PowerPoint playing wrong video

[Roxanne]

I've created a pps file to distribute via CD-ROM to users that has two
embedded mpeg videos. I inserted these videos using a mac with os 10.3 and
office 2004 (with the update). When one of my users runs this program on his
computer either from the CD or from his hard drive, the powerpoint
presentation plays the wrong video. The video it plays is possibly on the
users computer, although he swears it's not. If we reinsert the video in the
presentation on his hard drive it works just fine.

The pps file plays fine on other macs so I'm not sure what is going on with
his computer. I'm not very geeky with mac computers so I'm not sure where to
begin looking for a solution to this problem.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Roxanne

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I've created a pps file to distribute via CD-ROM to users that has two
embedded mpeg videos. I inserted these videos using a mac with os 10.3 and
office 2004 (with the update).

MPEGs are linked, not embedded. The only way the links will work is if you:

- Save the presentation at least once
- Put the MPEGs in the same folder as the presentation
- Then and only then insert them
- Keep them in the same folder as the PPT from then on and they'll generally
work

When one of my users runs this program on his

computer either from the CD or from his hard drive, the powerpoint
presentation plays the wrong video. The video it plays is possibly on the
users computer, although he swears it's not. If we reinsert the video in the
presentation on his hard drive it works just fine.

The pps file plays fine on other macs so I'm not sure what is going on with
his computer. I'm not very geeky with mac computers so I'm not sure where to
begin looking for a solution to this problem.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Roxanne

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Roxanne Davies]

Right, I knew that but I didn't explain it very well. Whoops!. The videos
are actually linked not embedded, and they are in the same folder as the
presentation. I also instered them just as you've described below. This
worked fine on at least 10 other powerbooks that were at the meeting. Only
one had this problem and strangely enough, the other workshop CD-ROM I
created (which is put together the exact same way) ran fine and played the
correct video.

Right now I'm suspecting something is wrong with settings on his machine,
but I'm not sure. Is it common for Mac ppt to play any video if it has
trouble finding the target video?

Rox

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Right, I knew that but I didn't explain it very well. Whoops!.

No problem, Rox.

Videos are compressed using software called a "codec" (short for
COmpressor/DECompressor). There are, at last count, 14,234,123 of the .. hold
on ... make that 14,234,125 ... of them out there and ... oops, add two more ..

Well, you get the idea. Lots of them and they breed faster than mayflies.

If one of the videos uses a codec that's not installed on the computer, the
video won't play.

If this were on a PC I could go on and point you at a couple of useful web
sites, but since we're speaking Mac, I can't tell you where to look for
installed codecs (or as I suspect might be the case, the codecs are part of
Quicktime. Hmm. Maybe check the user's QT version vs yours/the other macs
where it all worked ok?)

The videos

are actually linked not embedded, and they are in the same folder as the
presentation. I also instered them just as you've described below. This
worked fine on at least 10 other powerbooks that were at the meeting. Only
one had this problem and strangely enough, the other workshop CD-ROM I
created (which is put together the exact same way) ran fine and played the
correct video.

Right now I'm suspecting something is wrong with settings on his machine,
but I'm not sure. Is it common for Mac ppt to play any video if it has
trouble finding the target video?

Rox

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================