Can't Save Movie. Tried Everything. Help?!

[Guest]

This is very long; I apologize for that, but I want to explain the whole
situation so that I don't waste anyone's time with suggestions that I've
already tried.

Long story short, I am unable to save my movie onto my computer.

Here are the details:
I created a movie in WMM. It is 14 minutes long, 216 MB, and contains
literally hundreds of still photos (all of which have some kind of effect or
transition added to them), approximately 20 short video clips, at least 10
different songs, and many titles.

It runs just fine in WMM - I am able to view the entire movie in the small
preview box, with no stalling or problems.

I have "saved" it twice, and I THINK it worked properly (I say that I THINK
it saved properly because I didn't actually watch it save. it remained on the
"Estimating Saving Time" screen for so long, I left the room. and when I came
back a few hours later, the movie had been "saved.")

BUT, when I go to open the saved movie, it only plays the SOUND. NO video at
all. The sound is flawless, beginning to end, but the video is TOTALLY blank.

I attempted to save it many more times. Each time, it again remained on the
"Estimating Saving Time" screen for a VERY long time - like 30 minutes - but
this time, it NEVER began saving. Instead, after 30-plus minutes of just
staying on that screen, I received the following message:
"Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location. Verify
that the original source files used in your movie are still available, that
the saving location is still available, and that there is enough free disk
space available, and then try again."

First, I looked into the memory on my computer to see if there was enough
free space. As I said, my movie is 216 MB. There is more than 10 GB of
memory available on my computer.

I also looked into increasing the Virtual Memory on my computer (in case the
movie is too complex). However, I have more than 11,100 MB listed as Space
Available in virtual memory. The maximum file size is set at 1200 MB.

This leaves me with a problem with one of my original source files.
According to Movie Maker Help, this means that one of my files was moved from
its original location or is no longer available. To my knowledge, I have not
moved ANY of my files since importing them to WMM. And NONE of my files has
the red X on it, indicating that it's no longer available.

If there IS a problem with one of my source files, how do I know which
one(s) are the culprits? I have literally HUNDREDS of files in my movie, and
I have no idea how determine which single one of those hundreds might be the
corrupt.
If there is NOT a problem with one of my source files and my memory capacity
is just fine, what's next? How do I save my movie???

I have not yet tried dividing the movie 3 parts and then piecing the parts
back together as a new movie, then trying to save again.
Do you think this would help?

I also have not tried saving the movie to the Internet. Would this work,
instead?

This is a VERY important project to me - a video documenting my daughter's
first year. We were going to show it on her birthday. which was yesterday.
We'd also planned to give the movie to family for Christmas. I have spent at
LEAST 25 hours on it, which not only means time put into the program itself,
but time away from my family! To have it not save now and be un-playable is
INCREDIBLY frustrating and angering. Adding to my frustration is that any
single attempt at fixing the problem takes FOREVER because the program is SO
slow.

(Yes, I looked at the codecs on my computer - there do not seem to be any
troubles there. I have also adjusted the Hardware Acceleration. that hasn't
done anything, either.)

Can ANYONE help??? I have read many websites to try to save my movie
(including all of PapaJohn's "Can't Save a Movie" information), and I have
done everything that is listed to the best of my ability. I do admit that my
ability is limited, however, so I might be doing things incorrectly or
incompletely. I'm not the most computer-literate person!!

I am absolutely at my wits' end, and heartbroken to boot. I'll even PAY
someone to help me fix things - Geek Squad? Anyone. I just want this movie
to save so all of my hard work hasn't gone to waste, and we can share this
gift with our families.

Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to offer.

Emily

 

[Wojo]

There are a few possibilities here.
The first, and most likely since the project is so large, is the complexity
issue that you alluded to. Splitting the project up would do the trick if
that is the problem. See my website "Video Editing -> Movie Maker -> Split
up a Project due to complexity issues" or follow this link directly to that
page:
http://www.remember-christopher.dostweb.com/Wojos_Web/Editing/How-To/SplitProject.htm
Another high possibility is either in the 20 video clips or the 10 songs.
If the video clips are MPEG then that will almost certainly not work and
cause these issues.
(Convert to AVI)
If the songs are MP3 then it is possible that they could cause these
problems.
(Convert to WMA or WAV)
One of these 3 things is likely to be the issue.
I would check to see if the video clips are MPEG first since that is easy to
do and if they are I can almost guarantee an issue.
Then I would check to see if the audio is MP3 since that is also easy to do,
but that doesn't always cause problems as MPEG files do.
Then I would consider the splitting of the video. If the first 2 are not the
issue then this almost certainly is but it is the hardest fix which is why I
would check the other two out first.
-Wojo

 

[Graham Hughes]

Along with Wojo's suggestions I'd add, JPEG stills are not good with Mm
sometimes so using Bitmaps might be an option.
You could try saving the movie to the lowest option, such as pocket pc, as
this will take much less resources from the pc, and also will save much
quicker. Before you do it, go make a cup of tea and sit and watch it, to see
what happens

--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.co.uk
www.dvds2treasure.com
www.simplydv.com

 

[Wojo]

Oops, I agree with Graham and for whatever reason didn't mention JPG's

 

[Guest]

Thanks very much. I checked all of my videos -- each one is saved as a WMA
file, not an MPEG. So, I don't think that's the problem... is it??

Two of my songs are MP3s; the rest are WMA files. I'll convert the two to
MP3 and then try saving again.

After that, if it still won't save, I'll break up the movie.

Speaking of which -- if I want to break it into 3 sections... do I really
need to break it into NINE sectons: 3 video sections, 3 audio, and 3 text??
Or can I copy the video, audio, and corresponding text all at once in order
to paste it into a new file?

THANKS again. I'll let you know how it goes.
Emily

 

[Guest]

OK. I went through all of my files and made sure that none of the video
files were MPEG (they're all WMA) and that all of the audio clips were MP3s
(they're all WMA now, too).

Yes, all of my photos are JPEGs... but, realistically, there's no way I can
convert every single one of the hundreds of photos into bitmaps, and then
re-insert them into the movie. So..... I'll leave them at this point.

Tried saving again.

It would not save (received same error message).

I'm now in the process of splitting up the video into 3 sections, saving
each individually, and then importing them into a 3rd video to make it whole
again.

Wish me luck!

 

[Guest]

I am having the exact same problem. Please let me know if you find out
anything. I have a program from Windows Movie Maker documenting my Mom's
life and want to save it to DVD for Christmas presents and it won't save.
Isn't there live support for movie maker?

 

[Guest]

I am having the exact same problem. Please let me know if you find out
anything. I have a program from Windows Movie Maker documenting my Mom's
life and want to save it to DVD for Christmas presents and it won't save.
Isn't there live support for movie maker?

 

[Guest]

You wrote-
Yes, all of my photos are JPEGs... but, realistically, there's no way I can
convert every single one of the hundreds of photos into bitmaps, and then
re-insert them into the movie. So..... I'll leave them at this point.

Yes, you can convert hundreds of photos to bitmaps in one minute.
Download IrfanView from www.irfanView.com .
Once you install this very handy program, go to File,
choose-"Batch conversion/Rename" Choose the Output directory so you will be
able to find the converted files when done.
Choose Work as, Batch Conversion and the output format choose-
BMP, WINDOWS BITMAP.
Now find the directory where your photos are and drag all these jpeg files
from the right into the left panel and click START. All these files will be
converted to BMP and stored in the directory you chose.
Hope this will help you.
I myself have a problem with saving, I dont know which option to choose
there are so many. My final goal is to burn my home videos on a cd so whats
the right format to save as????? maybe you can help me???
Thanks, Leah

 

[Wojo]

Miss Emtoo:
To add to that:
You actually have 2 easy choices as far as putting the new BMP files back
into your project:
1) You can rename the BMP extensions to JPG and move them to the same
directory the JPG's were originally stored (make sure you move the originals
to a safe place first in case something goes, to coin a phrase from Graham,
pear shaped) then Movie Maker will look in that directory for JPG's and find
JPG's and they will still load normally.
2) If you move the original JPG's to a different location when you open the
project it will contain red X's in place of the pictures. Right Click and
click locate. Then navigate to the new BMP's and select the correct one.
After doing a couple Movie Maker usually gets the idea and they will all
appear. Since you are working with a different extension this seems to only
work sometimes but if it does it will save you a lot of clicking.

Leah:
You are saving to DVD so you have to look at a couple things as far as which
format to use when saving.
If you are working with video clips then you will want to use DV-AVI.
If your project only contains images and audio then High Quality (NTSC) is
the better choice.
If you are only working with images and audio then the BEST choice IMO is to
use Photo Story 3 instead of Movie Maker to make a WMV file.
I wrote a page on the subject of which setting to choose on my website.
[Video Editing -> Movie Maker -> How-To's "What video format should I use to
save my project?"]
http://www.remember-christopher.dostweb.com/Wojos_Web/Editing/How-To/SaveFormats.htm
Hope that helps
-Wojo