donco

Agree with Elaine. Have read good things about Duggal's-don't know about their prices.
And china_cat is right about being able to do this yourself if you have the equipment. Anyone dealt with on-line DVD slide-show producers?

tom_h

Elaine-
Seems to me you're wanting a DVD-based "slide show" (with music, transitions, captions, etc), *not* simply the static images images transferred to a CD or DVD disc.

I don't see how a 3rd party service could assemble the photos you want, with music you want, etc, and end up anywhere close to what you want.

There are DVD slide show softwares available for your PC, so that you can construct your own shows. Prices range from free to under $100. You can proabably get best advice on suitable authoring softwares at a photo forum such as: http://photo.net/community/forums , then click thru to the "Digital Darkroom" subforum. There been lots of discussion there on slide show authoring so reading their archives & older threads is place to start.

Also note that authoring a DVD for your TV will likely involve different software than authoring a show for display directly on your PC. The latter is probably easier, especially if you have an Apple Mac with their iPhoto software.

You would still need your individual film images digitized and converted, to use in constructing your show.

Scanning high quality images is specialized, time consuming, and requires moderately expensive to very expensive equipment. Unless you are a hard-core digital photo enthusiast, it's recommended to outsource this.

DEFINITELY only scan the negatives, not the prints. The negative-scan quality is vastly higher.

I scan my own images so cannot provide guidance on reputable services. However, Kodak-franchised and trademarked "Photo CD" services are said to be firly good for the majority of people. Unfortunately "PhotoCD" is becoming a generic term and could mean anything unless it is "Kodak PhotoCD".

good luck.

elaine

thanks, all, for the info and detail.

I visited a couple of NYC photo shops today, but I didn't get a high confidence level about their expertise or interest in
getting high resolution results from my photo prints converted to a CD.
I have though, found a place on-line that I've been corresponding with about turning my photos into a DVD with music and titles, and may do the whole conversion and DVD creation through them.
It's
www.LifesHighlights.com
I have no relationship with them other than as a possible client.

tom_h

Elaine-
since you live in NYC I suggest visiting Adorama Photo or B&H PhotoVideo.

These are large retail stores with a national reputation - indeed, Califonians (including me) often buy from them.

I'd be very surprised if they did not offer some high quality film digitizing services.

elaine

I just went to the B & H website for their NYC store.
They are closed today, but from what I can tell, they farm out the photo-imaging work to a place called A & I, which may be excellent, but it's adding more layers to the project.
Thanks for the suggestion though, I will call them tomorrow to inquire.