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Tutorials Win: Microsoft Windows Forum

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  - 1
    - Visualizations One of the things I enjoy using as part of a video are the visualizations of the Windows Media Player 10 and iTunes... here's a new 48 second snippet that uses 3 WMP10 visualizations... It's on the neptune hosting service. http://papajohn.neptune.com?selectedalbum=papajohn128872 -- PapaJohn Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org . Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33482
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    - movie maker My windows movie maker disappears completely when I drop and drag a pic to the timeline. When I click on help files a window pops up saying help files missing Can anyone help me pls.This has happened out of the blue had no trouble with it all before this. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33480
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    - Recording audio I have movie maker ver. 1.01376 in Windows ME. I cannot record audio clips from my CD nor import a known good audio file into the collection box. If I record an audio clip through movie maker it will come out silent. If I try importing an audio file it will say "Cannot import file, file is incorrect format or has been corrupted". How do I create audio files for movie maker? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33472
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    - Playback too fast I have movie maker ver. 1.01376 on Windows ME. When I download video from my camcorder I get the message" Your system may not provide acceptable performance when recording from a high speed device such as a digital video camera..." I go ahead and record anyway. When I playback the movie it runs twice as fast, like it was in fast forward, than normal. How do I get it to playback normally? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33471
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    - importing rm is there a way to import .rm files into WMM? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33468
  - 6
    - Digital 8 to DVD+R and .avi file sizes?! Hi all I would like to transfer video from Digital 8 tape to DVD+R for a more permanent and easy to view medium. I would like to preserve the quality of the original video, but would appreciate guidance regarding the best method of transfer. So far I have captured the video in MM2.1.4026.0 just over an hour at a time (file size about 13GB) and have added titles etc in MM. The saved movie files .avi (PAL) were then imported into Sonic MyDVD and simple chapters were added before saving the movie pre burning. The transcoding was done in MyDVD version 5.3.0 and after a long wait the disc popped out. Is there a optimum .avi file size when burning to DVD to maintain the best quality? Regards Julian Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33466
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    - Can't capture video i have a sony camcorder(analogue),i connected it to my toshiba satellite laptop using an s-video cable,,i then enterred movie maker 2 ,pressed capture from video device,,i got a message saying that the a video capture device is not detected,verify that it is turned on and try again,,,i did do but it doesn't seem to be working..knowing that if the camcorder or the laptop is connected to the TV using s-video cable,they work fine,,,what should i do? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33465
  - 8
    - moviemake crashes hi all running xp home sp2 and when i start moviemaker it crashes straight away thanks Tim faulting application moviemk.exe, version 2.1.4026.0, faulting module qedit.dll, version 6.5.2600.2180, fault address 0x0001a513 Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33453
  - 9
    - Hangs & Crashes Movie Maker FAQ 1 Last updated 6th January 2005 Crashing and Hanging 1) What is a Codec? ============== A Codec is software that was first created to deal with the transposition of data from one form into another. One of the first important Codecs was a procedure still used today called Soundex. I believe the first proper use of Soundex was by the Mormons. Most of us use Soundex or its equivalent every time we use a spell checker. The Mormons use it in their vast database of all persons baptised by them. It enables very fast data searches on similar sounding words that are not necessarily spelled the same way. Soundex though is a one way procedure. Its a CODER The other part of the word Codec is derived from the word DECODER. Joining the two parts together we get the word CODEC...Codec. With regard to Codecs and any Video or Audio playing software. MP3 or WMA audio files have been compressed using CODER routines. When you play those files on your computer you are using the DECODER routines to produce a sound or video signal that can be seen/heard on your machine. With regard to Audio/Video editing software. A Codec is used to compress the data so that it occupies as small a space as possible usually on a hard drive. But in the case of editing a file the Codec must first expand the compressed data before the edit can occur and afterwards compress it again when the data is saved to a new file. The problems with Codecs arise from "Calls" A call is the expression used to define the way one software module talks to another so that information can be passed between the two. The problem occurs when the Call is not properly formatted, or the reply is not understood. This becomes a problem that the calling software must handle. When the calling software fails to handle the error it can do one of a number of things....the correct way is to contain the error and respond with an alternative approach and possibly inform the user that the error occurred, the other approach we are all to familiar with, either the software or the machine crashes and probably taking all of your hard work with it. 2) Movie Maker crashes, what can I do? ============================ From item one above there is a good chance that your problem arises from a problem with a Codec. Movie Maker version 2.1 was supposed to address this issue by giving you the user the ability to disable one or more of the Codecs on your machine. The problem however is not fully addressed and results in some Codecs not being exposed to the disable option. If its that particular Codec that is causing the problem you are stuck. You need to know which Codec it is, where it is, possibly what other software installed it and what other dependencies exist. In other words you need to know a LOT of things. The proper way of dealing with the issue would be to remove the offending Codec but that's not very practical as you may really need the other software that depends on it. There is a temporary solution available in the form of a program called "Rename Codecs" It has been in use for perhaps a year now by many hundreds of people and with great success. There have been a total of 6 times that the program did not solve the users problem (At the time of writing this) You can obtain your FREE copy of the program from www.the-kellys.org It is strongly recommended that you check out the short interactive tutorial also on the website so that you can get a feel for how it performs. The basics of the program are that it will offer you the option of temporarily renaming Codecs that are known to be a problem for Movie Maker. You would do that before using Movie Maker. Once you are finished using the program you again run Movie Maker and use the RESTORE option to put those Codecs back into operation...its very easy to use. There is an additional option. You can use the options within XP to turn off the various levels of video acceleration that your graphics card has. Doing this is not a good idea but if you do you must understand that every program that relies on those abilities will either run badly or not at all. To turn the acceleration down right click your desktop and select PROPERTIES, then SETTINGS then ADVANCED and then TROUBLERSHOOT. You will then see a slider bar which should normally be positioned on the far right. You can move it one step at a time and then close the dialog down and re-try Movie Maker. You can repeat those steps until (and if) Movie Maker works properly. A lot of video programs give you the opportunity of taking a snap shot of the video displayed, Intervideo WinDVD 5 does a good job of this. Movie Maker also has this option. BUT, if you turn the acceleration down as above, you will no longer be able to take those snapshots. This is not a great problem of course as you can change the acceleration back. But it is rather tedious. 3) How do I make my system perform better and stop Movie Maker crashing ======================================================= This is by far the best way of doing things. Whilst the Rename Codec program is a MUST when you really do need to keep "other" software on your system, the following approach will ensure that your system runs at its best speed and will be less likely to crash at all from Video or Audio problems. You need to download the latest versions of DirectX and the Windows Codecs pack together with the latest version of Windows Media Player. You should NOT try to install these packages via the Internet, you should get the standalone versions. The reason is obvious once you know it. Suppose those updates you did some time back are not working properly...it may be that they were not installed properly or it may be that a file is either corrupt or simply missing. How would you know??? The more experienced may spot the problem but the average user will not. So why download the full package??? That's easy. When you unzip a package several checks are made to ensure the integrity of the files inside the zip. If there is a problem you will be told there and then...the file is corrupt or damaged in some other way....you do not need to trust an install over the Internet and the possibility of data being missed.... You can get the packages via these links... Codec Pack ----------------- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.aspx DirectX ---------- http://go.microsoft.com/?LinkID=1081813 Windows Media Player --------------------------------- http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b446ae53-3759-40cf-80d5-cde4bbe07999&displaylang=en Movie Maker for XP --------------------------- http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.aspx The link for Movie Maker is actually a link to SP2 (Service Pack 2). This a large download. Its not to bad if you have a reasonably fast broadband connection, but if the download fails its a long way back to the start!!! Personally I would recommend you obtain A CD version of SP2...its available on the Windows Magazine and from Microsoft directly Drivers for your graphics card ---------------------------------- I have discovered that most people are confused on the issue of drivers for their graphics card in that when advised to acquire the latest driver they go straight to the Microsoft website and get one from them. Their is a problem with that in that the drivers supplied by Microsoft are Generic. I made the mistake of going direct to Microsoft some time back and the result was that I could only run the machine in the basic "Safe Mode" the driver was the most up to date and was definitely more recent than the existing driver. It took some time to understand what was going on I must admit...... The graphics card was an NVidia GForce 4 etc and was manufactured by Gainward. After several attempts at getting the Microsoft driver to install I decided that the download MUST BE corrupted in some way, So I went to the NVidia website and downloaded their driver (Same version number as the one from Microsoft) I had the exact same problems!!! In the end I went to the Gainward website and downloaded the most up to date driver they had.....once installed the graphics card performed better than ever and with more configuration options than I would ever need. So why did an older driver work better than the most recent from NVidia ??? Its simple when you know why .... Gainward produce high capability cards and in order to achieve some of their aims they change the way the NVidia chipset works. This requires a modified driver....and they produce their own. The card is still based on the NVidia and conforms to the basic design....but it runs very much faster because of code optimisation, and that optimisation is missing from the Microsoft or NVidia drivers. The result of all this is that you should ALWAYS go to the website of the MANUFACTURER of the card and not the manufacturer of the chipset (in my case NVidia) The Method ----------------- Reboot your computer and install SP2. After the install has completed you should reboot your computer twice...yes boring but desirable After the reboot you should now install the DirectX pack and reboot again. After that reboot install the Codec Pack and reboot yet again. After that install Windows Media Player and reboot again Finally install the latest driver for your graphics card. Rebooting the machine does perform an important task. It completes installation process's and ensures that previously existing file locks are removed. Under certain conditions XP will not overwrite a file if it has been locked. Note that this is not the same as marking a file as Read Only. Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility --------------------------------------------------------------- This utility can be obtained here... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/portablemediacenter/decoder.mspx A very useful program but with a problem. It reports that I have the MGI MPEG-2 Video Decoder on one of my machines...I have NO MGI software on my system!! I would not let that put you off using it as it does have a useful purpose even though the same objective can be achieved via other already existing routes within XP. I am in favour of this program as it does give good advice on which Codec you should select as the preferred Codec 4) What files does Movie Maker NOT like? ============================== Any MPEG based file will cause Movie Maker problems even though they seldom cause problems for Media Player. There are a number of reasons...Media Player does not need the CODER part of the Codec and there are many methods/procedures/algothims used to Code an MPeg file and its that wide range of methods that Movie Maker can not address. Its not really a bug but the method of dealing with the issue, well there is no method...Movie Maker gives an error and crashes or it just crashes. The particular file extensions are Mpeg,MPG and MP3. JPeg still images can also be a problem and for similar reasons to MPeg files. There are a number of formats for a JPeg and it seems that the older formats are not properly dealt with. To work around the issue you can reduce the compression used in creating the JPeg and NOT use the progressive format method The best solution for these problems is to convert the file into a more acceptable format, and as it happens a format that is more easily worked on by Movie Maker...the conversion you should employ are MPeg, MPG convert to AVI, MP3 convert to WAV and JPeg, JPG convert to a standard bitmap BMP NOTES ====== There are several other approaches you can take to solving a Codec issue. I have seen several other methods of solving the problem, and basically they don't. Instead they treat the symptom and not the problem itself. Several other methods involve damaging the picture of your computers layout (that's a bad pun by the way) and simply doing that involves the risk of permanent damage to that picture. The program Rename Codecs also damages that picture of your system but it does at least provide a user friendly way of restoring your system and that method requires no prior knowledge on your part about where, which and how to make those changes. All efforts are made to ensure that the information is accurate. As no one is perfect I would be happy to hear of any errors found in this document. If you have any doubts at all over following the advice given here you should NOT attempt it. The contents of this FAQ are liable to change with out prior notification. -- Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly Check out the free hosting for your pictures and video at... www.the-kellys.org www.the-kellys.co.uk and the new section on papajohn :) ---- \|||/ (oo) ----------ooO-(_)-Ooo------------- All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33449
  - 10
    - Full Screen My full screen is not working. I tried clicking the little button by the preview window going to view>fullscreen, and hitting alt+enter. But it will not show full screen. Anyone know why? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33448
  - 11
    - Poll: Does Your DVD Software Accept PhotoStory 3 files... I was running with Sonic's MyDVD v4.5 which accepted the Photo Story 2 files... but it wouldn't accept the new v2 image codec used by Photo Story 3. I've upgraded to Sonic's MyDVD v6.1 which handles the newer stories fine. Does your DVD software handle the newer stories? I'd like to hear about those that do and don't.... the software and version... and a 'yes' or 'no' post is all that's needed.... thanks. -- PapaJohn Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org . Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33444
  - 12
    - Picture in Picture Is there any way to do picture in picture in movie maker? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33443
  - 13
    - Analogue capture quality I am using: Sony analogue camcorder, ADS Tech's USB Instant Video CD into a USB2 port, 2.7Ghz processor and 512Mb memory. I am in the UK therefore using PAL. Playback directly from the Sony camera to a TV, the quality is superb. I then capture it using either Movie Maker 2 save it as an avi file and then burn it to DVD using Nero When I play it back on the TV, the picture is jerky as if it is missing every other frame and near-horizontal lines. break up into steps. I have also tried using Pure Motion Capture2 but with the same results. Does this have anything to do with interlacing and should it be set to interlace or non-interlace? Being new to video editing, any advice would be much appreciated as to what I am doing wrong. Many thanks Geoff. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33442
  - 14
    - "device in use error" when capturing video Good Morning, When setting my video capture card to anything about 384x288 I get a "device in use error" even though nothing is being used. A couple of times I have retried for a few hours and somehow (I wasn't writing down the steps), I did get it to do 720x480, but never have again. Anyone have a recomendations? Thank you, CTx Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33440
  - 15
    - Greater St. John Good morning, We currently have Windows Movie Maker on our computer system. We have analogue TV cameras with a switch board and control boxes for the cameras. The software will capture at a resolution of 640x480 but when we try to go higher to 720x480 the entire computer locks up...has anyone run into this problem? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33433
  - 16
    - Hi Def So let me get this straight. Even though there is a high definition codec for Movie Maker, it depends what you imput as to the hi def output. In other words, without a hi def camcorder dv capture, the video quality may improve, but won't reach hi def resolution? And, there are only two consumer hi def camcorders out there, the Sony and the Panasonic? So the 320x240 camcorder resolution can't be stretched to make a dramatic difference? Thank you. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33432
  - 17
    - index error when i try to import video i get this messege The file C:\Documents\My Videos\My_Movie_01.wmv is not indexed and cannot be imported. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33430
  - 18
    - movie maker and media player i have created my own video and tryed to see it on media player but it works like the negative part of a photo what cai i do ? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33426
  - 19
    - Microsoft Movie Maker, Creating DVD's I am a new user. I have a Sony DCR-TRV260. I created and edited my first movie. How can I burn this movie to a DVD that will play on a DVD player? I could not find this in the Help file. Thanks in advance. Devon T. Sowell Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33421
  - 20
    - Automatic transitions? I have a large (greater than 20) set of collections, each with larg numbers (greater than 50) of digital photos. My question is: Is there a way to automatically add the *same* transition between each of the photos in the time line? It's very tedious to add the same transition over and over again, hundreds of times... Thanks! --voxlator Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33416
  - 21
    - Title scrolling across face How do I move the Title (text) down so that it doesn't scroll over the face of the person I am interviewing? There has to be a way to move it to the bottom of the screen, right? Thanks! Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33411
  - 22
    - Source files missing When I make a movie with my web cam in moviemaker such as filming myself acting goofy for my granddaughter to see I try to save it to my computer and I get an error message Source files missing can't save movie. How are there source files when I made the movie in moviemaker? It has not been imported to moviemaker from another source. How do I find source files? I am a newbie using MM and don't know much about it. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33408
  - 23
    - Cannot make DVDs from Photo Story 3 (Nero and Pinnacle) Hello all I love Photo Story 3, and I get good results to play on my computer. But for some time now I've tried to burn the files onto DVD. I have tried both Nero and Pinnacle 8, but Nero gives up after some time without any obvious reason, and I cannot make Pinnacle accept the Photo Story files. I've tried to find the answer by reading postings in this newgroup, but haven't found anything so far. It seems Pinnacle should be able to handle the Photo Story files from what I've read here, but ... Any suggestion? Regards David Oslo Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33405
  - 24
    - Crashes and Hangs Movie Maker FAQ 1 Last updated 6th January 2005 Crashing and Hanging 1) What is a Codec? ============== A Codec is software that was first created to deal with the transposition of data from one form into another. One of the first important Codecs was a procedure still used today called Soundex. I believe the first proper use of Soundex was by the Mormons. Most of us use Soundex or its equivalent every time we use a spell checker. The Mormons use it in their vast database of all persons baptised by them. It enables very fast data searches on similar sounding words that are not necessarily spelled the same way. Soundex though is a one way procedure. Its a CODER The other part of the word Codec is derived from the word DECODER. Joining the two parts together we get the word CODEC...Codec. With regard to Codecs and any Video or Audio playing software. MP3 or WMA audio files have been compressed using CODER routines. When you play those files on your computer you are using the DECODER routines to produce a sound or video signal that can be seen/heard on your machine. With regard to Audio/Video editing software. A Codec is used to compress the data so that it occupies as small a space as possible usually on a hard drive. But in the case of editing a file the Codec must first expand the compressed data before the edit can occur and afterwards compress it again when the data is saved to a new file. The problems with Codecs arise from "Calls" A call is the expression used to define the way one software module talks to another so that information can be passed between the two. The problem occurs when the Call is not properly formatted, or the reply is not understood. This becomes a problem that the calling software must handle. When the calling software fails to handle the error it can do one of a number of things....the correct way is to contain the error and respond with an alternative approach and possibly inform the user that the error occurred, the other approach we are all to familiar with, either the software or the machine crashes and probably taking all of your hard work with it. 2) Movie Maker crashes, what can I do? ============================ From item one above there is a good chance that your problem arises from a problem with a Codec. Movie Maker version 2.1 was supposed to address this issue by giving you the user the ability to disable one or more of the Codecs on your machine. The problem however is not fully addressed and results in some Codecs not being exposed to the disable option. If its that particular Codec that is causing the problem you are stuck. You need to know which Codec it is, where it is, possibly what other software installed it and what other dependencies exist. In other words you need to know a LOT of things. The proper way of dealing with the issue would be to remove the offending Codec but that's not very practical as you may really need the other software that depends on it. There is a temporary solution available in the form of a program called "Rename Codecs" It has been in use for perhaps a year now by many hundreds of people and with great success. There have been a total of 6 times that the program did not solve the users problem (At the time of writing this) You can obtain your FREE copy of the program from www.the-kellys.org It is strongly recommended that you check out the short interactive tutorial also on the website so that you can get a feel for how it performs. The basics of the program are that it will offer you the option of temporarily renaming Codecs that are known to be a problem for Movie Maker. You would do that before using Movie Maker. Once you are finished using the program you again run Movie Maker and use the RESTORE option to put those Codecs back into operation...its very easy to use. There is an additional option. You can use the options within XP to turn off the various levels of video acceleration that your graphics card has. Doing this is not a good idea but if you do you must understand that every program that relies on those abilities will either run badly or not at all. To turn the acceleration down right click your desktop and select PROPERTIES, then SETTINGS then ADVANCED and then TROUBLERSHOOT. You will then see a slider bar which should normally be positioned on the far right. You can move it one step at a time and then close the dialog down and re-try Movie Maker. You can repeat those steps until (and if) Movie Maker works properly. A lot of video programs give you the opportunity of taking a snap shot of the video displayed, Intervideo WinDVD 5 does a good job of this. Movie Maker also has this option. BUT, if you turn the acceleration down as above, you will no longer be able to take those snapshots. This is not a great problem of course as you can change the acceleration back. But it is rather tedious. 3) How do I make my system perform better and stop Movie Maker crashing ======================================================= This is by far the best way of doing things. Whilst the Rename Codec program is a MUST when you really do need to keep "other" software on your system, the following approach will ensure that your system runs at its best speed and will be less likely to crash at all from Video or Audio problems. You need to download the latest versions of DirectX and the Windows Codecs pack together with the latest version of Windows Media Player. You should NOT try to install these packages via the Internet, you should get the standalone versions. The reason is obvious once you know it. Suppose those updates you did some time back are not working properly...it may be that they were not installed properly or it may be that a file is either corrupt or simply missing. How would you know??? The more experienced may spot the problem but the average user will not. So why download the full package??? That's easy. When you unzip a package several checks are made to ensure the integrity of the files inside the zip. If there is a problem you will be told there and then...the file is corrupt or damaged in some other way....you do not need to trust an install over the Internet and the possibility of data being missed.... You can get the packages via these links... Codec Pack ----------------- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.aspx DirectX ---------- http://go.microsoft.com/?LinkID=1081813 Windows Media Player --------------------------------- http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b446ae53-3759-40cf-80d5-cde4bbe07999&displaylang=en Movie Maker for XP --------------------------- http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.aspx The link for Movie Maker is actually a link to SP2 (Service Pack 2). This a large download. Its not to bad if you have a reasonably fast broadband connection, but if the download fails its a long way back to the start!!! Personally I would recommend you obtain A CD version of SP2...its available on the Windows Magazine and from Microsoft directly Drivers for your graphics card ---------------------------------- I have discovered that most people are confused on the issue of drivers for their graphics card in that when advised to acquire the latest driver they go straight to the Microsoft website and get one from them. Their is a problem with that in that the drivers supplied by Microsoft are Generic. I made the mistake of going direct to Microsoft some time back and the result was that I could only run the machine in the basic "Safe Mode" the driver was the most up to date and was definitely more recent than the existing driver. It took some time to understand what was going on I must admit...... The graphics card was an NVidia GForce 4 etc and was manufactured by Gainward. After several attempts at getting the Microsoft driver to install I decided that the download MUST BE corrupted in some way, So I went to the NVidia website and downloaded their driver (Same version number as the one from Microsoft) I had the exact same problems!!! In the end I went to the Gainward website and downloaded the most up to date driver they had.....once installed the graphics card performed better than ever and with more configuration options than I would ever need. So why did an older driver work better than the most recent from NVidia ??? Its simple when you know why .... Gainward produce high capability cards and in order to achieve some of their aims they change the way the NVidia chipset works. This requires a modified driver....and they produce their own. The card is still based on the NVidia and conforms to the basic design....but it runs very much faster because of code optimisation, and that optimisation is missing from the Microsoft or NVidia drivers. The result of all this is that you should ALWAYS go to the website of the MANUFACTURER of the card and not the manufacturer of the chipset (in my case NVidia) The Method ----------------- Reboot your computer and install SP2. After the install has completed you should reboot your computer twice...yes boring but desirable After the reboot you should now install the DirectX pack and reboot again. After that reboot install the Codec Pack and reboot yet again. After that install Windows Media Player and reboot again Finally install the latest driver for your graphics card. Rebooting the machine does perform an important task. It completes installation process's and ensures that previously existing file locks are removed. Under certain conditions XP will not overwrite a file if it has been locked. Note that this is not the same as marking a file as Read Only. Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility --------------------------------------------------------------- This utility can be obtained here... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/portablemediacenter/decoder.mspx A very useful program but with a problem. It reports that I have the MGI MPEG-2 Video Decoder on one of my machines...I have NO MGI software on my system!! I would not let that put you off using it as it does have a useful purpose even though the same objective can be achieved via other already existing routes within XP. I am in favour of this program as it does give good advice on which Codec you should select as the preferred Codec 4) What files does Movie Maker NOT like? ============================== Any MPEG based file will cause Movie Maker problems even though they seldom cause problems for Media Player. There are a number of reasons...Media Player does not need the CODER part of the Codec and there are many methods/procedures/algothims used to Code an MPeg file and its that wide range of methods that Movie Maker can not address. Its not really a bug but the method of dealing with the issue, well there is no method...Movie Maker gives an error and crashes or it just crashes. The particular file extensions are Mpeg,MPG and MP3. JPeg still images can also be a problem and for similar reasons to MPeg files. There are a number of formats for a JPeg and it seems that the older formats are not properly dealt with. To work around the issue you can reduce the compression used in creating the JPeg and NOT use the progressive format method The best solution for these problems is to convert the file into a more acceptable format, and as it happens a format that is more easily worked on by Movie Maker...the conversion you should employ are MPeg, MPG convert to AVI, MP3 convert to WAV and JPeg, JPG convert to a standard bitmap BMP NOTES ====== There are several other approaches you can take to solving a Codec issue. I have seen several other methods of solving the problem, and basically they don't. Instead they treat the symptom and not the problem itself. Several other methods involve damaging the picture of your computers layout (that's a bad pun by the way) and simply doing that involves the risk of permanent damage to that picture. The program Rename Codecs also damages that picture of your system but it does at least provide a user friendly way of restoring your system and that method requires no prior knowledge on your part about where, which and how to make those changes. All efforts are made to ensure that the information is accurate. As no one is perfect I would be happy to hear of any errors found in this document. If you have any doubts at all over following the advice given here you should NOT attempt it. The contents of this FAQ are liable to change with out prior notification. -- Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly Check out the free hosting for your pictures and video at... www.the-kellys.org www.the-kellys.co.uk and the new section on papajohn :) ---- \|||/ (oo) ----------ooO-(_)-Ooo------------- All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33403
  - 25
    - can't capture movie hi. i have a sony dcr-pc350 camcorder but i'm having trouble capturing the video to my pcusing the firewire. can anybody help me with this. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33396
- Next
  - 1
    - Everytime I import a video, Movie Maker creates a new Collection! Does anyone know how to import or drag and drop the videos into one collection? Everytime I bring the videos in (WMV) Movie maker creates a new collection and then I have to copy and paste within the collections. Thanks! Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33385
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    - DVD+RW: OK to leave finished product on this? Are there any reasons why you would not want to use a DVD+RW for a completed project? Is there any improvement in quality if I were to use a DVD+R for example? The projects I've been burning in +RW have been working in multiple standalone DVD players, plus they are handy to have around for test projects. -- Garyd Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33382
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    - Adding Text to Moviemaker What is the best setting to use under adding titles or credits for putting as much text as I can on each frame? I am making a video using an essay and I need to put as many words as I can on each frame. Thank You Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33357
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    - Crashes and Hangs Movie Maker FAQ 1 Last updated 6th January 2005 Crashing and Hanging 1) What is a Codec? ============== A Codec is software that was first created to deal with the transposition of data from one form into another. One of the first important Codecs was a procedure still used today called Soundex. I believe the first proper use of Soundex was by the Mormons. Most of us use Soundex or its equivalent every time we use a spell checker. The Mormons use it in their vast database of all persons baptised by them. It enables very fast data searches on similar sounding words that are not necessarily spelled the same way. Soundex though is a one way procedure. Its a CODER The other part of the word Codec is derived from the word DECODER. Joining the two parts together we get the word CODEC...Codec. With regard to Codecs and any Video or Audio playing software. MP3 or WMA audio files have been compressed using CODER routines. When you play those files on your computer you are using the DECODER routines to produce a sound or video signal that can be seen/heard on your machine. With regard to Audio/Video editing software. A Codec is used to compress the data so that it occupies as small a space as possible usually on a hard drive. But in the case of editing a file the Codec must first expand the compressed data before the edit can occur and afterwards compress it again when the data is saved to a new file. The problems with Codecs arise from "Calls" A call is the expression used to define the way one software module talks to another so that information can be passed between the two. The problem occurs when the Call is not properly formatted, or the reply is not understood. This becomes a problem that the calling software must handle. When the calling software fails to handle the error it can do one of a number of things....the correct way is to contain the error and respond with an alternative approach and possibly inform the user that the error occurred, the other approach we are all to familiar with, either the software or the machine crashes and probably taking all of your hard work with it. 2) Movie Maker crashes, what can I do? ============================ From item one above there is a good chance that your problem arises from a problem with a Codec. Movie Maker version 2.1 was supposed to address this issue by giving you the user the ability to disable one or more of the Codecs on your machine. The problem however is not fully addressed and results in some Codecs not being exposed to the disable option. If its that particular Codec that is causing the problem you are stuck. You need to know which Codec it is, where it is, possibly what other software installed it and what other dependencies exist. In other words you need to know a LOT of things. The proper way of dealing with the issue would be to remove the offending Codec but that's not very practical as you may really need the other software that depends on it. There is a temporary solution available in the form of a program called "Rename Codecs" It has been in use for perhaps a year now by many hundreds of people and with great success. There have been a total of 6 times that the program did not solve the users problem (At the time of writing this) You can obtain your FREE copy of the program from www.the-kellys.org It is strongly recommended that you check out the short interactive tutorial also on the website so that you can get a feel for how it performs. The basics of the program are that it will offer you the option of temporarily renaming Codecs that are known to be a problem for Movie Maker. You would do that before using Movie Maker. Once you are finished using the program you again run Movie Maker and use the RESTORE option to put those Codecs back into operation...its very easy to use. There is an additional option. You can use the options within XP to turn off the various levels of video acceleration that your graphics card has. Doing this is not a good idea but if you do you must understand that every program that relies on those abilities will either run badly or not at all. To turn the acceleration down right click your desktop and select PROPERTIES, then SETTINGS then ADVANCED and then TROUBLERSHOOT. You will then see a slider bar which should normally be positioned on the far right. You can move it one step at a time and then close the dialog down and re-try Movie Maker. You can repeat those steps until (and if) Movie Maker works properly. A lot of video programs give you the opportunity of taking a snap shot of the video displayed, Intervideo WinDVD 5 does a good job of this. Movie Maker also has this option. BUT, if you turn the acceleration down as above, you will no longer be able to take those snapshots. This is not a great problem of course as you can change the acceleration back. But it is rather tedious. 3) How do I make my system perform better and stop Movie Maker crashing ======================================================= This is by far the best way of doing things. Whilst the Rename Codec program is a MUST when you really do need to keep "other" software on your system, the following approach will ensure that your system runs at its best speed and will be less likely to crash at all from Video or Audio problems. You need to download the latest versions of DirectX and the Windows Codecs pack together with the latest version of Windows Media Player. You should NOT try to install these packages via the Internet, you should get the standalone versions. The reason is obvious once you know it. Suppose those updates you did some time back are not working properly...it may be that they were not installed properly or it may be that a file is either corrupt or simply missing. How would you know??? The more experienced may spot the problem but the average user will not. So why download the full package??? That's easy. When you unzip a package several checks are made to ensure the integrity of the files inside the zip. If there is a problem you will be told there and then...the file is corrupt or damaged in some other way....you do not need to trust an install over the Internet and the possibility of data being missed.... You can get the packages via these links... Codec Pack ----------------- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.aspx DirectX ---------- http://go.microsoft.com/?LinkID=1081813 Windows Media Player --------------------------------- http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b446ae53-3759-40cf-80d5-cde4bbe07999&displaylang=en Movie Maker for XP --------------------------- http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.aspx The link for Movie Maker is actually a link to SP2 (Service Pack 2). This a large download. Its not to bad if you have a reasonably fast broadband connection, but if the download fails its a long way back to the start!!! Personally I would recommend you obtain A CD version of SP2...its available on the Windows Magazine and from Microsoft directly Drivers for your graphics card ---------------------------------- I have discovered that most people are confused on the issue of drivers for their graphics card in that when advised to acquire the latest driver they go straight to the Microsoft website and get one from them. Their is a problem with that in that the drivers supplied by Microsoft are Generic. I made the mistake of going direct to Microsoft some time back and the result was that I could only run the machine in the basic "Safe Mode" the driver was the most up to date and was definitely more recent than the existing driver. It took some time to understand what was going on I must admit...... The graphics card was an NVidia GForce 4 etc and was manufactured by Gainward. After several attempts at getting the Microsoft driver to install I decided that the download MUST BE corrupted in some way, So I went to the NVidia website and downloaded their driver (Same version number as the one from Microsoft) I had the exact same problems!!! In the end I went to the Gainward website and downloaded the most up to date driver they had.....once installed the graphics card performed better than ever and with more configuration options than I would ever need. So why did an older driver work better than the most recent from NVidia ??? Its simple when you know why .... Gainward produce high capability cards and in order to achieve some of their aims they change the way the NVidia chipset works. This requires a modified driver....and they produce their own. The card is still based on the NVidia and conforms to the basic design....but it runs very much faster because of code optimisation, and that optimisation is missing from the Microsoft or NVidia drivers. The result of all this is that you should ALWAYS go to the website of the MANUFACTURER of the card and not the manufacturer of the chipset (in my case NVidia) The Method ----------------- Reboot your computer and install SP2. After the install has completed you should reboot your computer twice...yes boring but desirable After the reboot you should now install the DirectX pack and reboot again. After that reboot install the Codec Pack and reboot yet again. After that install Windows Media Player and reboot again Finally install the latest driver for your graphics card. Rebooting the machine does perform an important task. It completes installation process's and ensures that previously existing file locks are removed. Under certain conditions XP will not overwrite a file if it has been locked. Note that this is not the same as marking a file as Read Only. Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility --------------------------------------------------------------- This utility can be obtained here... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/portablemediacenter/decoder.mspx A very useful program but with a problem. It reports that I have the MGI MPEG-2 Video Decoder on one of my machines...I have NO MGI software on my system!! I would not let that put you off using it as it does have a useful purpose even though the same objective can be achieved via other already existing routes within XP. I am in favour of this program as it does give good advice on which Codec you should select as the preferred Codec 4) What files does Movie Maker NOT like? ============================== Any MPEG based file will cause Movie Maker problems even though they seldom cause problems for Media Player. There are a number of reasons...Media Player does not need the CODER part of the Codec and there are many methods/procedures/algothims used to Code an MPeg file and its that wide range of methods that Movie Maker can not address. Its not really a bug but the method of dealing with the issue, well there is no method...Movie Maker gives an error and crashes or it just crashes. The particular file extensions are Mpeg,MPG and MP3. JPeg still images can also be a problem and for similar reasons to MPeg files. There are a number of formats for a JPeg and it seems that the older formats are not properly dealt with. To work around the issue you can reduce the compression used in creating the JPeg and NOT use the progressive format method The best solution for these problems is to convert the file into a more acceptable format, and as it happens a format that is more easily worked on by Movie Maker...the conversion you should employ are MPeg, MPG convert to AVI, MP3 convert to WAV and JPeg, JPG convert to a standard bitmap BMP NOTES ====== There are several other approaches you can take to solving a Codec issue. I have seen several other methods of solving the problem, and basically they don't. Instead they treat the symptom and not the problem itself. Several other methods involve damaging the picture of your computers layout (that's a bad pun by the way) and simply doing that involves the risk of permanent damage to that picture. The program Rename Codecs also damages that picture of your system but it does at least provide a user friendly way of restoring your system and that method requires no prior knowledge on your part about where, which and how to make those changes. All efforts are made to ensure that the information is accurate. As no one is perfect I would be happy to hear of any errors found in this document. If you have any doubts at all over following the advice given here you should NOT attempt it. The contents of this FAQ are liable to change with out prior notification. -- Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly Check out the free hosting for your pictures and video at... www.the-kellys.org www.the-kellys.co.uk ---- \|||/ (oo) ----------ooO-(_)-Ooo------------- All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33349
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    - Saving Movie never completes - Version 2.1.4026 My 1/2 hr movie gets to 14% complete when saving - the estimated time remaining then increases to thousands of minutes over 12 hours. This happens with different file format variations in the same movie. Any suggestions to how to fix? Machine: Dell Dimension 5000 (3GHz/500Mb) / Win XP Home SP2 Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33344
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    - ASX file extension Hi, I am trying to splice a movie but it is an ASX extension file type. Is there anyway I can edit an ASX file in Movie Maker or will I need to convert it into a WMV file first. If so, how do i covert an ASX file into a WMV file? Thanks, Ray. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33339
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    - Doesn't recognize MPG files I used Intervideo to grab a movie off my VHS-C camcorder using my video card. It split the video into 6 MPG files. I used Movie Maker to edit out the "black frames" from the first 3 clips. But when I try to load clip #4, #5, or #6 it says "C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\My Documents\My Videos\4.mpg could not be imported. Unspecified error". WHy? Its an MPG file. I even opened the file in Media Player and it plays fine. Any ideas? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33335
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    - logical step up from mm2? Does anyone know of a program that is structured like MM2 yet more powerful? I've used MM2 for awhile, and am now ready for more features. I've tried different program trials with mixed (mostly negative) results and keep going back to ole faithful. Need storyboard for laying out project and timeline for tweaking eg. (Adobe Premier Elements only has timeline) Thanks, MP Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33329
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    - Adding a image into a video Is there anyway to add a image into a video? I want to add a airplane into my video, just the airplane will not be real. I want to make a short kinda like the short movie2001: A Space Oddity where a Space shuttle lands in a city... Here is a linke of the movie and what I would like to make... http://mobile.pocketmovies.net/detail.php?id=255 Thanks Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33325
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    - Papajohn Hello, It must be really be rubbing you up the wrong way not being able to gain access, even by looking at the cached pages on Google. I would have thought that as an MVP that once you were told no that you would have behaved in a professional way and not tried again. It is a shame I have changed web hosts, I did not grab all of the old logs as I left...I have a few and each time you make another attempt it will be added to the section of my website devoted to you. But as anyone who sees that section of my website and does not take my word for it and checks for themselves will find...you really are nothing like a professional...that is if you ignore your attempts at ripping off the users in here to the tune of $50 to fix a project file or $20 to read a newsletter...how is that latest one on MyDVD coming...I hear that there is a growing momentum to give the program the boot by quite a few...even Europe's largest retailer gives it a bad review..as well as some in here???? Do you have a financial interest in promoting this software??? or are you being your usual bull headed professional self?? -- Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly Check out the free hosting for your pictures and video at... www.the-kellys.org www.the-kellys.co.uk ---- \|||/ (oo) ----------ooO-(_)-Ooo------------- All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33324
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    - Inserting a hyperlink into my movie I am trying to insert a hyperlink into my movie so that once you click the link, it will send you to the appropiate page on a website. Does anyone know how to do this? Any and all help with this would be GREATLY appreciated. -- Thanx! Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33316
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    - Tip - File Types There's some advice kicking around that you should convert your JPG and MP3 files into BMP and WAV files before using them in Movie Maker.... and I can imagine your thoughts when you already have projects that have used JPG and MP3 files. I just want to note that I use JPG and MP3 files regularly and have never experienced problems with them... I'd only take such drastic conversion measures for clips already in a project if I was sure they caused my problem of the moment.... and if you don't have problems with those file types, keep using them. -- PapaJohn Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org . Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33308
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    - windows movie maker ver. 2.1.4206.0 not saving file or movie I am helping my father to make some home movies for viewing on his tv. (which his tv vcr/dvd player will read vcd's just fine) We are using a HP Pavilion514n with 256 meg of memory, and 2 hard drives. The f: drive is relatively new and has 80 gigs of free space. We are able to put together still images, jpeg files, insert titles, and also add 7 tracks (sequential) of a music albumb. It plays wonderfully in the movie maker program. I am able to save the "project" just fine. But, whenever I try to save the movie to hard disk drive (the F:) or to a cd, I am able to tell it where to write, the format of high quality, etc. but then the writing screen comes on, showing that it will write to selection I picked, and then after some moments, instead of actually being able to save the error message "windows cannot save" because either the files can not be obtained, there is not enough space, or I forgeot the third thingie right now. But it just doesnt work. Not even to save it on hard drive. I have checked the files and they point exactly to where files are located..nothing was moved or deleted. When I exit the movie maker program, it closes the windows, but I then notice, using task manager, that moviemk.exe is still runnning and so is something called wowexec.exe. I've let it run 8 minutes and it still didnt stop. I restart the machine and try everything again and I get same problem. Please note my movie is about 24 minutes/154 megs. Any ideas on what the problem might be and how I can fix it? thanks in advance, Sandra Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33307
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    - Movie Maker v1.2.2541.0--No transitions I have a company issued laptop while working here in Iraq and before I left the states the Movie Maker worked really well. When I arrived in country the IT department took my laptop to do a general scrub to ensure our laptops had no viruses that could affect the company's network. Upon receiving my laptop from IT I proceeded to try and use the program for a project. Now when I use Movie Maker there are no transitions available. I know that version 2.1 is out now but we are unable to get SP2. Can anyone help me figure out how to fix this issue w/out having to download SP2? The IT department says they won't do the SP2 update on our system for security purposes.....thanks... Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33288
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    - Windows Media Maker Hi I really need some help. I just made a move with pictures and music when i tried it in my dvd player it wouldn't read. I also tried it in my friend computer and it wouldn't read. I put it back in my computer and it read just fine. Can anyone help me what have I done wrong. I have windows xp I have looked everywere in the computer to see what is going on and got no were. Please someone out there help. the dvd+r 4.7gb/120min 1-8x is what i have to burn on. Thanks -- tazie Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33283
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    - trying again-Help with VRO files I feel like a dolt for this but I cannot find my original post asking this and need some help trying to figure out how to get my home VHS movies that I am copying onto DVD-RW (using a SANYO DVD/VCR recorder) into WMM to begin editing in titles and music. I know when i put the disk in my DVD burner (a Mach 12 from Digital Pacific), I see a VRO file and I believe a IFO (not sure what either of these are) but they are apparently not recognized. HELP PLEASE! I did get redirected to one site but I didn't see anything in regards to VRO files and I looked through PapaJohns page and seen nothing there either. Any help or direction you guys could point me to would be greatly apreciated! Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33281
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    - Capturing From DV Camera(What is best format?) When capturing from DV camera to MM2.1, what is the best format for burning the project on a DVD? Should I pick (recommended) for best playback on PC? Or NTSC? etc.? Also, which one will have best quality transfering to DVD, WMV or DV-AVI? Just wanted to know what will look best on DVD. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33278
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    - Extracting frames from DVD How do I extract individual frames from a DVD (a YesVideo DVD of home movies)? I want to import to Moviemaker, as well as for use as a still picture. Thanks. -- Ed Avery Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33272
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    - Encoding mpg to wmv problem I have a new Athlon 64 3000+ system w/1GB RAM and an 80GB SATA drive. Using the MS encoder (latest download), it took over 12hrs to encode a 2hr mpg to a wmv file and even then, it left out the sound. I didn't even use the highest resolution (I used DVD quality, 2MBps). Two questions: how can I get it to encode the sound with the video and, is 12 hours to encode a 2 hour mgp normal? TIA, Jim Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33268
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    - mpg to wmv files - audio & video are not sync Hi there, I am converting mpg 30-60 files to wmv format. To obtain optimum size I am setting 80kpbs custom settings while files conversion (for mainly internet users downloads). I am not sure why, but when I would change custom settings, the voice and picture are not synchronized. I could see voice playing first and after a moment the moving image follows. Could someone please help me what do I need to set (custom settings) to obtain about 30MB/hour wmv file. Thank you. Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33267
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    - PC doesn't recognize my camera anymore. It worked before, but now it doesn't. "What has happened since then", you ask? Well, I had to replace my hard drive and I've installed service pack 2. So I don't know i'm missing drivers for the firewire card or camera? -- Mike Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33259
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    - Importing into collections I have a DVD of old 8mm film that I have loaded on my hard drive , but can't get it into the collections. The service that did the digitizing put it in a VIDEO_TS.IFO, TS.BUP and TS.VOB file extentions. any advice on how to get this converted into AVI or whatever MM2 requires? Thanks. -- Fly Navy Corvette Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33228
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    - Add text to video I am trying to put text on my wideo, but it seams it is not possble to make the text float ower the movie. Can you give me some info how I can do that? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33224
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    - MovieMaker and .NET Is there any way to integrate Movie Maker functions into .NET projects such as scene detection capabilities? Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33223
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    - black bars Hey, I have been making videos with Windows Movie Maker for a while and I have started a new project involving Halo 2. Now when you play Halo 2, there is a Heads up Display, or HUD. Now when I record, that Hud pops up and I don't want it there. Is there some way i can use some black bars to cover the top and bottom up? I have seen videos where people have done it and it makes it look widescreen. I want to know how to do that in Windows Movie Maker. Thank you Tag: http://www.jameswickstrom.com Tag: 33222

Yes... it is fight for democracy...just fool yourself.....:
http://www.jameswickstrom.com/iraq/photos_show_rape_of_iraqi_women.htm

PS: I can't ignore the brotherhood you american show to the world.....
Shame on you all.

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Re: http://www.jameswickstrom.com by John

John
Fri Mar 18 11:17:40 CST 2005

Fake as a three dollar bill. As it already has been noted in another
newsgroup the uniforms are not the Desert BDU's the Americans would be
wearing. Hard to be camouflaged in the desert wearing green :-)

"pHenry" <Henrypp@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OSUK8P8KFHA.3356@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Yes... it is fight for democracy...just fool yourself.....:
> http://www.jameswickstrom.com/iraq/photos_show_rape_of_iraqi_women.htm
>
> PS: I can't ignore the brotherhood you american show to the world.....
> Shame on you all.
>
>
>
>

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