Hello there,
You sound as though you are suffering from a codec problem. There are two root
causes and below you will find the solution for each together with some notes
on other issues.
Option 1)
The one stop solution for that is a program called Rename Codecs and it is
available from my web site (Free). Make sure you check out the FAQ, on the
site, on what it does and how to run it (That will take about one minute of
your time!!) All the info you need is on the web site. The latest version is
1.51.
This reassuringly safe to use program requires no knowledge on your part about
what it is doing or how it is doing it or what it is doing it too!!! neither do
you need to know where any of these files are or whether it is safe to rename
them or not.....and best of all, ITS FREE !!!
Option 2)
If this does not solve your problem then try the following out...it has proved
to be a successful procedure for a variety of problems.
1) Download the full version of DirectX Ver 9.0c, Media Player 9 (10 if you
prefer), and Service Pack 2(SP2).
2) Reboot you computer and Install DirectX
3) Reboot again and install Windows Media Player
4) Reboot yet again and install Service Pack 2
5) Reboot one more time
Yes it sounds very tedious, but if you want to be certain all file locks are
removed so that the correct files can be installed this is the way you have to
go.
It is very important that you only download the full versions of these programs
and that you DO NOT attempt an install over the internet.
Other Notes
===========
Graphic Card Acceleration
-------------------------
There is advice floating around that you should disable the graphics
acceleration abilities of your graphics card if Movie Maker locks up or crashes
out. Doing this is roughly equivalent to taking out your current graphics card
and replacing it with an Etch-o-Sketch toy.
The Graphics card on the machine I edit on is a cut above the average, it has
DV In & Out as well as Video In & Out. It does all sorts of clever things and
it is extremely fast. Then the day came when I tried Movie Maker 2 for the
first time. It was a disaster. Knowing what the problem was I immediately
logged on to Microsoft and got the latest driver. There was no change with the
performance of the Graphics card with respect to Movie Maker. After a lot of
messing about I went to the cards manufacturer and downloaded there most recent
driver. I was convinced that the one from Microsoft was in some way defective.
It turned out that I was right but for the wrong reason.
The version of the driver from Microsoft was more recent than the one on my
system AND more recent than the one from the OEM.BUT, the OEM had made minor
changes to how the card worked and these were not taken into consideration by
the Microsoft update!!!
So, do not get the generic update from Microsoft until you have tried the
latest driver from the manufacturer of your card.
Registration
------------
There is in my view some very bad advice floating around that tells you to
unregister the offending codec. If you take this advise be warned that
unregistering any file and doing it wrong will more than likely stop the
program that file belongs to from working all together and may in an extreme
situation cause your entire XP system to fail. This is true whether you make a
mistake using the Registry editor or the registration program itself, one
mistake and you are potentially in deep trouble. Whatever you unregister in
this manner has to be restored and you should take note that the registration
of a codec can often involve more than one registry entry. If you are expert in
these matters you will have no problem.
I have also found that MP3, Mpeg and Jpeg files can cause problems, So...
Convert all MP3 to WAV or WMA
Convert all MPeg to AVI
Convert all Jpeg to BMP
Video Conversion
------------------------
For Video Conversion you should also check out the Knowledge Base Section of my
"Great Links > Knowledge Base" One of the website's in there called "Video
Help" has the best collection of useful information I have yet come across on
converting between the various formats together with links to the software
needed.
Image Size
----------------
There is a lot of very bad advice being given out on Aspect Ratios in relation
to still images. The short version of the advice you actually need is this.
16:9
-----
If you want a 16:9 ratio final product (video) you should crop your image to
the ratio of 16:9. In addition (talking in terms of PAL) you should use your
favorite image editor to resize the image so that is 576 pixels tall...the
width takes care of itself if you cropped it to 16:9.
4:3
---
If you want a 4:3 picture (older style TV screen) then crop it to that ratio,
then resize the image so that its height is......576 (Pal measurement), again
the width takes care of itself.
Weird Sizes
-----------------
Under no circumstances should you EVER create or resize an image so that's its
dimensions are something like 800 x 600....if you do you will get a slightly
blurred image...and no amount of tinkering around the edges will ever put it
right. See the FAQ on Movie Maker and Ratio on my website for a more detailed
example of why that image will blur.
Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at The Kellys
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