HELP! Audio/video won't play in PowerPoint Broadcast!

[Doug Waters 03/03/08]

Audio/video objects embedded in, or linked to, a PowerPoint 2003 slide show
supposedly won't play when viewed in a web browser, unless the slide show is
saved as a PowerPoint Broadcast (or created via PowerPoint Producer).

They actually DO play for me when my slide show is saved on a local drive as
a multifile webpage (even if it wasn't created via Producer). (Incidentally,
because this works for me only for multifile webpages and not single file
webpages, this means that audio/video objects are linked to, rather than
embedded in, my slide show, just as they are in a PowerPoint Broadcast.)

But audio/video objects WON'T play for me when my slide show is saved as a
PowerPoint Broadcast. This is so even when the slide show resides on a local
drive, so it's not a matter of needing Windows Media Services installed
(which is unnecessary for PowerPoint Broadcasts to ten or fewer simultaneous
viewers anyway).

Does anyone have any idea why the audio/video won't play in my PowerPoint
Broadcast?

 

[Carmen Ferrara]

Audio/video objects embedded in, or  linked to, a PowerPoint 2003 slide show
supposedly won't play when viewed in a web browser, unless the slide show is
saved as a PowerPoint Broadcast (or created via PowerPoint Producer).

They actually DO play for me when my slide show is saved on a local drive as
a multifile webpage (even if it wasn't created via Producer). (Incidentally,
because this works for me only for multifile webpages and not single file
webpages, this means that audio/video objects are linked to, rather than
embedded in, my slide show, just as they are in a PowerPoint Broadcast.)

But audio/video objects WON'T play for me when my slide show is saved as a
PowerPoint Broadcast. This is so even when the slide show resides on a local
drive, so it's not a matter of needing Windows Media Services installed
(which is unnecessary for PowerPoint Broadcasts to ten or fewer simultaneous
viewers anyway).

Does anyone have any idea why the audio/video won't play in my PowerPoint
Broadcast?

Doug,

Are you trying to ultimately publish your presentation to a web format
for playback or are you strictly looking to keep it as a local
presentation?

Carmen-

 

[Doug Waters 03/03/08]

Carmen,

I'm trying to publish slide shows on the web for playback on demand. That's
why I need them to be in the form of Broadcasts. Any ideas about what I'm
doing wrong?

 

[Carmen Ferrara]

Carmen,

I'm trying to publish slide shows on the web for playback on demand. That's
why I need them to be in the form of Broadcasts. Any ideas about what I'm
doing wrong?

Generally if you want to take your PPT to the web and combine it with
audio/video, you'll want to use a tool in addition to PowerPoint.
Microsoft makes a product called Producer, although they no longer
support it.

I recently released a product very similar to Producer - it is called
Presio. You can import a PowerPoint presentation along audio or video
files, and synch them up. The result is an on-demand web presentation
where the audio/video playback in a browser perfectly in synch with
the slides. You can see some examples of the types of presentations
Presio creates here:
http://ipresent.net/Presio/examples.php

I think that may be what you are looking for. You can also record
audio or video narrations alongside your PowerPoint. Give it a shot
it may meet your needs. You download Presio from here:
http://ipresent.net/support/presio-download.php

Let me know if you have any questions.

Carmen-

 

[Doug Waters 03/03/08]

Carmen,

I uploaded my Producer-created version of my presentation, but the
audio/video didn't play online, although it runs just fine when I run it on
my own computer, so it appears that I have two problems: getting audio/video
to play in a PowerPoint Broadcast presentation, and getting it to play in any
form of PowerPoint presentation online. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Carmen Ferrara]

Carmen,

I uploaded my Producer-created version of my presentation, but the
audio/video didn't play online, although it runs just fine when I run it on
my own computer, so it appears that I have two problems: getting audio/video
to play in a PowerPoint Broadcast presentation, and getting it to play in any
form of PowerPoint presentation online. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Are you using Microsoft Producer?

 

[Doug Waters 03/03/08]

Yes, I am using Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2003.

 

[Carmen Ferrara]

Yes, I am using Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2003.

Producer actually has a separate user group. There is an expert user
over there named Brian who is great at solving Producer related
issues. I'd try posting there as well. Also, could you provide a
link to your published presentation, maybe I can troubleshoot for
you. Usually, if the presentation plays back locally it should work
from the web, that is strange. Are there any other details you can
provide? If it is a long presentation, Producer can take quite some
time pre-loading all the content, which makes the presentation appear
non-responsive. That could be the case.

More and more folks seem to be experiencing Producer issues.
Microsoft no longer supports or updates the product, and there seem to
be some issues with certain combinations of Vista, Office 2007, and
IE7. If you're interested, you could try Presio - it is very similar
to Producer and supports all the latest versions of Windows, Office,
and browsers. You can also export to Flash, Quicktime, or MP4 podcast
formats in addition to Windows Media. Presio also has a Microsoft
Producer Import Wizard for converting Producer projects into Presio
projects. I recently did a screncast on how to convert.
http://ipresent.net/support/tutorials/import_producer/index.html

Presio is a free download available here: http://ipresent.net/support/presio-download.php

Give it a shot and let me know if you have any questions.

Carmen-