Windows Movie Maker

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 17 Oct 2009 6:59 pm

I finally got our pictures together, dragged them into Windows Movie Maker, added some songs to it & burned a CDR..& made 4 copies altogether, one for each kid.. Works great on our computers...Now I have a couple of Questions..

1.. the CDR plays on my computer, & my daughter's computer, but none of the CDR's will play on any of the CDR or DVD players so we can watch them on TV.. Tried several different ones..

2.. Does the disc maybe need to be finalized? if it does, I don't see anywhere that it gives me the option to finalize the disc.. Nero 9 Movie Maker does give the option to finalize the disc, but I find Nero very hard to use compared to Windows Movie Maker

3.. When it comes time to burn the disc, it doesn't give me an option of which drive I want to use to burn the CDR..I have 2 CDR/DVD burners.. Am I missing something?? besides what's on my shoulders..??

Harold Liles Jr · Post by **Harold Liles Jr** » 18 Oct 2009 4:38 am

Did you use CD/R disks or CD/RW? In my experience many units especially older players will not recognize CD/RW. Same goes for DVD units.

Hope that helps

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 18 Oct 2009 6:37 am

Thanks for your reply Harold.. I just used CDR discs.. That is something else about Windows Movie Maker, I don't see an option to save to DVD discs, but can only save to computer or CDR..
There must be an option somewhere to save to DVD, but I can't find it..

John Cipriano · Post by **John Cipriano** » 19 Oct 2009 2:29 pm

Yeah, that's MS for you:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin ... todvd.mspx

Basically it doesn't actually have that function so you need to save it as a DVD-quality AVI file and then use some other software to burn it on to a DVD.

Just so you know, there is a newer version now, called Windows Live Movie Maker: http://download.live.com/moviemaker

But I don't think it can burn DVDs on its own. I think if you have Vista or Win7 the DVD burning is built-in. It's XP that lacks it, but you can always get other software to do it. There is a free version of Nero, also I just found this on Google: http://www.trustfm.net/divx/SoftwareAvi2Dvd.php?b2=1

There's no shortage of DVD-authoring software out there so you should be able to find something that's decent and free. If you have Vista then I think you can just use that.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 19 Oct 2009 2:48 pm

Thanks John, I do have Nero 9 which I bought & probably would burn. It does have a Movie Maker, but I find Windows Movie Maker much easier to use compared to the Nero one.. maybe it's a learning curve I have to learn, but this old head of mine can only absorb so much.. If I download the newer version, do I have to uninstall mine.. My version is 2.1.4026 & at the top it says Version 5.1
John

John Cipriano · Post by **John Cipriano** » 20 Oct 2009 12:23 am

Well it shouldn't be too difficult to make it in Windows Movie Maker and then save it as an AVI (which is detailed in the first half of the MS page I linked earlier), and then make a DVD project in Nero. I use Toast but I imagine it's similar, you just drag in the video files and pick a theme for the menu (or turn off the menu), that's about it.

I'm not sure what format WMM is making for those CDs, maybe Video CD or Super Video CD. But my guess is that you'll have a better shot of playing a DVD rather than a VCD on your DVD player. Some play VCDs, some don't. Then again, not all of them can read burned DVDs, either. Sometimes they only like certain brands, etc. You might just have to do some trial and error.

As far as the new Movie Maker, I just noticed that it's not available for XP. But if you have Vista then you can run both side by side. I am reading that the old one has more features than the new one though, so maybe stick with what you've got

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 20 Oct 2009 9:22 am

Great thanks John.. I downloaded that Prism Video converter, & tried to convert what I've already done into an Avi file, but it gives me errors. I guess lots more trial & experimenting to do.. I will try all your suggestions & see what happens.. What is this Toast program you're talking about.
What I liked about WMM is I just drag the pictures in, & they go in one after another, also find songs I want, & just drag them in one behind the other. Easy, but when I try to save to my computer it just sits there & nothing happens..

John Cipriano · Post by **John Cipriano** » 20 Oct 2009 2:51 pm

Toast is the Mac version of Roxio Creator. Pretty much the same stuff.

No matter what quality setting you use, WMM doesn't do anything when you try to save the video to your computer? Are you getting to this screen? I believe it comes after "Finish Movie" and "Save to My Computer."

If you can't get DV-AVI to work, try some of the other settings. Don't worry about converting just yet, the important thing is that you need Movie Maker to output a video file (.AVI or .WMV).

Just to clarify, the project file for Movie Maker should have the extension .MSWMM, this is not actually a video file but basically a list of files for the project and what order they go in. To make the DVD you need a video file, which again you get by clicking "Save to Computer."

Now, if none of the settings work, it's kind of a shot in the dark but maybe try updating Windows Media Player: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... fault.aspx

In a certain sense Movie Maker depends on Media Player.

Anyway try to get some sort of a file and then worry about converting afterward. You may not need to actually, since I'd be surprised if Nero couldn't read a WMV file and add it to a project.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 20 Oct 2009 9:38 pm

No I didn't get to that screen. When I click on Save To My Computer, nothing happens, it just sits there.. I will update & try it again tomorrow..
maybe a glitch in the program somewhere.
thanks, John