New Ways to Wrangle Video and Photos

LAS VEGAS -- Video sharing, easier video editing, and fancy photo slide shows are what we want, judging by a handful of announcements made at CES. And enjoying our personal memories deserves better than just viewing on a PC--we want to relive our lives writ large on big-screen TVs, preferably with a soundtrack.

Online Video Sharing

The new Snapfish Home Movie Service from HP aims to make it just as easy to share videos as snapfish.com does photos. The service requires no software downloads or plug-ins.

For $2.99 a month, you can put your videos in the same albums as your photos for friends and family to watch. Clips are limited to 10 minutes, but you can upload an unlimited number of them.

Let Someone Else Polish Your Video

Before you share those videos, why not give them the professional touch? The video editing provided by Pictureal. Pictureal is novel in that it's done almost entirely by software. This software makes many decisions about what to keep, and uses face recognition to help you later find scenes with your favorite actors (or family members).

The company charges $29 per hour of video (or $99 for three hours and a DVD). But don't be surprised if your five hours of footage gets whittled down to 90 minutes. Sorry, that's how boring home videos are.

The real fun begins when you go to the Pictureal site to view your edited video, which is ready in three to five business days. Once there, you personalize the segments with music, assign different themes, and put yourself in the credits as director and producer. Best of all, you can now download your stylized home videos to your iPod.

Photo Slideshows on Your TV

Other companies are exploring how to put fancy photo slide shows on the living room TV. Kodak showed such a setup at its booth that is a concept only at this point. But if Kodak Television comes to pass, it would include a set-top box that you buy from your cable provider. Using this hardware and an Xbox Media Extender, you could play slide shows, complete with fading transitions and panning effects, throughout your network. Sort of like bringing Media Center PC functions to the living room TV--or any TV in the house, for that matter.

Photo Slideshows on DVD

Simple Star isn't a company name you may recognize, but if you've used PhotoShow software at a Walgreen's kiosk, or from Shutterfly, Comcast, or Kodak, you've used their product. At CES, the company announced a $10 add-on to the software that allows you to burn a DVD of your slide show. You can choose among 300 songs for your soundtrack. If you'd prefer, you can also order a DVD online. Video clips can be included, but are limited to 15 seconds.

With all of these developments that make your own personal entertainment more exciting, more portable, and easier to put on TV, what's on tonight may not be a Hollywood movie, but you.

For more CES coverage, head to PC World's CES Info Center.