► CREATING A DVD
Here are five important tips for creating your first DVD:
1. Photo Quality
A good scanner is important but don't scan above 100 DPI - most TV's can only use 72 dpi or 96 dpi. Anything above 100 dpi is unnecessary and will slow down your PC.
2. Hardware Check
This may sound like a silly question but it's not. Most computers come with a drive that plays DVD's but not all record (burn) them. If you do not have a DVD burner, you can replace your existing drive or add an external burner that plugs into the USB port on the back of your PC.
3. DVD Formats
There are two DVD formats, "+" and "-". Most new DVD burners will use either format. Check your manual to confirm which format(s) you can use. CLICK HERE to read our full article on the two different formats.
In addition to these two formats, DVD's come in two versions called "R" and "RW". The "R" version can be recorded on only once while the "RW" version can be erased and re-recorded.
*NOTE: We recommend using RW's for your "practice videos" (discussed below) but not for the copies you provide to your families. Why? RW's are more expensive, record slower, and are not compatible with all DVD players.
4. Burning Your First DVD
Before burning your first full tribute video, we recommend you follow this test procedure to make sure your equipment and software are working properly:
• Create a short "test" video. This "test" show should be very short… a few pictures with no effects and one short song. This tiny "test" show will allow you to quickly check that everything is working properly.
• Click the 'Create" button and choose the option "Create a video. May be used to burn a DVD"
• After creating your video in WMV format, Timeless Tributes™ will prompt you to either "View Show" or "Create DVD using NeoDVD". Select the NeoDVD option.
• After Neo opens you should see a window called "Make Disc" You will need to do the following steps:
Disc Format - set to "DVD-Video"
Video Quality - set to "Best"
Viewable In - set to "NTSC"
Write To - select your DVD burner
Write Speed - set to "MAX"
*NOTE: If you have an external DVD burner, make sure it is connected and turned on before you start the program. If it is not, plug it in and turn it on then re-check the drop-down box to see if it has been added. If it has not, you will need to exit NeoDVD, connect your drive and then restart the program.
5. Repeating ("looping") a Video
During visitation, you will want your Timeless Tributes™ video to loop (i.e. automatically repeat). To do this, simply set your DVD player to "repeat chapter".
*TIP: For "looping" shows, display the last photo for 30 seconds or longer. Fade-out your music during the first 5-10 seconds so that this concluding picture is displayed mostly in silence. This silent pause informs viewers that the tribute video has concluded while providing a comfortable interval before restarting the tribute.
►MAKING DVD COPIES
Many customers report selling 5 to 10 DVD’s at each service. Understanding how to make copies will save you time. First, we recommend that you always burn two copies of your Timeless Tributes™ video… one for the family and one for your file. Duplicate your copy to quickly fulfill subsequent requests. Here is how.
• Put the tribute DVD disc into your DVD burner then open NeoStudio. Select the "DISC COPY" icon.
• When the following screen appears, select "Make DVD disc copies"
• Next, select your DVD drive for both the "Copy From" and "Write To" drop-down boxes. Choose the number of copies you wish to create then click the red start button on the bottom right of the screen to start duplicating.
• When your original DVD has been read, your disc drive will open and you will be instructed to place a blank DVD into the drive. After inserting the blank DVD select OK. Your file will be written to the blank DVD and you are done!
► CLEANING UP YOUR HARD DRIVE
We recommend that you back up your families videos and then remove them from your hard drive. The WMV video files are quite large and will quickly fill your computer. Here are 3 suggestions:
1. Burn 2 copies of the DVD. Keep one copy on file to duplicate in the future if the family requests additional copies.
2.
If you have a network or external hard drive back up the WMV files there. We recommend that all video creation and DVD burning be done from your internal hard drive (networks and external hard drives can cause the videos to burner slower and increases the likelihood of errors)
3. Backup all of the original project files. If the family requests a DVD
you can open the project and re-create the WMV file.
► DVD SUPPLIES
Timeless Tributes™ sells fully customizable DVD cases. Our case come with templates that match the backgrounds in our software. Our DVD cases make creating a professional cases quick and easy.
You can learn more about our DVD cases on our website here:
www.timeless-tributes.com/us/dvd.html
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