Trouble saving movie

[Joe McGuire]

I put together a 6 or so minute collection of excerpts from 3 wmv file files
on my external hard disk. Now I want to Finish and save the new movie to
the a folder in which the original files are contained in sub-folders.
However, IK am getting an error message "Cannot Complete the Save Movie
Wizard/Your movie was not saved successfully." The message then tells me to
make sure the original files are still availab le (they are), that the
saving location is still available (as far as I can tell it is) and that
there is sufficient free disc space available (there is). I have not moved
the original files from their locations when I started making the movie.
When I click on Learn more avout saivng movies I am basically told to do
exactly what I was doing unsuccessfully. Just for the heck of it I tried
saving it to my c:\ drive, but got the same error. What am I missing here?
I need to save my 6 minute movie and send it to a client ASAP.

FWIW: I am using WIndows XP Pro SP3 and Windows Movie Maker Version 5.1
(Build 2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435; Service Pack 3). Oddly, the About
window also tells me that I am using Movie Maker version 2.1.4026.0. I am
sure there is a reason it tells me two entirely different versions for the
same software.

 

[PapaJohn]

You have the latest version of Movie Maker for XP....

There are other issues than those in the error message that can prevent you
from saving successfully. Memory needs and codecs are a couple. See my
website's Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page.

 

[Joe McGuire]

After trying a variety of ways in vain, I tried closing all other programs
and saving the 6 minute movie yet again. This time I opened the Windows
Task Manager and watched what was going on in Processes. The CPU figure
varied between 96 and 99 and Memory Usage hovered around 129,852kb. Movie
Maker got to 30 percent before it failed again. It looks like the major
problem is memory. I have a lot more memory than what it is using but there
are a lot of other processes that show up as using memory even though their
CPU figures are all zero. In the Performance tab the graph shows CPU usage
at 100%!

Would it help to shut down other processes that are taking up space in
memory even if they don't seem to be doing anything? If so, is there a
practical way to do that? I have no idea what most of those processes are
anyway. Although WMM claims to be using only 129, 852kb, the net effect of
running it ramps the CPU usage to 100%. Or am I wasting my time (quite a
few hours at this point) with something that is simply impossible for Movie
Maker? I believe I have as much memory in my computer as is possible with
Dell after I expanded it to 2GB earlier this year. And even if I could
further increase the memory, it would take a lot longer than the available
time for my project.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Tried breaking my 6 minute movie into just a minute of each of the 4 clips
from which it was assembled. Worked fine for the first clip. Second
clip--the usual failure.

 

[PapaJohn]

CPU usage of close to 100% is normal and expected during rendering.... it's
more of a problem if CPU usage suddenly falls to low levels and rendering
stops.

Saving a movie isn't a real time process. Movie Maker will take as long as
it needs to finish the job.

 

[PapaJohn]

It's possible the second clip is one that doesn't work in Movie Maker and
needs conversion first... or has a corruption of some sort.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Actually all the files I started with are conversions to wmv. Getting
desperate. Trying other software in the meantime. Not much time left.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Finally gave up. Ended up making 4 short clips using Pinnacle VideoSpin.
Couldn't figure out how to make titles but got the job done well enough.

 

[Gord Dibben]

The 5.1 is your WindowsXP OS version.

The 2.1 is your MovieMaker version.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Defender]

,Let me solve your problem. It's not the program its your updates, there are
files missing. Follow my instructions and get on with your movie.

To address the issue reinstall movie maker by downloading and installing
movie maker at the link below:

That should replace the faulting file so that you can continue to work with
it:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

Dude it works, I had to do it, I was dicking around with it for weeks. only
copying half of the video and all the audio or vise versa. I paid for the
info I'm giving you. You're lacking updates, Windows updates download
everything the link ask you to do , may take two hours but it will not only
fix your problem but enhance your OS as well. good luck.

 

[John Inzer]

,Let me solve your problem. It's not the program its your updates,
there are files missing. Follow my instructions and get on with your
movie.

To address the issue reinstall movie maker by downloading and
installing movie maker at the link below:

That should replace the faulting file so that you can continue to
work with it:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

Dude it works, I had to do it, I was dicking around with it for
weeks. only copying half of the video and all the audio or vise
versa. I paid for the info I'm giving you. You're lacking updates,
Windows updates download everything the link ask you to do , may take
two hours but it will not only fix your problem but enhance your OS
as well. good luck.

=====================================
That's a link for installing WinXP Service Pack 2.

Who did you pay for that we have suggested many
times that you can reinstall Movie Maker by reinstalling
WinXP SP2. WinXP SP3 installs it also.

Here's a link that explains that and several more optiions.

Movie Maker 2.1 Installation
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Setup-Software-2_1.html

--

J. 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

 

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks! I'll give it a try. I think I have WinXP SP3. At least that what
it says in My Computer/Properties. Doesn't that mean I have the SP3 update?
I will reinstall Movie Maker and check to be sure I am (still) getting
Windows updates. Perhaps I inadvertentlky deleted something WMM needs. Who
knows.