Video in Presentation

[Brian Lynn]

I have been doing powerpoint for a LONG time... and this is the first time I
have had this many issues.

I have two identical IBM laptops, running PPT2003, all updates...

Embedded videos play sporadically... and when they dont play I get a all
white box where the video should be.

I've loaded codecs, re-compressed the videos using every codec I can think
of from indeo and divx .avi to using Windows Movie Maker to encode as .wmv -
still no go on the video...

Interesting thing is the videos play perfect on my laptops... but that
doesnt help my client with their laptops...

Checked video drivers and updated, no change... Anyone else seen this white
screen issue? I've seen the black screen/primary issue with laptops before
and that's a simple fix... dealt with that one a million times... but this
white overlay box is killing me! Help!

Need info? let me know what i can give that might help anyone out there help
me!

 

[Bill Foley]

I highly recommend:

http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00713.htm

 

[Brian Lynn]

I thank you for the information... Does me no good at all. PFC does not fix
my issue. Handy tool for anyone who has issues normally inserting a video
into PowerPoint...

Is it possible that a digital rights management issue may be in play? One of
the videos that I tried to use PFC to insert would not even TRY to insert
because it said something about digital rights management...

The main bulk of the videos I am working with were created on Ultrasound
machines using the TSCC codec (one i had never heard of, but was able to
download pretty easy)... the rest were written using Indeo codec which I have
also gotten ahold of. I have recompressed all the videos I have into various
formats/codecs using both/all Premier, AFter Effects, Vegas, Media Encoder,
PFC, and more... tried all sorts of compressions, etc...

Anything I am missing??

PFC FAILED at solving my video issue!

 

[Brian Lynn]

Oh and on a side note... now that I have this PFC thing installed... ummm....
how do I get RID OF IT!????

 

[Brian Lynn]

WARNING

DO NOT INSTALL PFC. There is no included unistaller, no apparent way to get
rid of it, and its hopelessly embedded into your powerpoint. I will have to
reformat and reinstall my ENTIRE system now just to be comfortable that this
POS hasn't totally fried my system.

 

[Austin Myers]

Brian,

Sorry to hear your videos didn't work before or after installing PFCMedia.
Concerning removing the add in, have you looked at the help file? There is
a full explanation for both disabling and/or removing it.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Austin Myers]

Brian,

Are you saying that the videos fail to play regardless of their format,
including wmv? If so, are you certain your path isn't too long? (Try a
short path like C:\test for the presentation and video files.) Next, try
reducing the video hardware acceleration and see if it cures the problem.

If none of this helps holler back and we'll try to see what else is going
on.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Brian Lynn]

I will look for the help file when I get back to my laptop tomorrow. I went
home and gave up for the night. My real job on this is teleprompter... I just
happen to know more about powerpoint then the poeple they have running it on
this show =)

PFCMedia's trick ARE cool... very cool... if I wasn't good at PowerPoint
they would be very handy. The self install is very cool too, makes life easy.
But, in my humble opinion, any demo program is only as good as its uninstall
capability. I would fully recommend almost 100% of my clients purchase this
(because it would make my life SO much easier), but... I can't recomend a
tool that is designed to make people's life's easier, but then doesn't
include as simple an uninstall as install.

I sound so negative... really I do think you got a great tool here for any
casual user looking to make multimedia powerpoints a lot easier!

 

[Brian Lynn]

I finally threw in the towel... the videos run great off my laptop so I think
we're going to use that as a failsafe (snicker), though I will certainly try
your suggestions and post back with success or failure...

And yes... all the videos that fail always fail no matter what format I use
to encode the video with...

tried brand new DivX Pro .avi -no go

tried compressing that to .wmv with PFC, Encoder, and Movie Maker and tried
several 4:3 aspect bitrates... -no go

tried MS DV codec .avi -no go
same with re-write that file with encoder, mm -no go (tried pfc just on the
top one)

tried to mpeg encode with Premier but keep getting error "requires audio
track" but thats for another forum...

tried all kinds of stuff... basically the only thing I have NOT tried is to
render it out to Flash... might try that tomorrow too with After Effects...

I have Vegas, After Effects, Premier, MM, Encoder, and all kinds a codecs,
free stuff, all kinds of stuff and nothing I have seems to get it to work...
its two identical laptops so I just have to figure its not me =) goofy
laptops my clients are trying to use!lol

ty for the post, appreciate the help!

 

[Austin Myers]

I will look for the help file when I get back to my laptop tomorrow. I went
home and gave up for the night. My real job on this is teleprompter... I
just
happen to know more about powerpoint then the poeple they have running it
on
this show =)

PFCMedia's trick ARE cool... very cool... if I wasn't good at PowerPoint
they would be very handy. The self install is very cool too, makes life
easy.
But, in my humble opinion, any demo program is only as good as its
uninstall
capability. I would fully recommend almost 100% of my clients purchase
this
(because it would make my life SO much easier), but... I can't recomend a
tool that is designed to make people's life's easier, but then doesn't
include as simple an uninstall as install.

Yeah, selecting the Uninstall radio button and clicking Continue can be a
real bear. <g>



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Echo S]

White box is often (usually?) a path issue. Try putting the PPT files and
videos in a folder called C:\test. Then reinsert the videos into the
presentations. Do they play then?

 

[Brian Lynn]

Shortening the file paths worked wonders, thanks both Austin and Echo...

Why does this happen? Seems like a wierd issue... As a rule I always operate
from a c:\show\day\presentersname.ppt and never had this issue... Client was
running from desktop folder so the path was huge...

 

[Echo S]

Yes, desktop folders are a prime culprit. Even when we say "shorten the path
length," they often don't realize just how long a path to the desktop can
be.

Anyway, it's an MCI Media Player limitation, and that's what PPT relies on
to play video.

 

[Brian Lynn]

MCI Media Player? Is this something you can get as a separate element? A
DirectX toy? Never heard of it... I thought PPT called DirectX to run videos
or WiMP (though someone said it was DirectX in response to another post I
have)

Yes, desktop folders are a prime culprit. Even when we say "shorten the path
length," they often don't realize just how long a path to the desktop can
be.

Anyway, it's an MCI Media Player limitation, and that's what PPT relies on
to play video.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
How to Prevent PowerPoint Overload (March 23 webcast)
http://tinyurl.com/bp2h8

Shortening the file paths worked wonders, thanks both Austin and Echo...

Why does this happen? Seems like a wierd issue... As a rule I always
operate
from a c:\show\day\presentersname.ppt and never had this issue... Client
was
running from desktop folder so the path was huge...

 

[Echo S]

Direct X plays a part, so does Windows Media Player. Lots of things affect
video. PowerPoint relies on the MCI Media Player to play stuff, though.

Go read this:
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm

If MCI Media Player can't play the file, PPT (at least PPT 2003)
*supposedly* tries to hand off to Windows Media Player. I don't think it
does a very good job of that, though; if it worked, I believe we'd see less
video failure.

I think the upshot is, if it doesn't play in MCI Media Player, then it's not
gonna play in PPT. If it does play in the MCI Media Player, but it doesn't
play in PPT, then you go checking stuff like Direct X, codecs, conflicting
software, path lengths, etc.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
How to Prevent PowerPoint Overload (March 23 webcast)
http://tinyurl.com/bp2h8

MCI Media Player? Is this something you can get as a separate element? A
DirectX toy? Never heard of it... I thought PPT called DirectX to run
videos
or WiMP (though someone said it was DirectX in response to another post I
have)

Yes, desktop folders are a prime culprit. Even when we say "shorten the
path
length," they often don't realize just how long a path to the desktop can
be.

Anyway, it's an MCI Media Player limitation, and that's what PPT relies
on
to play video.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
How to Prevent PowerPoint Overload (March 23 webcast)
http://tinyurl.com/bp2h8

Shortening the file paths worked wonders, thanks both Austin and
Echo...

Why does this happen? Seems like a wierd issue... As a rule I always
operate
from a c:\show\day\presentersname.ppt and never had this issue...
Client
was
running from desktop folder so the path was huge...

:

Brian,

Are you saying that the videos fail to play regardless of their
format,
including wmv? If so, are you certain your path isn't too long? (Try
a
short path like C:\test for the presentation and video files.) Next,
try
reducing the video hardware acceleration and see if it cures the
problem.

If none of this helps holler back and we'll try to see what else is
going
on.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com





I have been doing powerpoint for a LONG time... and this is the first
time
I
have had this many issues.

I have two identical IBM laptops, running PPT2003, all updates...

Embedded videos play sporadically... and when they dont play I get a
all
white box where the video should be.

I've loaded codecs, re-compressed the videos using every codec I can
think
of from indeo and divx .avi to using Windows Movie Maker to encode
as
.wmv -
still no go on the video...

Interesting thing is the videos play perfect on my laptops... but
that
doesnt help my client with their laptops...

Checked video drivers and updated, no change... Anyone else seen
this
white
screen issue? I've seen the black screen/primary issue with laptops
before
and that's a simple fix... dealt with that one a million times...
but
this
white overlay box is killing me! Help!

Need info? let me know what i can give that might help anyone out
there
help
me!