A "codec" is a program that compresses and decompresses a file. Mpeg  Streamclip "piggybacks" on Quicktime which is a proprietary progam of Apple Computer and uses an Apple Codec which Microsoft does not include in XP. In order for XP  movie maker to work with apple avi files, they must be converted using a program such as Window Media Encoder. It took 30 minutes to encode Ken Murrays two minute  movie.  This is a holdover from the days when Apple and Microsoft would not play nice together.  mpeg stream clip  will convert.mov files to apple .avi files.  Media Encoder does not recognize .mov files but will  recognize the apple .avi files and convert them to microsoft friendly .wmv files.

Windows Media Encoder will not well in work in Vista. But in not needed in Vista machines because Vista Moviemaker will work with the .mov files that Ken's camera produced...When importing .mov files into vista Moviemaker, click on import and look for "all file types.

For Next Tuesdays class I will bring in a cd with the kens file already converted to .wmv.

Another method of converting an .mov file is to import the file into an editing program that  will work with both apple files and microsoft files.  For example I imported the .mov file into Vegas Moviestudio  (a $80 program) and exported unedited it as a .wmv file. But if you already have that program you probably won't have much need for Windows Moviemaker. 

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