How do I alter a VRO file so Windows Movie Maker will allow me to edit

[povie]

I have video files saved on my computer as .vro files, and I am unable to edit these movies in Windows Movie Maker. When I open them to edit, only the sound file shows up - I can't see the video footage, but the footage will play in Windows Media Player...

Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can get Movie Maker to work.

Thanks

[Baldrick]

Use a dvd editor instead like Mpeg Video Wizard or tmpgenc dvd author.

Or google for vro to mpg and then import the mpg in wmm.

[knathanp]

I was trying to edit .vro files with Windows Movie Maker for hours, trying several different conversion tools, none of which seemed to work correctly. Then I found a solution so simple it will blow your mind....

Just change the file extension from .vro to .mpg.

Then you can import it into Windows Movie Maker or play it with Windows Media Player and it works just fine!

[TheKLF99]

I just tried that too, just rename the files from VRO to MPEG, it kind of works, the only major problem I've found though is when their in movie maker if you click the Split button, the split point is totally out of sync and it loses half the video. I think it's something to do with the VRO format being kind of like a streaming format, and movie maker can't cope with it.

Anyone know of anything else that can support VRO format properly?

[Seeker47]

Anyone know of anything else that can support VRO format properly?

There are some that claim to do this, like Cyberlink Power Producer, but I don't know if they actually deliver on the promise.

Baldrick just mentioned something about Womble's MPEG Video Wizard, so there may be editor programs that can import and work with the format. I just don't recall hearing any first-hand testimonials from users who do this routinely. I have some uses for VRO format material, so -- one of these days -- I'm gonna put all this to the test.

[usually_quiet]

Anyone know of anything else that can support VRO format properly?

There are some that claim to do this, like Cyberlink Power Producer, but I don't know if they actually deliver on the promise.

Baldrick just mentioned something about Womble's MPEG Video Wizard, so there may be editor programs that can import and work with the format. I just don't recall hearing any first-hand testimonials from users who do this routinely. I have some uses for VRO format material, so -- one of these days -- I'm gonna put all this to the test.

If the VRO file is on a DVD-RAM disc and playable, Cyberlink Power Producer is the only program I tried that does read the file correctly, break it into recording sessions, and lets me export those as .mpg files, even if the VRO file is not contiguous. I don't like it for authoring or editing. The old version I have re-encodes everything. Others swear by Nero Vison, or Vegas, or whatever utility came with their digital camera or DVD recorder. I haven't tried them so I can't say.

There are several programs I tried that will do fine if the VRO file is contiguous. Two are Mpeg Video Wizard and Tmpgenc Authoring Works. Another one is MPEG Streamclip, which is free.

[Seeker47]

If the VRO file is on a DVD-RAM disc and playable, Cyberlink Power Producer is the only program I tried that does read the file correctly, break it into recording sessions, and lets me export those as .mpg files, even if the VRO file is not contiguous. I don't like it for authoring or editing. The old version I have re-encodes everything. Others swear by Nero Vison, or Vegas, or whatever utility came with their digital camera or DVD recorder. I haven't tried them so I can't say.

There are several programs I tried that will do fine if the VRO file is contiguous. Two are Mpeg Video Wizard and Tmpgenc Authoring Works. Another one is MPEG Streamclip, which is free.

Thanks for that report. So -- VRO on DVD-Ram, but not on -RW ? The latter, courtesy of standalone DVD recorders, is what would interest me. I do have what I would need to work with DVD-Ram media, but just never have. There may be ways to make non-contiguous material contiguous, so that might not be a complete roadblock. Are there any (later) Power Producer versions that don't re-encode everything ? Anyway, you've suggested some good leads there.

[The reason I've only posted about this -- and certain other things -- for a couple years now, rather than testing it out myself, is that there just hasn't been a really pressing need on some important project, so it hasn't cracked the "Top 50" on my To Do List. But at some point, I'm sure it will.]

[usually_quiet]

If the VRO file is on a DVD-RAM disc and playable, Cyberlink Power Producer is the only program I tried that does read the file correctly, break it into recording sessions, and lets me export those as .mpg files, even if the VRO file is not contiguous. I don't like it for authoring or editing. The old version I have re-encodes everything. Others swear by Nero Vison, or Vegas, or whatever utility came with their digital camera or DVD recorder. I haven't tried them so I can't say.

There are several programs I tried that will do fine if the VRO file is contiguous. Two are Mpeg Video Wizard and Tmpgenc Authoring Works. Another one is MPEG Streamclip, which is free.

Thanks for that report. So -- VRO on DVD-Ram, but not on -RW ? The latter, courtesy of standalone DVD recorders, is what would interest me. I do have what I would need to work with DVD-Ram media, but just never have. There may be ways to make non-contiguous material contiguous, so that might not be a complete roadblock. Are there any (later) Power Producer versions that don't re-encode everything ? Anyway, you've suggested some good leads there.

[The reason I've only posted about this -- and certain other things -- for a couple years now, rather than testing it out myself, is that there just hasn't been a really pressing need on some important project, so it hasn't cracked the "Top 50" on my To Do List. But at some point, I'm sure it will.]

I haven't tried Cyberlink PowerProducer for VRO files on RW discs because my DVD recorder only creates VRO format recordings using DVD-RAM discs. I expect Cyberlink Power Producer works just as well for RW discs.

What I have is PowerProducer 2 Gold. I select Disc Utilites->Make Compatible to create .mpgs from a VRO file without re-encoding. I can't say what later versions of PowerProducer do in terms of re-encoding. I have not tried any because early on I found other programs that I prefer for editing MPEG-2 video and authoring DVDs.

DVD-RAM discs are more difficult to read because they permit file fragmentation to occur, and make allowances for bad sectors, like a mini-HDD. I know it is possible to use DVD-RAM discs in ways that avoid file fragmentation, and I do that, but bad sectors can't be prevented.

If there is a bad sector on a DVD-RAM disc at the time of recording, it still plays perfectly on the machine that made the recording. However, most software can't get past the error when reading the file. Even ISOBuster free and CDRoller didn't do a clean job copying such a VRO file when I tried them.

I did find that Cyberlink PowerDVD can play them and that Cyberlink PowerProducer can successfully convert them to mpgs