Converting .wmv format... (Problem Solved!)

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Ol' Fashioned Girl

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I've created a video for a friend's 80th birthday party... it's HUGE. I used Microsoft Movie Maker and Dflick to convert the initial video to something that could be burned to DVD and played on a DVD player. By sheer luck, it worked the first time.

Then I added party pics to the original MMM file and when I tried to convert it in (what I thought was) the same way, no go. I got video but no sound. Downloaded about a half-dozen other video conversion programs with the same problem/outcome.

I've just about jerked the left side of my head bald trying to do, re-do, and do-do this thing! I want my friend to have a complete record of her party to play on her DVD and short of going to her house every time she wants to play it and humming the music along, I'm stymied!

Any tips? (Other than 'Don't use Microsoft Movie Maker and/or DFlick!) If I can just get this one video done, I swear I'll NEVER do this again! :OFG shakes fist like Scarlet O'Hara just before Intermission:
 
alleycat

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Did you try the convert function of YouTube Downloader?
 

Dorky

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If you have windows vista ultimate/home premium or windows 7 (any version), you should be able to publish your movie maker files directly to DVD using Windows DVD maker. It’s included in those versions of windows.
 
areteus

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Real player (the free version, no need to pay for it to get this) will convert any video or sound file into any other really easily.

As for publishing on a DVD, you can easily copy it to the DVD and set it to autoplay the file on a computer. However, I am assuming you want to play it on a DVD player? I used to use Nero for that - it also allows you to create menus and stuff like that. However, you will have to pay for that I think...
 
alleycat

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I misunderstood at first. Yes, OFG is having a problem burning the file to a CD/DVD disc so that it will play on a regular DVD player.
 
Torgo

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The thing you did differently seems to be:

I added party pics to the original MMM file and when I tried to convert it in (what I thought was) the same way, no go.
Click to expand...

I don't quite get what that means? Were you adding picture content as well as video content?
 
Torgo

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Ol' Fashioned Girl said:
Yes, Torgo. Exactly. But even when I surrendered and took out the party video and added only more pics to the original file - no go.
Click to expand...

Have you tried rebuilding the whole job? DVD file structures are touchy things, it seems, and if you are dropping any extra content in there it needs to be properly set up and indexed etc. I would not add any image files into a DVD video file structure because I would expect them to confuse the DVD player - lots of them can browse and display image files, but probably it wants to have either a DVD full of pictures or a DVD full of video and not a mix.

I think you can certainly do that sort of thing with an authoring tool like Nero. Mind you, it's been years since I used it, and I haven't made a DVD video for yonks.
 

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OFG - did you mean you didn't have the DVD maker, or that it didn't work? If you have it installed, you should be able to by choosing file -> publish -> DVD from inside movie maker.

If she’s using the windows movie maker to add pictures (dragging them onto the timeline) and publishing the whole project as a video, then they should already be set up as a part of the video file. It shouldn't be reading it as a picture afaik. Granted, I haven't used movie maker in ages, but that’s how I remember it being.

Anyway, we should probably troubleshoot this step-by-step. If you open your original project file in movie maker and push “play” to preview it, does it all work with sound? I just want to make sure it isn't something as simple as “I accidentally muted the audio track.” (can’t tell you how many times I’ve done something similar :D) What about your initial WMV file before you try converting it? Does that work too?
 
Ol' Fashioned Girl

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Dorky, I originally set up the entire file via Microsoft Movie Maker. Made the movie. Converted the movie to DVD. Played perfectly at the party. I kept the original Movie Maker file because I knew I wanted to add pictures from the party - and I also got a short video (via my digital camera) of the cake, birthday song, and blowing out the candles.

I added the pictures to the Movie Maker file and turned it into a movie. Played fine on computer. Converted it to DVD via the same process as initially - no love. DVD player wouldn't play it. Didn't recognize it as a DVD at all.

The WMV file works, and it's good for the PC owning guests... but we wanted the older folks without PCs to be able to play it on their DVD/TVs.

Very frustrating! I appreciate the continued help.
 
Charles Farley

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if you want the file to play on a DVD player you need to convert the whole file to the .vob extension . .. that is the files DVD players read.

I have not tried this one . . so don't know much about it . . . http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...mIHoBw&usg=AFQjCNHSWSy1CKF7NqcDEbYTjHRFz-3wgw

but your main goal is to convert to VOB . . . there is probably a free soft ware that converts movie maker . . you might try google . .
 
Laer Carroll

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FREEMAKE downloader and converter

The Free Studio 2013 package Charles Farley gives us a link to sounds like a good suite of tools. But Charles says he's not used it, so can only suggest we look into it.

A similar package I personally have had years of happy experience with is Freemake Downloader and its companion Freemake Converter. At (naturally!) Freemake.com.

Downloader installs as plugin to Firefox and several other browsers. It shows up as a button on the menu bar. If you're on a page with a flash or other video on it (such as Youtube) you can click the button and the video will be downloaded.

Then you can assemble a collection of pictures (in .bmp, .jpg, and other formats) and videos and create a DVD - including Blu-Ray DVDs if your burner can handle that format.

So your DVD can have both pictures (displaying for about 10 seconds) and videos intermixed. I've personally combined JPGs and BMPs with MP4s, FLVs, and AVIs and had them work just fine.

Freemake is easy to use, converts a couple dozen formats to others, and does more I won't go into. What it CAN'T DO (though I may just not have found the capabilities yet) is to precisely control the length pictures display and which video frames to include or exclude.
 

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Laer Carroll said:
The Free Studio 2013 package Charles Farley gives us a link to sounds like a good suite of tools. But Charles says he's not used it, so can only suggest we look into it.

A similar package I personally have had years of happy experience with is Freemake Downloader and its companion Freemake Converter. At (naturally!) Freemake.com.

Downloader installs as plugin to Firefox and several other browsers. It shows up as a button on the menu bar. If you're on a page with a flash or other video on it (such as Youtube) you can click the button and the video will be downloaded.

Then you can assemble a collection of pictures (in .bmp, .jpg, and other formats) and videos and create a DVD - including Blu-Ray DVDs if your burner can handle that format.

So your DVD can have both pictures (displaying for about 10 seconds) and videos intermixed. I've personally combined JPGs and BMPs with MP4s, FLVs, and AVIs and had them work just fine.

Freemake is easy to use, converts a couple dozen formats to others, and does more I won't go into. What it CAN'T DO (though I may just not have found the capabilities yet) is to precisely control the length pictures display and which video frames to include or exclude.
Click to expand...


I used to use Freemake to convert videos to DVD, but ever since it did the update, I tried downloading the new version, and when I go to install it, it tells me the file is corrupted and to redownload the file from the website. I've already done it five times. No luck, so now I'm using a trial of Wondershare.
 
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