Making a slideshow on dvd

[TheBigQ]

I am new to all this digitial stuff. I've read a lot of people make dvds of their vacations and I'd like to do this after our May 07 trip. I would also like to include music as well. Any tips on how to get started?

We have 2 digital cameras and a JVC hard drive camcorder. Should we take all the pics and video on cards instead of using the hard drive? Should we buy a special program to create this? We do have a new Dell computer w/a Media Center - maybe we can use that? Thanks for any tips.

 

[Groucho]

Nobody ever answered this, so......

You need a DVD authoring program. There are lots out there and folks have their favorites. For simple stuff, I often use Nero Vision, part of the Nero suite of software that's best known for the CD/DVD burner part. You can get a free 30-day at www.nero.com. There are plenty of others, though, and many come with free trials.

Most let you make slideshows with music and/or convert your video from your camcorder or your digital camera.

For video, you'll probably get much better quality using the camcorder's hard drive rather than using a memory card (in a camera or camcorder).

I don't think WinXP Media Centre Edition will give you much more than regular XP in terms of editing video/creating DVDs.

 

[mausmu]

I can't be sure because I don't own it, but I think I read that Windows Vista has this feature built in now. You may want to look into this.

 

[starrock77]

I've done a lot of research on this and I can tell you what I think. The two best programs that I have used are Photodex Proshow gold and Magix photo on cd\dvd. They are powerful and easy to use. Also proshow has a ton of transitions. If you are looking for a great program to zoom and pan, (sometmes called the Ken Burns effect) I would suggest imaginate from Canopus. This program however only has one transition (fade) and it will only create a file when finished. The other two programs will allow you to burn directly to a DVD.