Is Movie Maker sending anyone else round the twist?

My project has a mix of mpegs and avi's and photos and titles. Sometimes the
timeline will play but add another video and it won't. Splice that piece of
video and delete a part - hey, it plays! This problem doesn't exist in any of
my other video editing software. I'm losing the will to live.... Come on
Microsoft, pull the finger out!!
Any suggestions helpful community?!
Thanks you.
G

I found that WMM did not handle my mpeg files reliably. I convert my mpeg's
to avi first, using VirtualDub for MPEG-2; then I am putting only avi's on
the timeline and that works well for me.

"migrant99" <migrant99@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F4801444-C89A-449D-9E4B-BFABA01F2361@microsoft.com...
> My project has a mix of mpegs and avi's and photos and titles. Sometimes
> the
> timeline will play but add another video and it won't. Splice that piece
> of
> video and delete a part - hey, it plays! This problem doesn't exist in any
> of
> my other video editing software. I'm losing the will to live.... Come on
> Microsoft, pull the finger out!!
> Any suggestions helpful community?!
> Thanks you.
> G

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:46:05 -0700, migrant99
<migrant99@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>My project has a mix of mpegs and avi's and photos and titles. Sometimes the
>timeline will play but add another video and it won't. Splice that piece of
>video and delete a part - hey, it plays! This problem doesn't exist in any of
>my other video editing software. I'm losing the will to live.... Come on
>Microsoft, pull the finger out!!
>Any suggestions helpful community?!
>Thanks you.
>G

It seems Movie Maker doesn't do a good job of transcoding. A good
video editor should be able to handle any supported type of file you
throw on the timeline and transcode (convert it) into whatever file
type your project is set to publish (render). It also seems judging on
what I read here that Movie Maker in very finicky over even the
slightest variation in a file's internal structure and will crash and
burn from the slightest imperfection. Again a sign of a BAD video
editor.

What version of Vista are you using?... the Home Premium and Ultimate
versions have Microsoft's new MPEG2 codec... while other versions would need
an MPEG2 codec added by the computer's OEM or you.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn


"migrant99" <migrant99@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F4801444-C89A-449D-9E4B-BFABA01F2361@microsoft.com...
> My project has a mix of mpegs and avi's and photos and titles. Sometimes
> the
> timeline will play but add another video and it won't. Splice that piece
> of
> video and delete a part - hey, it plays! This problem doesn't exist in any
> of
> my other video editing software. I'm losing the will to live.... Come on
> Microsoft, pull the finger out!!
> Any suggestions helpful community?!
> Thanks you.
> G

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:49:30 -0400, "PapaJohn"
<papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote:

>What version of Vista are you using?... the Home Premium and Ultimate
>versions have Microsoft's new MPEG2 codec... while other versions would need
>an MPEG2 codec added by the computer's OEM or you.


I have several MPEG-2 encoders and Movie Makers is simply too stupid
to know what to do with them. Pathetic.

I have a low end $399 Toshiba Home Basic laptop.... without a DVD burner...

Toshiba put ULead DVD software with an MPEG2 codec on it... I can view
MPEG-2 files in WMP, and make DVD files with the ULead software, but Movie
Maker 6 doesn't effectively use the codec to let me edit movies with MPEG-2
files.

Except for the Home Premium and Ultimate versions (I have an Ultimate system
which has MM6 and handles MPEG2 files fine), the other versions of Vista
work the same as MM2.1 in XP.

The Vista section of my website has tips about Movie Maker 6, covering such
things as this..
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn


"Adam Albright" <AA@ABC.net> wrote in message
news:hvtma3hqjafor692b9re3urpokk95jsc6h@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:49:30 -0400, "PapaJohn"
> <papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote:
>
>>What version of Vista are you using?... the Home Premium and Ultimate
>>versions have Microsoft's new MPEG2 codec... while other versions would
>>need
>>an MPEG2 codec added by the computer's OEM or you.
>
>
> I have several MPEG-2 encoders and Movie Makers is simply too stupid
> to know what to do with them. Pathetic.
>

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:59:10 -0400, "PapaJohn"
<papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote:

>I have a low end $399 Toshiba Home Basic laptop.... without a DVD burner...
>
>Toshiba put ULead DVD software with an MPEG2 codec on it... I can view
>MPEG-2 files in WMP, and make DVD files with the ULead software, but Movie
>Maker 6 doesn't effectively use the codec to let me edit movies with MPEG-2
>files.
>
>Except for the Home Premium and Ultimate versions (I have an Ultimate system
>which has MM6 and handles MPEG2 files fine), the other versions of Vista
>work the same as MM2.1 in XP.
>
>The Vista section of my website has tips about Movie Maker 6, covering such
>things as this..

I assume you are referring to the Compatibility section under
tools/options. Two problems with Microsoft implementation. If you have
all kinds of codecs as I do since I do professional video work
disabling one at a time from such a long list just to see what Movie
Maker chokes on is ridiculous.

What's even lamer is as many people reported and I've experienced
myself is some videos play fine in Media Player, but just choke in
Movie Maker. Only Microsoft is dumb enough to write a operating system
that rumor has it spans 50 million lies of code and still ends up with
a hodgepodge where some Microsoft application understands a certain
codec and others don't. Absurd!

the thread started with migrant 99 asking for suggestions, but not saying
what version of Vista he or she is running... I just stopped by to offer a
comment.

If you're suggesting migrant 99 shift to other software, what software? Lots
of users are interested in knowing. Mine is Adobe Premiere Elements. Start
with a full featured 30 day trial download.

I specialize in things wrong with Movie Maker... so I'm not disagreeing with
you... my main goal is to help users, not knock Microsoft or sell other
apps.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn


"Adam Albright" <AA@ABC.net> wrote in message
news:0o8na35hvjumj7p5uvfi2rrgn0tbu42evm@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:59:10 -0400, "PapaJohn"
> <papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote:
>
>>I have a low end $399 Toshiba Home Basic laptop.... without a DVD
>>burner...
>>
>>Toshiba put ULead DVD software with an MPEG2 codec on it... I can view
>>MPEG-2 files in WMP, and make DVD files with the ULead software, but Movie
>>Maker 6 doesn't effectively use the codec to let me edit movies with
>>MPEG-2
>>files.
>>
>>Except for the Home Premium and Ultimate versions (I have an Ultimate
>>system
>>which has MM6 and handles MPEG2 files fine), the other versions of Vista
>>work the same as MM2.1 in XP.
>>
>>The Vista section of my website has tips about Movie Maker 6, covering
>>such
>>things as this..
>
> I assume you are referring to the Compatibility section under
> tools/options. Two problems with Microsoft implementation. If you have
> all kinds of codecs as I do since I do professional video work
> disabling one at a time from such a long list just to see what Movie
> Maker chokes on is ridiculous.
>
> What's even lamer is as many people reported and I've experienced
> myself is some videos play fine in Media Player, but just choke in
> Movie Maker. Only Microsoft is dumb enough to write a operating system
> that rumor has it spans 50 million lies of code and still ends up with
> a hodgepodge where some Microsoft application understands a certain
> codec and others don't. Absurd!
>

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:36:16 -0400, "PapaJohn"
<papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote:

>the thread started with migrant 99 asking for suggestions, but not saying
>what version of Vista he or she is running... I just stopped by to offer a
>comment.
>
>If you're suggesting migrant 99 shift to other software, what software? Lots
>of users are interested in knowing. Mine is Adobe Premiere Elements. Start
>with a full featured 30 day trial download.
>
>I specialize in things wrong with Movie Maker... so I'm not disagreeing with
>you... my main goal is to help users, not knock Microsoft or sell other
>apps.

I'm not disagreeing with you either. Pointing out how screwed up Movie
Maker is actually is something people should be made aware especially
since my guess a lot of people posting here are new to video editing
and could be thinking they're doing something wrong when they're not,
the fault often being with Movie Maker, Media Player or Photo Gallery.
I assume people posting to a Vista support group are running Vista,
unless they state otherwise.

I've said many times I use Sony's Vegas. A highly respected video
editor among professional ranks. We never could figure out how it got
such a odd name as Vegas. Best guess, you get a lot of bang and glitz
for your buck, so, maybe that's it. <wink>

I also realize Vegas is probably a bit much for casual use. Why Sony
also has a entry level version based on Vegas called their home studio
line. Both have free trials as well.

My view, which I expressed here many times is Microsoft's Movie Maker
is good enough is good enough is all you want. Fine to just see how to
do very basic video editing and probably still fine if you're only
going to make a video just once in awhile.

However if anybody is serious about making videos, then don't walk,
RUN as fast as you can away from Movie Maker. There are many
applications out there that run under Windows that are way better.

My opinion, Elements is ok, but still a basic, somewhat bland entry
level application. While Sony's home studio line includes many of the
way more powerful Vegas features. That makes a HUGE difference in what
you can do and can't.

This page shows what Vegas can do, compared to it's little brother.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...=446&PageID=89

A couple slick features I don't think Elements has, (correct me if I'm
wrong) is Event reverse and track motion. The first is obvious, click
a button play any part of the timeline in reverse, the second allows
you to have multiple videos all merged into the same frame. That means
you can grab a control at the track header and reduce the space Video
A takes up in the frame then add in Video B and do the same. In Vegas
no limit how many, lessor version have limited tracks.

Not that I want to get embroiled in an arguement, but Sony Vegas is not "A
highly respected video editor among professional ranks."

It is certainly a very good editing application, but more prosumer, as a
next step up from the likes of MM.

Why are there so many forums for users of vegas? Why are they full of
problems to answer as well?

The answer is the same as the app I use, Canopus Edius, none are perfect,
there are far to many variables with PC and equipment to test with every
combination, so they do the best they can and then hopefully try to sort out
any problems as they go along.

MM should handle other file types better by now, it is a big paina dn we
argue hard and long for it, but we have to live with what we have, and as
Papajohn says, try to help out those who are experiencing difficulties

--

Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.com


"Adam Albright" <AA@ABC.net> wrote in message
news:9nana39k44nicrq52pntmasbs6hg6cmud3@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:36:16 -0400, "PapaJohn"
> <papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote:
>
>>the thread started with migrant 99 asking for suggestions, but not saying
>>what version of Vista he or she is running... I just stopped by to offer a
>>comment.
>>
>>If you're suggesting migrant 99 shift to other software, what software?
>>Lots
>>of users are interested in knowing. Mine is Adobe Premiere Elements. Start
>>with a full featured 30 day trial download.
>>
>>I specialize in things wrong with Movie Maker... so I'm not disagreeing
>>with
>>you... my main goal is to help users, not knock Microsoft or sell other
>>apps.
>
> I'm not disagreeing with you either. Pointing out how screwed up Movie
> Maker is actually is something people should be made aware especially
> since my guess a lot of people posting here are new to video editing
> and could be thinking they're doing something wrong when they're not,
> the fault often being with Movie Maker, Media Player or Photo Gallery.
> I assume people posting to a Vista support group are running Vista,
> unless they state otherwise.
>
> I've said many times I use Sony's Vegas. A highly respected video
> editor among professional ranks. We never could figure out how it got
> such a odd name as Vegas. Best guess, you get a lot of bang and glitz
> for your buck, so, maybe that's it. <wink>
>
> I also realize Vegas is probably a bit much for casual use. Why Sony
> also has a entry level version based on Vegas called their home studio
> line. Both have free trials as well.
>
> My view, which I expressed here many times is Microsoft's Movie Maker
> is good enough is good enough is all you want. Fine to just see how to
> do very basic video editing and probably still fine if you're only
> going to make a video just once in awhile.
>
> However if anybody is serious about making videos, then don't walk,
> RUN as fast as you can away from Movie Maker. There are many
> applications out there that run under Windows that are way better.
>
> My opinion, Elements is ok, but still a basic, somewhat bland entry
> level application. While Sony's home studio line includes many of the
> way more powerful Vegas features. That makes a HUGE difference in what
> you can do and can't.
>
> This page shows what Vegas can do, compared to it's little brother.
>
> http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...=446&PageID=89
>
> A couple slick features I don't think Elements has, (correct me if I'm
> wrong) is Event reverse and track motion. The first is obvious, click
> a button play any part of the timeline in reverse, the second allows
> you to have multiple videos all merged into the same frame. That means
> you can grab a control at the track header and reduce the space Video
> A takes up in the frame then add in Video B and do the same. In Vegas
> no limit how many, lessor version have limited tracks.
>
>