Windows 7 movie maker, has black screen but has audio

Hello Eric,

Welcome to Microsoft Community Forum. I understand that you're having issues on black screen within you Movie Maker. I will assist you on your inquiry.

We would like to verify if you've already checked the codecs within your computer. Note that audio and video require codecs to play the file and it’s important to have the right codecs installed or updated in your PC.

• Try running the Microsoft FixIt tool for codecs: **FixIT**

-Media info will be able to identify any issue with missing or faulty codecs and whether it's already in your computer or not: **Media Info**

As for the Mediainfo, please follow the steps provided below on how to use the program:

1. Download Mediainfo
2. Install the program
3. Run the program
4. Open your movie file using Mediainfo
5. Switch the view of your mediainfo to text. To do this, click the View button on the upper left part of the window and click text
6. When you see the codec that you're lacking, please download it. You can search for the codec in **http://bing.com**

Note: If you can't find the codec you need, try converting the video to a supported format (eg. .wmv for movies, .jpeg/.jpg for photos and .wma for audio) and then add it to your Windows Movie Maker project.

You should also check your video card is up to date. Movie Maker makes extensive use of the video card GPU (graphics processing unit). The display driver affects the reliability, performance, and compatibility of the video card with different software.

To determine the version and video card driver date, run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag):

DirectX Diagnostic Tool

1. Click on Start button and type “dxdiag” in the Search programs and files box and press Enter key on the keyboard.
2. Click on the Display tab and you will see the driver details including the driver version.
3. If your video card driver seems outdated please go to the video card driver manufacturer and see if a newer version is available.

Example:

**http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us**

**http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx**

**http://downloadcenter.intel.com/**

Please let us know the result afterwards.

Thank you.

I have the same problems with Movie Maker 2012, so I uninstalled it and installed Movie Maker 2011 - it too has the same problems with a black screen on preview.  It will import all pictures, video, etc but will not allow me to preview my movie.  When I export the video, the photos, transitions, text display in the movie correctly but the video clips are a black screen but the audio plays.

I have tried all of the suggestions in this forum on updating video drivers, Direct X, Fixit, etc and nothing will correct the problem.  My computer is a Samsung NP700Z5B-S01UB notebook running Windows 7 64-bit Home Edition.  It is entirely patched and updated according to all the checks performed.

I have to get a video to a customer ASAP and need to get this problem resolved ASAP

Hi James,

Thanks for participating on this thread. I would like to request log files of your Movie Maker for further investigation. For the instructions, kindly refer to my message on the private message area. You need to sign in to Microsoft Community to see Private Messages button in line with All Replies.

Regards,

Richard

Thanks very much for the feedback, but for your info, I followed your instructions exactly as you described before writing my last post, but to no avail. Everything is configured correctly. There are no issues with drivers. I have now tried this out on a second system and still no luck.

I'm a little dubious about the codec explanation. I agree there is a codec for viewing and a codec for editing, but the codec for previewing the video inside MovieMaker should be exactly the same codec for viewing the video in the MediaPlayer. It is the codec used for translating the file (or stream) data into visual and audio information. For editing and recording one would normally require an alternative codec for doing exactly the reverse. Codecs are normally installed as a library (or a plug-in depending on the platform) and can be shared by all applications that are running on the same operating system.

If the MovieMaker is not using the same codec as MediaPlayer to preview or review videos, then this reflects very badly on MovieMaker. No software reusability. What-you-see-is-what-you-get no longer applies to serious users. An engineer might regard the software design as flawed.

I don't believe that this is the case. I believe that MovieMaker does use the same codec for previewing and reviewing, but I think more likely there some faulty configuration or a software bug that is causing this issue that I am seeing.