Create home DVDs using Windows 7’s DVD Maker

Posted on June 21, 2009 at 5:45 am

Windows 7 by default comes with a DVD Maker software.  Home users will particularly like this tool since it lets them burn DVD movies using their own media like home made videos and digital photos.

The quickest way to make a DVD is to add pictures and videos in Windows DVD Maker, and then burn to a blank DVD. If you want to get creative, you can customize the DVD menu style and text before you burn the DVD.

To open DVD Maker, click the Start button and choose Windows DVD Maker:

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The interface is Wizard-based and targets novice home users.  Advanced users might prefer a more complete software like Nero, but for simple DVD making needs, this one will do just fine.

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You can add WMV movies to it (no support for AVI or MP4 which sucks!) and also pictures.  If you add a bunch of pictures they will appear as a slideshow folder.

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You can see the amount of time remaining on your DVD project so you know how much space is still left.  You can also enter your own DVD title which by default contains the date when you open the program.

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You can change the order of the media files that you enter using the up and down arrows.

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You can also change the drive where you have a DVD burner.  It automatically detects the right drive even if you have more than one DVD drive.

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The next window will let you preview your work before burning it.  You can change the menu styles and menu text.

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After finalizing the menu text and previewing the DVD movie, click the Burn button to start burning the disc.

The software only provides basic DVD making capabilities.  If you want to do more advanced tasks like cropping or color correction, you may want to look for more higher end tools like Adobe Premier or Nero (which unfortunately is not yet working on Windows 7 as of this writing).

It also is poor when it comes to supported formats so you may need to convert your video files to WMV first before you can burn them.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

» Filed Under Windows 7

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Comments

29 Responses to “Create home DVDs using Windows 7’s DVD Maker”

  1. Jaxboy32 said on : June 30th, 2009 at 8:45 am

    I think you will find that Windows 7′s Windows DVD Maker does support AVI files, but just not MP4 files like you said. I have used AVI files with Windows 7′s Windows DVD Maker and it all worked fine.


  2. Spike said on : September 16th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    It does support AVI’s, in fact I’m burning a AVI to DVD right now, but Windows DVD Maker has it’s problems, it’s slow to encode, and its unstable. Also it eats up 99% of your CPU, and there’s now way to change it, I tried lowering the priority with no luck, so I had to tell it to use only 1 cpu instead of both.


  3. lextacy said on : November 11th, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    Yea it might work with uncompressed .avi true. But compressed dvix and xvid codec versions of .avi will not.


  4. gabriel said on : December 27th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    I am using Windows DVD Maker on Windows 7 to create DVDs, but I have a problem. None of the sound is being recorded into the final output DVD. I can’t hear anything on the DVD. Any ideas why?


  5. Dennis Weiler said on : December 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am

    Recently I upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista. I had made several DVDs in Vista, but now I can’t get them to open and even though the Windows 7 DVD Maker seems to work; if I make a DVD and try to save it and then go back to open it again I get the message: :”The foreground video file is not accessible. The setting has been cleared” – I have tried several thing and gone to several websites, but still have not gotten an answer to this problem. Is there anyone out there that can help?


  6. Dennis Weiler said on : January 3rd, 2010 at 11:26 am

    I posted here before but received no response, so I thought I would try again. Recently I upgraded my Windows Vista to Windows 7. My DVD Maker works just fine, as it used to (I just did another one as a test) but as soon as I save the file I can’t open it again. I get the message “The foreground video file is not accessible. The setting has been cleared.” I would appreciate any suggestions anyone might have. The DVD I made plays fine, so everything appears to be operational, it’s just an access problem.


  7. Jeremy said on : January 8th, 2010 at 11:54 pm

    I am using currently using DVD Maker with Windows 7 and having no problem making a DVD using a avi file. I just upgraded to a Core 2 Duo T7300 and the DVD Maker is only using 65 percent of my processor so everything is running smooth other than it takes awhile to encode files will see how the dvd looks and sounds once its done.


  8. Terry said on : January 14th, 2010 at 9:13 pm

    So…I have a DVD that I wish to edit…how do I get this into the DVD maker program so I can edit it? Thanks.


  9. kareem figo said on : January 15th, 2010 at 6:56 am

    please, if I want to add subtitles to my DVD film, how would I do it??!!! and thanx for that great explain :D


  10. Lakis said on : January 15th, 2010 at 11:50 pm

    The first DVD i made was good,it played in 16:9 aspect ratio but now for some reason it always burns the movie into a 4:3 aspect ratio no matter what i do to the settings.I changed the aspect ratio to 16:9 and it still makes the movie into a 4:3.If there’s something to fix this,can someone tell me how?


  11. Philip said on : January 24th, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    I love this, but a lot of the dvds i make play the video but no audio which is kind of a drag after waiting for close to 2 hours for the disc to be done
    ive tried all the fixes i have read about online and it just doesnt help. Its really strange cause most of the time it burns both sound and video perfectly fine sadly some of the ones it wont are musicals :(


  12. Linda Kellar said on : February 10th, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    I want to burn my scanned 35 mm slides to a DVD using Windows DVD Maker. The scans are all in folders. Any tips re putting the contents of the folders into Windows DVD Maker? Adding the images one at a time would take ages.


  13. randy c said on : February 12th, 2010 at 10:10 am

    I am using dvd maker on windows7 to make a dvd of a slide show I created with Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (I use Elements to create the slide show due to the fact that you can’t control/edit the zooms in dvd maker). It makes the dvd fine, plays fine on my computer with sharp images and crisp sound.

    However, when I play it on my sony dvd players connected to my tvs (2 different units) it will play fine until the 2nd “scene” marker where it pauses then jumps back to the 1st scene. Every other scene marker will pause then jump back to the previous (2nd jumps back to 1st, 4th jumps to 3rd).

    I’m using dvd+r disks, encoding to NTSC, in 16×9, tried filters checked, filters unchecked, menu front mode, menu rear mode, continuous loop mode, everything …. help!


  14. Jaeda said on : February 12th, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    How do you record voice using windows DVD maker?


  15. David said on : April 26th, 2010 at 5:02 am

    It it possible to add voice over to the DVD you are burning using DVD maker?


  16. negacrowbar said on : May 17th, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    The sound problem with the player depends on how many tracks the audio was created on. I had the same problem. I checked in Properties and if the audio has more than 2 tracks then the sound does not come out on the DVD maker.


  17. Dennis Weiler said on : May 19th, 2010 at 9:33 am

    That all sounds so good and it does work well, but I still can’t save a DVD project and open it again later.


  18. Terrance Oliver said on : May 29th, 2010 at 7:51 am

    I burn movies with windows 7 dvd maker and everything plays fine but I need to know how to change the video from full screen to wide screen? Can somebody help?


  19. Kerber said on : May 31st, 2010 at 11:37 am

    Well i dont think its that good, its very slow!It takes forever to decode… also not all sound formats are supported.


  20. andrew said on : June 14th, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    i’ve burnt 3 dvd’s so far and when i play the dvd the video is so small. how do you change the settings so you can get a fullscreen/widescreen format? the picture is like a small square and messes up the video and its such a waste of time and dvd’s. the only thing i found was to change the aspect ratio and it did not help. any suggestions?


  21. Joseph Taber said on : July 26th, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    I have a new HP G72 Laptop. I am trying to use DVD Maker and I am having a problem getting all the files on a DVD. I highlight all the files and add. Only 4 files show up on the DVD.

    Any ideas?

    Joe


  22. Gratton Rush said on : July 27th, 2010 at 7:21 am

    I have downloaded the program but is not detecting the DVD drive. The drive works with all other utilities.

    It will not allow me to uninstall or delete, saying I need permission from a numerical?


  23. Robert said on : September 9th, 2010 at 4:18 am

    I seriously hate Microsoft…what a wretched company! Okay, so I’m running Windows 7 & trying to produce a DVD off of Windows DVD Maker- but it doesn’t accept MP4′s. No problem- I spent hours converting the files to WMV- and now it, with NO explanation, won’t write the files to the disc. The disc isn’t the problem- bloody DVD Maker has written to this brand before. The content isn’t the problem either- I’ve converted from MP4 to WMV and burned through DVD Maker before as well. It’s like it just out of the blue decided it was not going to work! What a ridiculous product! It should not be THIS HARD to burn a flippin’ DVD!!!


  24. Gustavo said on : October 24th, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    Tengo un problema con el DVD Maker, al levantar el programa, la casilla de “Grabadora de DVD” no reconoce la unidad destino, la la tengo operativa y funcionando correctamente, solo para este programa no es reconocida, a que se debe y que puedo hacer para arreglarlo???


  25. thush said on : October 30th, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    hi all ,
    i would like to burn a dvd through windows dvd maker, but the issue is the DVD burner does not show in the dropdown box, I have two dvd writers fixed in my pc. I tried many things but still does not recognize. please let me know how to fix it. by the way i am using windows 7 ultimate..edition

    thank you


  26. pstechie said on : November 2nd, 2010 at 12:12 am

    It tried to burn a movie in a DVD and it took 1 hour to complete 12 %, then i cancelled the process. That DVD is waste for me.


  27. RAYNA said on : November 7th, 2010 at 9:35 pm

    Trying like heck to DL a DVD maker I have. Error after error. Did a google to see if Windows 7 had one by default…… guess what? (I know you know, thats what makes it funny…) You made it super easy for this mom to find out fast how to make that DVD for her friends daughter. Your awesome!!! TY =)


  28. Assunta said on : November 8th, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    Has anyone been able to solve Denise’s problem. I have the same prob!!!! I’ve used it once before a few months ago + no prob so I’m able to use the program but now I can’t retrieve a new project I was working on as I get the mesage re. The foreground video file is not accessible. The setting has been cleared. Help!!1


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