Video transfer to video DVD


Video transfer to DVD

Video transfer to DVD - Custom / personalised DVDs

Fancy your own, unique DVD? We Are Geek can build a custom / personalised DVD from your personal digital files. These can be old family movies, photos or non-copyrighted commercial material.

Personal DVDs make brilliant gifts for Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries so contact We Are Geek and let me help you share old memories with friends and family.

Although I’ve stopped transferring VHS and similar videos onto DVD – I am still transferring digital video files onto DVD. This is a great way to preserve memorable digital images taken from your android mobile or iphone.

Want to be able to watch personal videos on your home DVD player? Want to share these with family and friends? I can make a DVD from various video sources including .avi, .mp4, .mov and more.

Don’t leave those treasured memories languishing on your PC or mobile phone. Get your favourite home videos and photos transferred to DVD. I will convert your precious moments past into an easy to share, high quality DVD which you can enjoy anew. A great way to clear some space on your phone, organise your keepsakes and also a fantastic gift idea for someone you made those great memories with.

If you do not have software to play a DVD on your computer, you could use VLC player.  VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.  http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Example DVD menu showing a birthday cake

Example DVD menu showing a birthday cake

 

Custom made DVD disks will work in most, but not all DVD players (particularly very old models). They will work on just about all PCs and Macs with a DVD drive.

DVDs will be branded with the DVD disc manufacturer (e.g Verbatim, Maxell, Philips), and supplied in a plain sleeve. Please have a look at these tips, and if you need any extra information or a clarification, please get in touch.

  1. Choose your video. It has to be digital, on a PC or phone. So no Super 8, VHS or other ‘physical’ items.
  2. Landscape oriented images work best (16:9 format)! If your videos are not 16:9 format (think ‘widescreen TV’ format), they have to be ‘letter boxed’ – inserted into a black background. This especially applies to portrait videos, e.g. taken whilst holding the camera/phone vertically.
  3. Upload it to Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud or similar. Or just email it if it’s a relatively small file (depending on your email provider, no more than 10Mb to 25Mb). No more than 99 files. Each menu page can contain no more than 6 files, so the more files, the more sub menus.
  4. I MAY be able to use a digital photo you supply as the background picture to your DVD menu, so please upload / email your chosen background  picture as well.
  5. This files or folder has to be ‘shared’ with me whilst I work on your project. This is so I have access to the stuff you want to put onto your DVD. Afterwards, you should stop the sharing.
  6. Send me the link for your video/background image in an email, together with what you’d like the DVD to be called, e.g.  ‘Merry Christmas’, ’40th Birthday’, ‘My Party’ etc
  7. You will receive request for payment. Pay using PayPal. Guidance price no more than £120 for 3 hours work, £80 for two hours, and £40 if the DVD takes an hour or less to make. Charges per hour, at my usual rates.
  8. Remember – landscape files are quicker to edit (less likely to need ‘letter boxing’, and therefore cheaper! They also look much better than vertical, portrait videos on a TV. Longer videos also take more processing time, so these can also cost you more. The fewer files, the quicker, and therefore cheaper the custom DVD.
  9. It is not possible to use more than 99 files (videos, photographs etc).
  10. Once I receive your video files, possible background image and the name for your DVD, and payment, I start to make your DVD. Because this is a custom made product I need to receive payment before I start work on your DVD.
  11. I make your DVD, test it and then and post it to you. Make sure you supply the address you want the DVD posted to.
  12. If you’re in Wallsend, I may be able to come over to collect a memory stick with your video(s) on.
  13. If you need help uploading your videos and pictures to cloud based storage (e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud or similar), I can help by remotely connecting to your computer, or talk you through the process. Because of the time involved I need to charge for this additional service (£40).

Guide to charges

  • As a guide, a custom made DVD containing 99 short video clips from a phone, downloaded from OneDrive etc and edited to produce and then make will take around three – four hours plus, but I round down the price to £120.
  • A DVD with around 60 short video clips would be usually £80, because it takes less time to produce.
  • Up to around 30 short video clips may take up to 2 hours to produce, so expect to pay up to £80.
  • Up to around 20 short clips are likely to be charged at £60. These prices are very approximate and depend on the length of the clip and whether it is landscape or portrait format (portrait takes longer, so is charged more).
  • Up to around 10 short length, landscape format clips would be £40.
  • Overall, the price depends on how much time is need to produce your custom made DVD. Fewer clips, and landscape format means less time needed so you don’t pay as much.

Explanation of process

Even one short video takes some time to convert to a DVD. The process (simplified) includes:

  • Downloading the video from the cloud service, e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive etc).
  • Pre-planning the design for the DVD.
  • Building or constructing of disc. This is where menus, links and navigation are put together to make sure they work on the disc. This includes potentially reformatting, cropping the photo, and sharpening the image you provide for the title page.
  • Converting the existing video file into a format that can be read from the DVD. This is known as transcoding and will take a proportionate amount of time depending on the file size.
  • Writing or burning the DVD. This involves the physical process of transferring the data from the hard drive and placing the data onto the disc.
  • Completion, or lead out, which marks the end of the burning process. This ensures a player or program does not get confused and tries to read any further into the disc.
  • Testing the DVD for errors, including putting it into a DVD player connected to a TV.

 

Please contact us if you are interested in a personalised DVD.