Using Windows Movie Maker to edit mp4 video from my Sanyo camcorder

1. Import MP4 video from Sanyo Camcorder.
2. Use MP4Cam2AVI to create AVI container for MP4 (this is a quick process as it does not re-code video).
3. New AVI container file can be opened in Windows Movie Maker (Requires ffdshow codecs to be installed first though).
4. Edit video in Windows Movie Maker.
5. Publish video as WMV, which does require re-code.
6. Use attribute magic to change date for Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Importing Video from Sony DV Video Camera using Windows Movie Maker

1. Connect camera using firewire.
2. Import video using Windows Movie Maker (Vista), use WMV setting.
3. Windows Movie Maker – Automatically Creates Clips based on DV time codes.
4. Publish as ‘Best for this computer 16×9’.

   

5. Although the record date is captured on import, when publishing this is lost, so the modified date is changed using a free tool like ‘AttributeMagic’.  This has to be done before opening Windows Photo Gallery to list the new file.

Windows Photo Gallery – WMV Created Date

Movie files (WMV and MPG) don’t have a created date like photographs from a digital camera (not to be confused with file dates created / modified etc).

When you first list or view a movie file in Windows Photo Gallery it uses the file modified date as the movie created date.  The date time is viewable in the info pane.

The movie created date can be changed here or by using the change creation date option.  This date is changed independently of the file creation / modified dates. Not sure where it is stored to be honest and whether it would be preserved on backup / restore.

UPDATE : I have found where Windows Photo Gallery stores the extra attributes you add/modify on videos.  There is a file called ‘pictures.pd4′ in the users ‘appdata’ folder ‘C:\Users\<<user>>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Photo Gallery’.  This folder is hidden.  Note to preserve the extra attributes make sure you back up this folder.  Also Windows Live Photo Gallery has it’s own folder ‘C:\Users\<<user>>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Photo Gallery’ so changes in one application will not be reflected in the other, Windows Live Photo Gallery file is called ‘pictures.pd5’.

Alternatively the modified date could be changed using a free tool like ‘AttributeMagic’.  This has to be done before opening Windows Photo Gallery to list the new file.

UPDATE 2: The good news is that these settings are maintained if you use the Windows Easy Transfer application to migrate from one PC to another.

Converting home video dvd’s back to WMV movies

Now that I have all my photos organised using Windows Photo Gallery, I have decided to use it to organise all my home videos as well.  My goal is to have all the media in one place that is easily accessible and discoverable.  It is so nice to just click on a tag (e.g. XMAS) and bring up all the photos and videos of the kids opening their presents.  With the current availability of large and cheap hard disks this now becomes viable.

Creating new videos from my Sony DV Camera is a breeze with Windows Movie Maker in Vista, but I needed to get all the old home videos off DVD’s that I created with ULEAD software a some time ago.

1. First I copied the VIDEO_TS folder from the DVD’s to the PC.
2. Next I used a utility called VOB2MPG v2.5 to convert the DVD VOB files in the VIDEO_TS folder into an mpg file.  This takes a few minutes for a DVD.
3. Now the mpg file can be added to Windows Movie Maker.
4. The large mpg file can be split into clips by right clicking the image and selecting ‘Create Clips’.  This does take some time so be patient.

You can now create your movie(s) from the clips and then publish them to a WMV file(s).  I use the option ‘best quality for playback on my computer’ which works well.   Aspect ratio can be set to 4×3 or 16×9 in the options menu.

Windows Photo Gallery can now be used to tag your videos and you can also change the date so that it sorts correctly.

 

2009 Update

VOB2MPG version 3 is now available

Windows Movie Maker no longer comes bundled with Windows 7.  You have to install Windows Live Movie Maker instead.  The same concepts apply but it no longer has the ‘create clips’ option so you have to manually split the video before publishing.