Plug And Play OK - But Problems With Editing

John blogs ...

'Plug-and-play' technology is fine with new products but interfacing with earlier versions of software usually ends in a bit of a pickle. So, this blog may be a bit techy for some but if you've just bought a FlipMino camcorder, it may be of interest if you're used to editing video in Microsoft Movie Maker ...

Claire's managed to 'beg and borrow' a FlipMinoHD camcorder, and I've purchased a refurbished one - so we'll have two to use on our exchange. It's easy, take the video, plug it into a USB and hey you can view it on screen. So far, so good, but problems come when wishing to edit the video (in Windows Movie Maker), add titles etc to give it a bit of polish. Claire and I tried to sort it Friday evening but didn't get too far and our meal was calling!

So, after several hours of research, we've identified the problem and found a solution. Hooray!

The problem: my notebook runs Windows XP as its operating system and will work with Windows Media Player 2.6 which will read .AVI files. (not Windows Media Live which runs on Windows 7). The FlipMino records video as an .mp4, so we needed to find a video converter.

The solution: Downloaded Quick Media Converter onto the desktop, played a bit with it, found it did the job and could be read and edited in Windows Movie Maker and then had a glass of red! Pat on the back!

Overview
1) Take video
2) Export to Notebook
3) Save files into folder
4) Export video to Flip to Convert folder on the desktop
5) Convert from .mp4 file to.AVI file
6) Copy converted file into Windows Movie Maker
7) Edit video and upload

Step by Step

Take video with Flip
Plug Flip into USB of notebook
Open FlipShare icon on desktop (be patient! it will open, it will show recent videos taken)
Select and drag videos into appropriate folder
Select video(s) to convert
Right click and select Export to the Flip to Convert folder (on desktop).
OK (be patient!)
Open Quick Media Converter from the desktop
Select and drag video(s) from Flip to Convert folder onto software
Select 5th icon DivX, then 3rd option Avi Codec format (.avi) Custom resize
Change Width to 1280 and Height to 720
Click Convert icon at the bottom (should automatically transfer to Flip Converted folder on desktop) Be patient.
Once converted close the window
Open Windows Movie Maker
Select and drag converted video from the Flip Converted folder onto the software.
Play and edit.

Piece of Cake!!!