Unknown Error

[Nicole]

Since I have Vista my Windows Movie Maker is giving me only trouble. At one
point I got the message "Unknown Error". After looking at various sites and
postings I believe that I have the same problem as some other people.

I have a Sony Video Camera and when converting films into .mpeg or .wmv some
codecs seem to go wrong.

The annoying thing is, that sometimes the publising on a DVD seems to work
and other times it just doesn´t. I tried to eliminate some films to see which
one has the problem but it would take me for ever to check them all
separately.

Sony of course blames the problems on Microsoft and I am sure Microsoft
would put the blame on Sony´s software.

Has anyone find a way yet, how I can publish my film going around the error
message. I have spend now weeks in preparing this film and to try to fix this
problem but now I am getting fed up with it. I don´t want to start from
scratch again.

Is there any update to fix this problem? Any ideas?

Kind regards

Nicole

 

[walter]

Since I have Vista my Windows Movie Maker is giving me only trouble.
At one point I got the message "Unknown Error". After looking at
various sites and postings I believe that I have the same problem as
some other people.

I have a Sony Video Camera and when converting films into .mpeg or
.wmv some codecs seem to go wrong.

What model camera? Why and how are you converting them? Does the camera
have firewire or USB output direct to the PC? Does WMM recognize your
camera as a capturing device?

The annoying thing is, that sometimes the publising on a DVD seems to
work and other times it just doesn´t. I tried to eliminate some films
to see which one has the problem but it would take me for ever to
check them all separately.

Do smaller projects publish "better" than larger ones? What kind of system
resources do you have available? How much FREE hard drive space? How much
AVAILABLE memory? Any onboard video RAM?

Sony of course blames the problems on Microsoft and I am sure
Microsoft would put the blame on Sony´s software.

That's par for the course.

Has anyone find a way yet, how I can publish my film going around the
error message. I have spend now weeks in preparing this film and to
try to fix this problem but now I am getting fed up with it. I don´t
want to start from scratch again.

If you spent "weeks" preparing it, my best guess would be the project is FAR
too complex for your machine to render all at once.

Is there any update to fix this problem? Any ideas?

IF the project is very complex, try splitting it up into smaller segments
and save (publish) each segment to your machine. IF that works, you can
then put them back together again seamlessly by adding each segment to the
storyboard in the proper order. With any luck, you will then be able to
save (publish) the entire thing.

 

[walter]

Nicole wrote:

I overlooked the word "Since" in your opening sentence before, and it might
have some bearing;

Since I have Vista my Windows Movie Maker is giving me only trouble.

Does "Since" mean that you've recently installed Vista on a machine that was
previously running a different operating system? XP perhaps?

If so, the chances of your problem being system resources related go way up.

 

[Nicole]

What model camera?

It is a Sony HDR-SR11E

Why and how are you converting them?

I have to convert them because all of the films are saved in an AVCHD
directory with files ending with .modd/.moff and Movie Maker can´t read them.
So I go into Sony´s Software PMB Picture Motion Browser. Have to select the
Videos - choose in the menubar "Manipulate" - convert into wmv or mpeg-2
respectively.

Does the camera

have firewire or USB output direct to the PC?

Yes, I connect the camera with an USB cable to my PC and import my
recordings.

Does WMM recognize your

camera as a capturing device?

I have to convert them first as WMM cannot read the files ending .modd/.moff.

Do smaller projects publish "better" than larger ones?

Yes, they do. As a matter of fact I already tried to delete some of them to
see if it works and the weird thing is again once it worked deleting only a
hand full of files, next time I tried to publish it again it wouldn´t not
even deleting almost all of the them.

What kind of system

resources do you have available? How much FREE hard drive space? How much
AVAILABLE memory? Any onboard video RAM?

Knowing that my Laptop is always running out of space when burning a DVD
(don´t know how to switch this off) I am keep deleting all the temporary
files etc. When trying to publish my project I have 9,25GB free hard drive
space, which I thought should be enough but maybe it is not. Saying that, if
it was a space issue I usually get a message that I do not have enough space
left.

If you spent "weeks" preparing it, my best guess would be the project is FAR
too complex for your machine to render all at once.

Maybe. I did a similar project last year with 40 minutes this time it was
originally almost 60 minutes but even when only 30 minutes are left it won´t
let me publish it.

IF the project is very complex, try splitting it up into smaller segments
and save (publish) each segment to your machine. IF that works, you can
then put them back together again seamlessly by adding each segment to the
storyboard in the proper order. With any luck, you will then be able to
save (publish) the entire thing.

This is what I tried doing but there is no logical explanation why it would
publish it once with 5 movies less and next time deleting 15 it wouldn´t.

Nicole wrote:

I overlooked the word "Since" in your opening sentence before, and it might
have some bearing;

Since I have Vista my Windows Movie Maker is giving me only trouble.

Does "Since" mean that you've recently installed Vista on a machine that was
previously running a different operating system? XP perhaps?

No, no. I have a 9 months old Laptop with Vista and 2007 on it. Bevor that I
was using another Laptop with 2003 and WMM worked. Saying that, that time I
didn´t use Sony but Canon and that worked fine.

I may blame Vista because I have so much trouble also using Office 2007 that
I get the impression that Vista/Office 2007 is just not stable just yet.

You have to become an IT Expert/Programmer to understand all the problems
and I just start loosing overview with all the technical issues. All I want
is an easy to handle software but maybe I am asking for too much ;-)

Thanks for your input. I will keep trying deleting, adding etc. until my
laptop decides to publish my project again as it did once before. Only sad
thing is it eats up so much of my time.

Kind regards

Nicole

 

[Graham Hughes]

Convert to wmv

If you only have 9gb left then you will struggle to write a 4gb dvd as you
need double the space for writing the dvd to cope with all the temp files.
If you are going to do lots of video editing I'd suggest getting a new large
ext drive.

I have 2007 working with both XP and Vista, as do many people, if you are
having trouble with these programmes then it's possible that you have other
problems other than just your video ones.

 

[Nicole]

Convert to wmv

Will give it a try...before I converted to mpeg-2 I had the problem with wmv
that I could hear the sound but no picture...all black with a slim line in
the middle.

If you only have 9gb left then you will struggle to write a 4gb dvd as you
need double the space for writing the dvd to cope with all the temp files.
If you are going to do lots of video editing I'd suggest getting a new large
ext drive.

I do have an external drive (backup) but wasn´t sure if WMM will cope with
getting the files from an external drive. That means I have to do the work
from scratch as otherwise the programm won´t find the source file. On the
other hand it looks like I have to do the work from the beginning anyway so
will give it a go.

I have 2007 working with both XP and Vista, as do many people, if you are
having trouble with these programmes then it's possible that you have other
problems other than just your video ones.

Oh I have them indeed! Would you like a list of the ;-)

Many thanks for your feedback. Will test all the options.

Kind regards

Nicole

 

[Graham Hughes]

It may actually be better addresing all of the problems you have rather than
trying to work out why MM isn't working properly, as from what you say your
system seems to be not working as it should.