moviemaker 2 locks up during "saving movie"

[Alan]

I have been using MM2 several times, most recently in February 2004 and have
had no difficulty saving movie files in AVI settings for later rendering
with Sonic MyDVD. My latest movie file ,about 90 minutes long, causes the
computer to lock up after 30 percent or so completion of 'saving movie" in
the AVI settings. Previous movies were about 1 hour or so.

I have lastest drivers on my XP home system, and repeated this twice with
the same results, locking at about the same partial completion point. Then
I defragmented the drive containing the movie files and the same thing
happened again, at 31 % completed. I read something about trying to break
the movie into 3 separate projects, which I did, and I started with the
last 30 minutes of footage, but locked after 20% complete. My movie
consists of 3 avi files which were taken from 3 mini DV tapes and have only
titles inserted throughout the movie, ahead of particular scenes. No
music - only the original sound from the movie. I had thought perhaps
there was some part of the movie file the MM2 does not like, which is why I
started from the end. But this did not work so I am really puzzled. I will
try the middle portion next.

Any ideas?

Alan

 

[Alan]

An update on this:

The middle 30 minutes of movie "saved" taking about 1 hour to do this. So I
thought that was good news. I tried the first 30 minute segment and got to
the last 2 minutes and then got a lockup. Disappointing. So only the
middle saved correctly. Does this relate to something in the file? It
would seem though that there is nothing in common between the beginning and
last movie segments that would cause them to lock up - they probably came
from different original avi files.

alan

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

Alan,

If you haven't seen the Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page of my
website, it might help to browse it... but you seem to be doing fine in
figuring it out.

I don't know enough about your computer or project to make any more specific
suggestions... and my general guidance is on the website page.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org

..

 

[alan]

Thanks PapaJohn - I will look at your website again. One question -
could I be seeing an issue if I have too many simple transitions (
just a fade) between clips? Other than that, and some simple effects
before a title insert such as fade in from black there are no other
special effects. I wonder if the number of such effects can pose a
limitation - I have 1.7 Ghz intel chip with 256 mg RAM and plenty of
hard drive space. Also - could there be some aspect of the avi movie
file that the MM2 does not "like"? I cannot imagine what that could
be but thought I would ask.

alan

 

[Graham Hughes, MVP Digital Media]

256mb of ram is quite a small amount for video editing with XP, which both
take a lot of memory. It would certainly help, but maybe not cure!!! If you
are handy and can get hold of a stick to try, I'd definately do that.
Graham

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

I agree with Graham about your RAM....

If the AVI movie is Divx encoded, you could be seeing quirks with it that
are related to codecs. If it's DV-AVI from a camcorder, the I'd guess it
someplace between your hard drive (tune-up - defrag), virtual memory
setting, and the 'project complexity'.

The limitation seems to be the balance between your total memory (RAM plus
virtual) and the project complexity which needs the memory. The thing I
don't understand yet is why defragging just before saving resolves it many
times... maybe MM2 needs contiguous hard drive space for the temporary files
it creates as a step toward the final one.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org

..

 

[Alan]

I am betting on project complexity and will reduce number of transitions.
Movie was from camcorder, copied onto vhs tape a while back and then onto
mini dv tape and then captured into computer.

I will try and advise.

alan

 

[Alan]

Further on this - complexity is the issue. I reduced the number of
transitions in a 30 minute segement and instead of taking nearly one hour to
'save movie" it took 20 minutes - with no lockup.

Thanks to all. The complexity makes a huge difference. I wonder if adding
more RAM helps to allow moe complex videos?
alan

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

Yes, I would think so..... and so might be tweaking your virtual memory or
swap file settings.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org

..

 

[Grant Johnson]

I fixed a nearly identical problem by increasing the size of my page
file a little...I know how it feels to get to 98% done then 'bang'...