Does anyone know how to get windows movie maker to behave?

We’re trying to cut together a quick film of focus fusion. 

One minor problem is that the current install of Windows Movie Maker on the computer at the non-scientist (my) desk has a few major bugs.  The video portion works fine, but the “narrate timeline” seems to be permanently off.  Can’t click on it.  The text doesn’t even darken - it appears a light grey.

The feature works in the scientists computers, but not in mine.  I suppose we could just switch stations - but they all have lots of other data on their drives they’re working on, and you know how long movies end up taking.

So.  I’m a Mac person, not PC.  Pecked around at uninstall/reinstall - but couldn’t find where to reinstall from.  Also, the program wasn’t listed under the list of uninstallable programs.  Don’t even know where to find it. 

If anyone has encountered this problem before, let me know.  Troubleshoot.

The settings are the same for all the computers, they were all purchased at the same time, so I don’t know why only mine doesn’t allow “narrate timeline”. 

A conspiracy.  Ironic.  Etc.

FYI, have a lot of still photos now.  Takes too long to process them (figure out what’s going on, write a caption - get one of the working scientists to stop and explain everything, understand what they’re saying, learn physics, construction and electric systems, upload, tweak, label) so I’m stringing them all together in a slide show on the mac to be uploaded shortly (still a wee bit of organizing to do. 

2FYI - my mac is falling apart.  Pretty old.  USB ports and dvd player and everything else on the right don’t work anymore.  Left is intermittent.  And the mic doesn’t work.  Otherwise I’d be editing the movie on the mac. 

My quick fix:  Switch over to the Windows PC’s here at the lab.  Which brings us back to the subject of this post: 

Now I’m shocked, shocked that this simple “narrate timeline” function doesn’t work. 

It’s got to be something simple.  Quick!  Tell me how to fix it.

You could try and download this version: movie maker 2.6 for vista

WMM sucks. You should get something like Sony Vegas Studio (for simple things like this works a treat). Professional-oriented software is expensive but consumer-level packages like this do not cost a huge amt. I’ve personally tried using both WMM and SVS and it’s worth getting the latter.

You can try installing Max OS on your pc, and see if you can use their movie making software:
http://lifehacker.com/348653/install-os-x-on-your-hackintosh-pc-no-hacking-required
PS:Might not work depending on hardware

jamesr - 03 October 2009 10:45 AM

You could try and download this version: movie maker 2.6 for vista

OK.  Downloaded 2.6 (is that a previous version?  Isn’t 6 more recent?) but it says I can’t open it because I don’t have proper audio hardware installed.  That’s all they tell me.  No link to where I can order any of said audio hardware, or what exactly it consists of.

Cool!  Just plugged in speakers and the Narrate Timeline thing appears.

No mic, mind you.  Speakers.  I guess they assume you won’t think about narration without a mic.  Coming from mac background, the mic’s in the machine already, so you don’t need an external one. [Eric says laptop vs. desktop, not mac pc]

Anyway, problem is solved.

We may look into that sony vegas thing in the future if these movies don’t seem too spiffy.

But right now, time is of the essence!

What a frustrating day.

Was able to narrate one thing with movie maker before a weird behavior occured.  That is, you narrate one clip, it’s fine.  Narrate a second, and you can’t.  A window pops open to have you save it as something else.  Before you’ve even made it.

So, downloaded vegas.  Free trial period.  Sat through the intro featurette.  Looks great.  Lots of features.

2 immediate working bugs:

1)  .m2v files are not supported (!!!) - which eliminates Torulf’s animations. 

2)  Can’t hear the sound track as I’m editing.  Sound comes through fine on the windows movie maker software, so it can’t be the speakers.  And I can see the sound waves, so I know the sound is there in the timeline from the clips.  And when I export a bit to see what’s put together, the exported/rendered clip has the sound on it.  No mute button appears to be on anywhere.

These guys are putting together a fusion reactor and I can’t get this free software to work.

You should be able to convert m2v files:
http://www.soft29.com/m2v_converter.html
Restarting windows could restore Movie Maker.

Also take a look at the open source alternatives (in the bottom):
http://www.osalt.com/movie-maker

Breakable - 06 October 2009 09:04 AM

You should be able to convert m2v files:
http://www.soft29.com/m2v_converter.html
Restarting windows could restore Movie Maker.

Great!  Works like a charm.  That open source stuff just adds more things for me to have to figure out and compare.

So…windows movie maker is now working, sound levels are decent.  Lost the hiss.  Seems like that’s how we’ll do it.

Vegas - with the converter, we can now use the other clips.  But still have to figure out why I can’t hear anything in edit mode.  I swear every place I see the option of “mute” it’s off. 

New Issue, for all you PC people - how do I download the DV footage to the pc?  On my mac, I just used a firewire.  This cable apparently does not do anything with the pc.  Went out and got a digital IEEE 1394 cable which looks just like a firewire cable - but don’t see where to stick it into the PC.  And using a regular USB cable, the thing doesn’t detect anything.

Rezwan - 06 October 2009 10:48 PM

New Issue, for all you PC people - how do I download the DV footage to the pc?  On my mac, I just used a firewire.  This cable apparently does not do anything with the pc.  Went out and got a digital IEEE 1394 cable which looks just like a firewire cable - but don’t see where to stick it into the PC.  And using a regular USB cable, the thing doesn’t detect anything.

firewire is just a name (mainly used by apple) for IEEE1394 - Sony used to call it i.Link.  There are the larger 6pin connectors and smaller 4pin connectors, typically a dv camera will have the smaller 4pin socket and a PC firewire socket will be the 6pin variety.  If your PC doesn’t have one you’ll need to get an interface card to put in it - like these.
Alternatively if another PC there has one, capture the material on that and copy it over.

Just to confuse things a newer firewire 800 standard (IEE1394b) is also around, the old one runs at 400Mbps, which has a yet another type of connector.

jamesr - 06 October 2009 11:01 PM

firewire is just a name (mainly used by apple) for IEEE1394 - Sony used to call it i.Link.

Yeah, those mac folks like to make things sound magical and mystical.  “firewire”.  And here it’s just your basic IEEE1394.

If your PC doesn’t have one you’ll need to get an interface card to put in it - like these.

...and then I just slide this mystical card into the back of the big rectangular thing?  Will I know where to slide it in?  Or does someone have to come with a screw driver, open it up and install it somehow?

Alternatively if another PC there has one, capture the material on that and copy it over.

You mean, burn it onto a dvd and then copy the dvd contents onto the 2nd computer?

Just to confuse things a newer firewire 800 standard (IEE1394b) is also around, the old one runs at 400Mbps, which has a yet another type of connector.

  Ah!  This, I knew.  Ending on a sense of omniscience.

By the way - why can’t I just use the USB port to import film to the PC?  The camera has one.  Why doesn’t it detect the thing?

Oh Joy!  Vegas is up and running.  The sound has inexplicably kicked back in.  Maybe it was a restart, Breakable. 

So, now the only issue is the pc card or whatever to import our footage, and then, just the editing.

Thanks for the help so far!

It is probable that if you are able to connect everything properly and it does not detect anything it means the drivers are missing. I would propose taking a picture of the ports you connect, the cable and a screen shot of Device Manager so we can propose something.
Yes the cards jamesr proposed would have to be added with a screwdriver, and they are compatible only with a desktop PC.
There are firewire-to-usb transfer cables available, but I am not fully sure if it would be compatible with your camera and the cost is somewhat high:
http://www.pixela.co.jp/en/products/tv_capture/pix_uvcd_u1w/spec.html

Hey Breakable:

Yes.  No drivers for this particular camera.  Also - not available anymore online it seems (the usb cable did detect in “memory”/picture mode, just not in film mode - but sent us on a wild goose chase for a driver - which was unable to be detected or procured by the elves in the machines). 

But no worry!  We got the firewire pci card and it works just fine.  Able to download the video no problem.  Also, was fun to open up a computer.  Apples should be so easy to get into.

Thanks again!  Looks like we have all the pieces.

Except original music. 

Feel free to recommend some sources - particular tunes that would go well with this endeavor that are open source!