How to encode wmv's ensuring backward compatibility.

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Avery
  • Start date Start date
G

George Avery

Firstly, have I got this right - I've got moviemaker version 5.1 and
mediaplayer version 9.00.00.365. When I encode existing mpegs to wmv
am I creating files that can only be played on systems that have got
mediaplayer 9 installed?

If that is the case, what do I need to do to create files that are
compatible back to say mediaplayer 6 does anyone know please?
 
George,

Actually, the version of Movie Maker is a little further down in the About
box. Version 2.0.3312.0 is the latest. And there is an update for WMP9,
the latest version is 9.00.00.3075. However, this is not relevant to your
question.

Yes, Movie Maker 2 creates movies that utilize the latest Windows Media
compression technology, WMV9 and WMA9. This would require the user to have
WMP9 for optimum playback ... however ... most recent versions of WMP will
auto-download the appropriate codecs when the user attempts to play them.
If anyone still has difficulty playing them you could direct them to one of
the codec installation packages available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.aspx

Regards,
Galan Bridgman
Microsoft MVP - Windows XP Digital Media
Expert Zone Columnist
 
Many thanks for that Galan - I feel quite re-assured as I am just
about to complete a CD for distribution that contains quite a lot of
video. It was full and I'd got to squeeze another one on when I tried
movie maker. Suddenly nearly 600MB became 200MB ...wow - then I
started to worry about compatibility but as I said I feel better now.
I'll put the link on just in case the auto codec download fails.

Once again thank you....
 
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