Help us Papajohn, you're our only hope...

[Alan]

When I first started playing with MM2, I was having a bit of fun making
minute long movies from silent avi files and music.
So, I though I'd got the hang of it - then I went and got some source from a
dv-camera, ending up with 3 roughly 800Mb source files. The movie was four
minutes long, and then silly me, I go and try and save my 12 hours of work.
Saves OK as wmv, but I get the same problem as everyone else when trying to
save as dv-avi (or back to the camcorder).

So, I read your site over and over again. I changed the swap file size to
larger than the saved movie. I installed brand new certified drivers for my
S3 graphics card. I bought another 256Mb of RAM. I removed the codecs and
turned hardware acceleration down to 3like you said. None of the sources are
missing and there is LOADS of space to save the file. My laptop is running
totally MS Certified software ("designed for XP logo") I am running DX9, I
am service-packed up to the eyeballs and sick to the teeth of trying to save
this movie and reading the MS Support site pages about this.

MS don't seem to akcnowledge this problem at all, and if it weren't for you,
PJ, we'd be even more stuff.

If I finally get this nightmare saved, that's it with MM2 until a
significant round of bugfixes are released - I'm gonna wait 'til Avid Free
comes out before I touch another bit of digital video!

PJ, we ALL really appreciate your efforts with this, and we realise you're
not an employee, but before this morning I was never a "MS hater" but MM2 is
really starting to get me there!

 

[Alan]

Hi Alan,

Good morning. I guess we're on slightly different schedules, having just
turned my computer on for today.

Probably slightly different continents!

The last thing I decided to do before I
closed down last night was to move the info about removing MM2 onto its own
page so people wouldn't have to go through the full problem-solving
checklist to get to it. Maybe I'll go get it ready for you.

When you were having fun with it, were you able to save as DV-AVI and export
to your camcorder? Can you still save one of the one minute fun ones as
DV-AVI and export it?

Dammit - I deleted the project files and source clips from those!
They were never in DV format anyway - they came from a "still" digital
camera which does clips of 20 seconds and saves it in that awful Quicktime
..mov format. So I just used Radtools to turn them into avis so MM2 could
read them.

What I CAN say is that it WAS saving when the movie was short. I also
remember reading about not being able to save in a different format from the
source clips, but that would mean removing all my still images, which are
about 1/4 of the movie!

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

Alan,

I have more questions than answers.

You can mix different kinds of source files. Shouldn't be an issue. The
movies you showed us on July 4 were great, so you can save them OK as wmv
files.

My guess is that the issue is probably something beyond Movie Maker. When
you select the DV-AVI choice or try to export to a camcorder, Windows XP and
Movie Maker assess your computer/camcorder setup and only provides the
options when they think they can handle it. You mention that it's a laptop
you are using, which typically means it's less powerful than a desktop.

Can you capture from the camcorder in DV-AVI format? Can you save any movie
as DV-AVI, just a short sample will do, like your California Love one? Are
you using a firewire connection with your camcorder? Looking at your videos,
you may be using video clips taken with a digital still camera.

Is this your first venture into DV-AVI files and exporting to a camera?

PapaJohn

 

[Alan]

Alan,

You can mix different kinds of source files. Shouldn't be an issue. The
movies you showed us on July 4 were great, so you can save them OK as wmv
files.

I've appended another message to the end of this one, so you can see that
I'm not the only one with this problem....

My guess is that the issue is probably something beyond Movie Maker. When
you select the DV-AVI choice or try to export to a camcorder, Windows XP and
Movie Maker assess your computer/camcorder setup and only provides the
options when they think they can handle it. You mention that it's a laptop
you are using, which typically means it's less powerful than a desktop.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/releasenotes.asp#1
says:

Recommended: 1.5 gigahertz (GHz) processor, such as an Intel Pentium 4,
AMD Athlon XP 1500+, or equivalent processor
- I have an AMD Athlon XP 1500+

Recommended: 256 MB of RAM
- I have 512Mb

In other words, I meet or exceed all the recommended requirements, not just
the minimum. The only thing I don't have is a second hard drive, but I have
10Gb free trying to save an 800Mb movie

Can you capture from the camcorder in DV-AVI format? Can you save any movie
as DV-AVI, just a short sample will do, like your California Love one?

Yes. To both PC and camera. To clarify things, when I try and save the
problem movie to the camera, it does the "creating space" and then says
"failed to save movie to camera". When I try and save it as a dv-avi it does
the "sources may be missing" nonsense.

Are
you using a firewire connection with your camcorder? Looking at your videos,
you may be using video clips taken with a digital still camera.

Yes, firewire both ways. The previous films were made with stills and movs
converted to avi. This latest movie is a mixture of dv-capture, still images
and two transitions from the add-on pack (which I have tried removing
again, but problem remains).

Is this your first venture into DV-AVI files and exporting to a camera?

PapaJohn

----- Original Message -----
From: "mb" <matt.b@%nospam%myrealbox.com>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 6:28 AM
Subject: Re: Can't save larger movies!!

 

[PapaJohn]

Speaking of add-on packs, if you include a transition from one of them and
then later remove the add-on software, the storybook view will show a big X
for the missing transition file.

For a special video effect, you won't get any feedback that the file is
missing. No X in the timeline or storyboard view. And rendering the movie
with the missing effect would result in really weird things.

PapaJohn




This latest movie is a mixture of dv-capture, still images

 

[Alan]

Speaking of add-on packs, if you include a transition from one of them and
then later remove the add-on software, the storybook view will show a big X
for the missing transition file.

For a special video effect, you won't get any feedback that the file is
missing. No X in the timeline or storyboard view. And rendering the movie
with the missing effect would result in really weird things.

Sorry, when I said add-on pack, I didn't mean the Plus pack, I just meant
the end title pack - standard wmv. And they are definitely still there.

 

[PapaJohn]

Received your project file. It opened and previews fine in MM2, as well as
it can without 98% of the source files

Have you tried rendering the movie without the MP3 and AVI files on the
audio/music track? Just thinking of how best to test it - to zero in on the
problem area(s).

Lot's of people seem to have issues with saving. I appreciate your work at
your end, even if it's the last step toward moving on from MM2 to something
else.

PapaJohn