(virtual) Memory / pagefile issue

[Rudy]

Been having this problem for a while now, and can't figure out what the problem is. It's very annoying though, cause my computer freezes every time i try to create a video in Windows Moviemaker. Considering i created more than 500 videos without a problem over the past year and a half, it's weird this problem now surfaced.

Problem: computer completely freezes when saving a video in Windows Moviemaker.

Cause: i noticed that it freezes when the pagefile is filled up. I also noticed that my RAM is apparently not used when it saves a movie (in the system monitor, the memory line was zeroed while storing the movie, showing only small spikes on an irregular base).

Attempts to fix:
1) setting the pagefile size manually. By default the pagefile size is set to 1.5 times the size of the RAM. In my case that would be 1.5GB and it worked like that just fine until recently. I tried to increase it, but the pagefile got filled up all the time, as if the data just keeps accumulating in it. I even went as far as letting it go to 15GB, and it STILL got filled up, freezing again. Why the heck did it fill up 15GB if the movie is only a bit over 20MB?
2) i enabled the feature to clear the pagefile when shutting down the PC. At least that cleared those 15 wasted GBs, but had no effect otherwise.
3) in the performance options (my computer - view system information - advanced - Performance - settings - advanced) i put the processor scheduling on "Background services", to no avail.

This freezing issue has occurred on many occasions, not exclusively with MovieMaker, but with MovieMaker it now ALWAYS happens. Must be a memory issue, but i can't figure it out. Anybody has an idea what the problem might be?

[Qbix]

tried checking the normal ram ?
with memtest86 ?

[Tawmis]

As someone who has a ton of experience with Windows Movie Maker, what I'd recommend - when you save the movie - don't do it as a WMV file.

In the options, select to save it as a DV-AVI movie (.AVI file) - it will make the movie enormous. However, once it's done - then that THAT .AVI and then save IT as a WMV file.

Sounds stupid, I know. But I'd wager this gets around WMM always freezing on you.

[DeadPoolX]

Try this fix and see if it works. If it doesn't, then try what Tawmis said.

I'd also recommend running a defrag and perhaps chkdsk as well. Whether or not that fixes the problem (and it may not), your computer would probably benefit from it if you haven't done either for a long time.

[Collector]

Another thing that you should do is to scan your hard drive for errors with chkdsk. If your PC tries to write to a bad sector, it can lock your computer up. What file system is your hard drive? You can right click on the drive in "My Computer" and choose properties. The properties page will tell you the format. Amazingly, some manufacturers sold XP machines with FAT32. FAT32 is no where as robust as NTFS.

Since your page file is in use when Windows is running, you will not be able to do it with Windows loaded. If you attempt to do so, Windows will ask "Do you want to check for hard disk errors the next time you start your computer?". If you select "Schedule disk check" it will do it on next boot.

[Rudy]

Partial success so far:

- defragged all hard disk volumes multiple times
- ran chkdsk
- DPX fix

Still froze

- save as DV-AVI file and it worked! Go figure, no problem at all storing a more than 1 terabyte movie...

But now... how to convert this AVI movie to a small WMV movie?
I imported the AVI movie into WMM and so far tried to save as "local playback", "high quality (small)", "video for pocket PC (218 Kbps)" and "High Quality Video (PAL)". Each time it freezes again at different points during the saving process.

Let's see if there is a video converter or something on the web...

[Rudy]

Success! Sort of...

Found a shareware video converter, called Prysm Video Converter and installed it.
First i tried converting the AVI to a wmv file, but again, it froze. Then i tried MP4 format, again it froze. Then i tried MPG, and it worked. Now i'm just wondering if MPG is a good format quality-wise to store videos...

[DeadPoolX]

If you want a media converter that's freeware (as opposed to shareware), I'd highly recommend Oxelon Media Converter. I use it and it works great.

Regarding WMV vs MPEG, you'll hear lots of differing opinions online. Some people like WMV and others prefer MPEG.

If you're going to make a video DVD, you need to use MPEG-2. For computer use, MPEG-4 and WMV are the best. In general, MPEG-4 results in higher quality, but with much larger file sizes. WMV's quality is slightly below that of MPEG-4 and it takes up less room.

Since MPEG-4 doesn't seem to work for you, I guess you'd need to go with MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.

Something else to note is that WMV is a Windows-only format. It can be played on other operating systems, but that format isn't native to them. The MPEG video line is compatible with everything.

[Tawmis]

And for the most part, if you're using Windows Movie Maker - you can't control compression vs quality. WMM compresses videos VERY nicely to make them small - but you do lose out on quality.

I now use Sony Vegas 8 ... and where before when I used WMM, my videos (for Neverending Nights) would be about 20MB. Now, since I still use WMV format (for size), I can control quality (which I max out as much as possible) - and now my videos are 268MB.

[Rudy]

Thanks for all the input, folks. I still tried to re-install the latest codec for wmw files, but again without success... Guess i'll have to start saving in a different file format and hope Youtube accepts it. I must continue recording and uploading to keep the Chest going. Videos are an essential part of it and there's thousands more to be made.
Somehow i have the feeling this technical issue is going to backfire on my fansite. Don't know why, just a bad feeling in my gut, but we'll see.

[Collector]

You could just encode to FLV and host them on the Chest. I've got code for a flash player that you could use on your site.

[DeadPoolX]

Rudy, according to this page, YouTube accepts multiple formats to upload. One of those formats must work for you.

[Tawmis]

Thanks for all the input, folks. I still tried to re-install the latest codec for wmw files, but again without success... Guess i'll have to start saving in a different file format and hope Youtube accepts it. I must continue recording and uploading to keep the Chest going. Videos are an essential part of it and there's thousands more to be made.
Somehow i have the feeling this technical issue is going to backfire on my fansite. Don't know why, just a bad feeling in my gut, but we'll see.

If your concern is Youtube uploading... rest assured you're fine. The only "problem" you will run into is longer upload times, since WMV files are compressed very well (in terms of file size).

You could just encode to FLV and host them on the Chest. I've got code for a flash player that you could use on your site.

Speaking from experience, there's no denying the attention Youtube can get you. Again, speaking from experience - when I stopped making NeN for two years - and finally started the new season - over 200 subscribers were notified that NeN was back in action - and because of that got a lot of great replies from people who emailed me happy to see it back. People I would not have been able to reach out to. Also people randomly searching for your keywords on Youtube, being such a hub for videos and such will bring you new viewership - as well as undoubtedly new visitors to the website. So it's to a great benefit to at least put the videos on Youtube.

Not saying don't throw it on your own site (Rudy) - but I wouldn't stop putting them on Youtube.

[Rudy]

Not saying don't throw it on your own site (Rudy) - but I wouldn't stop putting them on Youtube.

Definitely not. I currently have over 200 subscribers, seeing the Sierra Chest commercial at the end of nearly each video i put out. I may also upload them on the site as Collector suggested, both as a backup and in the event Youtube decides to take my profile down (you never know with those guys...). By the way, I'm currently uploading new videos again . And did i mention the site received its first donation this week ?