Windows DVD Maker Reviews and Its Best Alternatives
Summary: Would you like to get a full understanding of Windows DVD Maker? In this article, we delve into its key features and shortcomings. And don’t worry if it’s not quite what you’re looking for - we also present its best available alternatives to help you make a DVD with ease.
After upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 8/10, do you find that there is no Windows DVD maker on your system? And how to make a DVD now?
Don’t worry. Though Windows DVD Maker is removed from Windows 8 and Windows 10, there are still many other ways for you to burn videos to DVDs on Windows Vista/7/8/10. Here in this article, we will give you an introduction to Windows DVD Maker and share some wonderful alternatives for your reference.
Review of Windows DVD Maker
Windows DVD Maker is a free DVD authoring tool developed and released by Microsoft for users to burn videos and slideshows to DVDs that can be played on a DVD player. It is built in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and also in Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
Windows DVD Maker can not only burn video to DVD, but also provides some advanced features for customizing DVD menus, adding background music, etc. It is well-received for its approachability and simplicity.
Key Features
- Burn videos in Microsoft formats like AVI, WMV, ASF, MPEG, and more to DVD
- Create Slideshow from pictures and burn it to a DVD disc
- Choose from 20+ animated menu templates and 10+ frame templates to create DVD menus.
- Enhance slideshows with transition effects and background music
- Ensure compatibility with modern TVs and DVD players by adjusting the resolution and aspect ratio (16:9 or 4:3) options
Input Formats:
- Video: ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, M1V, MP2, MP2V, MPE, MPEG, MPG, MPV2, WM, WMV.
- picture: BMP, DIB, EMF, GIF, JFIF, JPE, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, WMF.
- Audio: AIF, AIFC, AIFF, ASF, AU, MP2, MP3, MPA, SND, WAV, WMA.
Output Formats:
- DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-ROM.
How to convert videos to a DVD with Windows DVD Maker?
Step 1: Run Windows DVD Maker and import the video files you want to convert. Drag and drop the videos in the list to change the sequence in which they play.
Step 2: Define Disc Settings and Preferences. Enter the disc title in the text box provided. Then click “options” to choose the playback settings, aspect ratio, video format, burner speed and location.
Step 3: Customize the DVD Menu. Personalize the menu in the following ways:
- Adding a custom background image or background music
- Editing the text of the menu buttons
- Previewing your DVD menu
Step 4: Insert a blank DVD to your optical drive and click the “Burn” button to start the process of burning video_ts to DVD disc. Windows DVD Maker will encode the video file into a VIDEO_TS structure.
Drawbacks
Windows DVD Maker may be a good DVD burning tool for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users to some degree, but some users may have found that it is not fast enough and it supports limited video formats. For example, it is unable to burn videos in MP4, FLV, MKV, 3PG and WRAP to DVDs.
And also, this DVD maker has been removed from Windows 8 for unknown reason, and Microsoft has officially announced that it isn’t supported on Windows 10. Considering all of these, now it’s time to find more efficient DVD burners for Windows 10 and Mac.
3 Best & Free Alternatives to Windows DVD Maker
Best Alternative: DVDFab DVD Creator
- Works on: Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 (32/64 bit) and macOS 10.10 - 15.x
DVDFab DVD Creator is one of the best alternatives to Windows DVD Maker. It can burn all kinds of videos downloaded from internet or recorded by camcorders to standard DVD discs (DVD-9, DVD-5, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL), DVD folders and ISO files quickly. While burning your DVD, it also enables you to set select audio tracks and subtitles, or add external subtitles.
With support to the newest GPU hardware acceleration technology, it features an amazingly fast DVD burning speed, which can convert or burn videos to DVDs in a few minutes. Though the conversion speed is fast, DVDFab still can ensure you a smooth conversion process and output DVDs with excellent video and audio quality.
In addition to its efficient DVD burning capabilities, this tool offers a variety of additional features to enhance your DVD creation experience. For example, you can trim unwanted clips, crop and rotate your footage, adjust color and brightness, and even add watermarks.
This DVD maker also offers a wide range of beautiful menu templates, which allows you to create DVD menu freely. You can also customize and design all the elements in the menu template, such as background art, thumbnails, text font, color, and size, as well as playback controls.
Free Alternative: DVDStyler
- Works on: Windows and Mac OS X
DVDStyler is a free and open source alternative to Windows DVD Maker that can be used to create professional-looking and playable DVDs. All the common video formats like AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG, OGG, etc. and some rare formats are supported by DVDStyler. It also comes with many menu templates that enables you to design your own DVD menu.
Moreover, there are also extra features like adding multiple subtitles and audio tracks, creating photo slideshow, etc. However, it is not as fast as DVDFab DVD Creator and can only convert video to DVD discs. As a free DVD maker, it has been discontinued for a few years, so you may be unable to get necessary support when you meet some problems.
Free Alternative: CDBurnerXP
- Works on: Windows (2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/2008 Server/Win7/Win8/2012 Server/Win10)
Although the name of this free software makes it seem like its burning capabilities are limited and compatibility might be weak, don't be fooled. It can not only burn CDs but also burn any data and video on DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also allows you to create bootable discs, burn and create ISOs. After burning the process, it can verify written data automatically. Plus, it offers disc erasing function, enabling you to remove contents from a rewritable medium.
It is a completely free DVD maker that doesn't contain any adware and spyware. Its interface is clear and straight forward since each feature of this software has its own dedicated section. You can learn how to use it quickly. For shortcomings, this free DVD burning software for Windows lacks options to customize and design your DVD menu. Overall, it offers a simple and effective solution for basic DVD burning needs.
FAQs
Windows 10 and Windows 11 do not include any DVD maker by default, as Microsoft discontinued the software after Windows 7. However, you can burn DVDs on these operating systems with third-party software, such as DVDFab.
- Make sure the video file is a supported format.
- Check if the optical drive and blank DVD are working properly.
- Reduce the burning speed in the settings to improve reliability.
Conclusion
This article provided an insightful examination of Windows DVD Maker, highlighting both its advantageous features and certain drawbacks that users might face. Furthermore, for those seeking other options for DVD making on Windows, we’ve introduced three top-rated alternatives worth considering. If you also want to a Windows Blu-ray maker to create Blu-rays from videos, please take a look at these Blu-ray burner.
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