Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center®

Admittedly, this procedure is a bit kludge. Don’t be surprised if Microsoft creates an

even easier way to achieve this effect in a subsequent revision of the Media Center

software. The capability to store your music preference and launch a “scored” slide

show with one or two button presses would also be a welcome enhancement.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 18.9

The inset win-

dow in My

Pictures displays

the title and

length of the

music track you

have selected to

accompany your

slide show.

Selecting Transitions and Durations of Photos

Although the default settings for slide shows in My Pictures are pretty pleasing, you

may want to make some changes to suit your tastes.

Using the My Pictures Settings menu, you can control the transition time between

pictures in a slide show. You can also tweak the display order for your pictures.

Selecting Transitions

The default transition setting is Animated, producing the varied transition effects

described earlier in this chapter (see “Launching a Slide Show”). You can also choose

a simple-yet-elegant Cross Fade effect, or reject any kind of transition effect by

choosing None.

Changing Transition Times

The default display period for an image in a My Pictures slide show is 5 seconds,

which seems just about right for taking in an image and then moving on to the

next. But what if you want to really shake it up, such as by synchronizing your slide

show to the staccato beat of a particular up-tempo tune? Or what if you are display-

ing highly detailed images that you want to savor and explore individually before

moving on to the next?

Simply use the Settings menu to create a custom Transition time for your slide

shows. Select the +/- buttons shown on the My Pictures Settings screen (see Figure

18.11) to choose a new value between 2 seconds and 60 seconds.

CHAPTER 18 CREATING SLIDE SHOWS

249

FIGURE 18.10

This view of the

Settings controls

for My Pictures

shows Cross

Fade selected as

the preferred

slide show tran-

sition effect.

Simply choose Settings from the My Pictures menu tabs, and then scroll down to the

option you want and click on it or press the OK button on the remote control (see

Figure 18.10). When you’re satisfied with your choices, select Save to return to the

My Pictures main display.