Moving to Windows 7 - what's the latest thinking?
I've just bought a new laptop PC with Windows 7 installed and want to copy my existing Flip video files from my desktop PC to it. I have three questions I'd appreciate some help with.
1/ Can I safely copy the FlipShare Data folder from my desktop to my laptop?
2/ Is there still an audio problem when using Windows Live Movie Maker to edit Flip files?
3/ Is there anything else I should be aware of before making this move?
Having read several of the excellent articles on this site I am more than aware of the problems that can lie in a seemingly simple operation like this.
Many thanks.
Thanks, Darrell, very helpful advice. As I plan to keep my main Flip editing operations on my desktop PC I may use my new laptop as a kind of testbed and see how things perform under Windows 7 and the upgraded apps like Movie Maker. I'll let you know if I encounter any particular problems.
I just put up the new, members-only video, which addresses the issue of editing video -- from you Flip or virtually any other camcorder -- on any version of Windows, with any version of Windows Movie Maker or Windows Live Movie Maker. It also makes it easier to edit HD video of any sort in any Windows-based editor, while maintaining high quality.
The answer is to use a good quality video file converter with the right settings. This video introduces two free tools and tells you how to use them.
http://flipinfocus.com/video/video-conversion-windows-video-editors
Begin by installing FlipShare. Let the software install itself from your camcorder. If you don't like the default location of the library (which I believe is going to be on your main drive,) go to Edit->Preferences, select the "Library" tab, and specify the location where you would like your videos to live. I always do this, because it's best to locate video on a separate drive or partition from your system drive, if possible.
1/ Can I safely copy the FlipShare Data folder from my desktop to my laptop?
I would simply copy the "Videos" folder, from inside the FlipShare Data folder on your old computer, to your new computer's desktop, using either your network or a DVD. Then use the Help->Recover menu selection, select the folder that you put on your desktop, and let all your videos be re-imported into FlipShare's database. This will copy them into your library for your new FlipShare installation. Then you can delete the desktop folder.
2/ Is there still an audio problem when using Windows Live Movie Maker to edit Flip files?
As far as I know, the problem exists for some people and not for others, depending on what other software you have installed on your computer. Nothing in Windows 7 fixes this problem, so far as I know. I am about to post a brand new video for FIF members that tries to deal with this in a new way, which is to simply accept the fact that you may have to convert your Flip .MP4 files to .WMV files to guarantee that they will be editable on all versions of Windows, and with all versions of Windows Movie Maker and Windows Live Movie Maker. By the way, there are some other commercial editors that experience the same issue with Flip video. The new FIF video points you to a couple of free tools that will guarantee you high quality conversion.
3/ Is there anything else I should be aware of before making this move?
I have had some difficulty with losing metadata, when I re-import my video files -- e.g., the date the file was originally shot. Nor does your folder structure get preserved. I have some outstanding questions with Flip to try to get these questions resolved.