Dear User,
PowerPoint does very little with Multimedia other than hand it over to
Windows for play back.
Why is this important? Because we could "fidget" all day with PowerPoint
trying to correct a problem when the real problem is in how Windows has been
installed, setup, and modified. Almost every Multimedia problem in
PowerPoint has its roots in the operating environment - Windows.
So lets start with how Windows handles Multimedia. A common misconception is
that it uses the Windows Media Player. It does not! Instead it uses a group
of Advanced Programming Instructions (API) that is commonly referred to as
the Multimedia Control Interface (MCI). These are a part of Windows and are
present regardless of the installation or non-installation of Media Player.
As an example of the MCIs use, consider that you can assign sounds to events
or actions like starting or closing an application. Windows doesn't start
Media Player every time to "play" the sound; the function is built in to
Windows itself.
The MCI dates back a decade or so and was first introduced with Windows 3.x
when Microsoft worked with a number of companies to develop a standard way
to implement Multimedia on the PC. The MCI itself is built in a modular
fashion so that newer, and improved modules or components could be added.
Of course the biggest advantage to this is that software vendors could
simply call upon the MCI to do Multimedia functions without having to write
new program code to do the job. This is exactly how PowerPoint is designed
to work. Like everything, there is a downside.
If a vendor wants more functionality than is provided by the MCI standard,
they must write their own program to do it. Apple decided to do this with
the release of QuickTime 3 and all later versions. That's why only versions
1 and 2 work with PowerPoint. Or more specifically, they work with the
Windows MCI.
So if this functionality is built in, why doesn't it work on my system?
There are a number of reasons this problem occurs. Remember when I said that
the MCI is modular in nature? The most common problem is that one (or more)
of these modules wasn't installed with Windows, was removed, damaged,
overwritten, or redirected.
How could that happen? The installation part is easy. When Windows is
installed, you are given the option of installing Multimedia Tools. It may
be that none or only parts of it were installed. To determine this go in to
"Control Panel" and start the Add/Remove program and then select "Windows
Setup". Here you can scroll through the components of Windows that are
installed. Make certain the Multimedia is checked and that all the
Multimedia components are selected. Click OK and any missing components are
installed. (Note: A re-boot may be needed for the changes to take effect.)
What other things can cause these problems? The answer is, installation of
third party applications. Remember we are talking about a "standard" way to
deal with Multimedia? Unfortunately, some vendors don't want to follow the
standard and in an effort to make their application "better", replace
certain modules of the MCI. These modules can be drivers, *.dll files, or
codecs. I guess the thinking goes something like, "Hey we have the best
player out there so why would a user want to use anything else, go ahead and
change it." Well, at least I prefer this idea to thinking the competition
would deliberately scramble the MCIs use for everyone else.
What software does this? There are a bunch of them but the more common ones
I have tested and know cause problems are:
QuickTime 3, 4, and 5
Xing Player and Encoder
Real Player
WinAmp
Several of the video authoring programs
In most cases the changes made by these programs can be corrected without
any ill effect. Notice I said "most" of the time. There are situations where
by restoring the MCI to its original condition, you will not be able to use
the third party software.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were a handy way to test the MCI to make
certain everything is in place and a specific file will play correctly
before trying to use it in PowerPoint? Turns out there is one. When you
installed all of the multimedia components with Windows, you also installed
a version of Media Player that works directly with the MCI.
Wait! Do NOT confuse this with the "Windows Media Player". Boy do I wish
Microsoft had given them different names.
Windows Media Player versions 6.x and 7.x are available as a download from
the Microsoft web site. [As of late 2003, Windows Media Player 9 is the
current version; older versions may not be available on the MS site any
longer by the time you read this. -sr] These players have nothing to do with
PowerPoint or the MCI, other than they too use certain modules for
functionality.
If you have a Multimedia file you want to test for compatibility try using
the MCI Media Player:
Click Start, Run
In the text box of the Run dialog box, type "mplayer.exe" (or "mplay32.exe"
for WinNT)
Click OK
This starts the MCI Media Player. Yes, it's the same one you were used to in
earlier versions of Windows. Remember, I said the MCI has been around a long
time. Now with File - Open, navigate to the file you want to test and see if
it plays properly. If it does, it should work in PowerPoint just fine, if it
doesn't play correctly it will NOT work in PowerPoint.
Folks it's a simple test and can save you from hours of hair pulling and
low-level cursing.
All right, we understand PowerPoint uses the MCI, how do I set it up
properly? We have been talking about the MCI and it's modules, we need to
get into it a bit deeper to see how the modules are used. As the MCI dates
back to Win 3.x its "settings" are kept in two files (win.ini and
system.ini) that are read at boot up. Each of these files has sections that
determine how the MCI will work and interact with your computer system. We
need to edit them and make certain they follow the "standard" established by
Microsoft.
STOP! Before going any further, PLEASE back up your system. Nuff said!
Using a text editor (Notepad works fine) open the win.ini file. Scroll down
to the heading [MCI Extensions] and compare them to the following. If they
are different, correct them, if there are lines or entries missing add them,
if there are duplicate entries remove one of them. The entries ARE case
sensitive. After you are done, "Save" the file back to its original
location. Do the same for the system.ini file. (Note: a re-boot is required
for the changes to take effect.)
WIN.INI SYSTEM.INI
[MCI Extensions] [mci]
mid=Sequencer cdaudio=mcicda.drv
rmi=Sequencer sequencer=mciseq.drv
wav=waveaudio waveaudio=mciwave.drv
midi=Sequencer avivideo=mciavi.drv
avi=AVIVideo videodisc=mcipionr.drv
qt=MPEGVideo vcr=mcivisca.drv
mov=MPEGVideo MPEGVideo=mciqtz.drv
dat=MPEGVideo
mpg=MPEGVideo
mpa=MPEGVideo
mpv=MPEGVideo
enc=MPEGVideo
m1v=MPEGVideo
mp2=MPEGVideo
mpe=MPEGVideo
mpeg=MPEGVideo
mpm=MPEGVideo
au=MPEGVideo
snd=MPEGVideo
aif=MPEGVideo
aiff=MPEGVideo
aifc=MPEGVideo
[Editor's note: Since writing this, Austin located the following source for
codecs. Getcher red-hot codecs right here, folks.]
[Editor's addendum: But unfortunately, the helpful fellow who's kept Nimo up
to date will stop after July 2004. Until Austin solves the "Finding Nimo"
problem once again, we'll have to fish for ourselves.]
Nimo All in One Codec Pack
The current version (updated regularly) has *just about* every standard
codec I have ever run
across. Download it and run the file and it handles all the nasty work of
installing the codecs and registering them on the system.
If that doesn't work, try here
[We now return you to our regularly scheduled FAQ]
So What's a CODEC?
What the heck is a Codec and why do I need them? Codec stands for COmpressor
/ DECompressor and it does pretty much what the name implies. They are used
to compress Multimedia files for transfer and storage, and then to reverse
the process for play back. If you have ever used "Zip" to compress a file
you have the general idea.
Why are there so many different codecs? Different forms of Multimedia
compress very differently depending upon their contents. Consider the
difference in the sound of a car engine running and a full orchestra playing
music. The engines sound is of a very low frequency and repetitive, while
the orchestra produces a full frequency of sound with little repetition.
Obviously the engine sound would compress much differently than would the
orchestra music. So we use a different tool or codec to get the job done.
The same analogy holds true for video. Codecs are constantly being upgraded
and the technology envelope pushed in order to compress the file smaller
without loosing quality during playback.
The good news is that Microsoft foresaw the need for future codecs and built
the MCI so we can simply install them as needed. In plain terms, a codec is
just another module of the MCI and the MCI makes it available to other
software, in our case, PowerPoint.
There are literally hundreds (thousands?) of codecs in use today and no one
would have all of them installed on their machine. However there are the
"common" ones that should be on every machine. In order to determine which
codecs are install on your machine go into Control Panel and double click
Multimedia. Click on the Devices Tab and look for "Audio Compression Codecs"
and "Video Compression Codecs". Click on either of these to see a list of
the codecs installed. Here is a list of some of the most common codecs:
else you may visit
http://www.soniacoleman.com/FAQs/FAQ00105.htm
Suvodip Moitra
Jeffrey Falk said:
I'm running PPT 2003 under XP pro. When I import a video MPEG or WMF into
PPT, the video runs ok. At the end of the video I get an MCI ERROR window
that states: The specified device is now being closed. Wait a few seconds
and then try again. The program than hangs indefinitely until I go into
Windows Task Manager and close it. With avi files I get the dreaded empty
black box but the audio works just fine.
Thank you
