PowerPoint and Win 7 64-bit

[AmyM]

I have a slide created in PPT2003 which runs on XP, Windows 7 32-bit, but not
Windows 7 64-bit. The only thing which is unusual about this slide is that it
has an animation in which the object (a group of photos 40" in length) starts
off of the page, then moves across the page (like a filmstrip).

The only version of PPT I could get it to run with on the Win7 64-bit
machine was PPT2010 (32-bit) beta. It will not run with 2003 or 2007 on
64-bit.

All updates and drivers are current. I am now backing up and wiping my drive
to do a clean install.

Has anyone encountered this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

When you say it will not run, what exactly happens? Are the images
disappearing?

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[AmyM]

Thanks for your response Glen. The images just don't show up at all.
I wiped my drive and just installed Office 2003 to rule anything else out. I
think I've narrowed it down to the graphics card. When I disable hardware
acceleration, the animation works.

This is a little worrisome as this is a brand new tricked-out machine, and
I'm working with the most recent (and only) video driver for this laptop.
Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the option of adjusting the acceleration
from within Windows.

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

What is your graphic card? I wonder if you change the slides how resolution
in 2007 if it will help- Slide Show tab, Monitor group and try resolution
drop down box. Does selecting 1024 by 768 help? That forces the card to try
something different.

I wonder if the manufacturer doesn't really have proper drivers for a 64 bit
version- if in fact that is even relevant.

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

Actually, in the Set up Slide show dialog box, uncheck "Use Hardware
graphics acceleration". Does that allow the pictures to display?

There used to be a limitation on image size that PowerPoint could display- I
just thought that might be resurfacing.

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[AmyM]

In the Set up Slide show dialog box, I unchecked it and yes, it does play
that way. A workaround--but one I'd rather not have to resort to.

You are a genius! I didn't know about the image size limitation (or in this
case, group size limitation). Do you know what exactly the limitation is? Is
it the dimension or density? In PPT2007, I deleted a few of the photos out of
the group and now it plays, even with hardware acceleration enabled. Very
strange that the same slide plays fine on all of the versions of PowerPoint
(03, 07, and 10) running on 32-bit platforms. In fact, with acceleration
enabled 03 and 07 seem slower on the 64-bit machines.

I think this is what the economists call "diminishing law of returns".

Thanks so much for the insight!

Amy

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

The limitation used to be (from memory) anything more than twice the width
of the slide. I imagine someone in MS maybe said, surely no one will need to
put a photo in bigger than that! The work around is to use two images
cropped and put side by side so they match. I first saw it in 2004 when I
was trying to do a big pan. And also, I don't know of any actual group
limitation, unless the dimension thing can be triggered with a group?

Regarding PowerPoint versions, I have a slide with 240 images on it:

In 2007 it plays great but takes a long time for that slide to load in
slideshow mode.

In 2003, it just throws it at the slide almost instantly, even beating the
music timing I have set. I figure 2007 renders all of the image effects such
as soft edges, etc. In 2003, it says "no idea what a soft edge is" so it
just throws it at the screen.

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

I can reproduce it in 2007 with a single image, and grouped images!

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[AmyM]

By "reproduce" do you mean your photos disappeared/didn't animate?

 

[Glen Millar]

yes!

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[AmyM]

What platform/graphics card are you running? I'm starting to think this is an
ATI thing. My nVidia cards are running it OK. This is choking on the Mobility
Radeon HD 4650.

 

[Glen Millar]

I have a Radeon HD 4650!

I'm happy to look at something if you send it to me. But it will be a while-
just off to watch Australia play Pakistan......

glen at pptworkbench dot com

--
Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[AmyM]

As a follow up, I have confirmed that this is related to how PowerPoint
interfaces with the ATI card. A friend has the same model of computer that I
do, equipped with an nVidia card, and the slide runs fine on her computer.
Since PowerPoint 2010 is able to successfully display the slide, it is a flaw
in the 2003/2007 versions.

Microsoft, if you could create a patch for this in the older versions it
would be greatly appreciated!

 

[AmyM]

Ah yes. Silly, silly, silly me. My first clue should have been the staggering
number of threads under the [Suggestions with Microsoft Response] category.
Why would a company want to use a venue like this as a huge free test lab and
focus group anyway . . . .