Movie Editing Software - MS Movie Maker

[vettesea]

Hello

I am posting this question to see what people with more experience than myself feel about the Microsoft MovieMaker (MSMM) software. Firstly let me quickly explain what I am doing. My aim is to convert my home videos into a version that is more friendly to the eyes and ears of my friends and families. No one wants to sit and watch an hour of my boring holidays, however with a bit of editing it can become 30 mins of funny highlights by combining pictures, video and music. My process for my first two efforts was as follows:

Capturing home videos from DV camera to PC using MSMM in WMV format.
Edit footage into timeline adding titles, pictures, music etc..
Save output to DV-AVI format
Convert to MPEG2 format using TMPGEnc Plus
Create DVD menus and chapters using TMPGEnv DVD Author before creating DVD format VOB files etc.
Burn to DVD using either Nero or TMPGEnv DVD Author

So, why am I posting this. Well, so far I have found the finished article to be very good, but I am curious why no forums or discussions boards talk much about MSMM. Even taking into account the general feelings of dislike for all thing MS, why does no one use it? I have the following questions :

Does anyone else uses MSMM?
Are they happy with the software? Capabilities etc..
Is there another software that would be recommended over MSMM
Is my process correct? Can it be improved?

I realise that there is a lot to ask here, however, I am about to start working on my catalog of home videos and would like to have the most recommended processes before moving forward?

[fmctm1sw]

I'm not familiar with MSMM but I use "Windows Media Encoder" a little. I captured an avi file with virtualdub and encoded a clip for email. I thought it was OK. I primarily make VCD/SVCD to watch on TV so WME does me no good there. Probably a lot of other folks here make more DVDs and dvd back ups.......

Wow, big time edit... I didn't read hard enough. I think most people don't want to go from a compressed format (WMV) to another compressed format (MPEG). Most folks capture as uncompressed as they can, then convert...

[andkiich]

Well, I DO use it for some things, but most of what I do does not require it. I find a lot of people like having chapter points and some basic menus, however, they are not real big into the transitions and video effects as one might believe.

I find it adequate and it is relatively easy to use, however, like you stated previously, the anti-microsoft sentiment can be rather high. So this might lead on to believe that either, 1) not a lot of people are using it, 2) some people don't know it's there, or 3) a lot of people will not admit to using it.

Process wise, I do pretty much the same thing with a few other tools substituted, but nothing major. I find that when capturing straight to MPEG2, that ATI MMC works best with my AIW 7500 Radeon, and VIdeoStudio 6 works best for capturing my AVI. I also prefer DVD-Lab for authoring over everything else.

[bugster]

I have used MSMM for capture (you should capture in DV-Avi BTW, you are losing quality encoding it WMV), but thats all. Its fine as a capture front end, and it may be OK for simple cuts, splices and basic transitions, but I prefer the Pwoer or Premiere for that.

[vettesea]

I was capturing to WMV as I thought that may be a more managable file size to play around with when editing etc.. Are you saying that MSMM will have no problems if have to work with a 15-20gb captured file?

[bugster]

Are you saying that MSMM will have no problems if have to work with a 15-20gb captured file?

It really shouldn't make much difference. Some operations may be slower but most things should be the same.

[vettesea]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have been reading some of the reports on this site (7) and there have been some faults found with MSMM but none that I have encountered (touch wood). As they say for beginners it is a very good tool.

Does anyone recommend any other editing software that remains in the affordable range ($0-$100 or in my language £0-£60 approx)?

[sayian_leo]

Hello,

Yes, I am using windows moveimaker 2.

I had an 20 years old VCR tape of a family holliday in Austria, that I wanted to edit, and put them on CD. Firsts I had tried more than 1 videoediting program. Also pinnacle studio 8-is easy to work with, and nice transitions, and good text overlay. But hangs all the time.

I tried other programs, but now I was already spending months on this same film. I caputered with various programs, and various ways of encoding. But you know the source isn't great so, the end result will not be great either.
The film is almost two hours, so I thought to put it on 3 SVCD. Later i bought a DVD burner, so I also could put it on DVD.
Now you're laughing mate , on my standalone player I can play my burned DVD+R, but they don't play on my parents's. So back to SVCD.

Well after making the first SVCD and first tried saving it as high quality film, it wasn't great was it. So then saving as DV-avi, you need a lot of extra diskspace for that. Then you have to edncode it again, for example in TMPEG. With lots of noise reduction, it takes a long time okay, but well after all the result is acceptable.

I think tham wmm is very easy to use, nice transitons, nice textoverlay, music import, audio comments. And it will probably gets better and more features added in the future.

Ok, you can make your own encodingprofile, but I didn't get the hang of it.

It is a pity that you can't frameserve it to tmpec.

Well I just keep on trying.

Greetings.

[obiron]

Does anyone recommend any other editing software that remains in the affordable range ($0-$100 or in my language £0-£60 approx)?

Sony ScreenBlast Movie Studio is a great editor IMHO. Sony bought out Sonic Foundary video and audio assets. Screenblast was Sonic Foundary's Video Factory. Works great and is very easy for beginners to pick up. At least it was for me.

I don't use movimaker mainly because I already had Video Factory before I got Windows XP. So I'm comfortable with Video Factory and if I'm going to learn a new editor I think I'll graduate to Vegas or Premiere. I'm assuming there's more capability in those because of their price tags. But that could just be my naivate (sp?)

I'm converting my old family betamax tapes to DVD. I use basically the same process as you with minor differences.

[Lynchchrist]

I am a novice but have the ability to force feed myself the information I need to learn a new interest. After volunteering myself to edit and author the local Pop Warner Football teams year end video,(with no burner or much video editing experience!)(I like to test myself!) I also found this site quite helpfull in my education process. After hundreds of visits to this site, and experimenting with every trial version of edit/authoring software, I have become convinced that with a combination of Sonic MyDVD and Arcsoft videoimpression 2, a novice can put together a mighty fine finished product that any average Joe will find enjoyable. If archiving your family videos is your goal than leave the artistry to the artists and capture your history. (but make it easy on the eyes!) The old saying "keep it simple" has never meant more. The technology is going so fast that if you try to perfect the process of capturing your life digitally you arent living a life worth capturing! I have spent numerous nights capturing and editing. With a busy schedule, this makes for tough days! Keep it simple, enjoy your hobby and the final product of it and leave the art to the Lucasfilms guys or the indies! I understand the obsession with trying to wear the shoes that it took hollywood 10 guys to do only 10 years ago.(isn't it great) But it will wear your ass out! Peace!
LynchChrist
primodog productions
Austin TX

[donpedro]

Definitely capture in DV-AVI since it is just "copying" data and no additional loss is introduced from DV Camcorder.