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...Continued from Page 1
PowerPoint and Codecs?
Which Codec Does this Video Clip
Use?
Determine and Download Codecs
Convert Codecs and Formats
Insert Video
Link Videos (for unsupported formats)
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PowerPoint and Codecs?
All audio and video files use a codec. In effect, PowerPoint
needs to decode these codec-transcoded media files when they
have to be played.
PowerPoint by itself does not decode the audio and video
files - rather it uses the MCI player (all PowerPoint versions
before PowerPoint 2003). PowerPoint 2003 uses both the MCI
player and Windows Media Player - you'll find more info about
how PowerPoint 2003 deals with multimedia files in this informative
article by Andrew
May on the Microsoft site...
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Which Codec Does this Video Clip Use?
To find out which codec a particular video clip is encoded
with, you'll need to use a third-party tool like AVICodec -
after you install AVICodec, you can right-click any video
clip in Windows Explorer and choose AVICodec : detailed information
to view more info.
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Determine and Download Codecs
Quite often, you cannot play video files because of missing
codecs. However, there are times when you cannot play video
files in PowerPoint even though you have the codecs installed
- this happens when your MCI settings are changed. You must
read the PowerPoint and Multimedia article
by Austin Myers to find out if changing your MCI settings
helps.
If changing your MCI settings does not resolve the problem,
you can find out which codec a particular video file uses
with AVIcodec. Right-click any video file in Windows Explorer
and choose AVIcodec: detailed information to know which codec
the media file uses. Thereafter, you can probably find a
link to download your codec from these sites:
- You can download Microsoft's WindowsMedia codecs from the Microsoft site...
- Illustrate's Codec
Central has more info and downloads on codecs than
anywhere else.
- Codec
Corner is another cool codec site - I love their
codec test links that allow you to load 3 second test
clips!
- The FOURCC
site has extensive information on all types of codecs.
- The Nimo All in One Codec Pack includes many of the possible
codecs you might need. Be careful though, too many codecs
do not translate into too much good. Click
here to get the download...
- The TechSmith Screen Capture Codec can be downloaded
from the
TechSmith site...
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Convert Codecs and Formats
Converting between codecs is easy. If you do use digital
video applications like Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas Pro,
you already know more than just conversion of codecs and
formats.
I need to mention here that changing codecs involves recompression
of video files and thus deteriorates the movie quality -
only convert codecs and formats if there is no other viable
option left.
There are several shareware and freeware applications that
allow you to convert between codecs and video formats - one
such tool is Avery
Lee's VirtualDub. VirtualDub is a free program under
GNU General Public License. Another is Stoik's free Video
Converter.
You'll find step-by-step tutorials to convert codecs using
both VirtualDub and Stoik
Video Converter on Indezine.com.
For converting from QuickTime to AVI, look at Indezine's PowerPoint
and QuickTime page.
Vic Ferri has authored some video editing tutorials
for newbies:
Splitting
an AVI file with VirtualDub
Splitting
an MPEG video file using TMPGEnc
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Insert Video
Normally, you'll insert video clips into PowerPoint using
the Insert menu options. When you choose a video, PowerPoint
prompts you if you want the video to play automatically -
unless you have some reason for the video to play on a mouse
click, it is a good idea to accept this option. You can always
change this behavior or edit it using the Custom Animation
taskpane.
- Navigate to the slide where you want the video inserted
in a new or existing presentation.
- Choose Insert | Movies & Sounds | Movie from File… and
choose the required video file.
- PowerPoint prompts you if you want the movie to play
automatically or only when clicked - choose your option.
It is a good idea to choose the automatic option if you
are not sure since removing that behavior is usually a
one-click operation - adding that behavior on the other
hand takes several steps.
If you need to change the behavior of inserted videos to
play automatically, follow these steps:
- Select the movie. Choose Slide Show | Custom Animation.
In PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, this will activate the Custom
Animation taskpane - in older versions this will display
the Custom Animation dialog box.
- PowerPoint 97 and 2000: Place a check mark next
to the movie in the slide objects box (top left). Then,
select the Automatically 00:00 seconds after previous event
in the Start Animation section of the Order and Timing
tab.
PowerPoint 2002 and 2003: Click the downward
pointing arrow next to the name of the movie file in
the Custom Animation taskpane and choose Timing from
the resultant menu. Choose the After Previous option
in the Start drop down box and choose 0 seconds for
the Delay option.
Resize Videos: You can resize your video once it
is inserted in a slide. Once you select the video, you'll
see eight handles around it - four on the corners and the
other four between the corners (on the sides).
- Drag it from the corner handle to resize it in the same
proportion on all sides.
- Drag it from the side handle to resize it without proportion.
- Drag it from the corner or sides with both the Ctrl and
Shift keys pressed to resize it from the center.
PowerPoint allows you to insert AVI, MOV (older versions
only), MPG, WMV and ASF video formats natively. For these
formats, you'll be allowed much control in the form of timing,
video size and appearance.
Fade Videos: Sometimes, you might want a video clip
to fade in before it starts playing - it is always good to
have a video clip appear subtly rather than have it appear
and play all at once, especially since PowerPoint does not
allow you to fade just the audio part of the video.
- Select the inserted video clip, right-click and choose
Custom Animation. This will activate the Custom Animation
taskpane.
- Choose Add Effect | Entrance | Fade within the taskpane.
If Fade is not one of the options visible, choose Add Effect
| Entrance | More Effects… option. In the resultant
dialog box, choose the Fade option under the 'Subtle' category
of animations.
- By default, PowerPoint chooses the 'On Click' option
to initiate the fade effect - change that to 'With Previous'
so that the video fades in without any intervention while
playing.
- You might also want to adjust the speed of the fade
- by default, PowerPoint chooses Medium, but you also have
the Slow, Very Slow, Fast and Very Fast options to choose
from.
You can also add a nice border to your video clip in PowerPoint
itself. This ends up often looking like a frame.
- Select the video clip, right click and choose the Format
Picture option.
- Choose the 'Colors and Lines' tab and choose a Line
Color. You can also choose and alter the line weight, style
and dashed attributes of the line (border).
Tip: For a very different effect, choose a weight of at
least 10 points and then choose the 'Patterned Lines' option
in the Color dropdown menu. A striped or checked border that's
somewhat thick can provide a very elegant look. Try and use
light colors for patterned line borders since you don't want
the border to be more attractive than the video itself!
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Link Videos (for unsupported formats)
For other formats, especially ones like RealVideo and QuickTime
(newer versions); sometimes the only route open is to link
the videos from a hyperlink or Action button.
- To link a video file, select text (or portion of any
text), an Action button or even an inserted picture or
AutoShape.
- Right-click and choose Action Settings.
- In the Mouse Click tab, click the downward arrow button
in the Hyperlink to: area and choose the 'Other File' option.
- Navigate and choose the video file that you want to
play. Click OK.
Now clicking on whatever has been provided an Action Setting
attribute will initiate the associated program in slideshow
mode. If you have linked to a RealVideo movie, this might
initiate RealPlayer or the QuickTime player in case you have
linked to a MOV video. In all cases you will have to close
the video clip independently of PowerPoint.
Tip: You can use the linking technique to initiate any
associated program from within PowerPoint, even non-video
files.
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