Tips for Making Videos with Windows Movie Maker
Ways you can make better home movies and other videos with XP’s built-in video maker.
XP is Microsoft’s most media-aware operating system, and it comes with built-in software for making and editing videos and home movies: Windows Movie Maker. (To run it, choose Start → All Programs → Accessories → Windows Movie Maker.) But making videos properly with it can be tricky, so check out these tips on how to make better home movies and videos.
Capture the Video Properly
Windows Movie Maker lets you edit movies and add special effects and titles, but it all starts with capturing the video properly. So, first make sure that you bring the video into your PC in the best way.
If you have an analog video camera or videotape, you need some way of turning those analog signals into digital data. You can do this via a video capture board or by using a device you can attach to your FireWire or USB port. If you’re going the route of a video capture board, make sure the board has XP-certified drivers; otherwise, you may run into trouble. To find out whether a board has XP-certified drivers, search the Windows Compatibility List at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/catalog.
If you have a USB port, you can import analog video with USB Instant Video or USB InstantDVD, both available from http://www.adstech.com. They’re hardware/software combinations; to get the video into your PC, connect the analog video device to the USB Instant Video or USB InstantDVD ...
Get Windows XP Hacks now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
