Selling retail DVDs is a great way to share a project with the world. Recording and then burning footage from music concerts, band gigs, school plays, or an instructional videos for your small business can be a great way to share out to sell on a small scale. It’s relatively easy to create a retail DVD once to do once you know the basics. We’ve already covered the instructions of DVD authoring in a recent post, so we have compiled a list of advice for giving the DVD you create a bit of professional panache. Here are three helpful things to remember when creating a retail DVD.
1. Label Like a Pro
Gone are the days of scrawling on a disc with a Sharpie pen, especially if you’re producing more than a couple copies. Modern technology has gifted us numerous options for disc labeling that offer results to rival any professionally printed label. Here are some options:
- If you plan to continue creating retail DVDs in the future, invest in a printer designed to print directly onto your disc. This also requires discs specifically produced for direct printing. Casio offers a printer with thermal transfer technology while Epson makes an inkjet printer that pulls double duty as a photo printer.
- Printing DVD labels is another option. It’s more economical, but less professional looking. Avery and Memorex both make printing and design software that comes equipped with printing labels.
2. Add a Menu
Adding a menu to your DVD is a great way to organize your video content. The process of designing DVD menus varies depending on the software you’re using, but here’s the basic gist:
- Add chapters: organizing your DVD’s content by chapters is the most popular way to set up a menu. Create chapters by recording the each segment separately then adding a title.
- Insert index markers: index markers aren’t accessible through a DVD menu, but they can offer a break in the action and allow you to skip ahead by pressing “Next” on your remote control. RW discs allow you to overwrite the preset markers created by most DVD recorders and set your own index marks.
2. Make a Custom Booklet/Sleeve
A professional-looking booklet or sleeve for your retail DVD is a perfect finishing touch. Here are some software programs that can deliver the polished results you require:
- Microsoft Word
- Adobe InDesign Illustrator
- Photoshop
- QuarkXPress
We suggest avoiding freeware and shareware, as these options are often malware and can deliver less-than-stellar results.
Need Further Retail DVD Help?
Contact us with any questions about creating your retail DVD. Here at Disc Hounds, we have the know-how to guide you through the process, so give us a call at 610-696-8668 and we’ll happily help you today.