Medi@Show 3 Screenshots The Final Say! Quality 9/10 Graphics 8/10 Sound 7.9/10 Value 9/10 Cyberlink Medi@Show 3  - reviewed by Tory Favro & Andrew B Review Date: October 2004 Review Score: 8.9/10  Not based on an average. Distributor: Manaccom

Medi@ Show 3 is the latest software from Cyberlink, masters of the Power DVD and Power VCR but to name a few of their products. What does Media Show 3 do for you? It creates photos and slideshows with such grace and simplicity that it is very easy to produce professional quality work within a very intuitive interface. Installation of this software is an absolute breeze with very little effort required other than selecting a language in which to do the installation and locating a working directory in which to put the pictures/media that you are working with. Whilst the installation only needs a very small amount of room, the software does recommend up to 15gb of free space when you are burning DVD's with your slideshows. The program is capable of importing multiple formats and really there wasn't anything there that the average punter couldn't import. Image: BMP, JFF, JPE, JPEG, JPG, JTF, PCD, PCT, PCX, PNG, TGA, WMF Audio: MIDI, MP3, WAV, AudioCD Video: AVI, DAT (MPEG-1), MPE, MPEG, MPG Other: PPT In fact the only file type that is missing, which I did find quite odd is that it does not recognise Tiff files, we don't have an answer to that one sorry. The idea behind the software is to provide some minor photographic fixes and then to compile the images and sounds and put them together in a nice package that can be saved as a file type, VCD or DVD. We tested this product across several platforms and software driven players and found that it played the files across the board no problems at all. The transitions and effects that come with this package ensure that you are going to be able to get creative with this program and have a lot of fun putting together your presentation. Whilst the Cyberlink software is twain compliant and I was able to use my HP Scanner to scan film, photos and other print directly into the software. My only gripe there was that it would close the scanner software down every time it had taken a picture which makes for a very consuming process. Our recommendation is to prepare all of the media that you wish to use in your presentation in advance of using this software in order to be able to work in a more streamlined fashion, which is exactly the way you will be working once

you are in the program properly with it's almost sublime drag and drop interface replete with transitions and finishing assistance. One of the things that I really loved about the software also was the plethora of text title effects that could be used to highlight or illustrate the work you were presenting. This would really enhance a business presentation no end, or liven up the otherwise boring footage you have of Grandma's last birthday party!

When it comes to audio, Medi@Show has it covered, with the ability to import various audio files. It also detected my soundcard readily enough and could record audio, but as with the pictures, I found it a lot easier to just get my files ready before I started using the software. Something to note also is that the program doesn't record at a very good rate for some reason so better results are made encoding audio digitally. There are two "channels" of audio that can be utilised so you can get pretty clever with a background tune playing whilst you narrate in the foreground.

The number of types of output that you can do with this software are staggering and in my opinion certainly make this a package that anyone doing classy presentations can use quickly and efficiently. There is such a small learning curve that you will have no problems using it quick smart. We recommend this software as one of the easiest to use slideshow makers on the market. It does no more and no less, and a great job at that.

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- Tory Favro & Andrew B