I have hooked up the projecter to my laptop. everything comes up and workes great but when i try to play my dvd slideshow it plays fine and displays great on the laptop but not on the projector. help need it for graduation party.

Many computers can play many file formats,
BUT...
Not all DVD players can play all files.
What file format is the slide show saved as?
AVI?
Download a freeware conversion program (if you don't have one) and try another format.
My latest DVD player plays about six video formats, JPG images, but battles with AVI, due to it's many variations of format (dimensions, resolution, color, frame-rate, interleaving, etc).

To play on a dvd player the files must have an extension the dvd player understands i.e. .avi, .mpg4, .mvk etc.

I would also blame Windows 8 if the movies you played worked before you got the new laptop. To rule this out, connect another laptop (maybe another Dell with the same operating system) to the projector and play an HD-disc on that laptop.

If it works, then you'll know its a compatibility problem with the laptop operating system you're using.

The file is not compatible with the software in other machines.

Just copying the pictures onto a blank DVD won't work if you're trying to make a disc that will play in your DVD player. It's not formatted correctly for the DVD player to recognize it and play it back. All you've done is create a data disc, which works with the computer only.

To make a DVD that will act like a "normal" disc you will need "authoring software". A good free DVD authoring program is DVDStyler. Among other things, it lets you make slideshow DVDs, which is what I gather you're after.

DVD authoring can be time-consuming and somewhat confusing, but you only need to it once for the disc. This page has information about the authoring process, different authoring applications, types of DVDs and more. There are many other sites and videos as well.

Good luck with your project, and thanks for using Fixya!

This is everything from adobe encores website.

Playback issues in Adobe Encore DVD 2.0 have a variety of symptoms. The following symptoms may occur when you use the preview feature, when you play video in the Monitor panel, when you play to an external device, or when you edit a menu or slide:
-- Video or audio exhibits stuttered playback.
-- Video or audio cut in and out.
-- Audio is out of sync with video.
-- Video displays as black in the monitor panel or after burned to disc.
-- There are general redraw problems in the user interface.
-- Encore DVD returns the error message, "Invalid requested time," when you transcode a file.
Beginning troubleshooting
1. Test the DVD on a variety of players.
Not all DVD players behave the same way. By testing the DVD on a variety of players, both set-top and software, you can determine if the problem is related to the DVD itself or just the player.
2. Make sure that the system meets the requirements for digital video.
Video may not play correctly if your system doesn't meet the following requirements:
-- Intel Pentium 4, 1.4 GHz processor or faster
-- Windows XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2
-- 512 MB RAM (1 GB or more recommended)
-- Hard disk with at least 16 GB of space for installation and ongoing work (RAID recommended for HDV/HD editing)
-- 1280 x 1024 or greater color monitor resolution, 32-bit display adapter
-- QuickTime 6.5 required to support import and export of QuickTime files
-- Supported DVD burner *
-- Stereo sound card
* For a list of supported DVD burners, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/encore/systemreqs.html.
3. Update video display card drivers.
Outdated or flawed video display card drivers may incorrectly display motion video and textures, or incorrectly report their ability to display motion video or textures to Adobe Encore DVD. Contact the video display card manufacturer for the latest display drivers and driver information.
4. Select an appropriate Playback Quality setting.
You can display playback in the Encore DVD Monitor panel at either High quality, Draft quality, or Automatic quality. By default, the Monitor panel displays video at High quality; that is, it displays all the pixels of each frame of video. When Encore DVD plays back unrendered video at High quality, the video may stutter or ****. When you select Draft quality, Encore DVD always displays video at one-half resolution in the Monitor panel. When Draft quality is selected, playback is smooth but the image quality is affected. When you select Automatic quality for the Monitor panel, Encore DVD dynamically adjusts image resolution between High quality and Draft quality to best address the available system resources.
To choose the Monitor panel playback quality, select File > Preferences > General, and then select an appropriate Playback Quality setting.
5. Deselect the Automatic option in Audio/Video preferences.
1. Choose File > Preferences > Audio/Video Out.
2. Under Video Playback, deselect Automatic.
3. In order for the change in preference to take effect, you must close the Monitor panel and then reopen it.
The Automatic option is selected by default, allowing Encore DVD 2.0 to play video in a Standard Direct3D mode. When it is not selected, video plays in GDI mode.
6. Troubleshoot slideshow playback issues.
Many DVD players, both set-top and software, handle playback of slideshows differently. To conserve disc space, Encore DVD creates an MPEG I frame for each slide then assigns a duration for that frame based on the slide's duration. Many players cannot accurately display these and will instead display only a single frame of the image before reverting to a black screen for the duration of the slide.
If you are experiencing playback issues with your slideshow, be sure to play it back using a variety of players. If you determined that slideshow playback is the issue, then you can try the following workarounds to ensure the slideshow will playback correctly on all players:
Note: The following workarounds will increase the amount of space used on the DVD.
Add zooms or pans to each slide.
When you add a zoom or pan effect to a slide, Encore DVD will render the slide as a video file instead of an MPEG I frame with duration.
Create the slideshow in Premiere Pro.
You can import all of your slides into Premiere Pro and create a slideshow there, then export the file as an AVI, import it into your Encore DVD project, and add it to a timeline.
If you create the slideshow in Premiere Pro, users cannot manually advance through the slideshow the same way they can if it was created with the Encore DVD slideshow editor. However, if you add chapter points for each image, then viewers can skip ahead before the timeline automatically reaches the next image.
Create menus from each slide and link them.
By creating menus from each slide and linking them in the desired sequence, users will have complete control over when they can advance to the next image. You can set up invisible buttons with invisible highlights to give the impression that only the image is on screen, or you can include visible navigation elements for the next and previous slide, as well as any option that is available for a traditional menu.
If you create menus for each slide and link them, then you cannot have a continuous soundtrack playing throughout the slideshow. Menus can have audio but they are specific to each menu and will start from the beginning each time you access a new menu.
Intermediate troubleshooting
7. Optimize hard disks.
Optimize hard disks by defragmenting them, updating their drivers, and configuring the disk drives. These procedures improve playback speed and performance in Encore DVD. For further assistance with these tasks, contact the hardware manufacturer or an authorized repair service facility.
-- Defragment hard disks by running the Disk Defragmenter utility included with Windows or a third-party disk utility such as Symantec Norton Utilities. If you use external (non-system) disks for video, you can reformat them instead. Be aware that formatting erases all information on the disk. For instructions, see Windows Help or the documentation for the utility.
-- Update disk drivers to ensure that they aren't damaged or incompatible with the system. If a disk was formatted with a third-party disk utility, you must use the third-party disk utility for this procedure. For instructions, see the documentation that came with the utility.
8. Test digital video playback in a third-party digital video utility.
Play your video clips in an application other than Encore DVD to try to isolate the problem. If playback is problematic in an application other than Encore DVD, the problem is not with Encore DVD; troubleshoot your system or that video file.
9. Optimize Encore DVD.
For information about optimizing Encore DVD, see the Encore DVD User Guide, Online Help, and document, "Optimize performance of Encore DVD (on Windows XP)."

have you tried unplugging it from the power outlet and letting it reset?

Try a different brand of blank DVD.
If that doesn't work any better, and your MacBook Pro is in fact "brand new," bring it to the Apple Store, because you have warranty redress.

already solved it. thanks. i couldn't see the xbox settings blade because of the blank screen so switched my component cable to the tv setting instead of the hdtv setting, then i could see the dashboard in non-hd and switched the resolution to 720p while simultaneously switching the component cable back to the hdtv setting. that worked.

I had a similar issue, try adjusting the advanced settings on the DVD player.....I can't recall which settings it should be on, but when I adjusted them on my upconverting DVD player everything worked fine after.