Making slideshows for dvd
About
Creating a photo slideshow (or video slideshow) which plays in a DVD player is easier than you think - you just need the right software! Once you have the right program installed, all you'll need to do is select and order a list of photos, maybe add a menu screen and/or some nice music, insert a blank DVD into your computer and hit "burn".
Photo slideshows are most commonly used at special event such as a weddings (showing photos of the bride and groom growing up), significant birthdays and sometimes to show-off holiday photos. If it's a special event my advice to you is to ask ahead what devices they have setup already and make sure you, at the very least, test your DVD using your home TV/theater system before you use it in front of others! It would suck to go to that effort then discover it won't play, stalls or is poor quality.
NOTE: If you're only playing the DVD at home, you'll probably find your DVD players has the ability to play JPGs, AVIs and/or MP3s from any old CD and can also play images directly from your digital camera if you have the right attachment, so making a special "playable DVD" with a menu-screen is just overkill! DVD players are not all created equal so it's worth reading the specs and experimenting!
Recommended Software for Publishing Photo Slideshows to DVD
If you use a PC with Windows 7 or Vista the program I recommend is Windows DVD Maker - it's easy to use and already installed on your computer! To get started there's a nice simple tutorial youtube video here. If you use Windows XP I've used a similar program which was quite easy, but unfortunately forgotten the name of it! VSO PhotoDVD is supposed to be quite popular and simple to use (youtube video).
If you're using a MAC, then you can't go past iMovie (part of the iLife package) - see video tutorial here.
Links
- Softsea.com - Photo slide show review... shows just how many programs are out there!
- Burnworld.com - Slideshow review... a much shorter list of such programs.