Powerpoint & MPEG4

[kertesz]

Dear Experts,

I wonder if you could help me.

Most of my work is with PowerPoint 2002 /XP. I embed video clips as "slides" into my presentations. So far MPEG1 has worked well, but the image quality has not been great. MPEG4 clips appear much better, but I am unable to import them into my PP presentations. The software is unable to recognise them. I have seen some messages that indicate that the codec for this should be on the XP machine to make the files usable.

My question is where am I going wrong? How can I import the codec or check that I have them on my PC? I have seen some "universal" codecs advertised. Would that be a help?

Many thanks for your help - Peter

[Batman]

If you are able to play the mpeg 4 files on your PC, it would be safe to assume, that they are installed. There are many mpeg 4 codecs in existence such as xvid and divx.

[kertesz]

Thank you for your reply, but I still would like to know why I cannot import MPEG4 into PowerPoint XP. Is there an expert out there who understands both issues?

Your help will be much appreciated. Many thanks - Peter

[setarip]

Doing a Google-search for "Powerpoint" and "MPEG4" resulted in a plethora of information at:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Powerpoint%22+and+%22MPEG4%22&btnG=Google+Search

[Batman]

The WM9 encoder may offer higher quality, and is most likely supported by MS Offic applications.

[kertesz]

Tthank you again for all your replies. But I am not an expert like you. Just a simple user of PowerPoint.

How do I find and install the encoder that will allow me to run MPEG4 files in PowerPoint?

Thank you again - Peter

[setarip]

Are you saying that you have or have not read the information available by clicking on the link that I posted?

[kertesz]

Yes I have followed up the links. And have read many of them except the Japanese text.... But they have not been very helpful in the practicalities of PowerPoint and MPEG4 usage.

I realise this is a difficult topic. The MPEG4 files I aquired recently used to run very well in MS Media Player. Better than other video formats. Just recently they have become very jerky.

Will I have to stick with MPEG1?

Thanks for all your help - Peter

[drgrafix]

Kertez...

I've done a few video clip inserts in PowerPoint and I can tell you from my experience, that problems are usually the result of codecs, graphics card drivers, or perhaps software conflicts. It's a ongoing issue and there is no finite and easy way to just do it. All you can do is keep the following in mind:

Codecs - Codecs are fairly easy to install... you might want to do a search for the NIMO codec bundle, and try installing that on your machine. It's a huge bundle of useful codecs and it might be the solution. I'd post the link here but I'm new to this forum and don't want to do something wrong. Many PowerPoint gurus suggest that you should build your presentation to the lowest common denominator.... i.e. use basic AVI or MPEG formats... to ensure that the clip will play properly.

Drivers - While I'm sure you have a good graphics card and drivers... it always pays to re-visit the manufacturer's web site to see if updates or patches have been posted.

Software Conflicts - One culpirt I can actually point my finger at is Real Networks. Using the Real Player will often foul up other media players on your system, and in the case of PowerPoint, your best friend might actually be the Microsoft MCI Media Player. Go into the command line (Start/Run, etc.) and type in mplay32.exe and see what happens. You might get a message that the MCI media player has been changed by another program (it's probably Real) and an offer to fix the problem. Do it. There are PowerPoint people who refuse to allow Real Player on their machines. Windows uses API, and more specifically... MCI controls to play video clips. However, this software is supposedly modular and easily over-written by other media players. Problem children are; problems are, QuickTime 3, 4, and 5, Xing Player and Encoder, Real Player, WinAmp, and several of the video authoring programs.

If you want to get more help, you might try lurking/searching in the Powerpoint Usenet Newsgroup, and if you can't find help using Google Groups... post your dilemma in the PowerPoint NG. It's actually amazing that MS doesn't somehow do something to make inclusion of video clips in PPT a little smoother these days... there are literally dozens of PPT users like ourselves who would pay for a patch/upgrade that made it less of a trauma. I send out PPT shows to clients on self-running CDs, so I have to test and re-test on worst-case machines to make sure that the multimedia material I'm using will play on their machines. I have 3 spare machines set up without PPT on them so that I can slide in a AutoRun CD and see if the show plays properly from start to finish. And nope... every time I do it it seems to be a new adventure, not a piece of cake.

Hope I've been able to help a little. This is a big issue, and maybe some forum moderator will consider adding a dedicated PowerPoint A/V section in this forum. I'm sure there are people here with far more knowledge than I have on this topic, and it would be great to learn something from them.

Doc