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Windows Movie Maker 2 Download - Website Live | |
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| Time: 00:00 EST/05:00 GMT | News Source: ActiveWin.com | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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Windows Movie Maker 2 makes home movies amazingly fun. With Movie Maker 2, you can create, edit, and share your home movies right on your computer. Build your movie with a few simple drag-and-drops. Delete bad shots and include only the best scenes. Then share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD. Using third-party software you can even take movies you've made and turn them into DVDs. You can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself. | ||
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| #1 By 442 (65.33.152.78) at 1/9/2003 12:39:19 AM |
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I tried WMM2 on a friend's PC and here are my thoughts in comparison to iMovie 3...
? There are "Wizard" like guides that walk the user through many steps. The first time or so this can be fine, however, once you know what you are doing they really get in the way and slow you down. It's a long multi-step process just to change the color of text in a title. ? There are a few nice transitions in the application such as a very cool one that looks like glass shattering. However, you can't change ANY of the properties of how they act. Basically, you're stuck with the "canned" transitions and that's it. The same goes for video effects. ? Microsoft seems to have not understood what a transition is and what an effect is. They have fade-in and fade-out in the effects section. These are transitions, NOT effects. This can be confusing after a person learns more about video editing and begins to wonder why WMM has different names for things. ? Switching between the timeline and story-board view is jarring to say the least. The bottom section jumps around a bit when going between the different views and it's difficult to zoom in or out. ? You can not import QuickTime movies or MPEG 4 files. Nor can you save your finished product to any other format besides Windows Media. This means no DVD authoring from within the application. The only decent way to export your movie would be to a camera for VHS dubs. ? You can import still pictures and create a nice slide show. However, you can only zoom in or out of those photos. There is no panning and zooming "Ken Burns Effect" as in iMovie 3. ? There is only one track for audio. The second track is reserved for the sound from your video footage. You would not be able to do narration on video unless you want to do it over a silent backdrop. One audio track is a severe limitation in my opinion. ? And finally, when I exported my 28 second clip to a finished Windows Media File it took almost 90 seconds to complete the export. Not very impressive. So there's my take on Windows Movie Maker. It's not terrible, it's just not as easy as iMovie, has far fewer features, takes longer to accomplish the same tasks, is very limiting in what you can do, and has a confusing interface during some processes (titles for example). Take a look at what the new iMovie 3 has to offer and it's very sad to see Windows Movie Maker. iMovie looks like a high end film studio compared to this latest attempt from Microsoft. |
| #2 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 2:48:24 AM |
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This is not a dispute of your summation, just a (hopefully helpful) response to some of your observations:
? There are "Wizard" like guides that walk the user through many steps. The first time or so this can be fine, however, once you know what you are doing they really get in the way and slow you down. It's a long multi-step process just to change the color of text in a title. The Task Pane can be turned off if it is not needed. Tasks such as Title editing can be accessed from the Tools menu. Changing the color of title text is a 3 step process: From timeline view, double-click on the title you want to change. Click "Change the text font and color" on the resulting menu. Then, click the Font Color button and pick your desired color. ? Switching between the timeline and story-board view is jarring to say the least. The bottom section jumps around a bit when going between the different views and it's difficult to zoom in or out. You can use Ctrl-T for switching views, and the PageUp and PageDown keys for zooming in the Timeline view. ? You can not import QuickTime movies or MPEG 4 files. Nor can you save your finished product to any other format besides Windows Media. This means no DVD authoring from within the application. The only decent way to export your movie would be to a camera for VHS dubs. Apple/Sorensen control QT. As long as there is no DirectShow codec for QT, this won't happen. Videos can also be saved to DV-AVI format. ? You can import still pictures and create a nice slide show. However, you can only zoom in or out of those photos. There is no panning and zooming "Ken Burns Effect" as in iMovie 3. Check out Photo Story from the Plus! Digital Media Edition pack. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/Photo.asp The Al Franken sample even mentions Ken Burns :-) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/demos/photos/Franken%20Hi.wmv There is a review of Plus! DME and MM2 at http://www.winsupersite.com/ ? There is only one track for audio. The second track is reserved for the sound from your video footage. You would not be able to do narration on video unless you want to do it over a silent backdrop. One audio track is a severe limitation in my opinion. True, this is a limitation, although there are a few workarounds. Maybe v.3 will remedy this. ? And finally, when I exported my 28 second clip to a finished Windows Media File it took almost 90 seconds to complete the export. Not very impressive. This is highly dependant on you system specs and the chosen bitrate. Hope this helps. |
| #3 By 2960 (156.80.64.132) at 1/9/2003 9:11:12 AM |
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Anyone know if there is a single-file install anywhere?
TL |
| #4 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 11:53:52 AM |
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TL, Until it's up on MS Download, you can get it here:
http://download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/v3-19990518/CabPool/setup_3414439EE8AA4795208D10F1402B64077C339ECC.exe |
| #5 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 1:01:03 PM |
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? You can not import QuickTime movies or MPEG 4 files. Nor can you save your finished product to any other format besides Windows Media. This means no DVD authoring from within the application. The only decent way to export your movie would be to a camera for VHS dubs.
Apple/Sorensen control QT. As long as there is no DirectShow codec for QT, this won't happen. Videos can also be saved to DV-AVI format. A member of mpeg-la could a least support mpeg which is necessary for 99.99999% of the media players today. They could also license QT--Apple would be happy to, I'm sure. Not that I expect that or fault them for not licensing QT, but the idea that MS can't is laughable. Sony, Canon, Nikon, Casio, Minolta, Pansonic, Sanyo, and many others do. |
| #6 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 1:29:44 PM |
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Taken from Apple's QT5 File Format License Agreement, Page 2:
http://developer.apple.com/mkt/swl/pdf/QT5FileFormat.pdf 2.2 Exclusivity If Licensee wishes to enable Licensee Products to Author and Read digital Video files then Licensee agrees that the QuickTime File Format will be the exclusive file format used for such authoring and reading of digital Video files in Licensee Products. ------------------------------------- Besides, why would you expect MS to support QT over WM when WM is the more common format in the PC space, and Apple doesn't support WM despite a number of media players, portable digital devices, and tools (freeware/retail) supporting the format? Not to mention the obvious benefits Apple would get by supporting it on devices such as iPod. Again, another double standard. |
| #7 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 1:57:31 PM |
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"Besides, why would you expect MS to support QT over WM when WM is the more common format in the PC space"
"Not that I expect that or fault them for not licensing QT" Are you not reading on purpose, enforcer? I specifically wanted to call out mpeg usage. And you jump right over that and claim I expect them to ditch wm? As for the license agreement, I don't know and don't have the time to investigate, but this is certainly not the case with my digital camera... so I take it with a grain of salt. |
| #8 By 37 (66.82.20.150) at 1/9/2003 2:04:49 PM |
| I too have this license agreement read in full, and the facts are stated there. Just take the time to read it. |
| #9 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 2:13:19 PM |
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I'm sorry, sodajerk. I did see your disclaimer.
I meant "you" in the general sense, while discussing QT as a topic initiated by jaredbkt. I guess I should have used the word, anyone, instead. This post was edited by n4cer on Thursday, January 09, 2003 at 14:15. |
| #10 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 2:14:11 PM |
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"I too have this license agreement read in full" Ooo, now Brian's getting all yoda on us! Oooo.
And I have shot video with my digital camera in mpeg and QT, but how can that be? Or should I say: I too with my digital camera have video shot in mpeg and QT, how be that can? This post was edited by sodajerk on Thursday, January 09, 2003 at 14:23. |
| #11 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 2:16:42 PM |
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enforcer, do you have any care to address the mpeg question then? Since as I stated--even if MS has gotten into say 20% of digital media devices, when it comes to video--99.99999% will, for the time being, require mpeg support.
Hell, you can't even inport files in mpeg? They don't want me to convert files into their format? Okay. |
| #12 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 2:30:20 PM |
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MPEG output (ie, encoding) costs money, per copy of Windows, for an otherwise free program. This would increase the price of Windows. Technically, assuming MM2 works like other programs that can use whatever codecs you have installed (like WM Encoder can), you can potentially import other formats.
But the default formats for import include (but are not necessesarily limited to: *.wav, *.aiff, *.aifc, *.snd, *.mp3, *.au, *.mpa, *.mp2, *.wma, *.asf, *.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe, *.jfif, *.gif, *.png, *.bmp, *.dib, *.tiff, *.wmf, *.emf, *.avi, *.mpg, *.m1v, *.mp2, *.mp2v, *.mpeg, *.mpe, *.mpv2, *.wm, *.wmv as well as Movie Maker 1.x Collection files (*.col, *.bak) |
| #13 By 37 (66.82.20.150) at 1/9/2003 2:30:51 PM |
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Don't like Yoda talk? Wow. Then I reckon you need to work on your sense of humor and stop taking things so seriously.
How can that be? My digital camera video shots have no problems running in Windows Media Player. Did you have a point that I missed? |
| #14 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 2:42:22 PM |
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Thanks for the info, enforcer--I guess I moved a bit too quickly when reading jared's post. (i.e. it's just missing mpeg-4 import)
Brian, apparently you did and still are. |
| #15 By 442 (65.33.152.78) at 1/9/2003 2:49:02 PM |
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To n4cer;
The simple fact remains that you must jump between multiple apps in Windows to get the same thing you get in one app on the Mac. For example, I'd have to edit my movie in Movie maker, go to the Plus! application, make a slide show, save it, export it, go back to Movie Maker, import it, add it to the time line. That's a whole lot of steps in MovieMaker. It takes much less and incorporates it right into your video in iMovie. No need for multiple apps. The iApps all talk to eachother seamlessly. That is something you DO NOT get with MovieMaker and the Plus! application package. Although MM can export to AVI, AVI is lower quality and does not play on every machine because of the way the codecs can be setup. AVI is a poor choice for a video file you care about. |
| #16 By 37 (66.82.20.150) at 1/9/2003 3:05:31 PM |
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SJ,
Zinnnnnggggggggg! LOL! |
| #17 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 3:54:56 PM |
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Jaredbkt:
Would it be that much of a problem? I'm not trying to take away from the fact that Apple has this integrated into iMovie, but having a video and a photo story would be largely two separate things. About the only time the photo story and the video would mix is at a transition point. Sure, there may be special cases, and, again, kudos to Apple for the integration, but jumping between apps isn't a big deal in a multi-threaded, multi-tasking OS. While one app is busy importing video or something, you can work on the photo story. There is one question I have about iMovie3's Ken Burns effect. At MacWorld, Steve didn't show much about this feature of iMovie. Can it do multiple/complex paths and custom paths on the same photo? If so, score for Apple. I ask because Steve ran quickly through this feature, and said you basically pick a start point and an end point. By the way, the playback format isn't much of an issue with WM as it used to be. It can be played on Windows, MacOS, and even *n*x. There is even an open source codec. This post was edited by n4cer on Thursday, January 09, 2003 at 15:59. |
| #18 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 5:12:21 PM |
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Zing, what, brian?
I thanked enforcer for the info, I learned something, I corrected my error. Something that I'm happy to do. You still do not get my point. Zing? |
| #19 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 5:13:42 PM |
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"By the way, the playback format isn't much of an issue with WM as it used to be. It can be played on Windows, MacOS, and even *n*x. There is even an open source codec."
If you aren't burning to any media for playback on another device, that is. But more and more so, we are talking about producing CDs or DVDs for playback on non-computers. |
| #20 By 37 (24.196.75.142) at 1/9/2003 6:32:02 PM |
| SJ, if you don't understand by now, you will never get it. |
| #21 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 6:44:10 PM |
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WM format is building support on non-computer devices as we speak.
But, I know that the current standards are still very important. For these cases, there are software (even freeware) and hardware tools that can export WM format to DVD/VCD/etc. Also, again, DV-AVI is an option. This is the uncompressed video as captured directly from your DV camera. There is no quality loss, and it is cross-platform compatible. The drawback to DV-AVI, as with all uncompressed formats, is that it takes a lot of harddrive space. |
| #22 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 1/9/2003 7:04:02 PM |
| thanks for being rational on this matter, enforcer. I understand. I just think its insane that you could have an app that promises you can record to DVD and such... the only catch is you have to buy a new DVD player. And again, if I am going to another program to edit and produce standard files, why would I step into the blackbox of WM at all? |
| #23 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 8:46:58 PM |
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And again, if I am going to another program to edit and produce standard files, why would I step into the blackbox of WM at all?
Because of the quality and efficency benefits. More movie at greater quality, with the possibility of multichannel audio and HD video in the same or less space as other formats. Higher quality than MP4 at lower bitrates. And even MP4 will have an adoption curve. And iMovie requires going to iDVD to make DVDs. Why is it any more trouble to go to, say, Nero or similar to burn a WMV to standard DVD format (this does not require a new player)? |
| #24 By 2960 (68.100.157.191) at 1/9/2003 10:07:11 PM |
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n4cer,
Thanks! TL |
| #25 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 1/9/2003 10:32:53 PM |
| You're welcome, TL. |
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