DVD Requirements.

You need a DVD drive in your computer. Most computers come with a CD/DVD READERS these days.

If you do not have a DVD drive it will not work in your computer.

NOTE: A CD-Reader cannot read a DVD disc. Only DVD players / DVD-ROMs can read DVD discs. A DVD reader can read a CD however.
Nearly all the newer models of computers come with CD/DVD readers. For older models of computers there are external CD/DVD readers available.

What's the difference between CD-ROM and DVD drives? Although DVDs and CDs appear very much alike, DVDs can handle up to 4.7 GB of material as opposed to 700 MB worth of space on a CD. That would mean that one DVD can hold nearly 7 times the amount of material on one CD. Because of the size of each file and the number of files for each county, it made more sense for the C.B.G.H.A to put these files on DVDs. Each DVD holds over 2000 images, many more than could be placed on a single CD.

The DVD acts differently on different operating systems.

With Windows XP, after a few moments, it will cause a box to appear giving options for viewing, etc. If you are using Windows other than XP try the following;

Put the DVD in the DVD drive and give it a few moments to spin up
(there is a lot of information),
then double click on My Computer, then double click on the ICON for the DVD drive,
8 folders and a READ ME FIRST word document should now be seen,
double click on the READ ME FIRST file
if you wish or double click on the folder you wish to view.
On the tool bar at the top of your screen you will see VIEW, under VIEW you are given several ways to view the file, with Windows XP that I am using the options are Filmstrip, Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List & Details, this is a matter of personal preference.

However you choose to set the VIEW option any file can be viewed by double clicking on the individual file.

With Windows XP I prefer to right click the file and then select OPEN WITH, then select Windows Picture Viewer.

With the viewer you can move from file to file, magnify or view a slide show.

When you open a file in the VIEWER it automatically sizes the file to the window for easy viewing.

The DVD also works on MAC operation systems MAC OS 9 and OS X.
I personally haven't tried in on an older operating system.

If you do not have a DVD drive and do not wish to get one I am afraid viewing on your DVD player connected to your television is the other option, however the images on a TV tend to be grainy due to the resolution on most televisions.

This extensive collection of records holds a wealth of material related to genealogy. These are all images of original records taken from micro film and copied to a DVD. We have not made any corrections to the documents; our DVD shows the documents in their original form.