Render MPEG-4 Movies with Movie Maker 2 - PapaJohn's Newsletter Archive

MPEG-4 is in the limelight as computers get more powerful and broadband expands. The new Google video service says it prefers MPEG-4 files at 750kbps video, with MP3 audio at 128kbps.

The standard profile choices included with Movie Maker don't include any with MPEG.... but choices in the custom profile Video codec pick-list include ISO MPEG-4 V1

I'll start with some background info from assorted places, and then make a set of test files for some comparisons.

The standards from ISO ( International Organization for Standards) are available for detailed study... but Microsoft info about WMV codecs is proprietary. I'll use Movie Maker to make a few sample video files with Digital Video (DV-AVI), Windows Media Video, and MPEG-4 codecs... and note their differences.

A post on one of the newsgroups this week got me thinking about that option. The poster said he was in a corporate environment and couldn't use anything but MPEG-4 encoded videos... I did a quick test and, when I found that Movie Maker would render a movie using the option, I referred him to it.

That triggered a bit more testing, studying, and this week's newsletter. After rendering a number of test sample files, I put two of them that used the MPEG-4 codec on neptune. Last Saturday we went to a local Civil War re-enactment for some pictures and video. I used some of the footage for these two 30 second samples. They're both from the same project file... one with the full color from the camcorder footage, and the other with a few effects applied to bring back the old time movie feelings.

When I put the two video clips on neptune I noticed the service now supports multiple videos in a single album.

The continuing saga of my Toshiba laptop is getting old, and it's time to close the books on it. It's back at the CompUSA repair center in Texas, who says it needs a new mother board. That's enough of another notch to officially classify it as a lemon. I'll be getting a new replacement unit next week.

The Persian Poet Gal continues her quest to get the world of amazing XML transitions, effects and text overlays into the toolboxes of the average Movie Maker 2 user. She expanded her Persian Page a good bit during the week. I'm looking forward to another newsletter about the topic, using her page when it's far enough along.

The Microsoft MVP Summit is around the corner, less than two weeks away... I may be skipping two weeks in a row. I'll let you know next week.

(1) Chapter 14 of the 4th edition of Video Demystified is about MPEG-4... it offers lower bitrates than MPEG-2 for the same quality, the ability to mix natural and synthetic objects together (think 'layers' of Photoshop), and support for interactivity (2 way communication with the video stream).

(2) Going back a couple years to an extract from an April 2003 Microsoft announcement :

(4) The almost complete text of a well written 7/14/05 post on the newsgroup for Movie Maker users, by someone named James who works at neptune:

(5) Hack #77 in the Digital Video Hacks book says "... Three codecs gaining the most momentum are DivX, Xvid, and 3ivx... All three codecs provide excellent quality video for the bandwidth they require, and all are variations of the MPEG-4 standard..."

I put 9 widescreen clips together from the Civil War re-enactment last Saturday, limiting the project to a 30 second duration. To give it an old time flavor, I added the Film Age, Older and the Sepia Tone effects.

I rendered some movies, all from the same project file. My first look at the simulated old videos showed that I could use another batch with color and sharpness...

The MPEG-4 option in the profile only works with the CBR option... probably why the rendering time is only about 1/4 of that needed to render the comparable VBR file with a Windows Media Video codec.

They all looked good. To start studying file differences, I opened them with GSpot and checked the proposed codec solutions.

A DV-AVI file is decoded by the DV Video Decoder... qdv.dll, found in the c:\Windows\System32 folder.

A WMV file encoded with the Windows Media Video codec is decoded by the WMVideo Advanced Decoder... qasf.dll in conjunction with wmvadvd.dll...

A WMV file encoded with the MPEG-4 codec is decoded by the Mpeg4s Decoder... qasf.dll with mp4sdmod.dll...

An MPEG-2 file doesn't have a decoding solution (per GSpot - I'm doing this on my old Dell laptop - which has no DVD software).

TMPGEnc is installed on the old Dell and had no problems making and then previewing the MPEG-2 files... that's what I used to make the files and get the snapshots.

The quality of the viewing experience depends partly on the quality of the file, the decoding software, and the player.

Each sample played and looked pretty good... and not surprisingly, the larger higher bitrate files looked better...

I took a snapshot of the same frame of each sample.. using Movie Maker for all but the MPEG-2 file. For that I used TMPGEnc. From the full frame snapshots, I cropped a small segment that had visuals to help see the differences.

I put the cropped segments into a collage. Except for #7, they are full-sized, figuring you could enlarge them at your end if you want to look closer. #7 was a different resolution, so I enlarged it to align with the others in size for this collage.

I sequenced them from the highest expected quality at the left to the lowest at the right... they met my expectations.

It was easier to see the differences in the playing movies, especially the transition areas and faster action scenes... more so than from the slow movements around this frame.

7 - MPEG-4 WMV (360x240 pixels) - 750 kbps (picture magnified to align with the others)

While putting this collage together, I noted the JPG snapshots of Movie Maker 2 produce files on a par with the JPG quality setting of 95 in IrfanView. I always wondered what the JPEG quality level was... not lossless but pretty good.

Although standards are necessary for full inter-changeability, not everyone is obligated to adhere to them... some are rigid in following them, some loose, and some go their own way yet claim adherence. An MPEG-4 file could come from any of them... some play with the more generic codecs and some need specialized codecs.

That post by James at neptune was interesting... the one I work with at neptune is also named James, who happens to be the president. I've seen him post many times and wouldn't be surprised if it was him.

Movie Maker works fine rendering movies with the MPEG-4 option for the video in the profile... while the audio is compressed with the WMA codec. Will it make it easier to get movies into Google? I don't know... it plays well on neptune.

There's no real conclusion or closing on this subject; the world is still turning.

I look forward to comments and discussion about this and other newsletters on the forums at:

I'm involved in many things that support users of Movie Maker and Photo Story, and adding more regularly. Some are free and others reasonably priced.

TheDVShow is the only weekly Podcast having more useful information about desktop video editing and production than anywhere else on the Web. Digital video editing, nonlinear editing, streaming media, software releases, tutorials, business tips, technical help, download of the day and news on the latest products to make everything easier. It's where professional and consumer desktop video users go to stay on the cutting edge.

Call the phone mail machine to get your technical question answered on the air... call (206)-203-3516

The radio broadcast is from Boston, and the website has downloadable podcast files. The June 19th 2005 podcast included the first 'bi-weekly' show with a segment about Movie Maker 2.

Movie Maker 2 - Do Amazing Things (with its online companion on www.papajohn.org), published by Microsoft Press

Movie Maker 2 - Zero to Hero - with support on the publisher's forum - Friends of Ed

MaximumPC's winter 2005 quarterly special... had a 7 page tutorial 'Make a Killer Home Movie with Maker 2'. The special edition of the video made for it is now on my website as a file download.

Learning VirtualDub - published by Virtual Dub

Packt Publishing, is the first book about VirtualDub software. I wrote the first chapter about downloading and setting up the software: VirtualDub, VDubMod and AVISynth.

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org - the site's 3 goals are: an online companion to the Do Amazing Things book, a detailed tutorial for PhotoStory 3, and helping you solve Movie Maker 2 problems.

Forums are open to all for viewing, but require registration of those who want to post. Moderators actively participate to ensure the forum discussions move forward and stay on track.

Newsgroups are wide open for all to view and post... moderation is collective by the participants.

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story newsletter. The annual subscription is $20 and the link to subscribe is on the main page of my Movie Maker website at:

Older newsletters (more than 6 issues ago) are posted by Rob Morris to an Archive Site at his Windows Movie Makers website. Links from website pages to specific newsletters make it easier for the website viewer to see the content of both while browsing a topic.

Drop an email to suggest a newsletter topic... I can use more requests rather than fewer.

Transition Maker 2 (TM2) is a utility for the ultimate in making your own personal and custom transitions for Movie Maker 2. It's a joint product from Patrick Leabo, the programmer, and myself. Version 2 was released a week ago and I'm still working on updating the online tutorial.

I routinely beta test the Pixelan packages and think very highly of their people and products.

Managing your personal information is more of a challenge as hard drives get bigger and the internet more robust.

My personal database has been an ongoing project over many years, and is now available to others. Info is on the Managing > Personal Database page of my site, and in the database package itself.

To others it's $10. To order, use the button on the top of the Managing > Personal Database page.

An online gallery that fully aligns with the main priority of the website is the 'PapaJohn Expert Zone' at neptune.

Check it at Neptune and the Distributing > Neptune page of the website, where there's a developing tutorial about how to use the service.

in conjunction with the Portage, Michigan library, I offer two free training sessions about Movie Maker, an intro session and a workshop. The upcoming scheduled sessions are:

If you can't save a movie because your project has become too complex, e-mail a copy and I'll divide it into manageable sub-projects, and provide detailed instructions about how to render the parts and assemble them into your final movie. $49.95 (no cost if it's not the right solution or doesn't work) - for details, see the sidebar on the Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page of www.papajohn.org

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story training and support services start at $50 per hour - send an email - PapaJohn@CharterMi.net and I'll help you determine your needs, and work with you to plan and implement them.

Wedding combo website/video packages - starting at $2,500 + travel expenses. See Jill-MarkWedding or the bottom branch of the Movie Maker 2 website for a sample of what you can expect for the online portion of the package.

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About John 'PapaJohn' Buechler from Microsoft.com

John "PapaJohn" Buechler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., goes by PapaJohn online. An avid user of Movie Maker since its first release, and a regular supporter of the community of Movie Maker users, John received a 2003 MVP award from Microsoft for that support. In March 2003, he started a comprehensive website about Movie Maker 2 at www.PapaJohn.org. He maintains the website, writes books and articles, teaches, and provides support services - all for the community of Movie Maker 2 users. An engineer by formal education, John is a computer database and multimedia expert by business and personal experience. He co-authored the first book about Movie Maker 2 and is actively working on a second one. You can find his advice in the Windows XP Movie Maker newsgroup and in the Windows Movie Makers Forums.

This newsletter is republished with permission of John "PapaJohn" Buechler.
Please note that this is an archive of newsletters and some information may become outdated. PapaJohn, and the webmaster of this site, provides this information "AS IS" with no warranties.

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