Choppy video playback

[E.Fisher]

I've created a rather large PP presentation with a lot of
video and audio inserts. My intention is to distibute
this "Portfolio" on CD-ROM.

I'm working on XP Professional and using PP 97.

My video files are relatively small 240 X 180 and 400 X
300.

I have compressed with Indeo 5.04 at 15 fps, 75% quality
and as low of a data rate as 150 kb/sec.

When I play these files from the CD directly in the
Windows Media Player, they run very smoothly. However
when I open the presentation from the same CD using the
PP Pack and Go player and view these same video files
within the PP presentation, the playback is choppy... not
flowing smoothly.

I know that PP is using the old Mplay32.exe player, so I
play the video files directly from that player. There is
a general improvement-- not quite as smooth as in the
Windows Media Player, but acceptable. But inside PP, the
Mplay32 does not play as smoothly. By the way, the audio
plays just fine in all situations.

So, it seems as if the problem may be in Mplay32's
ability to perform as well as Windows Media Player... and
it seems likely that something is happening inside of PP
to cause the Mplay32 playback to be impaired from its
performance outside of PP.

Is it possible that I have PP settings that are reducing
playback performance of video files? (Remember, I am
playing back from CD using the Pack and Go player-- not
the PP application.)

Is it possible that Mplay32 will respond better if I use
a different codec than Indeo5.04? If so, what codecs
have you found that perform best in Mplay32? Are these
codecs that the average user would have on their system?

Any ohter thoughts on why my video playback is so choppy--
even though I have encoded with a low data rate and 15
fps?

I would greatly appreciate any experienced suggestions on
this. Thank you.

 

[Efisher]

Addition to my previous post...


Let me clarify that when watching the video file on the
CD directly in the mplay32 player the quality is a little
smoother than the playback within PP, but not
really "acceptable" as I stated below. The Windows Media
Player playback is FAR superior to the mplay32 playback.

 

[Ms G]

Hi there,

Try this link:
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia
..htm

HTH,
Ms G

 

[Guest]

Thanks, but I've already viewed that. Any other ideas?

 

[B]

Ok, I'll toss my hat in the ring. I'm not a movie expert, but hey, this is
really just basic problem solving.

What else is running on the system: event monitors, virus scanners, NetBUI
protocols, memory checkers/enhancers, etc.? Does getting rid of these help
the playback in Media Player?

Does cutting your "rather large" presentation into smaller, linked
presentations reduce your RAM demands and help the playback?

Are you trialing the movie play over a network, from a cd, or a HDD?

Are you MCI settings correct or has one of the media programs messed with
them?

What other codecs have you tried? What other movie formats?

B



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[Mike M.]

I am working on a similar problem. What I have determined is that
PowerPoint uses a driver to play back video content (MPEGVideo=mciqtz.drv).
I don't know how old the driver is or how well it is designed. I do know
that it isn't as efficient as Windows Media Player. I did the same test
where I inserted a WMP object into my slide instead of dropping the movie
in. The play back was better. However, my presentation won't wait for the
clip to finish before moving to the next slide when I use the WMP object so
I can't go that route.