PPT4: Playing Media Clip Objects Across Multiple Slides

ID: q111749

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 4.0c

SUMMARY

The Media Player utility that comes with PowerPoint version 4.0 for Windows provides the ability for controlled playback of multimedia data from within a PowerPoint slide show. Typically, a Media Clip object will begin playing when specified using the Play Settings dialog box settings for the object; however, it will stop playing prematurely if you try to advance to the next slide in the slide show before the object is done playing. This is the behavior that is enforced when the Object category in the Play Settings dialog box is set to Movie.

With Media Clip objects, the default category is Movie. The Sound category in the dialog box allows the selected object to continue to play even if you advance to the next slide in the presentation. Normally, for Media Clip objects, the Sound category is unavailable (dimmed).

MORE INFORMATION

You can modify this default behavior and allow Media Clip objects to play across multiple slides by changing the following line in the [OLE Play Options] section of the POWERPNT.INI file

   MPlayer=Movie,1,1

to the following:

   MPlayer=Movie,1

You can then select the Sound option in the Play Settings dialog box for Media Clip objects.

NOTE: It is not recommended to have Media Clip objects, which contain animation or video images, play across multiple slides due to the difficulty of managing the color palettes. This is why the normal POWERPNT.INI settings prevent you from choosing the Sound category in the Play Settings dialog box when the selected object is a Media Clip.

You can play WAV files using Media Clip provided you are using the latest version of Media Player (1.1E which can be downloaded from Microsoft Download Service at (425) 936-6735) and have a sound card that will support it properly. PC Speaker will not play it. To play the WAV file:

1. From the Insert menu, choose Object. Select Media Clip and choose OK.

2. Select the file and choose OK to insert it into the presentation.

3. On the Tools menu, adjust the Play Settings as desired.

Not all multimedia data types exhibit this behavior. There are two types of multimedia data types: simple and complex. Complex multimedia data types have a file associated with them, but simple multimedia data types do not. Complex types are the ones that require the above modification to the POWERPNT.INI file to play the Media Clip object across multiple slides.

The following are some common examples of multimedia data types (as they would appear in the Device menu of Media Player if the appropriate drivers were installed).

   Data type               Simple or complex          Driver provided by
   ---------------------   ----------------------     ------------------

   Video for Windows       Complex (*.AVI)            Microsoft
   Sound                   Complex (*.WAV)            Microsoft
   MIDI Sequencer          Complex (*.MID, *.RMI)     Microsoft
   CD Audio                Simple                     Microsoft
   Animation               Complex (*.FLI, *.FLC)     Third-party
   AAAnim                  Complex (*.AAS)            Third-party
   QuickTime for Windows   Complex (*.MOV)            Third-party
   Gold Disk Animation     Complex (*.AWA, *.AWM)     Third-party

Additional query words: 4.00 Power Point stops halts continue macppt winppt 4.00c continues several frames 3rd party 3rd-party

Keywords          : kbmm kbole kbsound kbdta
Version           : windows:4.0,4.0a,4.0c
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 16, 1998