Problems with videos

[AJ Cruz]

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.

 

[John Fallon]

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

 

[AJ Cruz]

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

 

[AJ Cruz]

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

 

[DB Adams]

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