Powerpoint and MPEG2

I want to place MPEG2 movies in Powerpoint. Using Win XP Pro and Win 2000 Pro, although the image is seen on a slide, when I run the MPEG2 movie, I see black. No problem with MPEG. Any clues. Also runs fine in Win 98.

Thanks

Could you make that a little clearer??

Hi,

as the “opener” doesn’t seem to make it clearer (though I think it’s quite clear anyway), I guess I’ll do it as I face the same problem:

Whenever I want to integrate a video sequence into my power-point presentations, I am forced to use the mpeg1 codec, as mpeg2 doesn’t work.
Inserting an mpeg1 file works fine, I can run the presentation, click on the image that stands for the film and the film runs.

If I choose to integrate an mpeg2 file, it works just the same as with an mpeg1 file (I mean, Power Point accepts it an creates an image to represent the film on the slide), but when I run the presentation and klick on the image, it’s just that nothing happens, nothing at all, no error message, but the film Window remains black.

Does Power Point need an extra codec for mpeg2?

The problem is really strange.

mpg2 streams are running perfectly on MY notebook inside the powerpoint presentation.

After copying them on another computer they can not be displayed on the other machines, although
playing within mediaplayer on the other machines is working fine.

DVD Player is installed on the other machines.
So this does not seem to be the reason. I guess on any missing codec. If problem is fixed i will inform you.

Chris

I’ve done a lot of work for the city where I live, and part of that has been digitizing videos in order to make them compatable for Powerpoint presentations. Unfortunately I have come across this same problem, and the answer here, I believe, is that PPT 2k3 just doesn’t support anything greater than an mpeg1. This completely degrades the video (as you know, I’m sure), but allows PPT to run smoothly. We can only hope that the newer versions will contain support for the higher video compressions.

Well, I’ve done some research on what PP exactly does with Video Files now, and I found out that if you use “Insert” -> “Film and Sound”, PP uses a player that comes along with Windows (NOT the Windows Media Player!!!), and this player can’t play mpeg2 files. I read there is a workaround, just use “Insert” -> “Objects” -> “Create New” -> “Windows Media Player”. This will insert an instance of the “real” Windows Media Player. Quite an advantage, you can rewind, forward, change volume and so on while your presentation’s going on... Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found out how to tell this “instance” of Media Player what file to play...

Kind Regards, Peter

P.S.

Note I’m not English, so please excuse any mistakes or if I didn’t get the exact words when translating the PP menu items for this forum...

Great job Peter! That worked. I found out how to change what file to play.

In PP edit mode double click the play button. This will open a browse for file dialog.

Hope that helps you!

Thanks for everyone’s help

hi.
which version of PP you use?
I’m usin PP 2000 german.
My menu:
Insert-> Objects -> Create new->
and now, i’m not sure. “Windows Media Player is not listed. Did you mean “Videoclip” oder “media”???

i hope u can help me.
PS: sorry for mistakes, i’m not english!!

Still looking for a solution. mpeg2 plays perfectly fine on my Compaq laptop within Powerpoint, but no one else can play them. I am doing some reverse engineering on my computer to see what I’ve got on it that nobody else does. Work around hasn’t worked either, besides, I don’t want to control my movies in powerpoint, I just want them to play. Help.

I decided to update to Service Pak-2, and since then my PowerPoint 2002 videos which had previously played well, now crash PP each time they run.

Is the only solution to insert these videos as objects? These presentations worked fine before.

hi.

How can i play clips from a movie that is in a DVD format in my PPT?

thanks
chicksi

Hi,
You need the right codec to play MPEG 2 stream in PP 2003 (if you don’t have a codec, you get a black window). Microsoft don’t include this kind of codec with Windows XP (patent issue?). So, you have to install softwares like Moonlight-Elecard MPEG2 Video Decoder or PowerDVD to play MPEG 2 in PP. I’ve tried many codec an found that Elecard just play them fine. Now if I can find a good encoder...

I forgot to tell, don’t use animations on your slides while playing your MPEG 2 because it will play shoppy (or use a P4 3GHz).

Sorry for my poor English.

Solution 1:
a. Insert > Object > Windows Media Player
b. Then right click the new Media Player Window in your slide > select “Properties”
c. On top of the “Properties” Window, find "(Custom) item and click the very right button appears as "...".
d. Selct file you want to play and that’s it.

Solution 2:
Go to http://www.elecard.com/download/ and download elecard DVD player. After the installation, restart your powerpoint program, the movie file you insert will behave like the way it should be.

Hope this helps.

We have run into the same problem with MPEG-2 video appearing black in PowerPoint 2003.

All of the information about decoders is correct but the one thing I found to resolve the issue is to disable DirectDraw.

To do this click on START->RUN and type DXDIAG. This will open the DirectX Diagnostics.

(You may have to click OK again if this is the first time opening this.)

Go to the DISPLAY tab and click the button to disable DirectDraw.

Click Exit.

Assuming you have a good MPEG-2 decoder installed (Elecard is a great decoder) the videos should play with no problem in PwowerPoint.

This should only be done if you are experiencing video playback issues.

I’ve built an add in to PowerPoint that solves the multiple issues of multimedia in PowerPoint. It also provides for DVD playback, SWF files, Streaming Media, Live Web Cam and a few other nice features.

Download the free trial version from www.pfcmedia.com and see if it meets your needs.

Thanks for all the useful advice. Inserting media player as an object in Powerpoint has solved all my video clip problems except one - although I set the player to full screen, when I come back to the presentation or run it again, the video is back to playing at reduced size. You can reset the size manually during the show but this spoils the slickness of the presentation. Any ideas.

Were you able to resolve the full screen mpeg2 problem....everytime I go back to the slides with the embeded mpegs the movie goes back to half size and the settings revert to the default.

Thanks,

Susan

I had worked 2weeks to found reason of the issue about play mpeg2 file in PowerPoint.Here is the detail content http://www.easympeg.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5

The best way to solve the problem is set MPEG-2 Splitter to the highest merit. you can goto http://www.easympeg.com/ to download EasyMPEG MX, I added a new feature into it, which can set MPEG-2 Splitter higher than other demultiplex filter.

Hi - I have PP 2002 and am trying to play mpeg2 vid files throughout my presentation. They will play in full from start to finnish if i double click on them while I am NOT actualy viewing the “Silde show” itself. However; When I play the actual slide show and it gets to each video - they play the first 3/4 and then stop. when I look at the properties afterward it has cut a 60sec file down to about 48 sec for example - this happens on every vid...

Can anyone help me with this as it is driving me mad...

Susan2 wrote: Were you able to resolve the full screen mpeg2 problem....everytime I go back to the slides with the embeded mpegs the movie goes back to half size and the settings revert to the default.

Thanks,

Susan

I’m having the exact same problem as Susan2. Does anyone have a fix? I’m using powerpoint 2003. Updating to the PP SP3 doesn’t help.