need an app to make a photo DVD....

[mark2288]

here's what i'm looking to make:

a DVD of a collection of slideshow of photos...

i'd like to make it something like a regular DVD menu that let's you play all photo slideshows, or individuals by selection.

also being able to caption some photos or makes titles slides within the slideshows would be a nice bonus.

any apps out there that can do this? many thanks.

 

[D34th]

I've made exactly what you explained just by using a combination of iMovie and iDVD. I would just make a slideshow with music and stuff in iMovie and then use iDVD to make menus and things and finally just burn it onto a DVD through iDVD...worked fine.

 

[mark2288]

haven't played too much with either of those programs but i'll check it out and play around with it.

many thanks.

 

[Pancake]

You should check out http://www.fotomagico.com/. I played with the demo a bit a while back and it seems to be able to do some great slideshows very easily.

 

[discoforce]

I just created my first slide show dvd using iPhoto to create albums of the pics I wanted and iDVD to create the menu pages and the slideshows. No iMovie necessary (though you'd have a lot more control over how it played).

I (roughly) followed the article in the Jan 07 issue of Macworld.

Have fun, and be patient when you finally get ready to burn, the encoding and burning process took hours.

 

[Ish]

I've used iDVD but I think it's limited to 99 pictures. Tried iMovie but didn't like the quality. You could try Photo to Movie. It's a bit slow on my PB with a lot of pictures but I understand the Macbooks are quicker. You can download a trial version which has full functionality but stamps the pictures. The cost is $49.95.

Make the movie using Photo to Movie, export to Quicktime then if you want to use iDVD to make an intro. add the QT movie to your iDVD intro.

Don't know of any free apps.

 

[discoforce]

I've used iDVD but I think it's limited to 99 pictures.

Nope, each slideshow is limited to 9,801 images. You're thinking of the "drop zones" that act as backgrounds for the menu pages or the chapter markers.

• Each slideshow can contain a maximum of 9,801 images.
• Each slideshow in a drop zone can contain a maximum of 99 images.
• A DVD can contain a maximum of 99 slideshows or movies (known as tracks in iDVD) in any combination.

I'd really recommend giving iDVD a try first. Having just used it for the first time, I'd also recommend reading through the help menu first (many of the terms and settings were unknown to me). I was really blown away at how professional the end product looked. Since you've already got it on your macbook, there's little reason not to give it a go.

 

[BigPrince]

I like the iPhoto one the best. Simple to use. Its limited to one song though, so what I do is blend them together using garage band to make one long track. Then share with iDVD and work from there.

If you want more control, iMovie. Somewhere in the settings you have to change the Video format because the default one is that great. It should be on DV, so change that to HDV720p and that helps improve the quality. iMovie is the way to go if you have lots of time and alot of eye candy.
also try:

seminars.apple.com

I do something a little bit similar to what the Jan Issue of Macworld does.

 

[gauchogolfer]

I just did this for Christmas gifts to some of my family, using iPhoto to make an overall album with about 730 pictures from my year abroad (out of 8,000 or so that I took).
I started an iMovie project in HDV1080i format to maximize resolution, then just dragged all of my pictures into the timeline. Added in music (from iTunes) and chapter markers, plus titling and transitions/bumpers.
Exported to iDVD for menus and navigation, plus some extra 'shorts' that I made in iMovie with my camcorder video. A 'bonus track' of 'director's commentary' recorded in Garageband for my family to hear my voice introduce the DVD and explain it a bit was also in there.
Encoding on my powerbook took a looooong time (just let it go overnight) and burned 10 copies in the morning, from the generated .iso file.
It was a very popular gift, coupled with the calendars we made with our photos as well.

iLife rocked for me this year.