Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and windows

Switch between fullscreen video apps?

frenetic — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:06:45 -0800

I have three (Windows) video applications and one monitor. I want to be able to switch quickly (and as seamlessly as possible) between them running full-screen on the monitor (with keyboard hotkeys). Any idea how to do this?

How can I keep these videos from crashing Windows every time I try to get to them?

reticulatedspline — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:38:14 -0800

How can I keep these videos from crashing Windows every time I try to get to them? I found my old flip cam in the closet today and discovered on it a treasure trove of videos from when my dog was just a few weeks old, running around being spastic and other adorable puppy things.

When I tried to open the flip cam in windows explorer to copy these to my computer I get the message "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close." So instead I used the built in program on the flip to download them to my hard drive.

However whenever I try to navigate to them on my computer the same thing happens. When I open the folder which contains the folder with these videos in them, I get the "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem" thing again, except now if I don't immediately close Windows Explorer I get another error which says "The exception Integer Division by Zero (0x0000094) occured in the application at location 0x0392dd11."

I'm not quite sure what this means or what to do. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my graphics card drivers and video codecs (divx etc) in the thought that maybe that had something to do with it, and so far nothing. Can't really think what else might help. The flip has worked perfectly fine in the past and I've got a lot of videos on my computer that came from it and don't cause these errors.

Can anyone tell me what is going on and how to fix it, so I can save these videos of my pup?

Webcam recording softwrae

gocubbies — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:36:47 -0800

I need to record myself giving a presentation for school. My laptop has a built in webcam and microphone. What free Windows software would you recommend for this task?

How can I add annotation/text overlay to a video clip, in order to draw attention to items within the clip? Something a little more advanced than YouTube's annotation system, though.

newfers — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:45:42 -0800

I would like to add text annotations and other information to a video clip, as it plays. Other than the very basic YouTube method, is there any other way? I have a short video clip taken this past weekend, at a large camping event. In the video, I was flying in a helicopter over our camping area. I'd like to annotate the video, maybe freeze it briefly as it plays, circle our campsite with an onscreen marker of some sort, perhaps even add small ground-based pics of our site, superimposed over the video briefly.

Can anyone please give me any suggestions on which software might best help me accomplish this task? The cheapest software options are best, but I'm more interested in the best, PC-based software for the job, at any cost.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions on how to accomplish these tasks (in general terms, of course - not expecting a full tutorial!), I'd appreciate your efforts...

I just want to play UNIRACERS!

Bageena — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:20:30 -0800

Argh. I've installed the drivers, I've searched high and low online, nothing is helping, so I'm coming to ya'll: how can I get my Xbox 360 wireless controller (connected to my PC via the charge and play kit via a USB port) to work on my computer? Specifically, I want to play ROMs with it. ZSNES and project 64 are the two emulators I'm trying to puzzle out right now. I've installed the 360 drivers (I'm running a 64 bit copy of Windows Vista Home Premium), it shows up in my Device Manager under 'Microsoft Common Controller for Windows Class' as 'Xbox 360 Wireless Controller via Play & Charge Kit' and says it's there and fine.
HOWEVER... under Control Panel - Game Controllers, there's nothing. I open it up, there's no controllers on the list. I click advanced, I go to choose my preferred device, again - nothing. Not on the list. When I plug the controller in, the computer makes a noise and the light on the charge part of the controller shows it's plugged in, but the controller doesn't turn on (not sure if it's supposed to actually) and it certainly doesn't seem to be working with my ROMs.

Help Mefi, help! Pretty please?

Video Editing Software for Travel Videos

mary8nne — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:42:13 -0800

Can anyone suggest a simple Non-Linear Video Editing Software for Windows XP? One that can accept and output variety of Formats. For editing together Videos (MJPG) taken on a Canon Digital photo Camera. I've been messing around recording a few travel videos on my Canon Isus Camera which seems to take 640x480 MJPG Video (30fps). I thought it might be fun to Edit some together and add music tracks to them (and remove the current sound track where is it just wind noise).

Its not really a serious endeavour so looking for cheap / freeware editing apps for Win XP.

I've tried Windows Movie Maker but it will only allow export as DV (huge files) or this .wmv (WMV9 proprietrary format?) and is a bit chunky - but I did like the graphic time-line you get with WMM compared to the editing in the dark of AVIdemux.

Simple AV capture program for a Windows laptop?

killdevil — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:06:50 -0800

I need a Windows program that will capture audio from my laptop's mic and video from my laptop's built-in camera, then dump the combined results to disk in some convenient video format. This sort of quick-and-dirty video capture is such an obvious thing to do that I feel sure decent software must exist (how else would the YouTube-loving peoples of the world capture for posterity the gyrations of their cats upon monitors and keyboards, after all?), but Google turns up nothing but terrible-looking junk. Bonus points for free and/or open source. I'm also not averse to paying for trial-ware that I can check out before I commit to anything.

Also, as I'm just hoping to record some lectures for my own review later on, the output doesn't have be production-quality -- it just has to let me see and hear what went on.

WMP11 keeps resetting volume to max when I skip around in video.

Elminster24 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:44:06 -0800

Why does the volume reset to max in Windows Media Player 11 whenever I try to change it and then click to skip to another point in the video? I have a nice desktop that used to have WMP 10 on it. Long story short, hard drive got wiped, and I reinstalled everything from scratch. Since WMP 11 was out then, I decided to go with that.

I download a lot of divx and xvid files, and used to use WMP 11 and I have FFDShow and if I recall correctly, the Nimo Codec Pack.

However what happens now is, I'll be playing a video, and lets say I want to skip through the opening credits...I'll click in the tracking bar to skip forward to the right point. If I've made any changes to the volume using the WMP volume slider bar (the one next to the big center play button on the bottom of the screen), changing my position in the video manually resets the volume to max which can be a big problem if I need to skip around the video a lot and keep the volume at a certain level (there are reasons I need to control it from there versus with my speakers).

If I just change the volume and let the video play, it stays at that volume setting, but the second I jump to another point in the video, it goes back to max. I initially thought this might be an override from within FFDShow or something but I can't find anything. Figured I'd post here to see if anybody knows what may be causing this before I go through the hassle of uninstalling WMP 11 and reinstalling.

Please...no suggestions for other video players. I also have VLC Player which I've been using in the interim and it plays things fine, but I have an interesting setup to connect my PC to my flatscreen TV and WMP11's interface is crucial for that experience to work smoothly with my wireless gyroscopic mouse. Windows Media Player Classic is not useable for this situation either. Just looking for suggestions on troubleshooting the issue mentioned above. Thanks MetaFilter!

Minimum PC specs for playing HD video files?

wastelands — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:08:07 -0800

What are the minimum specs for a PC to play HD video files smoothly? I need to replace my ancient P4 2.8 GHz (w/onboard video) for several reasons, including that it chokes on some 720p videos during high action/movement scenes. Would your basic ~$480 Dell handle smooth playback of high def video files (.mkv, .avi) on VLC media player? Could I run other apps in the background (browser, IM, etc.) without input or video stutters and lag?

For example something like this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 (3MB L2, 2.8GHz, 1066FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
Integrated Intel® GMA X4500HD Graphics

Or do I need more power?

Fixing a WMV glitch with PowerPoint 2007 in Windows

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:49:07 -0800

I am embedding WMVs in a PowerPoint. They play well from slide-to-slide on a Mac, but when played back on PC, each video begins with a glitch. The files aren't too long, but there isn't much there other than WMV files. PowerPoint is used to sequence and control playback. It's the tool of choice so others can make changes to the file if they need to. So, sticking with PowerPoint: what can I try to eliminate the glitch with WMV playback on PCs.
(This is PowerPoint 2007 on XP, but the problem also occurs in Windows 7. The WMV files are in the same folder as the PPT.)

Controlling the volume of applications in Windows?

callmejay — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:08:29 -0800

Is it possible to control the volume of individual Windows applications (or Firefox windows/tabs?) Also, is it possible to boost the volume of (e.g.) a YouTube video?

Videoplayback in Vista

Iax — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:51:18 -0800

Windows Vista seems to have much worse video playback compared to Windows XP. Any way to fix this? I just got a new computer intel duo 8400 with 4 gigs of ram and two Nvidia 8800 GT in SLI.

Ive installed windows xp on one harddrive and windows vista on the 2nd harddrive. So I can easily boot into either one.

Neither XP or vista could play some my video files (just audio of the files), so I installed the CCCP (it also comes with Zplayer, which i like) and it works fine on XP, but in Vista the edges of moving stuff seem noticably blocky. Is there a way to fix this?
Playing XVID files in vista, this is the most noticable.
Also, after installing the cccp, windows media player can play the video, and the video looks finr, not blocky atall. but I hate the user interface for any version of windows media player.

How do I record live video directly from DV to PC?

russ9595 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:14:44 -0800

I'd like to record live video directly from my FireWire DV camera using Windows XP. Is this possible? I can transfer already recorded video stored on the FireWire DV camera's tape, but with the live video I just get a black screen.

I know this is possible with Windows Vista, but can't find a Windows XP solution.

Once I've Already Shot the Video, Can I Crop the Bottom Half of it and/or Zoom in On My Subject?

thewhynotgirl — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:26:57 -0800

How can I a) crop off the whole bottom half of a video, b) zoom in on my subject after I've already made the video, or c) hide the face of someone in the video? While I'm asking, how about taking a video made on a Canon (designed for stills, so their video actual size is small, which means it pixilates horribly when you put it on youtube) and making it stay actual size when placed on the web? I'm on a windows notebook and hoping any of this is even possible. Thanks! What's happened is that I've found myself in a position where I will be videoing and publishing daily, and I am no expert on video. That's fine, because I can learn.

But in the meantime, I will be starting with videos that are already made, and I need to get them good enough to publish. In some of the cases, I need to hide the identity of people or locations in the already-made videos (nothing nefarious, just don't have permission for the already made ones for the people/places), and in the canon stuff, just need to make them look decent. I'm sure my ignorance shows here, but I pick up quickly once I know what to do!

I cannot switch to mac or final cut pro at this time cuz those funds aren't in the budget for this not-for-profit thing, but any pointers on windows software/techiniques/common sense would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Where and what windows video codec packs?

singingfish — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:44:55 -0800

What software is best for video playing on windows? I mean a minimum intervention no messing around all in one solution like Perian for Mac or the win32-codecs packages for Linux. Some kind of all in one solution that you install then windows does the right thing when you double click on a video file ever more and you don't have to think about it ever again? I know about VLC and while it's generally excellent, the user interface is a little clunky and I'd rather not have to force users to fiddle with default media player settings.

Help me make two videos into one.

Asef Jil — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:52:28 -0800

A client wants to make/edit a video that displays two distinct videos side by side. He needs to synchronize frames between the two videos and add captions. What Windows software would accomplish this? He's working in Windows Movie Maker right now, if that matters.

Did my new RAM kill my video adapter?

YoungAmerican — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:31:06 -0800

BSODFilter: I tried to install a RAM upgrade in my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, and got nothing on screen after powerup. So I replaced the old DIMM, and got the BSOD -- the file that was missing was a driver for the Intel video adapter. Long story short, it's still not working. I wiped the HD, reinstalled windows, reinstalled the drivers, and after some installing and re-installing, finally have the computer starting up in XP. But it's giving me the BSOD seemingly randomly every hour or two. This is with everything as it was BEFORE the troubles started.

I spent a number of hours on the line with tech support, they seem completely baffled. In typical tech support fashion, all they want to do is install and reinstall drivers. I've googled my rear off, but to no avail.

Could I somehow have zapped my video adapter when I installed the DIMM? Could they conflict somehow? Would replacing the video adapter fix the problem? Could I replace it myself, as someone who's never done anything more than replace drives and RAM?

If I start up with the new RAM only, I can get it going in safe mode, but with weird purple lines up and down the screen.

I was about to buy a new computer to replace this one, but part of the plan involved getting a few hundred bucks for the oldie-but-goodie, which won't work if it's an oldie-but-baddie. Help me mefites, you're my only hope.

How can repair my video codecs?

cheero — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:20:42 -0800

How can repair my video codecs? Out of nowhere, I cannot see any video in my AVI files but I can hear the audio just fine. Windows Media Player 11 simply does not load when I click to open an AVI. It is fully installed and everything but when I try to click on an AVI to open it -- nothing happens. I've installed the VLC player in hopes that plays it, no dice. Same goes for Windows Media Classic.

I've installed the k-lite codecs pack which worked for me for years but for some odd reason, things crapped out on me.

I've also used GSPOT to see what codecs were needed for certain movies but each time it said that everything was fully installed.

How can I rectify this extremely annoying problem? Is there some kind of tool I can use that will repair this?

The specs I am running are: OS: WinXP Professional 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build #2600) CPU: Intel Pentium D , 2.99 GHz Video: Plug and Play Monitor on nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX Sound: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio

Thanks in advance

On ur laptop, making ur still frames into a movie.

Jimbob — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 03:29:28 -0800

What's the quickest, easiest way to turn a directory of sequentially numbered JPG files into a video file? Linux or Windows. I've got a stack of files, generated by POVRAY, named as such:

frame1.jpg
frame2.jpg
...
frame330.jpg

I want to turn then into a video file. MPEG-1 is fine - anything that's reasonably standard will do. I don't really want to have to specify anything apart from the directory the files are in, and the frame rate.

What's the best way to do this? A solution for Linux or Windows would both be okay. Google-disclaimer: The closest I could find was some ancient 16-bit Windows software that produced AVIs from BMPs (not really what I'm after).

Why do my videos always look so shoddy in PowerPoint?

handee — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:05:01 -0800

What video formats work well in presentations? Advice on codecs, presentation software and general tips and tricks sought. Linux and/or WIndows. I always seem to end up writing my presentations at the last minute (yeah, right) and they have to include video. The job of preparing the videos takes ages. I do all my video work in Quicktime, for historical reasons, but getting that into PowerPoint or OpenOffice seems unreasonably difficult. RIght now I've fallen back to outputting a stack of jpegs and turning those into a video with ffmpeg, which looks great when I play it back in mplayer, or when I copy it to the Windows box and play it in VLC viewer, but the result looks terrible in PowerPoint.

Am I using the wrong video format? The wrong presentation software?

Automatic still image capture of a video file on Windows XP SP2

nickerbocker — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:54:04 -0800

Automatic still image capture of a video file on Windows XP SP2. What software tool would I need to automatically generate a sequence of still images from a video file that are spaced something like 5 minutes apart?

My two video formats are MPEG2 (w/ .MPG extension) and WMV. My camcorder generates MPEG2 files on its HDD but I'm going to be running this through a WMV encoder so that I can have compressed files ready to put up on the web.

If I could open the video file with a program, select from 01:00:00 to 02:00:25 and generate a still image in JPEG or some format at 5 minute intervals then that would be just perfect. (Those parameters could change...for instance I may want every 10 minutes or something...)

Last video question I posted here had some really good answers that really helped me. Lets see if we can make it 2 for 2 :). Thanks for your time.

Explorer constantly crashing on video file thumbnails, can't take it anymore!

bradn — Fri, 11 May 2007 09:33:08 -0800

Windows XP / Explorer: MPG and WMV file thumbnails constantly crash Explorer, sometimes taking the entire OS with it. How can I fix this? I have a folder of small clips, mostly MPEG files, some WMV. When I leave this folder open in thumbnail view while I work with the clips, Explorer constantly crashes. Usually it just hangs and I have to kill the explorer process and rerun it. Sometimes everything locks up and I have to hit the restart button. If I keep it in List view, this doesn't seem to happen, but I need thumbnail view to identify the clips easily.
Help?

My dad wants to turn his home movies into DVDs. Might win an Oscar, you can never tell.

IvyMike — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:49:56 -0800

What's the best Windows software package to edit video and create DVDs? My Dad's got a bunch of tapes from his JVC GR-D72U digital video camera. He has proven to me that can transfer the data into the computer, but the bundled software he has has never been very easy to use nor has it been reliable at being able to create DVDs.

What's the favored Windows solution at the moment? He doesn't need to do anything particularly fancy, but being able to cut scenes together, add music, put little "Happy Birthday" text on the screen, and create DVD menus from templates are probably all things he would want to do.

Also, keep in mind that the fewer times my dad calls me from two time zones away with crazy questions, the better. (I would normally provide support via VNC, but I suspect that won't work well during video editing.)

And yes, I know that one answer is "Get a Mac and iMovie", but that's out of the question for now. Maybe next time.

Help my cap my vid!

antifuse — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 01:40:06 -0800

What is the easiest (cheapest) way to get a series of stills from a video file? Ok, here's what I want to do: I have a bunch of video files (AVI, divx encoded mostly, but I'd appreciate a method that could do WMV or MOV too) that I'd like to get a series of jpeg still captures from. Preferably, something like capturing 1 frame every second for the length of the video. Are there any nice freeware tools out there that will do this? Preferably something that has a nice simple command-line (like app.exe sourcefile(s) destination -jpeg-quality) or an easy to use drag and drop windows interface. Oh, yes, and looking for windows apps only as well.

Freeware isn't an absolute requirement, I'm sure I could get my hands on something that's not freeware, but I'd like to do this on the cheap if I can, as it's really just for messing around.

I swear I saw a similar question to this somewhere on the net before, and I could've sworn it was AskMe, but my search-fu has yielded no results, so sorry if I'm duping someone else's question. :)

Help me enter the viral video pantheon, will ya?

TonyRobots — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 10:16:49 -0800

I'd like to remix a handful of videos from Youtube. What's the best/easiest/cheapest (i.e. free) way to do this? Basically, I want to take about ten 2-minute long videos and cut bits from each of them to make a single 2-minute long mix. I'm using Windows. I'm aware of ways to download the FLVs from Youtube. I figure I can probably convert the FLVs to WMVs and edit in Windows Movie Maker, but transcoding from FLV to WMV back to FLV (when I inevitably re-up to Youtube) I'm also aware of online video mixing sites like eyespot.com, but their interfaces leave much to be desired.

Any suggestions?