Windows MovieMaker

[Rob Sbaglia]

Hi everyone,

I'm really hoping that someone out there is a video expert.

Like most people, I have had mixed experiences with Windows MovieMaker (WMM). In some schools it works without a hitch; in others, it is plagued with problems. I know that much of this has to do with the conflict of codecs and suchlike which I don't really understand. Today I've been at a school where MPEG format movies were able to be played by netbook Media Players, but when imported into Windows MovieMaker, only the audio remained. Very odd.

Anyway, what cameras would people recommend for use with WMM? I've had few problems with flip cams, but is this due to the file type created by the camera? Does anybody have any advice on how I can help schools use WMM with minimal problems?

I know it's not a great program, and I know what Mac users will tell me, but for video editing, it seems we're stuck with it (unless you can suggest a better program!)

Cheers,
Rob.

[Darrel]

Hi Rob,
No PC bashing from me! WMM will give you a result. The flip cameras usually have the codecs on the USB drive and usually work well after they have been installed. The codec is Divx AFAIK. What version of windows are you talking about? I have seen different versions of XP work flawlessly, or in other cases crash consistently.
What are the experiences of others?

[Rob Sbaglia]

I'm referring to the netbooks actually. The video files were created by a camcorder thingy rather than a FlipCam. I did suggest that maybe they invest in some Flips.

I'm disappointed you didn't have a pop!

[Narissa Leung]

Hi Rob,
I have had THE most painful video experience with a JVC Everio camcorder. In fact, cutting off my left arm would be less painful than trying to load one of the video clips onto WMM.
"oh yes this would be very easy for students to use" says the lady at the camera shop. ( I should have known not to listen to her advice when I saw her trying to work out how to attach it to the tripod-if only the camera had of been turned on at that moment!)
The beloved Everio saves the files into a file format only known to one program- JVC's own Cyberlink- looks like a good program but you have to pay extra $$$ to get the full copy. In order to use it with WMM you have to convert the files into something recognizable by it. This is done by purchasing video conversion software such as Prism from the internet. (More $$- about $40 in fact)
What a long drawn out and tiring process, particular for those who are technologically challenged to begin with.
In the end- buy a Flip and be done with the silly other thing.

I am a liker of WMM- I have found it to be quite user friendly however nowhere near as good as iMovie.

[Marcellinus]

WMM is great value for the price! Codecs are normally the issue though. Try the combined Community Codec pack http://www.cccp-project.net/ and most codec issues on a pc will disappear! The flip cam codec is on the camera and normally fixes all the issues. I had a similar issue on new imacs and the latest version of imovie recently and it required the mac version of the codec to be intalled too.

[Darrel]

Thanks Mark,
I haven't come across the cccp. I'll give it a go and recommend it to schools if it works well.
cheers