How do I embed movies (not just link to them) in a PowerPoint file

[Doug]

I have a PowerPoint presentation that I need to put up on a webpage that
contains a large number of movies. The problem is that PowerPoint only links
to the location of the movie files but doesn't actually embed them. This
keeps the PowerPoint file size small but makes portability a headache and can
be a real problem if you're taking a presentation to a conference as you have
to carry a large number of files (and movie players) rather than just a
single all inclusive file. The problem is exacerbated if the computer you're
giving the presentation on doesn't have the same movie players available as
the computer the presentation was generated on.

I've tried everything from generating a *.pps file to exporting a *.mht
webpage but nothing works and all I ever get is just the first frame of the
movie. There should be an option of embedding the animations in the *.pps
file but I haven't been able to locate one. I've seen animated *.gif files
before but I also couldn't find a way to generate those from PowerPoint.

The classical approach to this is just to zip all the files into one single
downloadable file that can then be uncompressed to view the presentation but
this is awkward and doesn't address the issue of viewing the presentation
through a browser with the movies embedded. I suppose that portability is
the primary issue but it's been frustrating trying to beat this problem.

Help?!?

Thanks,
-Doug

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Unfortunately, you cannot embed movies into PowerPoint. They are always
linked, so no matter what, you will have the multiple-file problem.
However, you might get around many of your other problems by using
PFCMedia (http://www.pfcmedia.com/). This should get your movies into a
format that is "certain" (if you believe the name of the product) or, at
least, very likely to play on other computers that you transport them to
(at least other Windows computers).
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.PowerfulPowerPoint.com/

 

[Doug]

Thanks David,

I visited the pfcmedia.com website and it sounds promising so I may give it
a try. It would be good for Microsoft to consider adding precisely this kind
of feature to future versions of PowerPoint ... call it a "self contained
format" or something. Anyway, I appreciate your time and thanks for the help.

-Doug