dumb Windows question

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:10pm

Okay, I am editing some video files for a friend, and the Windows Movie Maker doesnt recognize the files I copied from the dvd.

How can I convert the files to mpg or something else?

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:23pm

You need to save them as DVI files when you import/capture them.

Capturing video in MovieMaker 2 ... which format to choose?
Last updated 6-10-03

Transferring video from a digital camcorder and capturing it onto your hard-drive can be difficult. That’s because digital video creates enormous file sizes that can be difficult to save onto your computer’s hard drive. Until recently, video capture was the hardest step for the home video maker as it was fraught with hardware conflicts, system crashes, and dropped frames … and tended to progress toward splitting headaches.

Fortunately, Microsoft’s latest video editing software, Movie Maker 2, makes the capture process relatively painless. This is due in part from the Windows XP operating system and its built-in native support for capturing digital video and digital pictures. On top of that, Moviemaker’s capture wizard is simple, straightforward, and a huge boon for the amateur video maker who wants to jump into computer video and not worry about the idiosyncrosies of capturing. .

However, before you capture video in Movie Maker 2, you have to answer an important question:

What format do you want to capture into?

You see, MovieMaker lets you capture in both the traditional DV-AVI format, and also in its own WMV format. Each has its own merits, so I’d like to tell you more about each of these formats so you can make an informed decision.


The DV-AVI format
The first format you capture into is DV-AVI. This format, also known as DV or “digital video” is the video compression format that your camcorder captures onto tape. Thus, when you film a video, your camcorder saves the video information onto magnetic tape as a series of “0s and 1s” in the DV-AVI format. This digital format is great, as the video is saved at an outstanding resolution of 720x480 pixels running at 30 frames per second. In other words, you are getting video that is potentially higher quality than a commercial DVD. DV-AVI is the capture and editing format of choice for all other video software programs and any video-related software will recognize and work with this format.



However, the digital video format is not without its problems … the major inconvenience being the huge file sizes. You see, DV-AVI video takes up a lot of space. Each minute of video takes up a whooping 200 megs of space on your computer's hard-drive. That means an hour tape will occupy about 13 gigabytes of hard-drive space … that’s a lot of space!

Because the format is so big, many older home computers have problem capturing and saving the video fast enough, resulting in “dropped frames” whenever the computer’s hard-drive slows down below a critical level. Fortunately, almost all computers running Windows XP are fast enough to capture DV-AVI video, so this isn’t really an issue. Still, if you don’t have much hard drive space available you’re going to run into problems. Most intermediate and advanced video users have extra hard-drives to save and backup their video projects, though this isn't necessary for the beginner

This link helped me out -

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:34pm

Who's better than you? Seriously!

I actually have been given alot of material on dvd to edit down, and this seems to be about capturing video from a devise, not importing it from another drive.

The clips seem to be in MPEG format, and Movie Maker works with MPGs, so I dont know what the matter is. Is there a difference between MPG and MPEG?

I will peruse the site you linked..

Thanks, my dear!

Updated On: 6/20/07 at 04:34 PM

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:45pm

From what I understand - MPG and MPEG files are the same thing basically, but they only work with certain software/programs. So where MPG is compatible with Windows Movie Maker, MPEG will run on a different system and would need to be converted to MPG for your peogram.

I had a hell of a time trying to get a project I built on Movie Maker to put on a dvd using Sonic. I am still not completely sure what I did - but it eventually worked. I also have a great tutorial that I printed out from another website - when I get home tonight I will dig it out and send you the web address.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:50pm

Aww...thanks!

Dont go to too much trouble.

I'm doing this as a favor, and it seemed easier than sitting there with the dvr.

funny thing, MovieMaker says it recognizes MPEGs, but wont use these files...I'm getting tired