Trimming in Windows Live Movie Maker

[mblaine]

I am hoping you can help me with a problem involving Windows Live Movie Maker. I have checked some forums and have watched some tutorials but things don't work for me as they are supposed to. The problem is this. I want to trim some unwanted parts out of the middle of videos. The tutorials give directions as follows: Play to the unwanted part, click edit, then click on trim, and set the start point and the end point then click on save and close. I do all these things and the part I want to remove is saved and the rest of the video disappears. I have not been able to play (or even find) the remaining part of the video with the trimmed part removed. I can only play the part that has been removed. I know I must be doing something wrong but I can't figure out what.
I can do a work-around using the split tool but this is very unwieldy and time consuming.
I would appreciate any help you can give me.
thanks a lot
MHB

[elkfir]

I suspect your "split tool" workaround is as good a way as any. This is the way I do it:
Let's say I have a 5min clip and I want to remove a 1min segment; starting at the 2min point and ending at the 3min point.
I load the 5min clip, navigate to the 2min point, then click "Set End Point". This will remove everything past the 2 min point.
Then I load in another copy of the same 5min clip, navigate to the 3min point, then click on "Set Start Point". This will remove everything prior to the 3 min point.
I now have two segments in WMM: one segment with the video before the 2min point and one segment with the video after the 3min point.
I now do a "publish movie" and I have my clip with the 1min segment removed.
I think this is the way you have to do it and is probably similar to your workaround.

[mblaine]

Thanks for your reply. I note that you mention Windows Movie Maker rather than Windows Live Movie Maker. Do they both work the same? I ask because the instructors in the tutorials usually emphasize that the 2 programs work somwhat differently. I was hoping there was some simpler way to remove a segment from the middle of a video clip but I guess there isn't. When I watch a tutorial, the instuctor acts like it is really simple.
Thanks again
MHB

[elkfir]

Sorry, I was referring to Windows Live Movie Maker. I'm pretty sure this is the only way to remove a segment from the middle of a video. As you've found, it is easy to save a segment, but there isn't an easy way to remove a segment from a video in WLMM (or any version of Movie Maker.)

[mblaine]

Thanks again. I guess I will have to adapt to this. I wish there were an easier way
MHB

[guns1inger]

Yes, removing sections from the centre of the video means splitting the video at the start and end of the segment you wish to remove, then deleting the segment. It would be simpler if you could just mark the in and out points then hit delete, but you cannot. WLMM is a freebie that does a reasonable job for what it is, but it is not a full blown editor by any stretch of the imagination. You could try AVI Demux instead, which does allow for what you want, but if you are limited to WLMM then you have to become friends with the split tool.

FWIW, while I rarely use WLMM, I do use Vegas quite a bit, and in most instances this is the process I use in that package as well. So I don't see it as a major issue or impediment.

[mblaine]

Thanks for your reply.
I'll look into AVI Demux. I need something pretty simple as i don't do video editing constantly, only occassionally. I bought a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements a few years ago but never really learned how to use it. It seemed pretty complicated to learn by myself, by just reading and I don't have access to an instructor.Is Vegas another editing program? What would you recommend for someone like me who wants something good but simple and doesn't need to do anything exotic. I just want to do what we have aalredy talked about plus, changing the brightness , contrast, and occassionally the color balance.
THanks again
MHB

[guns1inger]

AVI Demux or virtualdub. AVI Demux supports a wider range of codecs without the need for plugins, and can smart render a wider range of outputs than virtualdub. (Smart Rendering means not having to re-encode everything when only simple edits are made). AVI Demux is arguably a more user friendly tool, although the difference is mostly personal. Some people report audio sync issues with AVI Demux after editing, although the same can be said for many editors.

Virtualdub supports a wider range of filters and can have new filters added very simply. It does save to a smaller range of output types, but you can frameserver to many encoders to augment this. Both are small and free, and there is no reason not to have both on your system.

[mblaine]

Thanks again for your reply.
I like AVI Demux but a wmv file I put into it would not play the audio though the video played. I got this message."No audio decoder found for this file. Save (A+V) will generate bad AVI. Save Audio will work."
I tried to check all the options under Audio, but I couldn't find "Save Audio" None of the things i tried worked. This wmv file audio plays everywhere else. Some other wmv files will play here .Any solution come to mind? One forum I asked said to re-encode the audio file using lame. I don't know how to do this. Do you think this would work and can you tell me how to do it? Sorry to impose on your time and expertise so much.
MHB

[guns1inger]

Start with mediainfo to work out what codec is being used for the audio in this file.

It is also unrealistic to expect that any single editor will happily edit any file. There are simply too many combinations of codecs - some open source, some very much closed - for any single tool to work with everyhting. For WMV, like it or not, WLMM or WMM is the simplest and most reliable tool.

[mblaine]

Thanks for your reply. I have another problem.
I trimmed and save some clips from a long movie using WLMM. The movie was mpg. The trim seemd to play and save fine in WLMM. I saved the clips to the desktop. They saved as wmv files. When I tried to play the clips-first in windows media player and the in VLC player, they showed up but were very much shortened. When I checked the properties, they were very much smaller than I woul expect video files to be, one was 4 meg and a couple others were 7 and 10 meg.I have put mpg files into WLMM before and they have been converted to wmv and they worked but these don't. Did I do something wrong and if so how can I correct it? Perhaps I should have started a new thread.
Thanks very much and also for your previous answers
MHB

[Zeeyad]

Thanks for your reply. I have another problem.
I trimmed and save some clips from a long movie using WLMM. The movie was mpg. The trim seemd to play and save fine in WLMM. I saved the clips to the desktop. They saved as wmv files. When I tried to play the clips-first in windows media player and the in VLC player, they showed up but were very much shortened. When I checked the properties, they were very much smaller than I woul expect video files to be, one was 4 meg and a couple others were 7 and 10 meg.I have put mpg files into WLMM before and they have been converted to wmv and they worked but these don't. Did I do something wrong and if so how can I correct it? Perhaps I should have started a new thread.
Thanks very much and also for your previous answers
MHB

Hey, I recommend that you install the latest BETA version of Windows Live Movie Maker. This version has several bug fixes and it might fix your issue. If the problem persists, try to contact the Windows Live Movie Maker team on windowslivehelp forum.

[mblaine]

Thanks for your reply. I'll try what you advise. I'm expecting a book in the mail. After trying some more things, I'll get back to you
MHB