AVI files will not play when dragged onto the WMM storyline.

[lv2sk8te]

I bought a Canon SD850IS and discovered the AVI files are not compatible with
WMM when DRAGGED onto the storyline. They can be imported but once dragged
onto the storyline they will not play, there's no sound, I get a window that
just says "Error" and the WMM program freezes. My previous Canons A45, A75
and my current SD450 AVI files are compatible. What must I do to make the
SD850IS AVI files compatible? I prefer not to download an encoder (tried it)
as this takes waaaay too much time to convert and the quality is disminished.
(I should mention that the AVI files do play in Windows Media Player and the
QuickTime Player.)

 

[John Inzer]

I bought a Canon SD850IS and discovered the AVI files are not
compatible with WMM when DRAGGED onto the storyline. They can be
imported but once dragged onto the storyline they will not play,
there's no sound, I get a window that just says "Error" and the WMM
program freezes. My previous Canons A45, A75 and my current SD450
AVI files are compatible. What must I do to make the SD850IS AVI
files compatible? I prefer not to download an encoder (tried it) as
this takes waaaay too much time to convert and the quality is
disminished. (I should mention that the AVI files do play in Windows
Media Player and the QuickTime Player.)

=================================
Just as an experiment...download the short
sample clip (MVI_0062.AVI) from the following
site and let us know if it will work for you in
Movie Maker.

Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/canon_sd850_samples.html

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[PapaJohn]

I downloaded the test file from Steve's Digicams.... GSpot shows it as a
Motion JPEG file.

I needed an added codec on my XP and Vista systems to have Movie Maker use
such files... the version of ffdshow from this link worked fine on both
systems... letting me edit such files in Movie Maker wihtout having to do
file conversions before importing.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941&package_id=199421

 

[lv2sk8te]

John, I did what you requested. When I dragged the clip onto the storyline
and tried to play it...again, it would not play, there was no sound, I got
the "Error" message window and the WMM program froze. Anymore suggestions?
I love this camera, but it's no good to me unless I can use the video clips
in WMM.

 

[PapaJohn]

if you have a short sample clip you can email... I'll take a look at it.

papajohn ... at.... chartermi..... dot.... net

 

[John Inzer]

John, I did what you requested. When I dragged the clip onto the
storyline and tried to play it...again, it would not play, there was
no sound, I got the "Error" message window and the WMM program froze.
Anymore suggestions? I love this camera, but it's no good to me
unless I can use the video clips in WMM.

==================================
Ok...that verifies that the clip is the issue and
the download Papa John suggested may be
your solution:

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[lv2sk8te]

PapaJohn:
I downloaded the version of ffdshow as suggested and IT WORKED!!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

 

[PapaJohn]

great!!! now you can keep your camera and continue using Movie Maker...

 

[lv2sk8te]

PapaJohn: Unfortunately although WMM will now play the video files since I
downloaded ffdshow, WMM will not let me finish any projects by saving them to
my computer. ffdshow must be blocking it in some manner. Can this be fixed
without too much hassle? I'm afraid I'm going to have to take ffdshow off my
pc if I'm going to make any videos. Which then means I can't use the Canon
SD870IS camera video files :O(

 

[PapaJohn]

you can use the Tools > Options > Compatibility List of MM2.1 and uncheck
the ffdshow line items... which should result in the codec not interfering
with Movie Maker.

 

[lv2sk8te]

Thank you for answering, but now I'm confused. I did a system restore to
before I downloaded ffdshow. I can now save a short movie (7 min), but not
one much larger. Never had this problem before. Did I corrupt WMM? I read
about changing the virtual memory...how do I know how high I can change it to?

Also about ffdshow, how do I get to the Tools> etc of ffdshow and what items
do I unclick should I decide to put ffdshow back on?

 

[PapaJohn]

it's the Tools > Options > Compatibility List of MM2.1, not ffdshow....
assuming you're using version 2.1 of Movie Maker. Version 2.0 doesn't have
the Compatibility List

if you have ffdswhow installed, you would find two line items in the
Comaptibility list, one for audio and one video... they would say
'ffdshow'... you check the line items to have it work with Movie Maker and
uncheck them so Movie Maker doesn't try to use them... if you are having
issues with them. I run with all the line items unchecked, and turn them on
only as needed.

 

[lv2sk8te]

Thank you. I have reinstalled ffdshow, and it seems to be working as you
said. I will watch for any further problems and let you know. Thanks again.