Thread: Making a Photo Album DVD

Unfortnuately, there is not really a two line answer to your question.

There are a few ways of doing this that I can think of off hand...

1) Use some video editing software. Any NLE that allows you top use stills as assets will do. You need to create your timeline for your 'movie' then just add your stills to the timeline. Once on there they can animated if required and transitions between pictures can be introduced. As an editor I prefer this solution because it has the most flexibility and control and you then have the software to edit 'real' video as well.

2) Some DVD authoring packages contain functionality to allow you to quickly create a still slideshow with a minimum of fuss.

3) Finaly, I'm sure there are a number of bespoke software packages out there just for this purpose. this is likely your best option if you do not want to dip you toes into 'real video' editting.

Could I use Macromedia Flash? Build a photoalbum with that? Would buttons and things be selectable on a tv?

Flash would not work. Flash is dependent on the software being installed on a PC/Mac. I am not aware of any way that a DVD could be created to run an interactive Flash programme for TV playback. I know Macromedia (now Adobe) Director used to be used alot to create interactive cover discs for magazines, but I think this would only work on a PC/Mac also - just like certain film DVD's sometimes have special features that are only accessible on a computer.

Personally, I would say the best option is an NLE like Vegas. Just insert the photos into the timeline at your desired length. You could create a border or add text easily enough within Vegas, or do that in Photoshop. Then you could take the rendered 'movie' into DVD Architect (or any DVD authoring app really) and create menus and chapters. You could section it into groups of photos, or even have each one individually chaptered if you wanted, but that would take a while! Then upon inserting the DVD the user would be greeted with a menu (that you could obviously personalise) where they would select which photos to look at. You could also have a 'play all' button which would just run through the entire 'slideshow'. You could even incorporate music if you want.

This would definitely work anyway, and would give you the most control. With a bit of time and effort you could produce something really quite impressive. There may be specific progs that would do this also, but I'm not aware of any - you almost certainly wouldn't have as much control over things though. Good luck with it...

i've found this program link
i didn't try it myself, but i guess it can create video slideshows and burn cd's (or may be even dvd's?). as i understood, it has a free version.