Windows 7 movie maker, has black screen but has audio

Anonymous
2013-04-16T05:33:22+00:00

I have windows 7 movie maker and the preview screen is black, I can here audio but can't see anything. How do I fix this?

Windows for home | Other | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2013-04-16T16:20:01+00:00

The most common causes of black video (only audio) are:

  1. Not having the correct video codec to decode the video file.  This can happen with certain file types. While it might be possible to remedy this by figuring out what exact codec the file needs and then getting that installed on your system, this can be fraught with peril.  My recommendation in these cases is to convert the source video file to a supported file type (preferably .wmv).  I've used Freemake Video Converter for this task, but feel free to research your options.
  2. Having an outdated video graphics driver.  The solution for this is to run dxdiag and go to the Display tab.  Find out the make/model of your graphics card along with the installed driver version.  Then go to the manufacturer's website and find and install an update.  Alternatively, you may have to go to your PC manufacturer's website to get a graphics driver update, if they prevent you from installing driver updates directly.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-18T14:11:52+00:00

    I have tried everything listed on this web site.  In addition, I watched a few "YouTube" videos on the subject.  Nothing worked.  Windows Movie Maker still has a black screen and is un-usable.  I just ordered video editing software from another company.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T22:00:02+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you for visiting this thread. Sorry to hear that the you are getting a blackscreen in Movie Maker and tried all the steps provided in this thread. We would like to verify if you are only viewing videos and not photos in Movie Maker.

    For the log files, you may refer to the link below for the steps. Logs contain technical information that can help us identify and diagnose issues in Movie Maker.

    **How to gather Log files for Windows Live Movie Maker and Windows Live Photo Gallery**

    Upload the log files on the private message area that I've enabled for you. Make sure that you sign in to Microsoft Community forum and click the You have a private reply to this message. Click here to read it on our secure private messages section link to access it. If you have further questions, please let us know.

    Regards.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-10T19:34:15+00:00

    I'm having the same problem: blacked-out screen on Movie Maker but can view videos without any problem.  I have tried all recommendations above and it's still not working. 

    I'd like to send my logs.  What are logs?  Are they just videos I have worked on in the past?

    I'm hoping to resolve this issue soon.  Thank you

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-09-05T14:16:31+00:00

    NOPE -- MS has some serious problems with this software and I'm still dead in the water...  I think I will go out and purchase a software that actually works...

    Actually I resolved this problem using an open-source alternative, albeit a bit extreme.

    • I downloaded VirtualBox from Oracle and openSUSE 12.3 (open source linux operating system)
    • I installed VirtualBox on top of Win 7 and then created a VM (virtual machine).
    • Inside the VM I installed openSUSE12.3 from the downloaded ISO.
    • Afterwards I created a shared folder (documented in VirtualBox help), which I would be able to copy, read and write files into from either Win7 or from inside the virtualized Linux environment.
    • I copied the MP4 file that I wanted to edit into the shared folder.
    • Once logged into the openSUSE VM, I downloaded OpenShot, a free open-source video editor similar to MovieMaker, and was able to successfully edit the MP4 file with little effort.

    The point is, I didn't have to modify Win7 or the drivers and the irony is that VirtualBox is using the Win7 display drivers and (of course) the hardware drivers that are supplied by your PC/laptop manufacturer to display the film. The codecs of course are all running in the linux environment and are correctly encoding/decoding the MP4 data.

    The film works fine and I'm very happy with the results. The OpenShot templates are not as professional looking as MovieMaker's, but I wasn't looking to make a Hollywood blockbuster.

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