Insert Media Clip option not available to select.

[lfranker]

I am trying to insert a movie clip into my Presentation (.avi file). I do
not want to Insert it from "Movies and Sounds, From a File". I want to
Insert, Object, Create New Check box checked, Display as Icon is checked, and
then under Object Type, select Media Clip. Well the Media Clip option is not
listed. Any suggestions? I really want to have my movie clips launch from
Windows Media Player. If I this can not be done since I do not have this
option, if I have to do it the first way listed, I want it to launch full
screen, but if I stretcht he box to fit the slide size, the box is grey and
covers all the text. Am I missing the tricks on how to do this? Help?

lfranker-

 

[Echo S]

I am trying to insert a movie clip into my Presentation (.avi file).
I do not want to Insert it from "Movies and Sounds, From a File". I
want to Insert, Object, Create New Check box checked, Display as Icon
is checked, and then under Object Type, select Media Clip. Well the
Media Clip option is not listed. Any suggestions? I really want to
have my movie clips launch from Windows Media Player. If I this can
not be done since I do not have this option, if I have to do it the
first way listed, I want it to launch full screen, but if I stretcht
he box to fit the slide size, the box is grey and covers all the
text. Am I missing the tricks on how to do this? Help?

I thought that having WindowsXP SP-2 installed makes this Media Clip object
thing unavailable, but that doesn't seem to be the case -- I have WinXP
SP-2, and I still have a working Media Clip option using the steps you
describe.

However, using Insert/Object/Create New/Media Clip actually inserts the MCI
Media Player, and you have to go select your media file. If you want to use
Windows Media Player, you'd use Insert/Object/Create From File and browse to
the MPEG or AVI or whatever file it is you want to play. Then, assuming that
Windows Media Player is the default media player for that type of file, WMP
will open up and play the file.

Finally, you said

Am I missing the tricks on how to do this?

I'm not sure exactly what "this" is. What exactly do you want the video to
do on your slide? Does it need to play full screen without hiding text? I
don't see how using the MCI Media Player via Insert/Object/Create New/Media
Clip or Windows Media Player either one gets around that.

 

[Austin Myers]

Not cetain why your doing it this way but if it is your hope to have
something "on top" of the video let me save you time and effort, you can't
do it, PowerPoint simply doesn't work that way. Video is always on top of
everything else on the slide.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Solutions to Multimedia in PowerPoint www.pfcmedia.com

 

[lfranker]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am sorry, let me clarify myself.

First:

I thought that having WindowsXP SP-2 installed makes this Media Clip object
thing unavailable, but that doesn't seem to be the case -- I have WinXP
SP-2, and I still have a working Media Clip option using the steps you
describe.

You are correct. That is one of the problems I am having. In the
directions it has those steps to follow. But I do not have the option to
select Media Clip. I then installed Powerpoint 2003 yesterday to see if it
would give me that option and I still don't have it.

I will try the way you suggested by selecting using Insert/Object/Create.

Now this brings me to the next problem I am having. No matter how I bring
this video file into my slide, weather it be a Hyperlink or how you are
suggesting, when I go to test it on another machine, it comes up with an
error message "Cannot find specified path. I even tried creating a folder,
copying the .ppt and .avi file into the folder. When I tested it on another
machine, I still get the same error message. I then took it another step. I
copied the folder onto the hard drive of the computer and still got the error
message. Basically what is happening, the path is pointing to where I
originally browsed to import the video file. Is there any way to correct
this problem? And if so, is there a way to correct it so when the person who
is giving this presentation, can just insert the CD into the CD ROM and
launch the presentation show. As I mentioned in my original posting. This
person is not a computer wiz and basically it would be easier to crawl to
China then to give them directions on how to do this.

Second:

Am I missing the tricks on how to do this?

I'm not sure exactly what "this" is. What exactly do you want the video to
do on your slide? Does it need to play full screen without hiding text? I
don't see how using the MCI Media Player via Insert/Object/Create New/Media
Clip or Windows Media Player either one gets around that.

I know there is no way to get around the Windows Media Player Window to be
in front of the presentation window. I am okay with that. Actually that is
what I am looking to do. What I meant, when you use Insert, Movies and
Sounds, Movie from File. It kind of embeds it into the presentation. It
puts a square on the slide. It has the handle so you can resize it.
Basically whatever size you make the box, is what size the video is going to
play at when you launch your slide show. So if you stretch the box to be is
big as your slide, it covers all your content on the slide. You can't send
it to the back, because you have your slide Master that it covers. But then
I could always shut off displaying the Master on that slide and copy and
paste it on this slide. However, this is not how I preffer to do it. I
believe it makes the .ppt file a lot larger. As I mentioned already, I
prefer to Windows Media Player launch. I am just trying to figure out how to
accomplish this so the file will launch from a CD no matter who's computer
you are on.

 

[Echo S]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am sorry, let me clarify myself.

Cool. The more information, the better.

(Echo's surmising in her original post)

I thought that having WindowsXP SP-2 installed makes this Media Clip
object thing unavailable, but that doesn't seem to be the case -- I
have WinXP SP-2, and I still have a working Media Clip option using
the steps you describe.

(lfranker's confermation)

You are correct. That is one of the problems I am having. In the
directions it has those steps to follow. But I do not have the
option to select Media Clip. I then installed Powerpoint 2003
yesterday to see if it would give me that option and I still don't
have it.

I don't know what causes the Media Clip option not to be available, but
you're not the only person I've heard of who's had that problem.

What I don't understand is why instructions to use the Media Clip option
don't address this. Then again, I admit I've never actually seen
instructions for the whole "use a media clip object" thing. Do you have a
link to the directions you're following? (I'm just curious about them.)

I will try the way you suggested by selecting using
Insert/Object/Create.

Now this brings me to the next problem I am having. No matter how I
bring this video file into my slide, weather it be a Hyperlink or how
you are suggesting, when I go to test it on another machine, it comes
up with an error message "Cannot find specified path. I even tried
creating a folder, copying the .ppt and .avi file into the folder.

Regardless of the method you use to insert the file, you need to put your
video in the same folder with your presentation *before* you insert it into
your presentation. It will just make your life easier in the long run. For
more specifics, you can see "Sounds/Movies don't play, images disappear or
links break when I move or email a presentation"
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00155.htm

You mentioned that you copied both the PPT and the AVI into the folder, but
did you insert the AVI into the PPT file before or after you did that?
Copying the video to the PPT folder *after* you insert it into the PPT file
doesn't do any good.

When I tested it on another machine, I still get the same error
message. I then took it another step. I copied the folder onto the
hard drive of the computer and still got the error message.
Basically what is happening, the path is pointing to where I
originally browsed to import the video file. Is there any way to
correct this problem? And if so, is there a way to correct it so
when the person who is giving this presentation, can just insert the
CD into the CD ROM and launch the presentation show. As I mentioned
in my original posting. This person is not a computer wiz and
basically it would be easier to crawl to China then to give them
directions on how to do this.

I think you mentioned the stuff about the CD-ROM in a different thread. It
would be best if we can keep all the relevant information in one thread.
Adding an autorun CD to the mix adds some variables that greatly impact your
distribution options, because an autorun CD relies on the PPT Viewer, and
the Viewer doesn't support all the same stuff that PPT itself does. For
example, converting video to SWF, which can be embedded into a presentation,
is sometimes a really good option. However, the PPT Viewers don't support
ActiveX controls, and that's what you use to play and embed the SWF into a
PPT file. Therefore, if you're gonna use a SWF, you gotta make sure the file
will be played in PPT itself, *not* in the PPT Viewer. Soooooo, SWF is *not*
a good option if you're distributing via an autorun CD. Make sense?

That said, your easiest solution here would be to use PPT 2003 and do a
Package for CD. That will create autorun.INF and play.bat files and include
the PPT 2003 Viewer and the other necessary files for a presentation to just
play from the CD.

Thing is, you won't be able to use the Media Clip object thing with the PPT
Viewer.

You can, though, insert a simple hyperlink to the AVI. Make sure you
hyperlink to the AVI that's in your folder with the PPT file and then use
PPT 2003's Package for CD. If Windows Media Player is the default player for
AVI on the system the CD is played on, it will come up and play the AVI. If
it's a different media player, that media player should open and play the
AVI. I just tried it here, and this method works. It does what you're after.

Second:

Am I missing the tricks on how to do this?

(More of Echo's questions from her original post)

I'm not sure exactly what "this" is. What exactly do you want the
video to do on your slide? Does it need to play full screen without
hiding text? I don't see how using the MCI Media Player via
Insert/Object/Create New/Media Clip or Windows Media Player either
one gets around that.

(lfranker's confermation)

I know there is no way to get around the Windows Media Player Window
to be in front of the presentation window. I am okay with that.
Actually that is what I am looking to do. What I meant, when you use
Insert, Movies and Sounds, Movie from File. It kind of embeds it
into the presentation. It puts a square on the slide. It has the
handle so you can resize it. Basically whatever size you make the
box, is what size the video is going to play at when you launch your
slide show. So if you stretch the box to be is big as your slide, it
covers all your content on the slide. You can't send it to the back,
because you have your slide Master that it covers. But then I could
always shut off displaying the Master on that slide and copy and
paste it on this slide. However, this is not how I preffer to do it.
I believe it makes the .ppt file a lot larger. As I mentioned
already, I prefer to Windows Media Player launch. I am just trying
to figure out how to accomplish this so the file will launch from a
CD no matter who's computer you are on.

Okay, then I think you can use a hyperlink as I mentioned above. Create
something to click to launch WMP or the default media player. Right-click
that something and choose Hyperlink. Link to the AVI in the same folder as
your presentation and click OK.

Also, I highly recommend you create a folder on your C drive proper and put
your PPT file and AVI file in that. If you make this folder on your desktop
or buried in My Documents, you may run into issues with the path length to
the AVI in the first place. Just trust me on that and make a folder on your
C drive to work from.

Finally, regarding this

I believe it makes the .ppt file a lot larger.

I haven't checked specific file sizes, but I'd be surprised if Insert/Movies
and Sounds/From File makes the PPT file much larger, because it's just
linking to the media. Media files (except for WAVs) inserted in this manner
are always linked.

 

[lfranker]

oh shoot, I just wrote an entire reply and lost it. But anyway.... the Major
just came over to my desk and wants this stuff today.... AAAHHHHH! I still
have to edit the movie clips in movie maker. But here are directions that
you asked for:

___________________________________________________
Add a movie or animated GIF to a slide
Show All
Hide All
"Movies" are desktop video files with formats such as AVI, QuickTime, and
MPEG, and file extensions such as .avi, .mov, .qt, .mpg, and .mpeg. An
animated GIF (GIF: A graphics file format (.gif extension in Windows) used to
display indexed-color graphics on the World Wide Web. It supports up to 256
colors and uses lossless compression, meaning that no image data is lost when
the file is compressed.) file always has a .gif file extension.

Display the slide to which you want to add a movie or animated GIF.
Do one of the following:
Add a movie or animated GIF file

On the Insert menu, point to Movies and Sounds, click Movie from File,
locate the folder that contains the file you want, and then double-click the
file.
Note A movie or .gif file that you've added to Clip Organizer (Clip
Organizer: Microsoft Office program that contains drawings, photographs,
sounds, videos, and other media files that you can insert and use in
presentations, publications, and other Office documents.) is found in the
Clip Organizer folder within the My Pictures folder on your hard disk. Or, go
to the original location for these files.

When a message is displayed, do one of the following:
To play the movie or GIF automatically when you go to the slide, click
Automatically.
To play the movie or GIF only when you click it, click When Clicked.
Note If you try to insert a movie and you get a message saying that
Microsoft PowerPoint can't insert the file, try inserting the movie to play
in Windows Media Player.

How?

In Windows, launch Windows Media Player (from the Start button, on the
Accessories submenu).
On the File menu in Windows Media Player, click Open, and then type the path
or browse for the file you want to insert, and click OK.
If the movie opens and plays, complete the remaining steps in this task.
If the movie cannot play, then it won't play when you open the Windows Media
Player in PowerPoint, so don't complete this task. You can consult Windows
Media Player Help to try to troubleshoot the problem. Also, in PowerPoint,
search on "Troubleshoot movies" in the Ask a Question box on the menu bar to
get more suggestions.
Display the slide you want the movie on in PowerPoint, and on the Insert
menu, click Object.
Under Object Type, click Media Clip, and make sure Create new is selected.
If you want the movie to display as an icon, select the Display as icon check
box.
Click OK.
On the Insert Clip menu in Windows Media Player, click Video for Windows.
In the Files of type list, select All Files, select the file, and then click
Open.
To play it, click the Play button just below the menu bar, on the upper
left; to insert it onto your slide, click outside the movie frame.

____________________________________________________

Echo,

Thanks for all this info. I am going to do what you said. Create the
folder on the route of my C:\. Then I will move the .ppt file and the movie
files *before* I import them into my slide. I will keep you posted.

Thanks,
Lfranker

 

[Echo S]

Thanks for posting these instrux, Lfranker. Looks as if they come from MS
Office Online, so I can track them down there and then ping the MS people
who take care of these pages.

Good luck with it. I think the folder on the C drive will help.

 

[lfranker]

Echo,

Before I installed 2003 yesterday. Those same exact instructions were
listed in the Office Assistant Help. Now that I have 2003 version, even
though I am typing my help question in my Office Assistant (paper clip guy),
it takes me to MS Office Online for every single question. I guess that is
part of the upgrade. Hey, not to go off on a different software tool. I
actually just registered on that forum and I am waiting to get my email
confirmation. You don't know anything about Virtual Dub.

Thanks for posting these instrux, Lfranker. Looks as if they come from MS
Office Online, so I can track them down there and then ping the MS people
who take care of these pages.

Good luck with it. I think the folder on the C drive will help.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

oh shoot, I just wrote an entire reply and lost it. But anyway....
the Major just came over to my desk and wants this stuff today....
AAAHHHHH! I still have to edit the movie clips in movie maker. But
here are directions that you asked for:

____________________________________________________

Echo,

Thanks for all this info. I am going to do what you said. Create the
folder on the route of my C:\. Then I will move the .ppt file and
the movie files *before* I import them into my slide. I will keep
you posted.

Thanks,
Lfranker

 

[Echo S]

Yeah, the online help is always more up to date than the help that actually
shipped with the product. It's a new thing in Office 2003, and it's a good
thing for the most part if you have a decent online connection.

Thanks for letting me know you're getting more up-to-date info now, though,
because I was definitely having trouble scaring this up in 2003 Help!

And nope, I don't know anything about Virtual Dub.

Echo

Echo,

Before I installed 2003 yesterday. Those same exact instructions were
listed in the Office Assistant Help. Now that I have 2003 version,
even though I am typing my help question in my Office Assistant
(paper clip guy), it takes me to MS Office Online for every single
question. I guess that is part of the upgrade. Hey, not to go off
on a different software tool. I actually just registered on that
forum and I am waiting to get my email confirmation. You don't know
anything about Virtual Dub.

Thanks for posting these instrux, Lfranker. Looks as if they come
from MS Office Online, so I can track them down there and then ping
the MS people who take care of these pages.

Good luck with it. I think the folder on the C drive will help.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

oh shoot, I just wrote an entire reply and lost it. But anyway....
the Major just came over to my desk and wants this stuff today....
AAAHHHHH! I still have to edit the movie clips in movie maker. But
here are directions that you asked for:

____________________________________________________

Echo,

Thanks for all this info. I am going to do what you said. Create
the folder on the route of my C:\. Then I will move the .ppt file
and the movie files *before* I import them into my slide. I will
keep you posted.

Thanks,
Lfranker

 

[Echo S]

Hey, Lfranker, I have another bunch of questions.

(Feel free to come back to this after you finish your project, though! I
don't want to keep you from that.)

This is related to why the Media Clip object isn't in the list when you go
to Insert/Object/Create New.

If you go to Start/Run and type mplay32.exe, does a media player open? If
so, can you go to Help/About and tell me what version it is? Also, can you
play your video file in that media player by going to File/Open and
navigating to your video file (then, of course, hitting the Play button)?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

Echo,

Before I installed 2003 yesterday. Those same exact instructions were
listed in the Office Assistant Help. Now that I have 2003 version,
even though I am typing my help question in my Office Assistant
(paper clip guy), it takes me to MS Office Online for every single
question. I guess that is part of the upgrade. Hey, not to go off
on a different software tool. I actually just registered on that
forum and I am waiting to get my email confirmation. You don't know
anything about Virtual Dub.

Thanks for posting these instrux, Lfranker. Looks as if they come
from MS Office Online, so I can track them down there and then ping
the MS people who take care of these pages.

Good luck with it. I think the folder on the C drive will help.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

oh shoot, I just wrote an entire reply and lost it. But anyway....
the Major just came over to my desk and wants this stuff today....
AAAHHHHH! I still have to edit the movie clips in movie maker. But
here are directions that you asked for:

____________________________________________________

Echo,

Thanks for all this info. I am going to do what you said. Create
the folder on the route of my C:\. Then I will move the .ppt file
and the movie files *before* I import them into my slide. I will
keep you posted.

Thanks,
Lfranker

 

[lfranker]

Echo,

Yes, that was one of the very first things I checked. The directions tell
you to do that as well.

I tried finding the mplay32.exe. It could not be found.

You know what I also tried for my video problem and it seems to work. I
copied the files into a folder on the c:\. Then I created a hyperlink and
attaching my video file. Then I went into File, Package for CD, gave the CD
a name, browsed for the video files that are linked into my presentation and
then copied to a CD. It works both ways. When you put the CD in the drive,
it automatically launches PowerPoint Viewer and it works by going into
Powerpoint and viewing the slide show from there. So, I think I might stick
with that. Now I know what you were talking about with Powerpoint viewer.
But wait, you know what I just realized, didn't you mention that if you are
viewing in powerpoint viewer that you can't have .swf files? Or am I
remembering that backwards?

lfranker-

Hey, Lfranker, I have another bunch of questions.

(Feel free to come back to this after you finish your project, though! I
don't want to keep you from that.)

This is related to why the Media Clip object isn't in the list when you go
to Insert/Object/Create New.

If you go to Start/Run and type mplay32.exe, does a media player open? If
so, can you go to Help/About and tell me what version it is? Also, can you
play your video file in that media player by going to File/Open and
navigating to your video file (then, of course, hitting the Play button)?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

Echo,

Before I installed 2003 yesterday. Those same exact instructions were
listed in the Office Assistant Help. Now that I have 2003 version,
even though I am typing my help question in my Office Assistant
(paper clip guy), it takes me to MS Office Online for every single
question. I guess that is part of the upgrade. Hey, not to go off
on a different software tool. I actually just registered on that
forum and I am waiting to get my email confirmation. You don't know
anything about Virtual Dub.

Thanks for posting these instrux, Lfranker. Looks as if they come
from MS Office Online, so I can track them down there and then ping
the MS people who take care of these pages.

Good luck with it. I think the folder on the C drive will help.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

lfranker wrote:
oh shoot, I just wrote an entire reply and lost it. But anyway....
the Major just came over to my desk and wants this stuff today....
AAAHHHHH! I still have to edit the movie clips in movie maker. But
here are directions that you asked for:

____________________________________________________

Echo,

Thanks for all this info. I am going to do what you said. Create
the folder on the route of my C:\. Then I will move the .ppt file
and the movie files *before* I import them into my slide. I will
keep you posted.

Thanks,
Lfranker

 

[Echo S]

Echo,

Yes, that was one of the very first things I checked. The directions
tell you to do that as well.

I tried finding the mplay32.exe. It could not be found.

Interesting. That might be why there's no Media Clip available in the
Insert/Object/Create New list.

You know what I also tried for my video problem and it seems to work.
I copied the files into a folder on the c:\. Then I created a
hyperlink and attaching my video file. Then I went into File,
Package for CD, gave the CD a name, browsed for the video files that
are linked into my presentation and then copied to a CD. It works
both ways. When you put the CD in the drive, it automatically
launches PowerPoint Viewer and it works by going into Powerpoint and
viewing the slide show from there. So, I think I might stick with
that. Now I know what you were talking about with Powerpoint viewer.
But wait, you know what I just realized, didn't you mention that if
you are viewing in powerpoint viewer that you can't have .swf files?
Or am I remembering that backwards?

You'll want to delete the original files, then, when you test this on your
system. Or, better yet, test it on a different system that doesn't have the
video files anywhere on it. Just to be sure.

I did say that you cannot use SWF files in the PPT Viewer. I was just using
that as an example of why you have to take a lot of different things into
account when distributing a presentation. But you're not using SWF files.
And if you created a hyperlink to your video file, that should work with the
Viewer.

Echo