Sound

[Joe]

I have studied just about everything I can find on sound in PPT 2004.
Am I correct that, while sound can be added to each slide, a soundtrack
such as background music can not be added across a whole presentation
independently of individual slides?

-Joe

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I have studied just about everything I can find on sound in PPT 2004.
Am I correct that, while sound can be added to each slide, a soundtrack
such as background music can not be added across a whole presentation
independently of individual slides?

It can be done under the Windows versions. I don't have 2004 installed to test
with, but if you'd like to put on your lab rat costume, here's where the maze
starts:

Play sounds across multiple slides (A WAV runs through it)
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00047.htm

Seriously, give it a go and let me know how it works out. If it works with
minor tweaks to the Mac/2004 version, I'd like to add the needed steps to the
FAQ

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

 

[Joe]

It can be done under the Windows versions. I don't have 2004 installed to test
with, but if you'd like to put on your lab rat costume, here's where the maze
starts:

Play sounds across multiple slides (A WAV runs through it)
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00047.htm

Seriously, give it a go and let me know how it works out. If it works with
minor tweaks to the Mac/2004 version, I'd like to add the needed steps to the
FAQ

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

Steve,

I just skimmed over your link and it sounds interesting and promising.
I'll set up a trial run and let you know how I get along with it. I did
a slide presentation earlier this year and overall I liked PPT best
except for this snag so I went to iMovie and gave up some nice features
I would have liked to use.

-Joe

 

[Kurt]

I have studied just about everything I can find on sound in PPT 2004.
Am I correct that, while sound can be added to each slide, a soundtrack
such as background music can not be added across a whole presentation
independently of individual slides?

-Joe

But you can have a sound (like background music) play over multiple
slides simply by indicating the number of slides you want it to play
through.

 

[Joe]

Steve,

I have spent a lot time checking out all of your suggestions and they
all work as long as I keep the presentation on a computer. However, and
I did not say this in my earlier post, my end objective was to be able
to put my slide show on a DVD to play on a DVD player into a TV set.
Today I found a clear statement, finally, in the PPT help files that
says PPT does not support the sound settings I want to use when
exporting as a Quicktime file. The later versions of PPT for Windows
seem to follow the same setup as in the Mac 2004 version.

-Joe

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Steve,

I have spent a lot time checking out all of your suggestions and they
all work as long as I keep the presentation on a computer. However, and
I did not say this in my earlier post, my end objective was to be able
to put my slide show on a DVD to play on a DVD player into a TV set.

Ah. That's a very different animal. You're no longer even talking about a PPT
presentation in that case.

Today I found a clear statement, finally, in the PPT help files that
says PPT does not support the sound settings I want to use when
exporting as a Quicktime file. The later versions of PPT for Windows
seem to follow the same setup as in the Mac 2004 version.

There are apps on the Windows side that let you do what amounts to a moving
screen + sound capture of your presentation as it plays. Perhaps there's
something similar for Mac (by now you've no doubt noticed that I speak with a
pronounced Windows accent <g>)


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

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Some users have reported success using Snapz Pro to create a QuickTime movie
of the presentation.
<http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/>

Thanks, Mickey. I've added that here:

Convert presentations to VHS or DVD video
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00156.htm

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

 

[Joe]

Mickey & Steve,

I just visited the Snapz Pro X2 web site and the description sounds
very promising but the best thing is that a full featured version can
be downloaded for a free 15 day or 100 capture trial before buying even
though it is not a terribly expensive software. In fact if it works
well it is very reasonably priced in my opinion.

-Joe

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Mickey & Steve,

I just visited the Snapz Pro X2 web site and the description sounds
very promising but the best thing is that a full featured version can
be downloaded for a free 15 day or 100 capture trial before buying even
though it is not a terribly expensive software. In fact if it works
well it is very reasonably priced in my opinion.

If you give it a try, could you let us know how it works out for you?

Thanks!

-Joe

That';s true.


Some users have reported success using Snapz Pro to create a QuickTime movie
of the presentation.
<http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/>

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

 

[Joe]

Will do, Steve. I'm a little concerned that my G4-466 may be a little
weak for this task but the free trial should tell me pretty quick.

-Joe

Mickey & Steve,

I just visited the Snapz Pro X2 web site and the description sounds
very promising but the best thing is that a full featured version can
be downloaded for a free 15 day or 100 capture trial before buying even
though it is not a terribly expensive software. In fact if it works
well it is very reasonably priced in my opinion.

If you give it a try, could you let us know how it works out for you?

Thanks!

 

[Kurt]

Will do, Steve. I'm a little concerned that my G4-466 may be a little
weak for this task but the free trial should tell me pretty quick.

I can barely run PPT 2004 on my iBook G3 500!

 

[Joe]

Kurt,

While I was working in PPT 2004 today I fired up the Activity Monitor
utility and monitored RAM usage. At one point PPT alone was using over
500 MB of my 1.25 G of RAM. This came about with 36 color photos
inserted into my PPT presentation.

I thought you might be interested in this.

-Joe

 

[Kurt]

Kurt,

While I was working in PPT 2004 today I fired up the Activity Monitor
utility and monitored RAM usage. At one point PPT alone was using over
500 MB of my 1.25 G of RAM. This came about with 36 color photos
inserted into my PPT presentation.

I thought you might be interested in this.

-Joe

Thanks, Joe

Very telling. A recently had a PPT presentation with about 50 BW (but
RGB) photos in it. Dissolves were horrible, and PPT crawled. Ended up
running the show on a PC.
My iBook G3 500 has only 512 RAM. Wonder if it's even worth beefing up
the RAM?
Would I get any real better performance?

 

[Joe]

Thanks, Joe

Very telling. A recently had a PPT presentation with about 50 BW (but
RGB) photos in it. Dissolves were horrible, and PPT crawled. Ended up
running the show on a PC.
My iBook G3 500 has only 512 RAM. Wonder if it's even worth beefing up
the RAM?
Would I get any real better performance?

Kurt,

I checked Apple's web site for the specs on ibook G3-500 and it looks
like the max ram is 640 MB. If that is true 128 MB more ram would
probably not help much since that would only be a 25% increase over 512
MB.

Also, you may be already at 640 MB if your G3 is one that has 128 MB on
the logic board and you added 512 MB to that.

-Joe

 

[Kurt]

Kurt,

I checked Apple's web site for the specs on ibook G3-500 and it looks
like the max ram is 640 MB. If that is true 128 MB more ram would
probably not help much since that would only be a 25% increase over 512
MB.

Also, you may be already at 640 MB if your G3 is one that has 128 MB on
the logic board and you added 512 MB to that.

-Joe

It's still a great computer as long as I don't have to run Microsoft
programs on it. ;-)

 

[Mickey Stevens]

If you give it a try, could you let us know how it works out for you?

You can read a short tutorial & review by Geetesh Bajaj here. I meant to
post this earlier.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

You can read a short tutorial & review by Geetesh Bajaj here. I meant to
post this earlier.
<http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/mac/snapzpromovies.html>

Thanks, Mickey. I've added that to the FAQ too.

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

 

[Joe]

But you can have a sound (like background music) play over multiple
slides simply by indicating the number of slides you want it to play
through.

That's true, Kurt, so long as you keep the slide show in .ppt format on
a computer. However, when you export the slide show to .mov format so
it can be burned to a DVD for viewing on a TV using a DVD player the
sound becomes imbedded in whatever slide you attached it to and that
slide displays for the duration of the sound track followed by the
balance of the slides shown without sound track. Buried in the PPT Help
files is a statement to this effect but you can not find this statement
by searching for it.

There is a simple, low cost solution and I will post it here on this
thread either tomorrow or the next day.

-Joe

 

[Kurt]

That's true, Kurt, so long as you keep the slide show in .ppt format on
a computer. However, when you export the slide show to .mov format so
it can be burned to a DVD for viewing on a TV using a DVD player the
sound becomes imbedded in whatever slide you attached it to and that
slide displays for the duration of the sound track followed by the
balance of the slides shown without sound track. Buried in the PPT Help
files is a statement to this effect but you can not find this statement
by searching for it.

There is a simple, low cost solution and I will post it here on this
thread either tomorrow or the next day.

-Joe

Oh no, not another deficiency in PPT!
Thanks for that tip. I wasn't aware of that.