Problem with video in PowerPoint 2003

  • Thread starter Thread starter Victor Delta
  • Start date Start date
V

Victor Delta

I wonder if anyone can please help me with what seems to be an insoluble
situation regarding playing a video in PowerPoint 2003 (on a Windows XP
machine, with plenty of RAM and all software fully updated).

I want to insert a shortish video clip into a presentation but, try as I
might, I can't get it to work. The original clip was an mpg file, but
(having read many pages of advice on the internet) I have converted it into
wmv, wmv (using Windows Movie Maker), and avi formats. All of these play
perfectly on stand alone media players such as VLC but none will work when
inserted in the PowerPoint slides.

I have also tried playing the files using the different media players in
Windows with the following results:

mplayer2.exe mplay32.exe WMP11
mpg Yes No Yes
wmv No Yes Yes
wmv (WMP) No Yes Yes
avi No No Audio only

I am therefore at a loss to know why none of the files will work in
PowerPoint. Has anyone any ideas or suggestions please (although I know this
is a troublesome area!)?

If all else fails, the only alternative I have is to cut from the slides to
a stand alone media player to show the video but, whenever I do this, it
takes about 30 secs to make the change - during which the audience's
attention is lost. Any others suggestions...?

Thanks.
 
I wonder if anyone can please help me with what seems to be an insoluble
situation regarding playing a video in PowerPoint 2003 (on a Windows XP
machine, with plenty of RAM and all software fully updated).

I want to insert a shortish video clip into a presentation but, try as I
might, I can't get it to work. The original clip was an mpg file, but
(having read many pages of advice on the internet) I have converted it
into wmv, wmv (using Windows Movie Maker), and avi formats. All of these
play perfectly on stand alone media players such as VLC but none will
work when inserted in the PowerPoint slides.

I have also tried playing the files using the different media players in
Windows with the following results:

mplayer2.exe mplay32.exe WMP11
mpg Yes No Yes
wmv No Yes Yes
wmv (WMP) No Yes Yes
avi No No Audio only

I am therefore at a loss to know why none of the files will work in
PowerPoint. Has anyone any ideas or suggestions please (although I know
this is a troublesome area!)?
Click to expand...

When you say they don't work, what exactly do you see? If a white square,
it almost certainly means that the path to the video file is too long;
anything over 124 characters is a problem.

If a black square, try setting graphics hardware acceleration back in
Slide Show, Set Up Show.
 
Steve Rindsberg said:
When you say they don't work, what exactly do you see? If a white square,
it almost certainly means that the path to the video file is too long;
anything over 124 characters is a problem.

If a black square, try setting graphics hardware acceleration back in
Slide Show, Set Up Show.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try both suggestions. What I currently see 'at rest' is either
a black rectangle or a still picture of the start of the video. In most
cases, when I then double click it changes to a white rectangle.

I'll let you know how I get on.

V
 
Steve Rindsberg said:
When you say they don't work, what exactly do you see? If a white square,
it almost certainly means that the path to the video file is too long;
anything over 124 characters is a problem.

If a black square, try setting graphics hardware acceleration back in
Slide Show, Set Up Show.
Click to expand...

Steve

Thanks. You were right. Although the video file paths were not particularly
long, shortening them has enabled the wmv and avi files to work. wmv seems
the better option as the slide first appears with a still shot of the video
starting point, whereas the avi file starts with a black rectangle.

V
 
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