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I'd like to ask some advice from my fellow video creators.

So it appears as if Windows Movie Maker has been discontinued. This has been my go to video, text and narration editing program for all of my Combat Mission videos and I am struggling to find an adequate replacement.

I have tried Shotcut but found it to be too clunky and I am now experimenting with Hitfilm Express which is better but still not ideal as text editing is cumbersome and there is no narration recording software included (unlike Windows Movie Maker).

Is anyone aware of an accessible editing program which ideally has narration recording built in. I don't mind spending money on one but I don't want to waste my time and money on something that doesn't work for me. If no such program exists then I can live with getting a separate recording program, however the video editor would at the very least need to make it simple to add in text where I wanted without having to create composite shots.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JW

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3 hours ago, HerrTom said:

I use DaVinci Resolve, and it's quite powerful, but I'm not sure how easy it is to compose text. There are tools to do it but haven't done it in a while.

@Josey Wales I second DaVinci Resolve. It is very powerful, and free. I'm also not sure about composing text, but based on everything else DaVinci is capable of, I'm sure it's possible. The difference between the paid version and the free version is primarily technical software that allows for rendering 3D special effects and the like using a physical hardware bench. they provide a comparison between the paid and free versions on the website, and you'll see that you have all the capability you'll need using the free version. There are no ads or anything like that either with the free version. Here is the website:

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/

The only thing to note is that, if you use Nvidia Shadowplay to record gameplay, sometimes there can be some audio stuttering after rendering footage with DaVinci. Apparently the reason is because Shadowplay uses a dynamic framerate in its file recording format, which sometimes causes some hiccups with DaVinci. 

If that poses an issue, I know people have had a lot of success with recording CM using OBS, which is also free. Though I myself have not used OBS to record CM. 

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21 minutes ago, Mord said:

Don't get me started...

Mord.

Too late, I just got the email of your original post. You are now permanently on record.  I am surprised though.  When I came up with that new alphabetizing scheme most people loved it though a few I had to win over....well not really I just spread a bunch of lousy rumors about them around the water cooler and got them fired.  Anti progress jerks...ouch stop Mord, I was kidding, ouch!

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I was over-sharing—had to dial it back. I have that rant at least twice a year in real life.

I friggin' despise incompetence, especially when it's on purpose! A-H WTF?! I am screwed when I want to hear The Cars.

 

Mord.

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Sony Vegas Pro 13 is my go-to when I can't use Windows moviemaker (you can still download it from legacy sites). Vegas allows you to crop out the UI without having to tinker with recording software and is quite easy to overlay text. Don't waste your time with Hitfilm, you're better off sticking with DaVinci in that case. 

Vegas is expensive though, and I'm not going to encourage you to use extralegal means of acquiring it. 

Edited by Rinaldi
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When did WindowsMoviemaker stop working? I used it the day after Christmas (neat dropped grenade action...must remember to upload to YouTube). I have Sony Vegas Pro also, but Moviemaker icon was on my desktop so went to that instead. Or do you mean it’s no longer available when getting a new Windows install? 

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5 hours ago, mjkerner said:

Or do you mean it’s no longer available when getting a new Windows install? 

They discontinued it with Win 10. Just like they screwed up Sound Recorder with Win 8. You know, creating a better user experience for the consumer.

 

Mord.

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On 1/2/2019 at 11:36 AM, Josey Wales said:

So it appears as if Windows Movie Maker has been discontinued. This has been my go to video, text and narration editing program for all of my Combat Mission videos and I am struggling to find an adequate replacement.

Apparently the Photos app has replaced Movie Maker. I just did a cursory preview of it and it does contain what looks to be an easy to use text tool. You can right click a video and select "open with Photos" and it'll put you right in the editor. Worth a look I suppose. I didn't spend much time but it looks like it might be a watered down version of MM. The editor has tabs for adding speech and music, themes, etc. Here's a pic.

 

TbvrWiZ.jpg

 

I always assign Media Player as my default video viewer whenever I set up a new comp and apparently missed this (I believe it is the default on fresh Win installs).  I actually ran into it a week or so ago by accident and didn't pay any attention. A search just now to see if I could find a download for the old MM brought up the info that Microsoft replaced it with "Photos". That sure screams "video editor" doesn't it? Not like they went out of their way to advertise this feature.

 

LOL. I guess I owe Bill an apology...yeah, that ain't happenin'.

 

Mord.

Edited by Mord
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Thanks for the extra suggestions, it's much appreciated. My next movie will be with Vegas Movie Studio as I'm getting along quite well with it. As with all these things it takes a while before it becomes intuitive, which is my main frustration with Movie Maker being unavailable as I could make vids without really having to think too much about the technical stuff due to using it regularly for the last 4 years. 

It's back to school for me.

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I get it. It's that whole muscle memory thing. When you use something enough it becomes second nature. I tried GIMP when my old Adobe Elements wouldn't work on my newer computer. I spent a half hour trying to figure out how to crop a picture. That's all it took. I spent the money and got the newest Elements. It was like putting on a favorite pair of jeans. Twenty years between versions and it took me all of five minutes to be back in business. Good luck, learning a whole new program can be tedious. On the bright side, you'll probably end up with a much more power and artistic options.

 

Mord.

Edited by Mord
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On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 10:05 AM, Josey Wales said:

Thanks for the extra suggestions, it's much appreciated. My next movie will be with Vegas Movie Studio as I'm getting along quite well with it. As with all these things it takes a while before it becomes intuitive, which is my main frustration with Movie Maker being unavailable as I could make vids without really having to think too much about the technical stuff due to using it regularly for the last 4 years. 

It's back to school for me.

I got Vegas Pro 14 when it was on sale, and I hear ya about going back to school.

It's been about a year since I got it and I still don't know how to do everything it can do.

Then again, I'm not a particularly good video maker anyway.

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