I'll try to make some sense of it. When something is called an AVI (has the
*.avi extension) you could just as well call it a movie because any video
with sound included is an AVI. AVI simply means the Audio and Video are
Interleaved in the same file. Sooo, a Mpeg is a AVI, a WMV is a AVI, a DivX
is a AVI, etc. etc..
When PowerPoint (the MCI player really) is called to play an AVI it tries to
determine the proper codec to be used to play the media. (There are
hundreds of them.) *Most* times this works fairly well, but not always. In
many cases the video doesn't meet the standard set for a particular codec or
format. The result is that either the video doesn't play, or it doesn't
play properly. (As you seen.)
By your changing the extension to mpeg you told PowerPoint (MCI player) to
eliminate all codecs from the list except the ones for mpeg playback and the
player selected one of them that worked on your system. Call it a lucky
guess. <g>
Be aware!!! It may not work if you move the presentation to another PC!!!
Why you ask? Because the other PC may or may not have the codec you are
using on your machine.
For more information on this subject take a look at the tutorial I put
together on the subject.
http://www.pfcmedia.com/Tutorial.htm
Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team
Provider of PFCMedia
http://www.pfcmedia.com
"n2gzs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ACA3A4E6-3DF7-4DBF-8C36-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Austin,
> Didn't realize when I posted there was a delay inthe thread showing up,
> until after I posted it again. Now it appears that the thread in which you
> posted your solution may have been deleted as a duplicate. Could you post
> your solution again?
> Secondly, I still don't understand how it could play in the full screen
> mode
> but not play without checking that box on. When inserted normally and put
> into slide show mode it just appears as a black box when playing. I knoe
> the
> file name/path is not too long. I'm using all the most current updates.
> I
> don't get it. Changing the file ext worked, so I'll probably keep doing
> that,
> but I hate an unsolved mystery.
>
> "Austin Myers" wrote:
>
>> See my reply to your first post.
>>
>>
>>
>> Austin Myers
>> MS PowerPoint MVP Team
>>
>> Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com
>>
>>
>> "n2gzs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:96DDA006-6788-44CA-AD93-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >I am using Windows XP professional and PowerPoint 2003. Windows media
>> >player
>> > 10. With the implementation of PowerPoint 2003, some avi files that we
>> > have
>> > successfully used in previous versions of PowerPoint will not play,
>> > unless
>> > you right mouse click on the avi in PowerPoint, Edit Movie Object, and
>> > check
>> > on "Zoom to Full Screen". Then the avio plays full screen, but that's
>> > the
>> > only way.
>> > When examining the properties of avi's that WILL play normally in
>> > PowerPoint
>> > they show either Cinepak Codec or MS-CRAM under video compression.
>> > The ones that do not play normally have no video compression listed
>> > under
>> > properties.
>> > There is a workaround that I have found that works on some machines but
>> > not
>> > others.
>> > By opening the avi in Windows media player go to Tools, Options,
>> > Performance, and then click on the Advanced button. Under Video
>> > Acceleration,
>> > Un-check "Use video mixing renederer." This worked on two other
>> > machines
>> > where I work, but would not work on my machine.
>> > Could it be a driver issue? Or possibly a codec issue?
>> >
>>
>>
>>
Similar Threads
