Windows Movie Maker 6.0 Publishing Issue

[Tharthan]

When I try to publish a video file that is of some notable length, it eventually just stops on a frame, and the audio cuts out.

I tried taking a public domain Popeye film, and then working with that. Then, I published it, but at one minute and fifty six seconds into the video, the audio cuts out and the video stops on a single frame for the rest of the video.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I know that this program is outdated, but I wondered if anyone knew or not.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Tharthan,

When I try to publish a video file that is of some notable length, it eventually just stops on a frame, and the audio cuts out.

I tried taking a public domain Popeye film, and then working with that. Then, I published it, but at one minute and fifty six seconds into the video, the audio cuts out and the video stops on a single frame for the rest of the video.

Maybe if you could provide a bit more information we will be able to help!

[1] Are you converting the original file for publishing?
[2] What is the length of the original film?
[3] Are you publishing from your computer/server or from cloud based storage?

I hope this helps!

 

[Tharthan]

[1] Are you converting the original file for publishing?

I don't know what you mean by this. The original file is in a WMV format, and that is what I imported.

[2] What is the length of the original film?

Sixteen minutes.

[3] Are you publishing from your computer/server or from cloud based storage?

When I say "publish", I'm just using the terminology that Windows Movie Maker uses. What I mean is that I am "exporting" the project into a video file (WMV), so that I can play it later (or perhaps to burn to a DVD).

 

[Tharthan]

...?

 

[Tharthan]

The only thing that I've found to function as a kind of workaround is the following very tedious process:

1. Take the edited parts of the video and publish them (read:save them to a video file) in tiny parts.

2. Import the original video into Windows Live Movie Maker.

3. Take note of the points where the edits were made in the original video (via timestamp) from within Windows Movie Maker.

4. Split the video in Windows Live Movie Maker at those points, and then splice in the tiny clips that I mentioned earlier.

5. Publish the video (waiting a very long time)

...

That worked for me in this instance, but it is hardly a good process to go through.

 

[dg1261]

That worked for me in this instance, but it is hardly a good process to go through.

How often are you going to be editing videos? If you're thinking of doing this regularly, you ought to consider abandoning WMM for a better video editing platform. But if editing videos is going to be a rare task, it's probably not worth the effort to learn a new program ... and in which case, "hardly a good process" might be worth putting up with.

I haven't used WMM since about version 2, I think, so don't have any input to offer on your particular problem. I found WMM to be a poor platform because the final video rendering was not as crisp or clear as other programs would produce from the same source content, and because of the limited support for file formats other than WMV. Having to convert my source files to WMV and then convert the edited WMV back to a more universal format degraded the video quality even more.

If this is a one-off project, you may have to just accept your kludge process as the least troublesome alternative. But if you're getting into doing more frequent video editing, you'll be doing yourself a favor by switching to a more capable and flexible platform.

My favorite is HitFilm Express, which is free. There is a bit of a learning curve because it has so many more features than WMM, but the basic workflow is not too different from WMM so it shouldn't be too painful to make the switch.

OpenShot, Shotcut, and DaVinci Resolve are a few examples of other non-linear video editors. All are free or have free versions.

IMHO, OpenShot has the simplest user interface and is more akin to WMM. Shotcut and HitFilm Express are more versatile, and if you're just getting into video editing, will probably give you a more satisfying experience (once you learn how to use them). DaVinci Resolve is more professional, and also has the steepest learning curve. Though, if you're looking to do this professionally, DVR may be a good place to get your feet wet before jumping into the kind of editors pro shops would use.