Windows Movie Maker Won't Save my movie

K

krinks

Geek Trainee
Hi there,

I'm having a problem using Windows Movie Maker. It will not complete my slide show, and save it to my hard drive as a media file. I have the show completed, but it isn't saved as a single file, that I can save on CD's or play for people. I assumed that it was because it is a long show at 10:39:73 and that my computer was a piece of crap.

When I upgraded everything, though, I thought it would work. The problem still exists, and I can't figure out what's wrong.

Here's the issue: when I click on the "Save to my computer" option, I make the file name "Cuba," and then set a directory to save it to (in this case C:\). I click "Next" and then select "Best Quality for playback on my computer." It also tells me that the file size will be approximately 90.88MB and that I have 40 gigs free on my hard drive.

When I continue, it goes to the "Saving Movie" screen, and estimates the time remaining. Nothing happens next because it tells me: "Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location. Verify that the original source files used in your movie are still available, that the saving location is still available, and that there is enough free disk space available, then try again." :mad:

All of the requirements are met... I have the source files (the photos and the music, as well as the WMM work files). There is enough space on my hard disk, and the C:\ directory DEFINATELY exists.

System Specs:

Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
500MB Kingston Value RAM (400mhz, PC3200)
AMD Athlon 2500XP
ATI Radeon 9600 (current drivers)
Creative Labs SB Live! Value (current drivers)
PCI USB Card (4 external/1 internal ports)
80GB hard drive
Lite-On CD-R drive
Lexmark X93 color printer/scanner
Hewlett Packard P1100 21” monitor
Monsoon Speakers
Logitech Cordless MX duo (mouse/keyboard)
Logitech Freedom 2.4 Cordless Joystick
Logitech QuickCam
Logitech Wingman Cordless gamepad
500W power supply

If anyone can help me with this problem, I would really really appreciate it. Thanks in advance :)

--Krinks
 
Microsoft Movie Maker has some very annoying problems that make it far less than professional grade software. Congratulations, you've just discovered one of them! ;) I realize that this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but I recommend trying some more robust (and less buggy) video mastering software. Besides the bugs/flaws in MS Movie Maker, it uses Windows Media Video codecs to render video... a *very* poor codec. Leave it Microsoft to ignore common standards and force users to use their horrible proprietary rubbish, all in the quest for monopoly. :swt: Try Pinnacle, Adobe, or maybe Ulead for a low-cost video mastering program that will work properly. Demo versions of all 3 are available.
 
Thanks for the response... this is very disappointing news :( I actually rather enjoyed Movie Maker. I've used it on my brother-in-law's computer and it works great. I just don't want to have to transfer files and sneak time on his computer to make movies. I'll definately give a try to the other slide show creaters. Which do you suggest? I'm looking for a one that will make the slideshows look professional, but that's fairly easy to use, since I'm not a software guru of any kind :) Any suggestioins would be welcome.

Thanks
--Krinks
 
Are you looking to make movies, or simply slide shows? If all you want to produce is slide shows, there is a simple yet effective alternative for Windows XP. Just download the free XP Power Toy 'CD Slide Show Generator'. It'll generate slide shows in a wizard-like interface (with no ugly MS codecs). :) Or, if you have the bandwidth, you can pick up OpenOffice.org. It's a free, powerful, open-source, Microsoft Office compatible office suite. (If you don't already have MS Office, this is more or less a nessesity for you anyway). OOo will also generate slide shows, among many, many other things.

P.S. - If you follow the above 'Power-Toys' link, you'll find a lot of cool little [unsupported] tweaks for Windows XP that are produced by Microsoft.
 
I'm looking primarily for slide shows. Since we bought a digital camera last year, we've taken a load of pictures, and would like to put together some nice shows for family and friends. We don't have a video camera (digital or otherwise), although our camera takes short clips. I'll check out those two links you gave me and see what's out there. Thanks again!

--Krinks
 
Anti-Trend said:
...Just download the free XP Power Toy 'CD Slide Show Generator'...
Click to expand...
Whoops, in my haste I sent you to the wrong software. You may get some use out of that one, but the program I was thinking of was called 'HTML Slide Show Wizard':

Microsoft said:
"This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site."
Click to expand...
Note that you can view it on any computer (including Linux or Mac), and you don't have to put it on a website; it can be zipped/emailed, burned on CD, or just viewed on the hard drive.
 
this exact problem has caused me quite the headache for the last week and a half. I've become obsessed with finding an answer. It is now 4:06 am... and I am proud to say, I have found it. The answer lies in the small print my friends.

Trimming a clip. You can hide parts of a clip you do not want in your project. For example, you can trim the beginning or end of a clip. Trimming does not remove the information from the source material; you can clear the trim points to return the clip to its original length at any time. Clips can only be trimmed after they have been added to the storyboard/timeline. You cannot trim clips in the Contents pane.

I repeat.
Clips can only be trimmed after they have been added to the storyboard/timeline. You cannot trim clips in the Contents pane.

If you trim the clips in the contents pane, the program changes the name by adding parynthesis' with a number, and it is irreversible.

Bill coulda told us this. But I would guess he's pretty busy.

Peace,
T...
 
thanks! that makes sooo much sense! problem is, i have to start all over now! and i still have a question. is it okay to split clips using the little split button below the screen? it is much more accurate, and then i just delete the part i don't want. trimming can only go down to one second, but splitting can go to a hundreth of a second. i don't want to remake the movie and still not be able to save. any suggestions??
 
okay i remade the whole movie without ruining any of the source files. now it starts to save and stops at 59% EVERYTIME!! now what??
 
I have the same problem.
But i did not have it before i got new codecs.
Some were from a new software for burning dvds at home and the other ones were from windows update.
If you have this problem it could be bad or the wrong codecs.
On wmm open the tools menu then open options and go to the filters tab and and disable them all and
turn them on one till you have trouble try testing a short movie so you do not waste too much time and if it works...
...YOU FIXED IT!
If that did not work you have a different problem.
I will see if it fixes mine. If it does or does not I will tell you.
 
I was having this same frustrating problem for weeks! I looked in all the different forums and tryed everything people were requesting to do, and still no luck, until i decided to try taking my video .wmv clips and changing them into .avi clips with the use of Format Factory. Ive made several movies with wmm1 now, they all saved fine in dv-avi . and burned to DVD with power2go7. And ive done all this on a little COBY netbook and a small externall hard drive. Hope this helps! I know how frustrating this is!
 
I would go to add remove windows components and remove wmm then reinstall it.
I Just had a unbootable os problem and had to reinstall Microsoft windows xp
home edition and that fixed it although not the way I planned it is ok.
By the way i omly put my data on flash drive so I cant loose it because
of something like this. Only had to reinstall all my freeware because that is all i
have besides 5 other things that are paid for.
Sorry I never replied.
NH813
 
Here is my solution

I think it's the codec problem, I had this problem since last week. Today I manage to solve it by converting two of my clips (.wmv) using video converter. You can check by deleting your clip one by one, publish your file each time you remove a clip. There must be one or more clips that caused the error. Use video converter software, I recommend iSkysoft video converter, and convert the files to wmv format with the lowest settings, (reduce bit rate, select oldest WMV codec(here I select WMV8), and reduce the resolution and framerate). Once converted, import again the clips and try publishing again.
 
Hello. I am in no way an expert in the problems of WMM, although I ought to be given the number of hours I have spent trying to get the programme to deliver. I have finally concluded that once WMM finds a problem it doesn’t like, it just stops! Doesn’t tell you ‘why’ or how to fix it.

I think I would have read every word in every Forum and also read every ‘Help’ file. Eventually, I find a way round it, mostly with the help of you guys out there. This is why I want to report a discovery I made with my current project.

I understand about ‘source files’ and ‘changing file location’, but one size doesn’t fit all. To prove this, and whilst trying to solve the present ‘Can’t Save’ issue, I realised that there were a number of files that were at issue.

As most of you do. I tried to save a clip at a time – laborious, but what can you do? I eventually found maybe one or two clips in each of the files that would not save. So, I isolated that file, dragged only that clip to the ‘time line’, and tried to save. Of course, it wouldn’t, but at least I knew that it had nothing to do with the aforementioned ‘solutions’.

Each file played in WMP without a problem. All these files I had downloaded from YouTube using M3Rocket (a great FREE programme) in the WMV format. Out of 50 files, about 5 or 6 failed to save.

They all played in WMM, but wouldn’t save. However, when I looked closer at the ‘time line’ I realised that the audio ‘Wave Pattern’ had disappeared, although the audio still played.

I retraced my steps with a new download and the problem repeated itself. So I then downloaded it using AVI format and there was no further problem. I even converted the AVI back to WMV (using Prism – another great FREE programme) and, although I got almost double the clips, and a much larger file, it all still worked.

In conclusion, this is not a solution to the problem, but it does give you a new place to investigate for a solution. Therefore, I just wanted to contribute my experience as a thank you to all those who helped me. Good Luck!
 
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