Saving my project to a disc, Please Help!!

[Melissa]

I have moviemaker2, and I recently spent a lot of time
making a sentimental family project with photos,images,
and audio. I want to save it to a disc, but I'm having
problems. I have 2 drives on my computer DVD rom and a
CDRW. I have purchased a DVDRW disc and tried to save my
project with no luck. I have been able to save it to a
CDR, but obviously there is no images. I contacted the
manufacturer of my computer, and they said that this is
not possible for me to do unless I purchase DVDRW
hardware and have it internally installed by a
professional. The thing that confuses me is that on the
Movie Maker Web site they direct you to Sonic DVD to be
able to burn your project to a DVD. Also I've seen DVD-
RW drives to purchas that look like you could connect
them externally to a USB port. I've also contacted
Microsoft technical support and they just direct other
places and I don't get ANY answers. I want help from an
educated peer that may actually know what's going on!
Please help me, I'm desperate!

 

[MrMoke]

As you have found, you cannot burn to any DVD media using a CDRW drive.
Additionally, MM2 is meant for the casual user who wants to edit media, and
then save it for computer usage in Microsoft .wmf format that is suitable
for playback with MS Media Player.

If your intent is to create a DVD that can be played on a standard Home
entertainment center or DVD drive, then you will need:
1. Additional hardware (DVD+/-r +/-RW drive) and media.
2. Additional DVD authoring software from vendors such as Pinnacle, Roxio,
Ulead, Nero
www.pinnaclesys.com
www.roxio.com
www.ulead.com
www.nero.com
3. A large hard drive for file storage.

Many of these packages also let you burn VCD ans S-VCD formatted files to
CD's which will play in many of the newer DVD players that recognize MP3 and
computer video disks. This option gives you the ability to play CD and CDRW
disks on DVD players, at a slightly lower resolution that DVD. I recommend
using CD-RW drives for testing this option so you don't make too many
coasters.

If you have no long term goals for future DVD or movie making then another
alternative is to contact local photo shops to see if one has a DVD
authoring service. Take them your files, and let them do the work.

Hope this helps

 

[Melissa]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR EXPERTISE, IT'S SO REFRESHING TO
ACTUALLY GET A RESPONSE FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS SOME REAL
KNOWLEDGE!! YOUR INFO IS MUCH APPRECIATED!!

 

[Vicki]

Hi

Don't dispair, moviemaker2 files can only be written to
disc using a third party program. I personally use Nero
5, after saving your moviemaker project as a movie file
within moviemaker you can then burn it as a VCD on your
DVDRW and also as an image file on your hard drive using
the 3 party burning program. I do hope this is of help to
you, if you have any move problems post another message
and I will look out for it.

Good luck

Vicki