For five plus years I have been creating DVD memories for my family and friends. It really has made a unique and treasured gift for so many to enjoy.
Examples of the many ways DVDs have changed our way of preserving memories:
One of my grandma's received her whole life of pictures and documents on 5 DVDs - 1000 pictures and 3-16 hour days of scanning for her 90th birthday. A 12 minute overview of her life was also created for the surprise party and a wonderful way for her friends to know her more and family to remember special times in her life. Fourteen family members were given copies of all the DVDs at a minimal cost and now everyone has her life's memories in just the time it took to create it for one person.
My other grandma's life is in process of being scanned and up to 1970s. For her 80th birthday, I put together a DVD of the photos already scanned in and the whole family was able to sit around the TV and really see the photos together. The laughs and comments made were precious.
We found out it is much easier for tired or degenerating eyes to see photos on the large TV screen rather than in the photo albums or scrapbooks. Both my grandma's purchased DVD players after I began making DVDs and share the memories with their friends and other family members.
Another benefit was the old photos were now preserved and shared with every family member who could also reproduce the pictures with the attached photo files.
Not only did this make sure no one would be fighting over photo albums in years to come but if there should be a fire, the photos were saved by several family members and could be reproduced if needed.
My dad enjoyed his 60th birthday of his life so much it became a tradition to make one for my mom too on her 60th birthday. Copies again were shared with all the family members for safe keeping and their enjoyment.
Sports teams have used this for the year end banquets and sharing memories with the whole team. This can be expanded to clubs and other events.
End of school DVD and movie for the classroom gift. I have made several of these for my children's classrooms by gathering the photos from the parents throughout the year and videos from special events. With DVDs less than a dollar it made a wonderful, inexpensive gift for each class member to cherish for the rest of their life.
My children's birthday's, events and special occasions are stored in the computer under each child along with important other pictures to make DVDs at a minutes notice.
No longer do I have to sort through photos, wonder what the date was, store boxes of photos, printing expenses, album expenses and storage space, and the list of benefits goes on. I am not stressed over being behind on putting together scrapbooks but I would some day like to take my wedding album and my oldest pictures and put them on DVD. Luckily since the birth of my daughter digital cameras are available and make downloading pictures a snap at no expense. Well, except for the camera and computer.
The expense of the camera and computer I think is some what of a wash since most people have camera's already for memories and most people have a computer at home. I have an IMac - Apple which has made learning and making DVDs very simple with IDVD, IMovie, Itunes and Iphoto. This software comes automatically with the purchase of an IMac unlike the PCs where software is an additional charge. There is PC DVD and movie making software available but I haven't used them. If you have and have had good success with it please share the software information with the others in the comment area. Thank you.
I was going to write a step by step guide on how to create DVDs and Movies with the Apple but recently I received a mailing of a training program that was done very well and for not too much money. Especially compared to the time it would take me to document every step like they had. To learn more about DVD or Digital Movie Making or other tutorials visit www.tcmpub.com. I have not personally ordered this tutorial so if you do please let me know your experience with the company and how well it helped you to learn the new way of preserving memories.
Products to Make the DVDs
Download Music for DVDs
I use this site to download my music and make my DVDs custom to the pictures. I especially love it when I find a song that matches the picture at just the right moment for the words. My dad watched and listened to his 60th birthday DVD of his life 13 times in one week.
iTunes – Download, Manage and Enjoy music
Apple Computer
My IMac is much older and the new models are very space saving and have many features not just for making DVDs. When looking at the prices between Macs and PCs remember that PCs do not include software and Macs do.