[Macworld]

Post your comments for How to make DVDs as holiday gifts here

[TVK]

Thanks for the tips, though it was a bit disappointing to learn that iDVD doesn't even ship on Macs anymore. I usually create a DVD of home movies at the holidays, and even though my spouse expects an annual DVD there's something nice about unwrapping a physical item instead of emailing a link to a bunch of online videos.

[sportyguy209]

"When I wrote about this subject four years ago, iDVD did most of the heavy lifting—an app that let you build slideshows, assemble video, and 'burne' a disc."

Is "burne" English/Australian for "burn?":-)

[scottbayes]

"I recommend Smile’s DiscLabel 6 ($36) for designing custom labels, with your own artwork and typography, that you can print onto peel-off templates and affix to the discs."

Run screaming from this. These labels can be quite destructive as the adhesive ages over time and the label starts to peel. Some day a flap of the label will wreck the DVD read head. Bad say ensues.

[oirudleahcim]

I agree with scottbayes.

Though you might have to hunt for one or use a friend's if you don't have it, using an inkjet printer that can print labels directly on your (of course) label-printable side blank DVD is the best way to go.

I've seen too many horrors over the years from adhesive labels. I cringed when I saw this as a recommended way to label your DVD project.

Labels are also difficult to apply in a perfectly centered fashion (I remember there being a product called the "CD Stomper" that was *supposed* to remedy this problem). An off-center label can cause vibration in your drive with resulting read errors and a lot of wear on the drive's tracking mechanism as a result.

[oirudleahcim]

I need to clarify: "Labels are also difficult to apply. . . ." I am referring to adhesive labels.

[philzi]

A few years ago I got an iMac and a nice HD camcorder, thinking I'd be making home movies on blu-ray with an external burner. After pretty extensive investigation and trial and error, I found my best option was an old Gateway running Windows Vista using Sony Vegas. There was just nothing available for the Mac that did not have severe limitations, one way or another. Most of the sw could not handle HD video imports without being very expensive. Final Cut Elements worked well, as well as Fotomagico, but Toast was barely capable of anything beyond a basic menu. Final product looked very amateurish. If you have to take your movie to another platform to burn it, you might as well just create it there...which is how I got to Vegas. Their built-in menu creator lets you do just about anything.
I agree with the other posters, never stick (maybe slight pun intended) a recipient with a peel-off label. I use Falcon inkjet printable blu-rays, available online.