Thread: Windows Movie Maker

I use windows movie maker im looking for a better program becasue movie maker freezes on me ervery two seconds. The problem is I cant find another program that does what movie maker does in that MM takes the clips improted to its library and usses a wizard to cut it. This makes the ediditing process atleast for me more easier. So far I cant find another program besides pinaccle that does it. THe problem with that is that it dosnt use wmv. Atleast my version wich is 8 that came with my USB capture device. ANyonw have any suggestions. Dont suggest vegas video cause I used the 30 day trial and it didnt work.

Are you using wmv because you only want to put movies on the Internet or is the capacity of your hard disk very small? If it is neither of these, then start using avi format files as the quality is much better. Is there some reason why you are capturing using USB? If you have Firewire on your camcorder then use that instead, it is the de facto capture method. USB is only used for still capture and web streaming. You should download a few more 30 day trial versions of the popular editors and see which one does the best job or look up reviews on the Internet and see which ones offer the features you are after. I can't remember if Adobe Premiere Elements 2 (APE2) has that automatic function you mention, but it is a very good editor and at a very good price.

There is two reasons why WMM is frezing up on you.
HARDWARE

RAM - You will need atleast 1 Gigabyte of RAM for basic Video editing software
Processor - is old and slow you want atleast a 1.4GHz CPU

Software:
If your running a 32 bit system get WMM2 its fixes most of the issues that were with WMM1
try downloading Windows Media encoder this will give you a few more options

ok I have 1.46GB of ram and a 2.4Ghz processor. Its not my hardware. Now does anyone now a program that can do what WMM2 does.

I see, Your system is not built correctly,
I would assume that your processor is a Intel celleron processor, Not good

Also the Dual channel RAM that you are using is NOT able to run correctly as it would need to be equal, thats two or four matching sticks of the same size, spec and speeds.

Originally Posted by GTWCMT

I see, Your system is not built correctly,
I would assume that your processor is a Intel celleron processor, Not good

Also the Dual channel RAM that you are using is NOT able to run correctly as it would need to be equal, thats two or four matching sticks of the same size, spec and speeds.

The processor is the default processor that came witht he computer it is an Intell Pentium 4 2.4GHz proccessor. Also I was ahving freezing problems before I upgraded the ram and pc over the summer. I think its a combonation of all these things that are casuing problems. I think its the processor speed I think its just that the computer can access the file fast enough. The freezing usually takes place whwn im watching the edited video or the original files. It probabaly my proccessor if anything. Also would the fact that I keep all my files on an external hardrive have anything to do with it?

This will work with any editing software and does just what you want. This is also good for people capturing old VHS tapes to convert to DVD. It splits up the captured video so it doesn't get out of sync. Works great!

http://www.scenalyzer.com/

I think there is a hardware problem here. WMM freezes and vegas trail 'wont work'. As Niko. says you must also capture with firewaire and keep the file as a DV .avi for best quality and editing performance.

Do you have probs with any other cpu heavy apps on your PC ? Video work is very cpu intensive and will show any problems, such as inadequate cooling.

I fear just looking for a different piece of software may be just avoiding the probelm, a problem that may just reoccur anyway.

Try running a cpu heavy soak test, sisoft sandra (free) has some.

Hi Sonic,

I don't think your PC is to blame - it's better than mine and I edit fine.

I have been trying to interpret what your problem is. Am I right that when you refer to the wizard in MM that this is the feature that 'splits' large avi files into smaller ones based on scene change detection?

If so, I recently answered a query from a guy who was using the same feature - it may help for you to read it (http://www.videoforums.co.uk/general...direction.html). The guy was capturing footage from his camera as one huge, continuous DVAVI file, and then MM was auto 'splitting' it.

The problem with using this method of capture is that the file size of the AVI file is huge, putting an enormous strain on the PC. The auto split function in MM does not, I believe, actually physically split the file - it just makes distinct references to parts of it. (Will someone please confirm this?)

A more manageable way of capturing footage from your camera is to have your capture software automatically split the footage into smaller DVAVI files, based upon the timecode changes on the tape - ie, the software captures individual clips, not an entire tape run. Most editing software can capture in this way - I'm not sure about MM. But there is a freeware utility that will do it for you with ease - WinDV (I seem to mention this program in almost every post I leave in these forums - I'm not on commission, I promise). See above post for more info.

Having smaller clips will make editing easier, taking the strain off the PC. By reviewing your clips and categorising them as Good, Average and Useless, for example, you will also be able to chuck out the crap clips without importing them into your editing software.

This advice all assumes several things:

Is your camera miniDV? If it is an analogue camera, scene detection based on tape timecode is not possible - you should capture 5 minute 'chunks' instead.

Are you capturing and editing using DVAVI files or WMV files? Don't capture as or edit with WMV files - choose DVAVI - they may be bigger but editing software programs prefer DVAVI files over any other type. WMV is a delivery format, not an editing one.

Finally, having the files on an external drive may very well slow things down, particulary if they are several Gigabytes big! All that data has to flow up and down the USB cable before your editing software can do anything to it. As fast as USB 2.0 is, it cannot compete with the data transfer speed of a spacious, defragged, modern internal hard drive.

My system has two internal hard drives: a system C drive and a roomy D drive. My video editing project files and associated media files are always stored on the D drive. My external hard drive is used simply to back up and archive projects.

Hope this helps

Ok I need to be more clear. Im not capturing. Ive been downloading 30sec-5:00min clips off the web. Weather it be bittorrent or just some random site. WMM does what you said and the wizard when there in the collection section of WMM splits them for easier use. I need a program that does this. I know its WMM becasue when I used the trials of premier and vegas they both worked mine. But they dont do the splitting that WMM does.

Also I would like to speak to you guys directly. IM me on aim at sonic6098