! This does not use up any computer memory but you would have to have that music CD handy each time you play that show.

I had a small problem importing TIFF images but the website explains the fix for the bug. Also, you cannot output your creation out to AVI, MPEG or video which is too bad since I am sure there are many grandparents out there who don't have a computer and would love to play the show on the VCR (hint-hint #2!).

This is a great software that is easy to learn and use and it gives professional results. It would be a wonderful gift for anyone who enjoys photography and slideshows.

Enjoy!

This is really the best thing available for slide show style presentations that are truly cross platform and don't require client software (MS powerpoint, for example).

Before you buy, shop around. There is only one CD with the software for Win NT, Win 95 and Mac, and the prices vary by +-$15

Power Show is a great and inexpensive program for creating different types of prresentations (Shows). It is both Mac/PC friendly. Like any other program, there is a learning process to use all/some of its features. I strongly suggest printing out the Manual which can be located on the CD before you begin creating Shows.

It offers numerous ways to spice up your Shows (transitions, effects, sounds, text, backgrounds, etc.).

When you are finished creating a Show, you can save it to CD and the program automatically attaches a Show Player on your CD so others can enjoy the finished product.

A great way to store and share your digital memories with others or creating professional looking presentations!

Overall a fine and easy to use program with which you can have a lot of fun despite the flimsy documentation. However, PowerShow does not support mutiple file selection, you must add your pictures one-by-one instead, which can be very time-consuming when you have a larger project. The completed shows can be burned to CD or uploaded to the Web for download. Because even a smaller show needs at least 5 - 10 MB this is not recommended unless the viewer of your shows has a broadband connection. A separate player needs to be installed as well. Scansoft should develop an all-in-one slideshow that features high comression rates and can be run with out the need of extra software.

Ok, it says so in small print at the lower right corner on back of the box (don't blink - you may miss it !!). You can create great shows and output the shows "as static Web pages". That means only the images included in your slide show are posted to the web, no sounds and no special effects. I find this information a little misleading - especially to those who have little experience with web design. If you want to use this product for the Web only you have to make your viewers to download the Player (roughly 3.0 MB) and the show, than make them decompress the show - which you compressed into a ZIP file -into a separate folder. After that's done, your viewer may have moved on...

I hope ScanSoft will develop this program to be more portable, create one-file shows that included players and are small enough to be downloaded from the Web in a reasonable time.

I have tried almost every slide show program on the market but this is by far the best. I have constructed large and complex shows using this software, fighting all the way against the deficiencies that I have perceived. The major problem in my opinion is the inability to use music and sound in a format other tham WAV files. Raised to a reasonable quality level these files become enormous. It would make a lot of sense if other formats could be used, such as MP3. Despite this handicap I heartily endorse the program and hope that the Kai people include different sound formats in any subsequent release.

I was impressed by the fancy graphics and menu effects, and the novel user interface of Kai's Power Show. But I was very disappointed with the functionality in a number of areas:

1. There is no built in Help, so one cannot search for the answer to a question, no FAQ list, no index. One must use trial and error to find out what the capabilities are and are not.

2. The product advertises compatibility with MS PowerPoint, but I did not find out until after purchase that the newest version it is compatible with is PowerPoint 97, now over 7 years old!

3. The product will not display the show full screen except on very low resolution monitors (640 x 480). Most displays and projectors are much higher resolution these days, and Power Show provides no way to up the resolution/size. It is a product that will not grow with your hardware.

4. While it will play some video formats, it omits MPEG, probably the most popular of all, and also WMV.

I use Kai's as an add on to my wedding photography services. Brides and Grooms love the effects and it presents itself as a top notch multimedia slide show. As far as user friendly, well that is another story. I give it a 2.

I bought this program for arranging and showing my digital photos in a family setting nothing professional or business oriented. It works reasonably well with some excellent transition effects. BUT it is somewhat tedious to use has NO help function. You add photos to the show by picking them out of a pile of thumbnails. This is basically just a messy pile of disorganized photos almost too small to see. but it does its job and does it well producing a very good and rewarding end product.