Windows Movie Maker has a black screen (no video, but audio still there)…Please help!!!

Hi Andrejs,

It's possible that you don't have the proper codec installed on your computer to play the .MOD format and that's why you only see a black preview screen. To eliminate this symptom, we request that you convert the .MOD video clip to a .WMV format since this is the most compatible file format that you can use in Movie Maker. You may search for any available free converters available  using your preferred search engine. Once this has been done, please let us know the result afterwards.

Thank you.

Hi,

Thank for your reply.

I have run Fixit and receive following info:

Fix it:

 Codec Crashes:

Troubleshooting is complete

Thank you for running an automated troubleshooter from Microsoft.

We did not detected any problems and therefore no fixes were applied.

I have gone to http://downloadcenter.intel.com/ and receive following info:

Graphics Driver 

Product Detected  Intel® HD Graphics 2500 or Intel® HD Graphics  

Current Driver Installed  9.17.10.2875 

Your driver is current. 

I test my video file MOD002.MOD with MediaInfo:

General

CompleteName                     : H:\Softs\Tests\MOV002.MOD

Format                           : MPEG-PS

FileSize/String                  : 24.4 MiB

Duration/String                  : 21s 528ms

OverallBitRate_Mode/String       : Variable

OverallBitRate/String            : 9 517 Kbps

Video

ID/String                        : 224 (0xE0)

Format                           : MPEG Video

Format_Version                   : Version 2

Format_Profile                   : Main@Main

Format_Settings_BVOP/String      : Yes

Format_Settings_Matrix/String    : Custom

Format_Settings_GOP              : M=3, N=12

Duration/String                  : 21s 520ms

BitRate_Mode/String              : Variable

BitRate/String                   : 9 072 Kbps

BitRate_Maximum/String           : 9 558 Kbps

Width/String                     : 704 pixels

Height/String                    : 576 pixels

DisplayAspectRatio/String        : 1.738

FrameRate/String                 : 25.000 fps

Standard                         : PAL

ColorSpace                       : YUV

ChromaSubsampling                : 4:2:0

BitDepth/String                  : 8 bits

ScanType/String                  : Interlaced

ScanOrder/String                 : Top Field First

Compression_Mode/String          : Lossy

Bits-(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.895

StreamSize/String                : 23.3 MiB (95%)

Color primaries                  : BT.601 PAL

Transfer characteristics         : BT.470 System B, BT.470 System G

Matrix coefficients              : BT.601

Audio

ID/String                        : 192 (0xC0)

Format                           : MPEG Audio

Format_Version                   : Version 1

Format_Profile                   : Layer 2

Duration/String                  : 21s 528ms

BitRate_Mode/String              : Constant

BitRate/String                   : 256 Kbps

Channel(s)/String                : 2 channels

SamplingRate/String              : 48.0 KHz

Compression_Mode/String          : Lossy

StreamSize/String                : 673 KiB (3%)

Why Windows Movie Maker (Windows 7 Ultimate) work correctly, although there is not installed any codecs, but Windows Movie Maker (Windows 8 Pro) does not work?

How do I remedy this?

Thank you in advance

Andrejs

Hello Andrejs,

As you have mentioned, you are both using Movie Maker 2012 on both Windows 8 Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate. Since your computers have different operating systems, black preview screen can be an issue of insufficient codecs for Windows 8 Pro. Ensure that you have the proper codecs to play your videos and audio files – 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 of faulty codecs and whether it's already in your computer or not: Media Info

Another possibility is because of your video card drivers are not updated. 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. On your desktop, click Windows button + F on your keyboard. 
2. Click Apps then type dxdiag then hit Ok.
3. Click on the Display tab and you will see the driver details including the driver version.
4. 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.

Thank you very much for your reply.

It helped me to solve one problem - open the same project both OS (Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8 Pro).

But the other problem remain - black preview screen in Windows Movie Maker (Windows 8 Pro).

I conducted the experiment. I started a new project in Windows Movie Maker (Windows 8 Pro) and edit the file MOD002.MOD.  Of course, as usual, there was a normal sound, but the preview screen is still black. I make minimal editing, even though the screen was black. In spite of the fact I save project. This same project I open in Windows Movie Maker (Windows 7 Ultimate). Everything was good – I see video in preview screen and hear sound.

How do I get a video in Windows Movie Maker (Windows 8 Pro) preview screen?

Andrejs