How to create DVD photo slideshows in Windows Vista

Posted on April 23, 2008 at 5:23 am

Did you know that you can create a DVD photo slideshow in Windows Vista using in-built software? I found this out the other day and it’s great! It’s called Windows DVD Maker and it’s a free tool in Windows Vista, just like Windows Media Player in XP. Using the software, you can create professional looking DVDs in a very short amount of time.

DVD Maker comes with over 20 different DVD styles that let you create a professional looking DVD that matches the theme of your home movie or photo slideshow. You can also customize the DVD even more by adding a disc title, a notes page and editing the menu text.

Using Windows DVD Maker, you can customize your DVD menu using their built-in and very professional looking styles. So if you have a bunch of photos and you have Windows Vista, then let’s create some really cool-looking DVD slideshows that you can then share and watch on your TV.

First, go to Start, and then All Programs. Click on Windows DVD Maker or simply type it in the search box.

At the top left, you’ll see the option to add pictures or video to your DVD. Go ahead and click on Add Items.

Browse to the location of your picture folder, select all of the photos desired, and press Add. You should see a list of folders displayed and you can continue adding more pictures if you like. Here’s what it looks like with videos added:

Go ahead and click Next and now you’ll be able to choose the style of your DVD menu. Here you can customize the Menu text, customize the menu itself, and preview the DVD menu.

Once you have finished customizing the settings, go ahead and click Burn! That’s really all there is to it! The DVD will be burned and you’ll now have your own slideshow on DVD.

Windows DVD Maker will encode the movie in the appropriate DVD format and then it will burn it. The encoding process takes much more time than the burning so you will have to wait a while depending on the speed of your computer.

This is a great free way to create your own video or photo DVDs without having to buy Nero, Roxio or any other DVD burning software. Enjoy!

[tags]dvd slideshow, dvd photo slideshow, dvd slideshow software, slideshow to dvd, dvd picture slideshow, dvd slide show[/tags]

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

11 Responses to “How to create DVD photo slideshows in Windows Vista”

John Foote said on : June 18th, 2008 at 3:32 am

Thanks for your tech tip in using Vista to burn a DVD. Is it possible to add music to the slideshow from CD’s? If so how could I do this?

Regards

John

Leila said on : June 18th, 2008 at 7:13 pm

I’m wondering the exact same thing John!

Hopefully someone can help us with that – because the program is great!

Cynthia Blue said on : July 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am

I’d love to add music, too. And can you split out pictures and put them under different menu items? I want to arrange them by date!

BanHien said on : October 11th, 2008 at 5:57 am

I believe only Vista Home Premium & Vista Ultimate have this part, not free for other Vista editions/versions.

BH

La said on : October 12th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

Hi BH,

I do have Vista Ultimate… but still have no idea how to add music?

Jamie said on : December 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pm

This program is NOT included with Vista Home Basic. Too bad, it’s exactly what I need right now!
(

Amber said on : January 21st, 2009 at 11:01 am

I was able to make the DVD, with music, and burn it to a DVD, but do not know how to make it in a format that I can post on Facebook or attach to an email. Can anyone help? Thanks!!

Crystal said on : February 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 am

You can add music to this. There are tool keys up top in the left hand side. It will ask you to browse your stored music (just “rip” songs off your cd onto the media player and it be stored in your music and can be used for this slideshow). You can add more then one song.

No there is no sub albums you can create on the slide show (at least that I have seen so far).

It will have a burn button in the bottom right hand corner.

Erin said on : June 11th, 2009 at 10:49 am

Hi I was wondering what type of DVD disc I need to use to burn my slideshow and have it playable on the tv. I bought a kodak DVD-R disc but the program said it was not the right type to burn. Please help!!

Bob said on : August 23rd, 2009 at 3:27 pm

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU …. IT DOESN’T GET ANY EASIER TO CREATE A DVD SLIDESHOW THAN THIS.

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September 23rd, 2008 at 5:38 am