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Creating a DVD that plays automatically when it is inserted into a DVD player

You can create a DVD that consists of a single movie or slideshow that begins to play automatically when the viewer inserts the DVD into a player. Such a movie or slideshow is called an “autoplay” movie or slideshow. You can also set the movie or slideshow to loop so that it plays continuously in what is called “kiosk mode.” This is great for creating presentations to be used in a kiosk or for making simple projects that require minimum viewer interaction.

To create a looping autoplay DVD:

Step 1

Open iDVD and choose “Create a New Project” in the dialog that appears.

Step 2

Type a name for your project in the Save As field, and then click Create.

The iDVD window opens with a default theme selected. This theme will not appear in your final DVD because an autoplay DVD does not use a theme.

Step 3

Click the Map button (shown below) to open the DVD map.

Image of the Map button
Step 4

Click Media to open the Media pane, then click Photos or Movies.

Step 5

Drag a movie or a photo album, or even a single image, from the Media pane to the project icon (shown below).

You can also drag images or movies stored elsewhere on your computer or a connected server.

You can use photos, movies, presentation slides (created in a program such as Keynote), or other image files in a slideshow created in iDVD. iDVD works with any image file that is supported by QuickTime (including PICT, JPEG, TIFF, and PDF.)

Image of project icon from map view
Step 6

To turn on looping for the autoplay movie or slideshow (a single image is also considered a slideshow in this context), click the project icon and then choose Advanced > Loop Movie or Loop Slideshow.

If you added a movie with sound, the audio of the movie is retained, so the viewer hears it during autoplay.

If you added a slideshow, you can double-click the project icon to open the slideshow editor. There you can add a single audio file or a playlist as a soundtrack and set other slideshow features, such as transitions and slide duration.

Step 7

Click the Preview button (shown below) to see how your movie or slideshow looks.

The iDVD remote control opens, and your DVD begins to play immediately.

Image of the Preview button
Step 8

When you’re finished, click the Exit button on the DVD remote control to return to the iDVD window.

If you are sure your project is the way you want it, you can burn it to a DVD. When you put the final DVD into a DVD player, it begins to play immediately and will continue to play until you stop it.

Related Topics

Making a movie or slideshow play before the main menu appears

Creating a slideshow in iDVD

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