Things have certainly come a long way since 1988, when the first stand-alone audio CD recorders outside of CD manufacturing plants started showing up. At that time, do-it-yourself CDs were the province of the rich and famous, as the burners weighed 600 pounds and cost $100,000.
Nowadays, do-it-yourself CDs and DVDs are no big deal. With the right computer, burner and software, you can make great-looking disks that will play on any DVD player. Blank DVDs, purchased in bulk, can be had for pennies. Even add-on Blu-Ray disk burners for desktop computers have come down in price ($100, or so), making homemade Blu-Ray disks an only slightly expensive pursuit.
If you want to make your own movie DVDs, then, as with all computer functions, you will have to learn how to use a new computer program; in this case, it’s called a DVD-authoring program. Years ago, when I first started messing around with home-brewed DVDs, this was not an easy task. Modern-day programs have changed all that, to where building your own movie DVD can be as easy as arranging books on a shelf.
If you use an Apple Mac, the clear choice is a program called iMovie. Unless you are a Hollywood producer with complex movie-making requirements, iMovie has everything you are likely to need. It, coupled with the Apple program iDVD, does a great job and is easy to figure out. My first iMovie project involved taking a number of video clips that were made using a Flip Video camera (also a great product), assembling them into a movie and burning the movie to DVD. To finish what was an admittedly simple project, I only had to read three help files to go from random video clips to finished DVD. It was easy and fun.
If you use Windows XP or Vista, you may want to try out Windows Movie Maker (WMM). WMM comes free with XP and Vista, and is a snap to figure out. The Internet is full of WMM tutorials for those who wish to do more involved movie-making. WMM will allow you to make great-looking DVDs without a whole lot of hassle.
For some strange reason, Microsoft decided to leave Windows Movie Maker out of its new Windows 7 operating system. While certain versions of WMM can be retrofitted to Windows 7, it is a strange and convoluted process, one which I decided to avoid. Instead, I turned to a super easy-to-use program called DVD Flick (visit dvdflick.net). Using DVD Flick is easier than falling off a greased log backwards, and it’s free. It also lets you easily integrate disparate video formats into the same movie, something I really needed to do. I had gathered a number of videos from different websites, including YouTube, and needed to turn them into one, seamless movie for use during the Internet security classes that I teach at our local library. I tried numerous free DVD-authoring programs, with less-than satisfactory results, before coming across DVD Flick; I like it.
All of these programs will allow you to add menus, titles and even basic special effects to your homemade DVDs. You are not limited to video, either; you can also add still photos and slide shows of your pictures. With a little effort, you can make DVDs that will make just about anyone smile.