Using Freemake Video Converter as a Windows DVD Maker Alternative

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free offering from Microsoft that offers novice and average users the ability to edit video and from there, be able to share/publish it to Facebook, YouTube, eMail, DVD and even custom resolutions. It's a basic editor with very simplified interface, and it's part of the Windows Live Essentials Suite of applications.

It's important to know exactly how Windows Movie Maker creates a DVD. So to clarify, Windows Movie Maker DOESN'T CREATE A DVD; it exports a WMV file to a TEMP location where Windows DVD Maker with the WMV in its queue for processing. Windows DVD Maker takes the WMV file and CONVERTS it again to a VOB format that DVD's use natively; it's just useful to know how the application accomplishes this process.

In the Microsoft Windows Essentials support forums, issues about having problems burning to DVD keep coming up. This is why you need an alternative to creating a DVD, outside of using Windows DVD Maker. 

How to install and use Freemake Video Converter

When Windows Movie Maker can’t handle the video format you want to work with, it’s time to convert it to something it likes more natively, WMV.

The depressingly sad facts about Windows Movie Maker is that it really doesn’t fully support the video formats it says it does until you load the codecs, but if you don’t want to do that, you have to convert. And the most commonly recommended video converter is Freemake Video Converter.

Freemake Video Converter is a great software package, but people can be really apprehensive about dealing with ‘video converting’ software. Even more so, Freemake bundles their software with ‘opt-out’ software.

This post covers the download, installation and conversion of a video file to WMV for use with Windows Movie Maker.

How to Load K-Lite Codecs for Windows Movie Maker 2012 [step-by-step]

While Windows Movie Maker says that it supports popular video formats, but the truth is the application doesn't natively support those video formats until the proper codecs installed.  Without having the proper video codecs installed, you may have issues with importing, editing and exporting video [MOV, MP4, AVI, etc…].
As a suggestion for downloading codecs, http://www.free-codecs.com/ has an array of codec packs to choose from. I have used the K-Lite codec pack [standard] for years, and I've had very good success; it even gave me the ability to edit FLV files in Windows Movie Maker. I have never had a problem.
I put this together because there are apparently a lot of people scared to install software if they don't know what it is. So, below is a step-by-step installation with screenshots so people can see what's going to happen before they do any thing.

Installing and Using MediaInfo for Videos [Windows]

When you're working with video editing, you may run into situations where the media editor you're trying to work with isn't working properly. There are several reasons for not being able to import video into a video editor, but one of the most common issues is not having the proper codec installed.

If you're new to video editing, the concept of a codec may be completely foreign to you, but this doesn't devalue the requirement for the codec, and the bigger question is, how do you find the proper codec for the video file that you're trying to work with.

Luckily, there is a free application called MediaInfo that will allow you to open and inspect the media file you're trying to work with. The application will give you detailed information about the media file and what codecs are being used to encode the file. In addition to giving you this detailed information, it also gives you options for downloading the proper player and the proper codecs for video editing.

The Top 10 Frustrating Things About Windows Movie Maker 2012

I think everyone has experienced their fair share of difficulties with Windows Movie Maker 2012. It’s fair to say that the application is basic in nature and that Microsoft didn’t intend that Windows Movie Maker would be a high-end video editing package.

My personal experience with Microsoft support was that Windows Movie Maker was intended to encourage me to purchase a separate video editing package if I was going to be doing video editing on a regular basis; and that’s what I did. But I still use Windows Movie Maker from time to time for very simple video editing projects.

I continue to try to assist other Windows Movie Maker 2012 users, through the support forums, and if you spent any time in the support forums, you’ll see a recurring trend of stupid problems with Windows Movie Maker.