Digitizing mementos

Alicia Robinson

If you want to make your memories last in high definition, go to Matt

Caldwell.

Caldwell is the one-man owner-operator of DVD Scrapbooking, a new

Costa Mesa business that puts people’s family photo albums and

scrapbooks on DVD so they can be watched like a movie.

A computer enthusiast since high school, Caldwell started the

business about two months ago after his father asked him to scan some

pictures and put them on a CD.

Using a host of computer equipment, a scanner for photos and a

high-quality camera to shoot scrapbook pages, Caldwell can place

hundreds of photos on a disc with music and voice overlays.

With the computer, Caldwell can get rid of yellowing and scratches

on photos, and he can crop or enlarge them to fit on the TV screen. A

45-minute DVD he made for his family included 600 photos, which he

said took a long time to scan.

“It’s labor-intensive, but the end product is well worth it,” he

said.

Caldwell can preserve other memorabilia, including videos and even

reel-to-reel film.

Kathy Zeiser of Newport Beach brought her daughter’s wedding video

to Caldwell to have it transferred to DVD.

Videos start to degenerate after about 15 years, but a DVD will

last much longer, she said.

Caldwell put the video onto a DVD and used photos from the wedding

to make a cover. Zeiser said her daughter was thrilled to get it as a

Christmas surprise.

“It made a nice gift for her,” Zeiser said. “It brought tears to

her eyes, so it worked.”

His business wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago because

the equipment to transfer photos and videos onto DVD was too pricey,

Caldwell said.

While many people now have the equipment to put photos on DVD,

they often don’t want to take the time to figure out how to do it, he

said.

Transferring photos and videos is one part of the business, but it

has other applications. This month, Caldwell is sending out 6,000

DVDs featuring homes for sale that he made for an area real estate

firm.

He even plans to produce a DVD that instructs people how to make

their own photo DVDs. As long as he can sell those, he’ll stay in

business, he said.

While he has to do all the work himself right now, Caldwell said

he loves his job.

“You get a taste of people’s lives,” he said. “It’s nice to get

the reaction, too, when you do complete a project for someone and

they’re really happy.”

DVD Scrapbooking is at 350 E. 17th St., Unit 114, in Costa Mesa.