Slideshow goes black in playback & possible workaround

[Paul]

I've been searching for hours for solutions and realize
my problem is similar, but possibly not exactly like
others have experienced before.

Basically, I've imported a ton of pictures & audio,
making a slideshow. In the PREVIEW window, it plays
perfectly, unlike the other posts I've read. My problem
is when I save it to my computer, eventually the jpg's
stop showing up, just a black screen. But the audio and
the Title Overlays still show (never read about this
before) All pictures are 1600x1200 jpg's.

I can take the same exact project, export it 5 times, and
the spot it starts going blank changes every time. I've
taken the saved files to other computers, and it's not
just my computer on playback. For each individual file,
it goes black at the same place consistently.

Unless I've misunderstood, it's also not a codec issue.
Atleast not the normal one as I understand it, because
exporting as AVI also has this issue. However, if I
choose "Video for Broadband - 512" the video is perfect
(at least on 3 tries so far). I've tried most of the
other options, and the others all have the black screen
problem.

Any thoughts? I can export the video under one option so
it's not critical, but it would be nice to be able to
save at a higher bitrate/resolution. I'm also wondering
if anyone is having the exact same problem, or if
the "Video for Broadband" solution works for anyone else
having similar black screen issues.

 

[PapaJohn]

Paul,

If it's a large project I'd think it's between tuning up your hard drive
(free space and defrag) and your computer's memory.

I'm working on one project now that is just over 16 minutes and I'm starting
to reach the point that it won't save... stopped about 22% last night on a
couple attempts. By restarting/rebooting, turning off things like my wi-fi
connection, etc., it rendered fine.

But I'm not finished with the project yet, so I'll get a lot more chances to
test it.
--
PapaJohn
Movie Maker 2: www.papajohn.org
PhotoStory 2: www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
..

 

[Guest]

First, thanks for replying.

It's funny you mention that, because my movie is just
over 16 minutes also...interesting...However, I have
almost 20 GB of free space, 1 GB of RAM, and minimal
processes running in the background. I'll try
defragging, though, and see if that helps.

Thanks again.

 

[John Kelly]

Hi Paul,

As the process of compiling a video (Rather than capturing one) is not
time dependent messing around with your hard drive or "tuning up your ram"
will have no effect what so ever on the quality or whether it will save or
not. The obvious exception id where you have so little RAM that windows is
on the verge of collapse anyway or there is insufficient space on your hard
drive.

Defragmenting the hard drive using windows XP defragmenter actually
makes the issue worse (If the issue is due to pockets of free space on a
drive, it becomes an issue when the time dependency is adversely affected by
the drive heads jumping all over the place to the next free space on the
drive) Use a product like the defrag program that comes with Symantec System
works...it defrags the drive rather than just the files...there is a huge
difference between those two.

I have a few hints on my FAQ and tutorial about Movie Maker and Hard
drives that might help. In particular the comments on speeding it up and
what to NOT have running when doing a capture. I realise you are not
capturing, but I do think that system resources on your machine might just
be at a premium.

Your problem is either going to be system resources (gradually being
consumed by Movie Maker or any other program that is running) or maybe a
codec. It might be a codec that on any other machine with more resources
would not cause a problem. If I have understood what you were saying the
freeze up appears random. There is no such thing of course with a computer
(Try running a random number generator as soon as the computer is powered up
and at the same instant in time (by the computers clock) you will always get
the same number generated.)

One option (and this depends on how you installed all other software) is
to create a new user and run Movie Maker from there. If you have installed
all other software so that any user can run it, then that option will not
work without some more work that can be lengthy and perhaps counter
productive (All other programs would have to be made inaccessible to the
"new user"

You could try using the Rename Codec program from my site (See the short
tutorial first) and see if it helps. It may or may not work, you loose
nothing if it does not. I think your best bet will be to eliminate all other
resource consuming programs first.

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk

 

[Dave]

Paul,
I'm sorry that I don't have a solution, but I can report
that I have the EXACT same problem. I have a slideshow
of pictures from my digital camera that runs 14:40 and
has 3 MP3 tracks that play, and a transition between each
picture. Just about every time I create a movie, the
spot where it freezes changes ... sometimes its at a
black screen, other times just on one of the pictures.
In all cases the music keeps playing as normal, but the
video is stuck. I had tried just about every output
option except the Broadband 512. I tried it just now and
it worked, so thank you for posting that! Hopefully
someone else can contribute some ideas on how to fix our
problem ...