Insert a video into Word...

[Duncan McC]

Sounds very simple huh?

How does one simply insert an .avi file into a Word doc so that it can
then be played?

I've searched the NG's and found stuff about changing the extension to
mpg, or mpeg (can't recall the exact details now) - but didn't have much
joy in that anyway.

And anyway, why not play a fully compatible (MS Media Player) avi file -
that's the object of the excercise.

Shouldn't this be easy and just work?

 

[Graham Mayor]

Insert > Object > From file

However, what's the point of the exercise? A Word document is a peculiar
vehicle to carry a video file. You can't print it, the chances are that you
can't e-mail it, so what do you gain by including it in a document?

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Duncan McC]

Insert > Object > From file

However, what's the point of the exercise? A Word document is a peculiar
vehicle to carry a video file. You can't print it, the chances are that you
can't e-mail it, so what do you gain by including it in a document?

Good questions - here's the scenario.

A client wants to send out a pdf (or .doc) file to their clients. They
may want to include a video on occasion. The info document will be
going out maybe 4 times a year.

I have looked at video in a .pdf - and the only things I've come up with
so far (I've only looked at Adobe stuff) is Adobe Acrobat (pro) and
Adobe Flash. All up, probably not much change from $1,000 NZD.

So I got to thinking... hence my question. It's free, and it's a widely
used format, and I've confirmed that all their clients could open .doc
files (any that couldn't could perhaps use the free MS Word reader?).

But when I do a test on my machine, inserting some .avi I made on my
camera, it seems to embed ok, but it won't play.

MS Office 2007, XP Pro - all up-to-date.

PS: I assume Insert, Object, From File is the same as dragging a .avi
into the doc?


While my "cheap" method is just that, and it makes a much bigger file
than a web-ready, size optimised, flash video - I thought it could be
the go.

 

[Duncan McC]

Good questions - here's the scenario.

A client wants to send out a pdf (or .doc) file to their clients. They
may want to include a video on occasion. The info document will be
going out maybe 4 times a year.

I have looked at video in a .pdf - and the only things I've come up with
so far (I've only looked at Adobe stuff) is Adobe Acrobat (pro) and
Adobe Flash. All up, probably not much change from $1,000 NZD.

So I got to thinking... hence my question. It's free, and it's a widely
used format, and I've confirmed that all their clients could open .doc
files (any that couldn't could perhaps use the free MS Word reader?).

But when I do a test on my machine, inserting some .avi I made on my
camera, it seems to embed ok, but it won't play.

MS Office 2007, XP Pro - all up-to-date.

PS: I assume Insert, Object, From File is the same as dragging a .avi
into the doc?


While my "cheap" method is just that, and it makes a much bigger file
than a web-ready, size optimised, flash video - I thought it could be
the go.

I should add, that originally I thought I be really smart using the:
2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS


But naaa... doesn't do a Word doc with video => pdf. Then again, I
can't even get the video to work in a word doc anyway.

 

[Duncan McC]

Sounds very simple huh?

How does one simply insert an .avi file into a Word doc so that it can
then be played?

I've searched the NG's and found stuff about changing the extension to
mpg, or mpeg (can't recall the exact details now) - but didn't have much
joy in that anyway.

And anyway, why not play a fully compatible (MS Media Player) avi file -
that's the object of the excercise.

Shouldn't this be easy and just work?

Some more info...
(as posted: Office 2007 Ultimate, XP Pro), and the error message I get
when I drag n' drop a video onto the doc...

Video not available, cannot find 'vids:XVID' decompressor.

XVID is installed from the web (full/free installer). The video plays
fine in MS Media Player, so why not in Word?

Such a simple thing I'd have thought.

And yes, if I rename the video to give it a .mpg extension, it does
kinda work, but it's "not very nice" I can elaborate if you want,
basically the preview (before you play it) is horrible, it resizes
horribly on the screen and is quite hard to 'grab' the handles to resize
it back down. And it plays quite poorly.

If I could just get the avi in there, resize it to make it a bit smaller
(as one sees fit), that's the sorta thing they are after.

 

[Duncan McC]

Some more info...
(as posted: Office 2007 Ultimate, XP Pro), and the error message I get
when I drag n' drop a video onto the doc...

Video not available, cannot find 'vids:XVID' decompressor.

XVID is installed from the web (full/free installer). The video plays
fine in MS Media Player, so why not in Word?

Such a simple thing I'd have thought.

OK, I fixed the above (tried on another PC and it worked, so reinstalled
the XVID guff, and it's working).

The video is still quite poor though, it has no sound control, and is
quite jerky in playback and um - it has no sound at all.

Any ideas I could try (just using small 5Mb vids).

 

[Graham Mayor]

Even if you organised the codecs on your PC to allow the video to play from
within Word (and it is possible to do that) you cannot expect your customers
to jump through the same hoops. If you want to send customers video material
send it in DVD format that they can be sure of playing.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Duncan McC]

Even if you organised the codecs on your PC to allow the video to play from
within Word (and it is possible to do that) you cannot expect your customers
to jump through the same hoops. If you want to send customers video material
send it in DVD format that they can be sure of playing.

Yeah, thanks Graham, it would/will be a major problem indeed.

 

[AlexGBaxy]

Actually, if you are in school, you probably aren't, a lot of the time for homework we upload things to Fronter.