Video Players

[M]

Greetings, all.

We've been putting video into PowerPoint since before you could put video in
PowerPoint. Most of the time, it works great. Recently we ran into a
client computer that just won't play it.

I have always thought that the conventional wisdom is that video in
PowerPoint is played by the MCI player. Whether or not it plays in the
Windows Media Player is irrelevant, because MCI is doing the work in
PowerPoint. In troubleshooting this particular issue, I came across a
Microsoft Technical Article (
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa168133.aspx ) that says, in part:

"When PowerPoint needs to play a media file, for example as part of a slide
build or when a user clicks on the file, it examines the file to determine
which media player application is best suited for playing. Because MCI
installs as part of the Windows operating system, if PowerPoint determines
that it can play the file using MCI, then it uses MCI. If not, PowerPoint
attempts to play the file using Windows Media Player. If the file is not
compatible with either player, PowerPoint simply does not play the file.
PowerPoint uses the DirectShow technology to gather file information to
determine which player is appropriate."

This is news to me, and - if true - should affect our troubleshooting
process. You'd expect Microsoft to get it right. Did they?

Michael

 

[Austin Myers]

I have read that many times and wondered... In real day to day use, I have
never seen it happen. Well, that is not quite true, it its a playlist then
WMP does grab it.




Austin Myers
AT&W Technologies

Creators of PowerPoint add-ins

 

[M]

Why, Steve, I don't believe I've seen that much wiggling since the hula
demonstration on Maui!

I guess we're going to have to disect the client's machine to see what's
wrong in this particular case. The real oddity - if you believe what
Microsoft is saying - is the the clip plays in her WMPlayer, but not in
PowerPoint. That would appear to contradict what Microsoft is saying in
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa168133.aspx .

 

[M]

Well, Austin, I guess that if this has you wondering, too, then I'm in good
company.