Memorial videos played right on the tombstone

The 7-inch shatter-resistant LCD screen is designed to last for 15 years, when it can either be replaced with a newer device or covered with a bronze plaque. It will come with a one-year warranty; extended coverage for 10 years is about another $200.

Aguirre says the product is vandal-resistant and has been tested to survive the outdoors — the unit will function between 32 degrees and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. He said the panel won't be damaged if temperatures get outside that range.

The Serenity Panel should be ready for sale in October and cost about $1,500, including the use of video-making software, he said.

G. Scott Mindrum, president and chief executive of funeral services company Making Everlasting Memories, got a patent for a similar device in 1998 but never produced it.

"I don't want to offer something that would fail," he said.

Aguirre insists that won't be a problem, and his panel has already created a buzz in the funeral industry. A prototype won an award for the most innovative product at this year's International Cemetery and Funeral Association convention in Las Vegas.

And an informal poll for the National Funeral Directors Association found that of the people who want funerals, 62 percent want some form of personalization, such as video or music tributes.

Indeed, Aguirre says he got the inspiration for Vidstone at the March 2004 wake for his father-in-law. The mood was glum and everyone was crying.

But then a movie screen rolled down and a video tribute was played. The first photo was of his father-in-law with a martini in hand, a pink boa wrapped around him and a top hat on.

"And so everybody started chuckling and smiling and the tears kind of cleared up," he said.

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