Erin’s Educational Technology Journey

I found PowerISO, NeroVision4, Windows DVD Maker and InterVideo WinDVD for Vaio. Feeling overwhelmed, I went with NeroVision4, simply because it looked straightforward: simple icons, simple features, drop and drag and it promises to make a DVD out of my photos. Seems simple enough for me! As I mouse over icons, text pops up to inform me exactly what each icon does. This is very helpful. For example, I moused over a photo frame, and Nero informed me to “drag and drop pictures here from above or from Explorer”.

I selected an entire photo file from a recent trip to China. Nero had no problem uploading all of the images from Explorer to the DVD project. Over thirty photos were uploaded in a matter of seconds. I then played with the “effects” menu and accidently embossed all of the shots. Usually, I would get frustrated at myself, but I found the “back” arrow, which is nice, big and blue, and fixed everything in a short time.

Narration was a little bit difficult. I could not figure out how to narrate each photo, so instead I did one narration for the entire move. Thankfully, my “movie” is only five minutes long, so it wasn’t that bad! However, the narration loops, so I get to hear myself talk a little bit too much! I wanted to add a soundtrack, but I couldn’t figure out how to upload a music file from iTunes to Nero…I’m not sure if you can. I saved the movie then exported it as a file. I’m not sure exactly what that meant, but I thought I should try both avenues to learn more about the process.

How intensive was this process? It was not too intensive to play with the effects or to upload the photos. I found the narration to be time intensive, simply because I could not upload music easily. In addition I could not add text to my images. I wanted to add comments and record the exact location of each photo. I also tried to edit my narration, but it was difficult to do so. It was easier to simply re-record myself. All in all, I spent about two hours creating a five minute production that is, honestly, an amateur effort. I will “play” with Nero more and try out my other DVD authoring tools to gain a better understanding of how to use the tools. I’m definitely happy I tried Nero. My past experiences with DVD authoring have not led to successful burned DVDs.