Camcorder and Movie Maker extension woes

[steele_uk]

We have managed to get round the compatability problems of Windows Movie Maker only accepting limited file formats, by getting students to record video with Canon Still camera's on the video setting, which records as AVI.

Not bad results, but poor audio and certainly no good over distance.

I have a budget of £200-£300 to get a a SD CARD Camcorder, but i can't tell by the reviews what file extensions they record as.

We have had a couple of disaters before with a couple of camera's needing their own software installed to work with the recorded media, or having students go through hoops trying to convert the media.

So does anyone know of a Flash camcorder that will play niceley with WMM, ie; save as AVI?

If not how do you tackle this frustrating issue?

Regards

Andy

[Jamo]

I would use flip video cameras and install the xVid codec on your PCs. Movie maker picks up whatever codecs are available on your PC so once xVid is there you will be able to use the flipcams with no issues.

[rdk]

Having the same issues here in looking for a camcorder. As far as I can tell, none of the the card-type comcorders record in AVI or mp4, or indeed in any sort of format that can be played in "normal" players such as Windows media player. Even the same extensions (.mod for example) seem to be different between different brands.

I agree that the web site specs are uselss for info, and camera shop assistants are circus performers who've been trained to say: "This ones really great. What format? - MPEG-2. No, that is the format. What do you mean what extension? It's MPEG-2. All computers play MPEG-2" repeated ad-nauseum until you die.

We have decided the only solutions are:

1) SD card camcorder, with all videos edited in Premiere Elements before saving/distributing
2) Flip non-HD recorder which records in AVI, and theoretucally easily converted into wmv with the Flip's software.

[Jamo]

Extension shouldn't matter when looking at videos as half the time they are container formats eg AVI can hold mpeg4 or 2 etc the format is the bit you need to know when looking at the cameras.

(Sorry if thats what you meant in your post I was unsure)

[b4bob]

My personal camcorder is a samsung HMX records to SD (720 so not full 1080 HD) no way will windows movie maker go any where near it. Had to use the oem software. Once edited then I can output/play as i need to. Tried adding KLite codec pack, divX etc and media player classic as player. Still only got 'patchy' slightly jerky play back -so back to OEM software and output as mpeg2 or avi and accept the loss of quality.
At other end of scale -cheap and cheerful 'busbi' has proved to be an idiot proof gizmo and students record then edit in wmm and off they go.

[themanfromict]

We have a Sony DCR-SR57E camera. It records to MPEG. It records to a HDD, but allows you to insert an SD Card too.

[mjs_mjs]

I would use flip video cameras and install the xVid codec on your PCs. Movie maker picks up whatever codecs are available on your PC so once xVid is there you will be able to use the flipcams with no issues.

I've done this and Windows Movie Maker still errors out with "The file" XYZ "is not a supported file type, and it cannot be imported into Windows Movie Maker.

[Face-Man]

If you install the msi that comes with the flip camera the output should go straight into movie maker or media player

[Jamo]

Yeah there is a codec on the flip itself, its just not open source. It will install the direct show filter required to play the videos.

[dhicks]

If not how do you tackle this frustrating issue?

I think (not sure, try before you buy anything) I used MP4Cam2AVI:

MP4Cam2AVI - MPEG4/MJPEG to .AVI converter/joiner for digital cameras

It was the least-messing-around converter I could find to convert footage from a Sanyo Xacti to be used with Windows Movie Maker / Adobe Premier Elements. This wasn't the school's camera, though, so I don't have it around to test. I also think the latest version of Adobe Premier Elements now directly handles AVCHD, and it's not an unreasonable price and distributes okay on our network.

--
David Hicks

[mjs_mjs]

I think (not sure, try before you buy anything) I used MP4Cam2AVI:

MP4Cam2AVI - MPEG4/MJPEG to .AVI converter/joiner for digital cameras

It was the least-messing-around converter I could find to convert footage from a Sanyo Xacti to be used with Windows Movie Maker / Adobe Premier Elements. This wasn't the school's camera, though, so I don't have it around to test. I also think the latest version of Adobe Premier Elements now directly handles AVCHD, and it's not an unreasonable price and distributes okay on our network.

--
David Hicks

I've tried using this but windows movie maker doesn't like the AVI's, i've tried Free online media file conversion (Document, Images, Audio, Video & Archives) also but that didn't work ither. Are there any other convertors i should try?

[laserblazer]

Try downloading the full K-Lite codecs and then when you import, select all files. This works with mt2s extensions, I've not tried anything else.

[mjs_mjs]

i think i've found a convertor for them to use, Total Video Converter convert video files, video format converter - OJOsoft, the demo looks nice and it does the trick.

[Jamo]

Doesn't AVC free work for you? Any video converter can convert anything I have needed and there is a free version which just comes up with a messagebox on completion.

Free Video Converter - Any Video Converter Free Version - convert video to any formats, avi to MPEG, avi to MP4, flv to MPG

[mjs_mjs]

Doesn't AVC free work for you? Any video converter can convert anything I have needed and there is a free version which just comes up with a messagebox on completion.

Free Video Converter - Any Video Converter Free Version - convert video to any formats, avi to MPEG, avi to MP4, flv to MPG

doesn't do mp4 to avi apparently.