I inserted a Movie in AVI format and when i click play it turns b.

[Erik]

The video works fine in other programs like real one player and windows media
and it is like ten seconds long but when i put it in powerpoint it only plays
audio and the screen turns black.
What do I do?

 

[Sonia]

See the tips at http://www.echosvoice.com/tshoot_video2.htm
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[asiow2000]

I too had this problem except that my clip goes white instead. I have
read all of Sonia's recommendation in the website below and tried
everything mentioned, and I mean everything, but am still unable to
resolve the issue. My problem is even worse as the video clips played
all right in mplay32.exe; they just refuse to play in ppt 2003.

HOWEVER, I am pleased to let you know that after I use the "Package for
CD" function in PPT 2003, I am able to overcome the problem. It's
really funny because the video files in the CD (or folder if you chose
to package to a folder) now plays properly in the ppt while the
original one it came from does not.

I'm not sure what the "package for CD" function did because even after
I deleted all the extra files (the .dll, ppviewer, autorun etc) in the
CD / folder, leaving only the main ppt and video files, the videos
still worked.

What's even more weird is that when I then insert the original videos
side by side with the 'packaged' videos in a new ppt file, only the
'packaged' videos played even though both video files are exactly the
same.

I begining to wonder if PPT 2003 is really cranky/buggy as I have other
complains about it compared to PPT 2000 or PPT xp.

hope this helps you in some way. If you are not using ppt 2003, it
might worth the while trying the pack and go function to see if it
works the same way. you might need to install them from the original cd
as pack and go is not automatically installed with msoffice.

 

[Sonia]

I can tell you exactly what your problem was and why Package for CD resolved it.
If you are using PowerPoint 2003 and the path to your video file is too long
(greater than 128 characters), it won't play and you'll see a white box instead.
When you run Package for CD it gathers all of your files into a single folder
and makes all of your link paths "relative" - - translated: very short. The
fix is discussed in #2 at http://www.echosvoice.com/tshoot_video2.htm.
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[asiow2000]

You are absolutely right Sonia.

I must admit I assumed the "My Documents" folder will never be as long
as 128 characters hence did not think that was the problem. However I
now realise that there are more characters before "My Documents" (ie
C:\Documents and Settings\Anthony........etc) as well as those
characters of the foldername and video clip filename.

Thanks very much for the speedy response. You'ver really been a great
help.