How Do I Convert a 2 GB file?

[Guest]

I'm new to the group, but I've used WMM enough to put small movies together. I
just finished a very large production (timeline says it's one hour and two
minutes long), and it weighs in just a hair under 2 gb. When I go to convert
it
to a computer movie, strange things happen.

Initially the converter says that the estimated time remaining is about 600
minutes, but it soon starts dropping. In about 10 minutes, the estimated time
has dropped to 58 minutes, and the bar shows 20% completed.

From that point, the 20% never changes, and the estimated time begins to
increase. I have let it increase as far as 800 minutes (takes about half an
hour
to get that high). At that point I abort the conversion.

I have an up-to-date computer, an HP 730, Pentium 4 with 500 mg RAM and 200 gb
hard drive. WMM 2.1 with SP2.

Never have seen this happen before. (Never had a production this big!) Any
ideas?

Bob Arr

 

[John Inzer]

I'm new to the group, but I've used WMM enough to put
small movies together. I just finished a very large
production (timeline says it's one hour and two minutes
long), and it weighs in just a hair under 2 gb. When I go
to convert it
to a computer movie, strange things happen.

Initially the converter says that the estimated time
remaining is about 600 minutes, but it soon starts
dropping. In about 10 minutes, the estimated time has
dropped to 58 minutes, and the bar shows 20% completed.

From that point, the 20% never changes, and the estimated
time begins to increase. I have let it increase as far as
800 minutes (takes about half an hour
to get that high). At that point I abort the conversion.

I have an up-to-date computer, an HP 730, Pentium 4 with
500 mg RAM and 200 gb hard drive. WMM 2.1 with SP2.

Never have seen this happen before. (Never had a
production this big!) Any ideas?

Bob Arr

===================================
Maybe the following article will offer some ideas:

Movie Maker 2 - Problem Solving - 'Can't Save a Movie'
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Issues-CantSaveMovie.html

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

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

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Guest]

===================================
Maybe the following article will offer some ideas:

Movie Maker 2 - Problem Solving - 'Can't Save a Movie'
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Issues-CantSaveMovie.html

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Many thanks for the link to PapaJohn's. I think I know what to do now. But
one thing would make it a lot easier:

What’s the easiest way to chop up the timeline into “convertible†smaller
units? Do I have to delete everything that isn’t in the desired small time
block, convert what’s left, then reload the whole project and repeat for each
of the smaller units?

Is there a fast way to “select†a block of clips on the timeline in order to
delete them? (In word processors, you can hold down the left mouse button
and drag across as much text as you like to highlight it, then hit the Delete
key. I guess I’m looking for an MM equivalent.)

Thanks again.

Bob

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

the equivalent is the same as you just described... standard Windows
selection/copy and paste/delete keys...

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

I should have added that, when you select a block of clips in the timeline
and copy them to the clipboard.... you need start a new project and then
paste the contents of the clipboard in.... Movie Maker can't have 2 projects
open at the same time, and you can't run 2 copies of MM2 at the same time.

 

[John Inzer]

Many thanks for the link to PapaJohn's. I think I know
what to do now. But one thing would make it a lot easier:

What’s the easiest way to chop up the timeline into
“convertible†smaller units? Do I have to delete
everything that isn’t in the desired small time block,
convert what’s left, then reload the whole project and
repeat for each of the smaller units?

Is there a fast way to “select†a block of clips on the
timeline in order to delete them? (In word processors,
you can hold down the left mouse button and drag across
as much text as you like to highlight it, then hit the
Delete key. I guess I’m looking for an MM equivalent.)

Thanks again.

Bob

==================================
I'm not positive that I understand the question
but maybe the following steps will help.

Notice that the selected clip in the timeline is
White...if you hold your Ctrl key when left click/
selecting clips....every one you select will turn
White.

Right click the group of White clips and choose
Delete.

If you need to split a clip at a specific point...
Drag the verrtical bar to the position where you
want the split and type...Ctrl+L.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

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

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Guest]

I should have added that, when you select a block of clips in the timeline
and copy them to the clipboard.... you need start a new project and then
paste the contents of the clipboard in.... Movie Maker can't have 2 projects
open at the same time, and you can't run 2 copies of MM2 at the same time.
--

OK, I'm getting closer. But on my MM2.1, while it permits me to select a
continuous string of clips on the video line, it does not let me also select
the Music/Audio and the Title Overlays. (When I try to drop down to the
lower lines, it de-selects the upper lines.)

Is there a trick to getting all four lines of these clips simultaneously?

Bob

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

3 lines... the transitions and audio associated with the video clips go with
them....

I've gotten used to doing it in 3 trips, to copy the clips from each of the
tracks separately... it works sometimes to get more, but the checking to be
sure things are right, and fixing if not, aren't worth the saved efforts.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all. l am the proud possessor of one 991 meg .wma file, and it
works flawlessly.

Tomorrow I'll read up on making a DVD version, but at least the hard part is
done. I split my 2 gb MSWMM files into 5 MSWMM pieces, and was able to
convert each one of them relatively painlessly. I then Imported them into MM
and assembled them on the Timeline. When I saved them as a computer movie, it
took 44 minutes, but at least it worked.

Hope I can find enough info on producing the DVD withough asking for more
help.

Thanks again.

Bob

 

[John Inzer]

Thanks to all. l am the proud possessor of one 991 meg
.wma file, and it works flawlessly.

Tomorrow I'll read up on making a DVD version, but at
least the hard part is done. I split my 2 gb MSWMM files
into 5 MSWMM pieces, and was able to convert each one of
them relatively painlessly. I then Imported them into MM
and assembled them on the Timeline. When I saved them as
a computer movie, it took 44 minutes, but at least it
worked.

Hope I can find enough info on producing the DVD withough
asking for more help.

Thanks again.

Bob

========================================
Maybe these links will get you started:

Turn your Movie Maker 2
video into a DVD
http://tinyurl.com/4k97d

Burn a Movie Maker Project to DVD
http://tinyurl.com/644me

How do I make a DVD
http://www.rehanfx.org/faq.htm

Windows Movie Maker Forums
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/forums/

Movie Maker 2 and DVD Burning Software
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-DVD.html

Burning DVDs With Windows Movie Maker 2
http://tinyurl.com/jqfz

How do I save my movie as a
DV-AVI file in Movie Maker?
http://tinyurl.com/8ktlw


--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

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

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Guest]

========================================
Maybe these links will get you started:

Hi John,

Thanks for all the links. I printed them all out and studied them at length.
Then I downloaded MyDVD ($50) and installed it, read its Tutorial and Help
files. Things looked promising.

In MyDVD, I opened my 911 mg .wmv movie file and built the chapters (13 of
them). When all looked well, I clicked Burn. It took 3 hours, but the
progress was steady. (Pentium 4, 512 ram, 65gb free hd). I could actually
watch the movie in slow motion on the tiny viewer in the Burn panel.

Near the end, after it finished the body of the movie, it worked its way
through four pages of Chapters. Several other very short tasks were completed
(they went by so fast I didn't catch their names). The Overall Progress bar
had been at 99% for several minutes, and the Current Task Completed bar
worked up to 100%. The tiny viewer went black as both bars reached 100%, and
a small message appeared. I just knew it was going to say "Burn successful".
What it actually said was,

80004003 Error while aborting

At the bottom of the Burn panel, it announced

Disc Type DVD 4.7GB Estimated Size 4660.4 MB (39.6 free)

I don't know the significance of that. I wondered if I should have opted for
a lesser resolution before I began the burn. I had chosen the recommended one.

Of course the disc would not work in my DVD player (it never got farther
than "Reading", finally said "Disc error".) Windows Explorer says the disc
itself is empty. Back in the old days I would have thought it never got an
"End of File" marker placed on it, but I don't know the DVD equivalent now.

At any rate, I decided to repeat the process with a different brand of disc
(first was Sony, second CompUSA). The results were identical (including the
three hours).

I think my computer and DVD burner are adequate, but I really could use some
more advice.

Bob

 

[John Inzer]

Hi John,

Thanks for all the links. I printed them all out and
studied them at length. Then I downloaded MyDVD ($50) and
installed it, read its Tutorial and Help files. Things
looked promising.

In MyDVD, I opened my 911 mg .wmv movie file and built
the chapters (13 of them). When all looked well, I
clicked Burn. It took 3 hours, but the progress was
steady. (Pentium 4, 512 ram, 65gb free hd). I could
actually watch the movie in slow motion on the tiny
viewer in the Burn panel.

Near the end, after it finished the body of the movie, it
worked its way through four pages of Chapters. Several
other very short tasks were completed (they went by so
fast I didn't catch their names). The Overall Progress
bar had been at 99% for several minutes, and the Current
Task Completed bar worked up to 100%. The tiny viewer
went black as both bars reached 100%, and a small message
appeared. I just knew it was going to say "Burn
successful". What it actually said was,

80004003 Error while aborting

At the bottom of the Burn panel, it announced

Disc Type DVD 4.7GB Estimated Size 4660.4 MB (39.6 free)

I don't know the significance of that. I wondered if I
should have opted for a lesser resolution before I began
the burn. I had chosen the recommended one.

Of course the disc would not work in my DVD player (it
never got farther
than "Reading", finally said "Disc error".) Windows
Explorer says the disc itself is empty. Back in the old
days I would have thought it never got an "End of File"
marker placed on it, but I don't know the DVD equivalent
now.

At any rate, I decided to repeat the process with a
different brand of disc (first was Sony, second CompUSA).
The results were identical (including the three hours).

I think my computer and DVD burner are adequate, but I
really could use some more advice.

Bob

==================================
Sorry, I don't know what caused the problem.
Maybe Sonic Support can help you:
http://support.sonic.com/
If you search the Knowledge base for ...
Burn
You may find some useful info.

And...PapaJohn uses MyDVD so hopefully he
will offer some advice.

Maybe the following articles will offer some ideas:

Movie Maker 2 and Making DVDs
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-DVD.html

Movie Maker 2 and MyDVD
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-DVD-MyDVD.html


--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

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

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm