Convert WMV file to play on a TV

[AZ Aurora]

I have an older project that was made with Photo Story 1 and have it saved to an WMV file. I am finding that it will not play on some DVD players. It will play on a computer. Can I either

1. Convert it to a file to burn it to a DVD so that it will play on older DVD players? (I did Google it and it seems like there are some downloads to be able to do this but am hesitant to download a 3rd party offer)
2. Or is there a way to take the movie that I have burned to disc and copy it and reburn it in a format that will play on all DVD players?

Thanks

[Steve Grisetti]

Technically, Premiere Elements is an editor. Not a converter. However, you can add video from most sources to a Premiere Elements 15 720x480 project and the program will output a DVD from it. What is the resolution of your WMV file?

1. Which version of the program do you have and on what operating system? How long is your movie? What operating system are you using and on what processor?

2. What format is the file that's on your disc? Is it a DVD or is there another format (MP4, for instance) that's burned to a disc that you want to turn into a DVD? If you have a DVD that's just not playing on some DVD players, merely re-burning it as a DVD is not likely to make it more compatible. At least not significantly. Some DVD players simply don't play well with home-burned DVDs.

[Bill Sprague]

Handbrake is a free and famous utility that is supposed to be good at converting anything to anything else.

[AZ Aurora]

Steve,

Okay in looking into this file it is a .wmv file I was able to import it into Premier Elements 12 but like you said that will not change the properties of the movie.

• It is 23 minutes long
• I did not preset any "preferences" I just imported it and it came up with settings of Sony XD Cam Ex 720p, Frame size 640x480, square pixels. Now I am wondering if those are just "default" setting since I did not preset my preferences
• It will play on my dvd player but not on some others, so in reading find that some will not support that .wmv format
• If I do want to convert the file what format should I convert it to? Right now it is on Photostory and I just have the video, I do not have the supporting files in a folder that I originally used like I do in PE
• Or I may just redo the project since it is a short video.
• I am using Windows 10  Intel (R)  Core (TM) i7-2620 M CPU@ 2.70 GHz

[Steve Grisetti · Accepted solution]

Just to be clear: When you say you want your video to play on your TV, you mean that you want to create a playable DVD that will play in a DVD player, right?

If so, you will output your finished movie as a package of DVD files (.vob).

You don't need to be thinking about what to convert to. Just create a project, add your WMV to it and output a DVD.

Anything else you're thinking is going to just complicate things. You're going to do any conversions. You're just going to add your WMV to a Premiere Elements project and then output a DVD from it.

Beyond that, the only thing you need to find out is the resolution, in pixels, of your WMV file. You may be able to find that out by right-clicking on the WMV file and selecting Properties. Once you know that, you'll be able to properly set up your project -- which you'll need to do in order to get a quality DVD from it.

[AZ Aurora]

Steve,

Thank you so very much, that is great news. I thought that I needed to somehow convert those wmv files.

I was able to "right click" on the file and found that it is 640 x 480, however when I started a "new project" and selected DSLR 480p and imported the wmv file I get the same settings as when I did not "preselect" the settings and just imported it to the timeline. On play back the quality appears okay.  I have not burnt a disc as of yet as want to check with the party that I am burning this for. I want to make sure that it matches with their DVD player.

Once again thank you for your assistance, your help is invaluable.

[Steve Grisetti]

Start a new project and select the 640x480 project setting. Then, on the New Project panel, check the option to Force Settings. This will keep the program from changing the settings when you add the WMV to your timeline.