Simple Video Question(s)

[maple1]

Got a little Nikon camera for Christmas, that makes it easy to snap a quick video.

Now I don't know what to do with it once I snap it.

I'd like to get into simple editing, but first I need to change it from a .mov to a .wmv, I think. I have XP Pro, and was going to try Windows Movie Maker - it won't take a .mov file. First thing I want to do once I get into it, is reduce the file size. A 2 minute vid was over 200mb.

Any hints? Starting with going .mov to .wmv or something Movie Maker can handle.

 

[vinny11950]

Haven't done this in about a year but movie maker worker for me.

Check out this article in free editing software.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/so...re-9-top-programs-you-should-download-1136264

Good luck.

 

[semipro]

1st I'd try to change the settings on your camera to record in a different format.
I'd suggest using VirtualDub or VideoLAN, though I"m not sure how much editing can be done with the latter.
Video is actually fairly complex. Different "containers", e.g., avi, mov, etc are used as are many different types of compression coders/decoders (codecs) such as mpeg, mp4, etc. Editing programs typically accept multiple container types and multiple codecs can be installed for video decompression & compression. You can download CODEC packages that install multiple commonly used codecs. You have to make sure whatever codec you encode in is compatible with the devices you want to view video on.
If you'r not willing to wade through all this container/codec stuff I'd suggest you try to find an editing software that simplifies things a bit but that may cost some money.

 

[maple1]

Well, after a whole bunch of roundy-round, I ended up borrowing the kids Win7 laptop & doing it with Windows Movie Maker. Relatively quick & easy.

Found out in between that Nikon has software available (ViewNX2). According to the listed requirements it needs Vista or higher. So I didn't try it on the XP machine. Got it on the Win7 one, but it seemed more clumsy than Movie Maker for what I wanted to do so I gave up on it for now.

Anyway, got my 236mb .mov down to a 34mb .wmv with a couple mouse clicks, more or less.

Computers, aaargggh...