Just a general question for anyone who has used, thinking about using, might possibly use Memorial DVD's as a profit center in a funeral home.

I am curious about the following --                         

1) Do you produce the DVD's in house or do you use a service? What service do you use?

2) Are you satisfied with the finished product? In house or out sourced?

3) What do you pay for the out sourced DVD's and if done in house, what do you estimate the cost of creating this in-house?

NOW the reason I ask is because I am considering a venture that would produce Memorial DVD's for funeral homes. The process would involve uploading the scanned photographs to my website in addition to any digital video media. The media would be produced into a tasteful DVD which would then be able to be downloaded by the originating funeral home and burned onto a Writeable DVD, by the next day (probably sooner). The funeral home would own the rights to the finished product and could make as many DVD's as wished. I would use music domain free music, or I would purchase the rights to music to put on the DVD to avoid any copyright infringements.

I just want to know what the general idea was. I was thinking of a price around $40 per 3 to 6 minute video.

We use a Company/Program called FuneralOne. We have been doing these types of videos for over 10 years. Started with National Music then to another company and now we use FuneralOne. It is very easy to use for the novice or for someone that is very comfortable using a computer. Everthing is produced in house now using FuneralOne. Our charge to our customer is 200.00 with four copies of the DVD each additional copy is 10 bucks. It takes about 30-45 minutes to scan 40-60 photos. Overall time involved making the video is at least an hour but most of the time about 1 1/2 hours total time with scanning of photos. We looked at several companies at National Convention and feel that this is the best product for the money. The technical support is great also. Not that I use it alot but we were one of the test sites for the latest edition that they have on the market.  You will not talk to some other country either.

Cost to produce this project is minimal since I do it myself. If you have to hire someone to due it (Scan photos, etc) then that would be your cost plus the blank DVD plus the label plus the case for the dvd. Total to produce one DVD in a case is about 5.00 bucks plus your time involved.

It is not a place to make alot of money but each dollar helps to offset the rise in cremation. Hope this helps your decision.

Hey Steve...

I have to agree the FuneralOne software is amazingly simple and produces a great end product!

You really should check them out. The software is free and you only pay for the videos you create.

Good luck!

Thomas

www.colorsofhonor.com

I use Memories by Design. They are exclusive with us in our community, and they are the only ones with copy-protected videos, which means the family cannot make their own copies, they have to come to us. Easy to use software, we scan and upload, they produce and download, we burn and print.

Not a big money maker, but a very nice service to families.

Just had to post with some thoughts---

I'm not a funeral director but a supplier. When I started working with Funeral Homes I had no idea I would do memorial DVDs, but one night a local funeral home called me and said that the guy that they were going to have do it wouldn't return their call and could I do it by any chance. Since then I've picked up another local client, and do pretty much every memorial DVD for two of our local funeral homes.

I tried FuneralOne, and others, but kept going back to Windows Movie Maker. I've worked on it, and downloaded patches that guys like me have designed, and have a pretty good, customized, program. It cuts down on cost of production, and you are free to use whatever you want, and not limited to something like the stuff FuneralOne offers.

Finding music and video clips can be costly, and take alot of time. People like FunearlOne get their stuff from BMI if I remember right. Alot of the time if a family supplies the music you could use it without worry. (NOTE: talk to a local lawyer about this issue) And video clips can be bought for not too much $$ on Ebay, or you could just use Still Shots of the local area.

You can buy boxes of DVD cases for just a few cents each, and printable DVD's are under $1 each as well. If anyone needs links to suppliers send me a PM.
I'm est. that my total cost right now for the case, DVD, and printing the DVD cover, Lable and papers to go inside, would be around $2.

The nice thing about doing it on Printable DVD's is that you don't have a lable, and since lables can cause a DVD not to play in some players, this can be a really big help. Before we changed we have families calling saying that their DVD didnt work. I've used printable DVD's now for over a year and haven't had ONE problem.

These things really don't take much time--but it all depends on how many photos you have to scan, and if you have to do any photo editing.

What really helps here is that I'm local and only deal with local funeal homes. They know that if they need me I'm only about 15min. away, and will fix any problem they have.

If you start this business I would suggest starting local as well--get some funeral directors looking over your product, and givie you any suggestions. Then if you like it, and find that the funeral directors would suggest you to others, go online and go nation wide!

Best of luck---email me if I can be of service, or answer any questions.

Spencer G.