Problems with videos

[Guest]

Recently I had problems with 2 videos in PowerPoint 2003 in a computer with
Windows XP Home:

Video 1) the space occupied by the video in the slide remains black.
However, if I go to next slide and return to the slide with the video, the
video plays normally.

Video 2) the space occupied by the video in the slide remains allways black.
But if I disable DirectDraw and Direct3D acceleration, I see the video. With
the video 1, the problem remains.

I inserted the videos through the menu Insert / Movies and Sounds / Movie
from file.

Those videos play without any problem in Windows Meadia Player.

Also, those presentations do not put any problem in another computer with
PowerPoint XP and Windows 2000 Professional. The path of the files is the
same in the two computers.

I thank any help.

 

[Guest]

Try using this add-on at:
http://www.pfcmedia.com
Hope this helps!!!

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the answer. But I intended to solve the problem and not to go
round it with an add-on.

As much as I noticed in the site, the add-on intends to go round problems
related with codecs. But I think that my case #1 is more complex, since I do
not see the video when I go forward in the presentation, but I see it when I
go backward.

I already updated the graphic controllers of the computer where the problems
happens, but everything stays the same.

Anybody else has some other suggestion?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Austin Myers]

Try lowering your video hardware acceleration.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Guest]

Indeed, this go round the problem with video 2, but does not explain why
Windows Media Player in the same computer does not have any problem.

Anyway, this does not result in the case of the video 1.

 

[Austin Myers]

Being able to play a movie in the Windows Media Player is meaningless for
the most part when it comes to PowerPoint. (PPT uses the MCI media Player)
It is almost certain you have a video that uses a codec that is not
compatible with the MCI player. Or the video does not follow the standards
set for that type of format.

I sugget you download a utility called "GSpot" (google for it) and inspect
the file. With GSpot you can determine the specific codec being used, any
corrupt data, etc. From there you should be able to determine which codec
you need to install and make the needed registry changes.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Trey Selman]

I have found that the most reliable way to get video to play in powerpoint
is to encode to wmv using Windows media encoder.
Then create an asx file (a simple xml text tile that calls the wmv file).
Insert the asx file and not the wmv file.

I have not found a way to verify that using the asx file forces the use of
WMP but I have compared with tests with wmv video that play well in WMP and
then when inserted into PPT they play choppy. If I instead creat an asx file
and insert that file instead of the wmv the video will play fine.
So, I always use that method and since using that method I have not had any
problems with playback.

Also, my recipe for encoding is based on trial and error testing.

In Windows Media Encoder,
1. use the Convert a File Wizard
2. Selcet source file and output location and file name
3. Choose File Download (computer playback) as Distribution
4. Choose High Definition Quality Video (5Mpbs)
This is the key to getting the best encoding the output size will be for HD
BUT that will be changed in a later step to work with PPT screen size.
Choosing this makes for much beter quality encodes than choosing a smaller
bit rate.
5. finish the wizard
6. After the Encoder gets settled with the settings choose the properties
button in the toolbar
7. Click the video Size tab and at the bottom of the dialog change the width
and Height to 640x480
This gets the appropriate aspect ratio, reduces file size but still give a
much higher quality encode than using the 2Mbps setting in the wizard.
Choose Apply Button at the bottom and the click the Start Encode button in
the toolbar

To make as asx file just copy and past the information below (between the
two lines) and use notepad edit the appropriate fields
When saving make sure the extension is asx not txt.
________________________________________
<ASX Version = "3.0">
<Title>Title of Video</Title>

<Entry>
<Title>Title of Video Clip</Title>
<Ref href = "CSM.wmv" />
<AUTHOR>Your Name</AUTHOR>
</Entry>

</ASX>
_________________________________________


In the <Ref href = "CSM.wmv" /> this si the location of the encoded video
in wmv format.

It is recommended that both the wmv and asx file be placed in the same
folder as you PPT file. Then you will have less problems with PPT finding
the medi file. This is recommended with almost a graphics and media files.

Then in PPT just indert the asx file from the Insert Movies from files
command
You can resize the video by dragging the handles without losing any quality
and I would also right click and choose edit to change a few of the
properties.

check the resize to full screen if you want it to be full screen (I do both
these last to steps but they are probably redundant)
And if there is audio in the video clip I always go ahead and click the
cound icon an move the slider to the maximu setting.


Trey

 

[Guest]

Does anyone know if there is any deterioration of video quality when playing
an AVI during a PowerPoint presenation versus playing it using a media
player?

Thanks.

 

[Austin Myers]

Maybe, sometimes, and it depends...

The basics:

1 An AVI extension simply means any file where the video and audio is
interleaved. (Both are contained in the same file.) That means the AVI,
what is in it, and how it was compressed could be just about anything.

2 Media Player and the MCI Player (used in PowerPoint for multimedia) are
quite different in a number of ways. So the answer is, yes, sometimes,
may=be you will see better quality in one over the other.

3 Also keep in mind that you are running PowerPoint which is a very CPU
intensive animal all on it's own and multimedia just adds to the load. As a
rule when playing multimedia in PowerPoint priorities are set in the
following manner.

Audio has top priority. (A skip in the sound is VERY noticeable.)

PowerPoint animations have second priority.

The video is the last priority.

Pretty easy to see that keeping animations to a minimum during media
playback is a good idea. <g>


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com