is there something like win movie maker but ....

[ted demen]

is there something like windows movie maker but with different output options such as avi or divx?

im just trying to put my songs to video and post on youtube and would rather not have to use multiple programs if possible.

but if its not possible, which wmv to avi is best (quality and no malware/adware)

thanx

[minidv2dvd]

wmv is fine to upload to youtube. the fewer times it's re-encoded the better the quality will be.

if that doesn't do it for you try the tools section listed on the left for video encoders. h264 is the latest type and youtube friendly.

[jorgeblanco]

I use ffmpeg for almost everything that requires converting video files. If you are talking about adding audio to an existing video, you can do it rather easy with ffmpeg and have the end result be h.264/mp4/avi or whatever you like.

If you already have the finished video with the new audio in wmv, don't re-encode it. Upload it as it is.

 -newaudio
           Add a new audio track to the output file. If you want to specify
           parameters, do so before "-newaudio" ("-acodec", "-ab", etc..).

           Mapping will be done automatically, if the number of output streams
           is equal to the number of input streams, else it will pick the
           first one that matches. You can override the mapping using "-map"
           as usual.

           Example:

                   ffmpeg -i file.mpg -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ab 384 test.mpg 
-acodec mp2 -ab 192 -newaudio

[ted demen]

after trying windows movie maker, the end result was horrible...
video freeze, audio dropouts...

i cant believe how bad the results were.

and this was only 3 .mov files with a .wav 44.1 audio file... nothing special

[Safesurfer]

after trying windows movie maker, the end result was horrible...
video freeze, audio dropouts...

i cant believe how bad the results were.

and this was only 3 .mov files with a .wav 44.1 audio file... nothing special

Not surprised, WMM is hardly the best choice for editing .MOV files. If you want to use WMM, I'd convert them from MOV to AVI first with Rad Video Tools or some such app using perhaps Lagarith or Huffyuv to encode.

[ted demen]

i see.

i already downloaded a program called MediaCoder.
do u have experience with it?
i tried to convert a mov to avi and it worked but im concerned whether MediaCoder installed malware on my machine cause there were all these adds upon installation

[Safesurfer]

Sorry, no experience with Mediacoder, but it looks like it's a GUI for MEncoder, ffmpeg and other codecs which explains all the additional installs. I'd scan it for malware though.

[ted demen]

so i converted the .mov files to .avi.

and windows movie maker does not let me drag the .avi file to the video channel on the GUI.

it only lets me place the .avi into the audio slot/channel

???

[JohnnyMalaria]

What video format are your AVI files?

There needs to be a DirectShow decoder for it on your system. Older Video for Windows won't work.

A simple test: try to play the video in Windows Media Player and see if you can, well, see it.

[ted demen]

i tried your suggestion and no WMP will not play the video.

im not sure what format the avi's are. (i can check if u know how)


i guess i need codecs for WMP?
(i usually just use VLC to play all my edia)

or where can i get the DirectShow decoder u mentioned?

[JohnnyMalaria]

Use GSpot to find out what codec is being used. Whether a DirectShow decoder is available depends on the codec used to encode the files. Perhaps you can provide a list of the options your software permits so we can identify a DirectShow-compatible one.

[ted demen]

i used Gspot.

it was encoded with H.264

[ted demen]

should i install something like this?:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectShow_FilterPack.htm

[ted demen]

heres the gspot results:

[poisondeathray]

you could install ffdshow , which includes a h.264 directshow decoder

what are you using wmm for? just joining clips or other effects?

if you are just doing simple edits, you could use avidemux and not need to install any other codecs

[ted demen]

im just using wmm for joining video clips and sequencing them with songs ive made (.wav files)

[ted demen]

ok i installed ffdshow like u recomended.

gspot now says that "the codecs are installed"

but i still cannot drag those .avi's into the video pool in wmm

[poisondeathray]

Sorry I don't use WMM, it's a poor choice IMO because of bad quality output, instability, and limited file support - I only suggested a directshow decoder for h.264, I have no idea what works for WMM

Maybe you could try converting those files to an intermediate that wmm accepts

You will need an editor with a visual timeline/storyboard to sync up the video & audio. e.g. premiere, vegas pro, vegas movie studio, ulead/corel video studio, etc... A free option would be wax - if you can play your video in a direct show player, wax should work, or you could frameserve into wax using avisynth

[ted demen]

will wax work with vista 32bit ?
(the website does not say so)

i tried to convert the /mov and .avi to wmv but mediacoder said audio and video cannot be muxed together for both mov and avi


i cant believe its so frustrating to just make simple videos.
i just need to combine some video with audio and post on youtube.
i thought i would be well done with editing videos by end of today and here i am stil trying to make things jsut work and be compatible

[poisondeathray]

Yeah I know it sucks just to do this simple task...

I know you hate installing multiple apps, but you could use super to convert that avi to wmv for import into wmm. Make sure you keep the bitrate very high to keep some quality (you are re-encoding twice so that's 2 rounds of quality loss at least)

[Safesurfer]

That's why I suggested converting to an AVI encoded with Lagarith or Huffyuv, they are "lossless" codecs and more suited to editing than something like H.264. I wouldn't convert to a highly compressed "playback" codec, that's where your difficulties are coming in.

As for Wax, it's more of a compositor than editor (it can't do cuts), I wouldn't try using it for editing.

[ted demen]

thanx for the help everyone, but i tried just using the .mov files straight into wmm and this time it just worked!

i dont know if it had anything to do with installing ffdshow and just having it on my system, or maybe because i didnt do crossfades between clips, or maybe it was just different settings i tried on the output of wmm, but either case, now im able to make movies that i want with wmm and using the original .mov captured by camera.