Topic: Computers--bah,humbug!

[Palustris]

So all I wanted to do was to make a Video. We do not possess and otherwise have very little use for, a video camera.Windows Movie maker is very good, once you work vout how to use it. Eventually I turned The Garden in September set of photos (some of you have seen them). I added in some shots of individual flowers. Put in some nice titles and special effects and ended up with a Movie (their term) of about 7.5 megabyte length which lasts about 15 minutes. So far so good. Now all I want to do is save it to a Video tape. My Graphic card has a socket on the back for connecting the PC to a TV. I have the cables to connect the PC to the TV. The Computer manual gives instructions on what to do to connect the PC to a TV. But does it work, does it bl......y h....l!
Any suggestions? Clean ones preferably!

[Roy Bham UK]

Eric, how do you make a movie without a video camera? If it's stills you want to copy to a video tape, is it not possible to make a Compact Disc pop it in a DVD machine and then transfer it to VCR machine. ???

[Palustris]

Don't have a DVD machine. The 'movie' is just a series of stills with a commentary. It is the only way we can think of to show my house bound mother what the garden looks like, without having to  print off the pictures. She does not have either a PC or a DVD player either.

[tim]

It was so much simpler in the olden days, Eric?? = Tim

[Roy Bham UK]

If you new someone with a DVD player chances are they will already have a VCR, they could tape it for you, (I think). ???

[Palustris]

Thing is though, can you play a CD made on a CD writer on a DVD player?

[Palustris]

Ok. No need to answer, you cannot play a Data CD on a DVD player, only an Audio Cd. I would need to have a DVD writer to create a DVD disc.

[doc steve]

nope not so u can make a vcd if u have a  cd burner  some writers software  will do this for u  but dont know if its compatable with the win movie maker file  types  aint tried that one   .dont see what the probb is with transfering from pc to  vidio  if u have the  corect leads and the correct sockets on the back of the vcr  thats if they are on  the back that is????think some  use someodballsuper socket on the  conection from the  crd to the tv super something or other dont remember what its called  right now  hope u get it sorted or have done alredy :) ??? ???

[ken (69)]

In the olden days, Eric, us kids would stick photoes to a large cotton reel object, put a c rank handle thru the middle, house it into a wooden box , put in a bar to slow it all down, then slowly turn the handle. 'flickers' was the name.Your mum would know.

[Palustris]

Thanks Steve. I have spent a long time going through everything I can find and the general opinion is that Windows Movie Maker cannot be forced to save movies as anything other than its own file format. The CD burner I have is Nero and it will not convert from Window MMFiles to mpeg. From what I can see I would need to download some extra software to change the files, one of which is reputed to take upto 8 hours to do the jo! It still does not solve the original problem as to why my Graphics card does not seem to be able to work our TV, even though all the info with the PC says that it should.

[Columbus]

Are you using an ATI allinwonder card?

Have you gone into your display settings, advanced, or properties for the card and changed your pc screen settings to the correct frequency for tv viewing?

When you have the cabling right into your vcr this will put what you see on the pc screen onto the tv also. so if you show video or a slide show of pictures on your pc it will then be copyable to tape.


If possible use a eight pin round super vhs connection as mentioned above and if not then use a set of red, white and yellow phono plugs which you should have got with yor video card.

Dunno if that helps. keep posting.

[Palustris]

Ah, but what is the correct setting for the TV?.
The VCR is part of the TV rather than a separate item. The leads I have  offer scart, eight pin and the old fashioned phon type plugs. Tried em all, no joy.

[Columbus]

There should be a software setting that resets your pc screen refresh rate to that required by a tv or vcr. If you have the right cables, and it sounds as if you do, then just switching the software should do it.

Have you looked in the control panel video settings or from any software specifuc to your video card?


You might want to read this about cabling that i found on another forum

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1625

[Palustris]

Thanks, that will take some digesting. Supposedly when one connects this machine to a TV an extra screen in Display Properties becomes available on which you select the TV opton etc. We have never seen that. Will keeptrying, or I will just send the CD to our son whose PC is already connected to their TV. d**n sight easier.

[Columbus]

If you can see a pc - tv connection up and running on another pc then yes i think this will make more sense. I did a yahoo on "video out" but searching for info thats specific to your card should be better....now about my onions.... ;D