PowerPoint Video Problems

[rennatnave101]

I have Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 (on a Windows computer). I need to play a video on a certain slide, and it is a .wmv. The problem is, whenever I go to the slide where the video is (embedded by, Insert→Movies and Sounds→Movie From File), it takes 10-15 seconds to play, which is unsatisfactory in my case. During this period of time, I can do nothing to advance the slide, or even end the show. I tried converting the file to an avi., but no matter what I try, something goes wrong. Either the video plays in some type of fast forward with no audio, or it's just audio and no visual. I am getting really frustrated converting and deleting, converting and deleting, converting and deleting. What can I do?

P.S. I don't think you need my computer specs, but I can list them if you need them, but I would ask why.

 

[TenPc]

Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 is for Windows XP, your PC is probably an older model that is using less then 3gb of ram and a video card of only 256mb.
The video should not be larger than 10 mb so if it is larger then it will take some time to load it in. Powerpoint is not for video playback, it's for images and information, like a presentation.

 

[USAFRet]

That 10-15 seconds is the PC loading up the video. PowerPoint is not a streaming video application, and aside from newer, faster hardware, about the only thing you can do is reduce the video file size.

Either cut the X/Y dimensions, or reduce the framerate. This will give you a smaller effective file size, and the PC can process it a little quicker.

 

[rennatnave101]

I suppose that makes sense. So there really is nothing else I can do? The avi. files opened almost immediately, but they had problems. I also heard that the reason .wmv files can be small is because Windows stores them differently from other video files. Could this be involved?

 

[USAFRet]

It's not that Windows stores them differently, it is a matter of the file type and compression.

What application are you using to translate from wmv to avi? Some programs screw this up. And it also depends on the initial file construction, framerate, and synchronization.

 

[rennatnave101]

It's not that Windows stores them differently, it is a matter of the file type and compression.

What application are you using to translate from wmv to avi? Some programs screw this up. And it also depends on the initial file construction, framerate, and synchronization.

Its called "Any Video Converter." The movie was made with Vegas Movie Studio, and as a wmv. it is 1522KB.

 

[rennatnave101]

I fixed my problem, sort of. I can now play movies in a slide with no waiting time. I convert the file to a Shockwave Flash Object and use the control toolbox to embedd the file into the slide. I found this method at http/www.magichtml.com/tutorial_powerpoint2003.html. Thanks for all your help though.

 

[TenPc]

I was going to add that mpg is a smaller and better format and that you could add the "movie" to a second page so that when you selected that page, the movie would already be loaded however, the overall loading of the project may have been impeded somwhat by the movie in that second page (slide).