# WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER 2.6



## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Since I have been viewing videos on Youtube I have always wanted to learn how to make some of the effects such as fade in and out, sepia, etc. I found Movie Maker 2.6, and have started to experiment with it. My foray into this experimentation came to an abrupt end when I could not figure out how to import one of my videos to it. I tried importing from my picture library, and directly from my camera without success. 
Is anyone familiar with this program?


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Dan

So long as you have the video files in one of the supported file formats (i.e. as indicated by the file's extension .asf, .avi, dvr-ms, .m1v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .wm, and .wmv), then all you need to do is...
[*] On the MS/Movie Maker menu-bar open the File menu, then select and click the 'Import Media Items...' menu item.
[*] After the import dialog displays...
[*] Use the left pane to navigate to the folder/directory where the files you wish to import are located.
[*] Use the right pane to select the file(s) you wish to import.
[*] Finally click the 'Import' button located in the lower-right of the dialog. 
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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

What I didn't understand about Windows Movie Maker:

When you import a file, like Steve described, the program breaks it into clips. You then can assemble the clips into a movie.

But how do you edit a clip, like take off the camera shake where you first pushed the button? Of course, I could just exclude the clip, but that excludes the train appearing.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

To trim a video clip...

 If you are in the storyboard view, click View, and then click Timeline.
 On the timeline, click the clip that you want to trim. Use the playback controls under the Preview Monitor to find the point where you want to trim the clip.
 Do the following:
 When the playback indicator is at the point where you want the selected video or audio clip to start playing back, click Clip, and then click Trim Beginning.
 When the playback indicator is at the point where you want the selected video or audio clip to stop playing back, click Clip, and then click Trim End.

*Notes:*
 You can also drag the trim handles on a clip to set the start and end trim points. Trim handles appear as small black triangles at the beginning and end of a clip after you click the clip on the timeline. When you hold your pointer over a trim handle, the pointer changes to a red double-headed arrow. Click and drag a trim handle to set the new start or end point of the clip.

The following picture shows a trim handle:








Trimming a clip.

 You may need to click the Zoom Timeline In button one or more times to see clips more clearly on the timeline. The Zoom Timeline In button appears on the timeline toolbar as a magnifying glass with a plus sign in it. 
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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

I used MM 2.1 (xp version) for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't bad for a freebie program. 
The biggest issue I had was trying to figure out how to adjust the volumes of the clips (you have to be in Timeline mode and not Storyboard) 
I liked I was able to edit out a couple of derailments, import sounds from the net (like the train horn) and increase the lighting. 

I shot this late in the day on a cloudy day on a clients layout - 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYWpRRLtS9c 

The train horn I nabbed from here - http://free.ringtones-download.biz/...iesel+horn 

-Brian


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Steve, how do I deterrmine what type of file format it is?

Also, I did not see an item in the file menu, "import media items".


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

On 2.1 it File > Import into Collections 
If you turn on the extensions function for file names you should be able to see what it is. Usually its .avi or .mpg 

-Brian


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Madman on 06 Dec 2009 09:24 PM 
Steve, how do I determine what type of file format it is?
Dan

As Brian has stated above, make sure that you've got the MS/Operating System that you're using configured so that it will display the file extensions.

By the file extension, what formats can your camera support? If it can't create a file in one of the acceptable formats, then you'll need it acquire software capable of reading the file format the the camera is capable of creating, and then encode it in the format that you need. 

Also, I did not see an item in the file menu, "import media items".
Maybe this web site will be of help to you, I'm using MS/MM v6.0 and don't know much about v2.6. The other thing is I use VirtualDub, AviSynth, and a few other programs much more than MS/Movie Maker. The following link points to the basics and there's more information there than you'll ever need. I'm not trying to duck your question, but point you to much better help than I can provide. The one thing I can tell you is be patient and read because there's one heck of a lot to learn.









How to use Movie Maker 2[/b]


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Steve, I have windows 7. I don't know if that makes any difference. I see the tutorial link you provided talks about windows XP, with no mention of "7". I'm in no hurry. I still have a hard time navigating my way around and through the various computer nomenclature, and what each item can do for me. This is one of those things that I have to do late at night, when my wife is sleeping, and I have a clear mind.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Dan

If you've got MS/Win-7 I would think that you would have by default a newer version of MS/Movie Maker available on your computer. I'm running MS/Vista Home Premium and I've got MS/Movie Maker v6 on my system. So while you got MS/Movie Make v2.6 and installed it, I don't think you needed to do that.

See if when you click the Start button (i.e. lower-left of the desktop screen) and the Start menu displays if you don't have two entries for Movie Maker available. Version 2.6 doesn't install to the same place as the newer versions do, so installing the 2.6 version shouldn't have wiped out the other version. However, you can't have both versions of MS/Movie Maker running at the same time, so only open one version at a time.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

OK, in checking around it seems that MS/Movie Maker v2.6 is what is referred to as a portable version that can be run on MS/XP, MS/Vista, & MS/Win-7.

The reason that I pointed you to that web site is because it deals with MS/Movie Maker 2.x and the screens and names of things should be closer to what you'd be seeing on your system. Since I've only got version-6 installed my screens, menus, & menu options are not going to be the same as what you see on v2.6.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 06 Dec 2009 11:02 PM 
Posted By Madman on 06 Dec 2009 09:24 PM 
Steve, how do I determine what type of file format it is?
Dan

As Brian has stated above, make sure that you've got the MS/Operating System that you're using configured so that it will display the file extensions.

By the file extension, what formats can your camera support? If it can't create a file in one of the acceptable formats, then you'll need it acquire software capable of reading the file format the the camera is capable of creating, and then encode it in the format that you need. 


Also, I did not see an item in the file menu, "import media items".
Maybe this web site will be of help to you, I'm using MS/MM v6.0 and don't know much about v2.6. The other thing is I use VirtualDub, AviSynth, and a few other programs much more than MS/Movie Maker. The following link points to the basics and there's more information there than you'll ever need. I'm not trying to duck your question, but point you to much better help than I can provide. The one thing I can tell you is be patient and read because there's one heck of a lot to learn.









How to use Movie Maker 2[/b] 



Tks... Steve for the Infor.Link. 
I see there is a lot more to work with now. I use this program all of the time for our Internet Broadcast clips, but never really knew some of the other tricks to work with.. 

One other question tho...
I been using WM & WMV format for music and Videos.. Should I be using MP2 and MP2V instead? Seems like either one will up load to My files in Livestream or U-tube ok. Is one a faster upload than the other?? Or it dosen't matter. Tks again Steve. 
Madman.. Tks. for making the post.. Good infor.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Noel

Looking at your question from my side of the fence, I've got to tell ya' it gave me a really good chuckle, cause I'm surely not the one to be giving advice in this area, my lack of knowledge would astound you.









However, from my limited understanding, the AVI format is the foundation, which is why the files are so very large, there is no compression. All of the other formats that you see mentioned are Codecs (i.e. Encode/decode) that have been developed to compress the standard AVI format making the resulting files smaller, yet retaining the quality of the original to varying degrees.

From what I think I've figured out, like with most things each of the respective formats have their strong and weak points, and just which one is best falls into the realm of personal opinion. I'm sure that each one can be argued for based on its technical merits by its supporters.

The biggest problem that I see is more along the lines of the level of 'universal acceptance' on any given Codec, because you can't read one format with the software of another.

As to which of the formats is the best for you to use (i.e. WM, WMV, or MP2, MP2V). All I can really say is try using each one on a given clip and see if the end product is acceptable to you, then look to the resulting file sizes, the smaller the file the less time it takes to up or download it. I would also compare what features each of the Codecs for the respective format has.

Hope the above is of some help to you.


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

Windows 7 does not come with Windows Movie Maker. You have to download Windows Live Suite (free download) to get WMM and some other freebie stuff that MS is pushing. 

http://download.live.com/windows7 

Best, 
TJ


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