I've created and burned photo slideshows in NVE before with little problem. Soundtrack length off, photo quality issues, etc. but I could usually get through those issues.

Now, however, I can't create a slideshow in NVE at all. I'm using the latest and greatest versions of all (Nero Ultra 6 fully updated as of today).

When I add photos, if I click on the preview arrow NVE displays the preview just fine. However if I add any transitions, NVE immediately closes without any warning and StartSmart then reopens. I tried to narrow it down to specific transitions or locations, but it turns out that if I add even one transition, of any type, in any location of the slide show, NVE closes silently.

As I said though, it is working fine without transitions. Baffling!

Of course Ahead has not responded to my support request about this. They haven't responded to any request in several months now, other than the standard auto-reply. Not sure what is going on there, but I can see in the forum here that I am not the only one not getting replies from Ahead. Their support used to be pretty reasonable. Anyone know if they are in financial trouble or anything?

Has anyone else run across this transition issue? This is a tough one for me, as I'm committed to create a large slideshow for a 50th anniversary party in two weeks!

If I can't resolve this Nero issue, what is my next best option for a good, quality slideshow presentation, with DVD copies to go with it? I've tried Paint Shop Photo Album 5.2 with so-so results. All recommendatins for different applications that do good slideshows would be very much appreciated!

Thanks for any help or advice!