I really need help creating a movie from AVI files

[Claire-Louise]

I really need some help - I've been working on this for 2 solid days with no
luck. I'm trying to create a training movie using some AVI files that I have
captured (with an piece of image capture software, Hypercam).

I can import the AVI files, no problem and the quality of the AVI's is great
(I've played them in movie maker preview and using Window's media player).
However as soon as I drag and drop the clips onto the storyboard the quality
of the clips is completely lost. Subsequently when i save the movie the
quality is rubbish. I've tried changing the outputs / compressing and
uncompressing the files (although this doesn't affect the quality of the AVI
- which is still good).

I would be so grateful for some help on this as my boss is a bit of a
nightmare and if I can't get this movie made I'm going to be for it! Please
help!

Thanks

 

[John Inzer]

I really need some help - I've been working on this for 2 solid days
with no luck. I'm trying to create a training movie using some AVI
files that I have captured (with an piece of image capture software,
Hypercam).

I can import the AVI files, no problem and the quality of the AVI's
is great (I've played them in movie maker preview and using Window's
media player). However as soon as I drag and drop the clips onto the
storyboard the quality of the clips is completely lost. Subsequently
when i save the movie the quality is rubbish. I've tried changing the
outputs / compressing and uncompressing the files (although this
doesn't affect the quality of the AVI - which is still good).

I would be so grateful for some help on this as my boss is a bit of a
nightmare and if I can't get this movie made I'm going to be for it!
Please help!

Thanks

======================================
It's normal for the resolution to be lowered in
the Movie Maker view screen...this does not
affect the finished movie.

For a higher quality result...try using a Custom Profile:

Movie Maker 2 - Saving
Movies - Custom WMV Profiles
http://tinyurl.com/s2vgu
or...
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-SavingMovies-CustomProfiles.html

Right click / Save as...drop it in the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\Profiles folder

More info:

Creating Custom Profiles
for Windows Movie Maker 2
http://tinyurl.com/cuny7
or...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/customprofile.mspx

Even more info
Windows Movie Maker
Custom Export Formats
http://tinyurl.com/dnylc
or...
http://www.jakeludington.com/project_studio/20050909_windows_movie_maker_custom_export_formats.html


Movie Maker 2 -
Quality Settings in Custom Profiles
http://tinyurl.com/258h32
or...
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/95/Quality-Settings-in-Custom-Profiles.aspx
(PapaJohn's Newsletter # 95)

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[Claire-Louise]

Hi John,

Thank you so much for responding. I've checked the websites and they don't
really answer my problem.
The quality of the movie is affected by the clips that I've placed on the
storyboard - however before I drag and drop them the quality is great.
It must be something I'm doing wrong - but I have customised the saving
output options and I still can't get the quality.

Frustrated Claire

 

[John Inzer]

Hi John,

Thank you so much for responding. I've checked the websites and they
don't really answer my problem.
The quality of the movie is affected by the clips that I've placed on
the storyboard - however before I drag and drop them the quality is
great.
It must be something I'm doing wrong - but I have customised the
saving output options and I still can't get the quality.

Frustrated Claire

==================================
Yes...what you are seeing is normal...once
added to the timeline the resolution will appear
to be lowered but it does not affect the saved
movie file.

Did you actually try using a custom profile?

There are several you can download from
the sites I posted for you.

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[colin]

John,

I too have this same problem. It has ben discussed at length on
windowsmoviemakers.net, but no solution for the layman has been found (to my
knowledge). Just as the person above wrote, the avi files are great quality
in Windows Media Player, and even in the preview section of Movie Maker.
When it is moved to the timeline, the quality is very substandard. I can
click on the video in the top part of the movie maker window and it plays
great, and then I click on the video in the timeline and it's terrible.
After publishing the movie (file -> save movie file) into a wmv format, the
quality remains very poor (exactly the same). The avi files are from a
digital camera, and the video quality is not effected. The audio part is:
bit rate: 88 kbps
channels: 1
sample rate: 11 kHz
sample size: 8
I tried to read the link by papajohn you provided, but I do not know what
the "profile editor" or "custom profile" are. I cannot find them in windows
xp, or in the movie maker software. I'm not sure I would know what to do if
I did find them. Please provide more information.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

windows xp pro, sp3
windows movie maker, v 2.1.4026

Thank you,
Colin

 

[John Inzer]

John,

I too have this same problem. It has ben discussed at length on
windowsmoviemakers.net, but no solution for the layman has been found
(to my knowledge). Just as the person above wrote, the avi files are
great quality in Windows Media Player, and even in the preview
section of Movie Maker. When it is moved to the timeline, the quality
is very substandard. I can click on the video in the top part of the
movie maker window and it plays great, and then I click on the video
in the timeline and it's terrible. After publishing the movie (file
-> save movie file) into a wmv format, the quality remains very poor
(exactly the same). The avi files are from a digital camera, and the
video quality is not effected. The audio part is: bit rate: 88 kbps

========================
Read the following articles about Publishing and Profiles:

Windows Vista -
Publish a movie in
Windows Movie Maker
http://tinyurl.com/2lo4gp
or...
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/4ea4b6cd-0cfe-4d02-8122-16c28828cdf21033.mspx

Movie Maker in Vista -
Publishing / Quality Profiles
http://www.papajohn.org/Vista-Publishing.html
==========================

channels: 1
sample rate: 11 kHz
sample size: 8
I tried to read the link by papajohn you provided, but I do not know
what the "profile editor" or "custom profile" are. I cannot find
them in windows xp, or in the movie maker software. I'm not sure I
would know what to do if I did find them. Please provide more
information.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

windows xp pro, sp3
windows movie maker, v 2.1.4026

Thank you,
Colin

=====================
If the following links are not useful...
I don't know what else to offer:

Movie Maker 2 - Saving
Movies - Custom WMV Profiles
http://tinyurl.com/s2vgu
or...
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-SavingMovies-CustomProfiles.html

Right click / Save as...drop it in the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\Profiles folder

More info:

Creating Custom Profiles
for Windows Movie Maker 2
http://tinyurl.com/cuny7
or...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/customprofile.mspx

Even more info
Windows Movie Maker
Custom Export Formats
http://tinyurl.com/dnylc
or...
http://www.jakeludington.com/project_studio/20050909_windows_movie_maker_custom_export_formats.html

Movie Maker 2 -
Quality Settings in Custom Profiles
http://tinyurl.com/258h32
or...
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/95/Quality-Settings-in-Custom-Profiles.aspx
(PapaJohn's Newsletter # 95)

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[colin]

Thanks John, I appreciate your reply.

But... I've gone just about as far down this rabbit hole as far I care to,
and for anyone else that stumbles upon this topic, here are my conclusions:

Windows Movie Maker does not fully support .avi

I read all the links you refered me to with various degrees of
understanding. I did download the Win Media Profile editor with these
settings...
CBR windows media audio 9.2
CBR windows media video 9
NTSC
added target bit rate of 1000 kbps
audio 128 kbps, 44 kHz
....and checked all settings with Microsoft article on the subject, and put
in in the right directory.
I published the movie with my new profile, and the quality was exacly the
same poor, tinny, and distorted quality. (Just as I expected I might add,
because this is not an output problem, it is a problem with how movie maker
interprets the imported avi file. And this, to my knowledge, cannot be
changed by the user.)

I have confirmed what I've read elsewhere that there is a solution whereby
the user can convert all his/her .avi files into .wmv with a third party
tool. Or they can use Windows Media Encoder (which comes in the same
download as the profile editor). This may be more trouble than it's worth
depending on your time, quality requirements, system capabilities, and
knowledge of appropriate encoding settings.

I've used other movie software with avi files where this was not an issue,
but they were more professional and far from free. I just thought I'd give
it a try for home use, but I've wasted 2 days of my life already... Moving
on.

Colin

 

[John Inzer]

Thanks John, I appreciate your reply.

But... I've gone just about as far down this rabbit hole as far I
care to, and for anyone else that stumbles upon this topic, here are
my conclusions:

Windows Movie Maker does not fully support .avi

I read all the links you refered me to with various degrees of
understanding. I did download the Win Media Profile editor with these
settings...
CBR windows media audio 9.2
CBR windows media video 9
NTSC
added target bit rate of 1000 kbps
audio 128 kbps, 44 kHz
...and checked all settings with Microsoft article on the subject,
and put in in the right directory.
I published the movie with my new profile, and the quality was exacly
the same poor, tinny, and distorted quality. (Just as I expected I
might add, because this is not an output problem, it is a problem
with how movie maker interprets the imported avi file. And this, to
my knowledge, cannot be changed by the user.)

I have confirmed what I've read elsewhere that there is a solution
whereby the user can convert all his/her .avi files into .wmv with a
third party tool. Or they can use Windows Media Encoder (which comes
in the same download as the profile editor). This may be more
trouble than it's worth depending on your time, quality requirements,
system capabilities, and knowledge of appropriate encoding settings.

I've used other movie software with avi files where this was not an
issue, but they were more professional and far from free. I just
thought I'd give it a try for home use, but I've wasted 2 days of my
life already... Moving on.

Colin

===================================
There are any number of downloadable profiles
at the PapaJohn links I posted for you. It's quite
clear that we are not communicating...

Editing video and creating DVDs is a complex
subject and there are no simple fits-all answers.

And as for .avi files....there are hundreds of
..avi types and the fully compatible one is
DV-AVI.

Have a look at the following articles:

Movie Maker 2 -
Importing AVI Files
http://tinyurl.com/2nncyj
or...
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Importing-Video-AVI.html

File type compatibility with Movie Maker
http://tinyurl.com/v8tee
or...
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/Tutorials/MovieMaker/File_type_compatibility.htm

Which file type should I use in Movie Maker?
http://tinyurl.com/6n66g3
or...
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/Tutorials/MovieMaker/WhichFileTypeInMovieMaker.htm

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[colin]

John,

I deliberately created my own profile, and the downloadable profiles do not
work either... I think we are communicating just fine.

That said, you did post a more helpful explanation of the avi extention and
how to import it. But, from the article:

"Motion JPEG files, such as those recorded by Canon's TX1 hard drive
camcorder and their PowerShot cameras (such as my model SD750), also have AVI
extensions. Movie Maker should be able to use them without downloading
another codec."

I have a Canon Powershot A570 IS. I believe this quote applies to me, since
after analyzing my avi file with GSpot v2.10a, it said the video codec is
MJPG and audio codec is "PCM Audio". Recall that I have no issues with video
in Movie Maker. For audio, where my problems are, GSpot says "no codec
required" and uses "Default DirectSound Device".

The other link says Movie Maker versions up to 2.1 can have problems with
some avi file types including mine, MJPEG. The specific MJPEG issues,
whatever they may be, were not explained. First article I've seen calling
this out, so thanks for that link. As a last resort, I've even toggled on
and off the video filters from Canon and Nero that Movie Maker may be using
to no avail. I do not understand why the app struggles with the audio part.

The issue remians unresolved, but your links (a few of which I missed in my
own searches) have helped me learn alot. Thanks for that.

The point I was tying to make at the end of my last post is that this
software, while free, may not achieve the ease-of-use intended for many avi
folks (i.e. those using a variety of Canon video capture devices). This file
type, while perhaps not the most popular, should simply drop in and play
without significant quality degradation. It should not require users to
become quasi-experts in video editing, compression, codecs, filters and file
formats.

I welcome any other ideas.

Colin

 

[John Inzer]

John,

I deliberately created my own profile, and the downloadable profiles
do not work either... I think we are communicating just fine.

That said, you did post a more helpful explanation of the avi
extention and how to import it. But, from the article:

"Motion JPEG files, such as those recorded by Canon's TX1 hard drive
camcorder and their PowerShot cameras (such as my model SD750), also
have AVI extensions. Movie Maker should be able to use them without
downloading another codec."

I have a Canon Powershot A570 IS. I believe this quote applies to
me, since after analyzing my avi file with GSpot v2.10a, it said the
video codec is MJPG and audio codec is "PCM Audio". Recall that I
have no issues with video in Movie Maker. For audio, where my
problems are, GSpot says "no codec required" and uses "Default
DirectSound Device".

The other link says Movie Maker versions up to 2.1 can have problems
with some avi file types including mine, MJPEG. The specific MJPEG
issues, whatever they may be, were not explained. First article I've
seen calling this out, so thanks for that link. As a last resort,
I've even toggled on and off the video filters from Canon and Nero
that Movie Maker may be using to no avail. I do not understand why
the app struggles with the audio part.

The issue remians unresolved, but your links (a few of which I missed
in my own searches) have helped me learn alot. Thanks for that.

The point I was tying to make at the end of my last post is that this
software, while free, may not achieve the ease-of-use intended for
many avi folks (i.e. those using a variety of Canon video capture
devices). This file type, while perhaps not the most popular, should
simply drop in and play without significant quality degradation. It
should not require users to become quasi-experts in video editing,
compression, codecs, filters and file formats.

I welcome any other ideas.

Colin

===========================
Thanks for the explanation but I
can't think of a solution for you.

Good luck.

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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]

Hi Colin,

A couple comments about your Canon files....

Motion JPEG files are not highly standardized like DV-AVI and MPEG types.
Although Movie Maker should and can handle most of them, I've run into
issues, and have had a number of support sessions with users having problems
with them in Movie Maker.

My personal rule of thumb when I run into an issue is to convert it to a
DV-AVI file using VirtualDub with the Panasonic DV codec.

GSpot will tell you what it's using to play a file. Windows Media Player
will tell you what it uses (except for Motion JPEG files when it's using the
basic codec in quartz.dll). But players might use different codecs than
Movie Maker, and nothing easily tells you what MM is using.