playing power point and DVD (created in Studio Pro) on a PC laptop at event???

Hi there, my favorite pen-pals!

So my client will be playing this video I'm making for them from a PC laptop, and it will be playing in an event with a two part power point program. So they'll start with the Video/DVD, go to Power point part one, go back to the Video/DVD, and stop again for more power point (or, power pointlessness, as I like to call it!) - and then top off the presentation with the third section of the video/DVD.

I have pasted, below, some interesting comments from one of us re the inherent weakness of Power-DVD software for PC's, but I wanted to make a specific query, before I export my final video timeline (late tonight) through compressor to prepare for creating this DVD tomorrow morning.

Are there any settings in DVD studio pro (v4, I also have access to v3) that smooth the way for playing on a PC laptopp? Of course it also must be able to play in a DVD player. I did a test run, making a DVD of my rough-cut, and it played fine on a mac and on a DVD player, but I didn't test it on a PC, and I heard that it did not play fine on my producer's pc laptop.

I found out that he had been trying to play it through his windows media player v.10, and that the menu came up but the video would not play. He got some sort of a report that he was missing an MPEG2 playing codec!

This confuses me! The MPEG2 file went in to DVD studio pro, after I had exported my FCP timeline piece through compressor (best quality 90 minute fast encode) - but didn't a .VOB, aka Video TS file come out??? When I dragged the files to toast, that's what they appeared to be...

So he then downloaded some software called Sonic, from roxio, and was able to play it just fine...

In any case, I don't know what software the client has on their laptop yet, or how fast their machine is, but I want to be prepared...

Any sage advice or amusing anecdotes would be appreciated,

Marla in NY.

And here's the paste re POWER DVD probs and solutions:

Author: Ben King ()
Date: 02-28-06 22:28

.....Yes you could easily play the DVD and PPT from the same laptop.

I would hook up a projector though and beam the presentation for 25 people if possible - you may need some good Amplifed (powered) speakers as well.


Also - there are issues with PowerDVD which comes free with many PCs - it is a an awful software DVD player for Windows which doesn't work very well with DVD-Rs and even some Commercial pressed DVDs!

Send the PC owners to get one of these free softDVD players to ensure they can play your DVD (if they are using PowerDVD).

Here are some links to software DVD players for the PC ? all are free.

[www.download.com]

[www.cliprex.com]

[www.download.com]

[www.download.com]

[www.download.com]

The missing MPEG2 codec was the fault of his machine, not your coding. It's like giving someone a cheese sandwich, and them not having the ability to interpret cheese.

I would do as Ben suggests, and ship a windows dvd player that you know works along with the dvd. Sonic sounds like it can do the job. Perhaps some instructions on what to do if the dvd won't play without installing new software would be useful too.

Well, Windows Media Player is not a DVD player. It won't play a DVD.

There are three options at this point. If the PC laptop doesn't have a decent software DVD player, give them WMVs of your videos instead of a DVD, since you already know for sure they have Window Media Player on that laptop. You can download Popwire's Windows Media Component from popwire.com, or Flip4Mac, which you can get from the LAFCPUG store.

Otherwise, have them download those software DVD players Ben suggests, and see if any of them work on that laptop. One may work, none may work, or they all may work. It depends on the PC.

Thirdly, they can try and find another laptop that already has a software DVD player like WinDVD. That is a bundled piece of software that would have had to have been purchased, and the same version of PowerPoint as the original PC.

If they don't have the software to run what they have asked you to provide, there isn't much you can do, except make suggestions for alternatives.

Depending on the venue, and whether or not there is time...if it's a larger room, you might want to consider recommending to them that they use the equipment most appropriate for the job. Suggest to them that they rent a seamless switcher like an Analog Way SmartFade or an Folsom Presentation Pro. Bring in an actual DVD player, the laptop for PPT, and some decent speakers appropriate for the venue.

If it's a small room, and a tiny audience, obviously this is overkill.

Even unsophisticated audiences know cheese-ball when they see it. Going to the desktop to switch apps in the middle of a presentation is the epitome of cheese-ball. You can get away with it in a small room, butif it's larger room, and this is supposed to be a slick presentation, they are shooting themselves in the foot if they think the audience won't be completely distracted by the desktop appearing repeatedly on the screen.

I realize that you probably have no power to make any of these calls. Sometimes it's not even appropriate to make suggestions. Obviously, you know if your client will be open to suggestions.

Thanks, guys-

It is for an internal training for employees, 25 people in a room, and I doubt they care about cheeseball, this is a corporate environment and they probably LIKE desktops to appear for all I know... So far I have heard they will be using a plasma display, NOT projection, but that could change. I do not know what sort of audio equipment (if any) they will have going.

Deb, the producer's laptop is not the client's laptop - I have no idea what they are using. Does their laptop need to have certain basic hardware requirements? This is a large international corporate bank, I am sure that they can ccess the right piece of equipment but I'd feel better if I knew what that was and suggested it.

It is for an internal training for employees, 25 people in a room, and I doubt they care about cheeseball, this is a corporate environment and they probably LIKE desktops to appear for all I know... So far I have heard they will be using a plasma display, NOT projection, but that could change. I do not know what sort of audio equipment (if any) they will have going.

On the ppt: did you mean that they need to have the same version of ppt that their ppt project was created in? Can they have a later version?

Marla

Marla,

if it is just a single move... or a couple of movies that will be used in internal training presentations, and they don't need to show off a fancy menu page, i would simply export the movie into an MPEG1 format (I know it's not the highest of resolutions, but it works) and embed it into the powerpoint presentation so that it automatically plays. we have literlly hundreds of presentations with movies just like this. It's the most seamless way for a presenter without an av crew.

As far as what PC, there are so many options, but it should AT LEAST be something made in the last two years, have AT LEAST 512 MB of RAM & better than average video card. (A video card with dedicated video RAM goes a long way to playing back any file.)

On a newer version of PowerPoint, it can be tough to know. A newer version may be okay, but it may not. They change transitions in PPT all the time, so old presentations don't always play back right. You'd have to have them check it out.

If the DVD will play back in a software DVD player on a different laptop and the PPTs play back right, and they don't care about cheeseball, then you're good to go!

However, if it's the newest version of PPT, and the PPT presentations work in it, I'd recommend looking into 1/2 of what Steven suggests. Embed the movies into PPT using WMVs. MPEG1 turns video to a half-resolution, pixelated mess. I'm sure you would rather NOT have something you've been working your tushie off on to be turned into utter crap to accommodate the freakin' PC if you can help it. Embedding the movies is a great idea, though, if you have the time!

I'm sure Steven has had success with his MPEG1s, and I'm not going to argue that, all I know is I know several people who travel the country presenting PPTs at large meetings for Fortune 500 companies all eschew the thought of MPEG1. AVI at least, WMV preferred. MPEG1 only under great duress and with absolutely no other option. And utterly preferred, Keynote on a Mac, or even PPT on a Mac. They all even use PCs under duress. It's not me, it's them.

At least bring up what they're using for audio. It's an often overlooked thing. They certainly don't want to use the laptop speakers. The plasma may have speakers, but they'd need to be attached to the screen. They might want to check into whether or not the screen has it's speakers before they get there! If they go with a projector, some do have speakers, but generally, projector speakers are not so great. Then they might want to look into some Fostex desktop speakers or something. Something with better sound reproduction than average tinny external computer speakers, but it doesn't have to be anything super-special. A powered speaker set with subwoofer like Logitech or Monsoon makes would be just right. It CAN be computer speakers, just not the cheapy ones. They won't have the dynamic range nor the volume for a room. They are just for the area around the computer, generally.

Hey Deb,

Most of my high end presenters are using Mac (luckily) so I am able to provide them with full Resolution DV Quicktimes. Unfortunately I have a sales force of 500+ that are ALL PC based. Depending on where in the world they are anything from Win98 to XP (I still have a win95 laptop that I use as a tester). That's where I came upon the MPEG1 standard. It plays on every machine that we've tried it on. I can't say the same with .avi.

While I AGREE that MPEG1 is not the highest quality out of the box, with some playing around with Cleaner or Squeeze (not the stock settings), the results have been very acceptable within the very picky dental community. My take on Marla's question was that she wanted something that would be somewhat seamless without all the desktop switching. Playing direct out of ppt was the easiest.

I would be happy to send you my settings. :-)

And while I agree with you that playing the videos directly out of PPT would likely be less of a hassle, and I agreed with you on that point, in Marla's circumstances, I don't think an MPEG1 is her best choice.

It's obviously a different situation with what you're doing. You have to cater to the lowest common denominator. In her case, she has more options.

Luckily, I don't need to worry about it. Like I said, it's my guys (and a gal) that have to deal occasionally with MPEG1s coming to them on-site. They don't get to make them, they just have to play what's given them, often less than 10 minutes before the presentation starts. That's where their situation differs from yours, as well. If they can, they convert it right there to something more friendly. Most of the time, they have no choice but to plug and play, and that's where the tears usually start.

I'm not trying to say anything negative about the way you work, Steven. I don't know you, and until right now, I had no idea where you were coming from on why you recommend MPEG1. Now I understand, and it certainly makes a lot of sense for what you do. However, I'd hope that you would agree than under different circumstances than what you are normally up against, when the laptop in question is of a newer vintage, not falling back on what "works", simply for the sake of it working, regardless of the quality loss, shouldn't be status quo. I'd say if you have time, start with what's best, and use the lowest common denominator as a fall-back position. That's all I mean. Really.

<<Luckily, I don't need to worry about it. Like I said, it's my guys (and a gal) that have to deal occasionally with MPEG1s coming to them on-site. They don't get to make them, they just have to play what's given them, often less than 10 minutes before the presentation starts. That's where their situation differs from yours, as well. If they can, they convert it right there to something more friendly. Most of the time, they have no choice but to plug and play, and that's where the tears usually start.>>

I'm with you on this... unfortuanately I get to do this too... Believe me... if there's a higher quality format this will work properly, I'm ALL ears!

:-)

For them, they convert to WMV if there's time, but they all have the biggest, baddest PC laptops you can get. It's just a different situation all around, Steven.

Marla,

Let us know what you end up doing.

Steve

Thanks for the discussion -

I appreciate the MPEG1 suggestion, but I am definitely delivering a DVD, that is what was requested and promised by my producer. I am recommending STRONGLY that they test it in advance, so that we can work out the problems - but there will not be much time - a couple days max, during which time I'm on a different project.

they seem quite determined to use their laptop for everything, but hey, if it doesn't work they may HAVE to use a DVD player as well - though I doubt they have a switcher and that could be a real chore to change inputs during a presentation! Talk about cheeseball!

Right now, I just need to focus on finishing this thing - I'm still mixing, then later I'll be exporting and authoring the DVD, something I am not very experienced with... DVD Studio Pro 4 seems not to have the basic button option I am more used to in DVD studio Pro 3... hope I can find a small enough button to put 11 chapter headings on the menu screen...

Hopefully I'll figure it out!

More later gals n' guys,

Marla

If you have the time before you jump into the next project, you might want to consider taking an hour and making WMVs out of the timelines.

If they can't get the DVD to work, then all you have to do is burn a data DVD of the WMVs while you break for lunch or something. If they don't need them, then you can just trash them & no harm done. It hopefully won't cut much into your next project, and if you can offer them an alternative after what they ASKED for fails, you will definitely be the hero! I do stuff like that a lot for my clients, and although I don't always get to charge for it, the good karma of being prepared for alternatives when they can't see the forest for the trees keeps my business growing every year.

I suggest WMVs because you have said they have access to newer, higher end PCs. With any luck, it's more likely to have a recent version of PPT, which likes WMVs.

I've not needed 11 buttons in DVDSP4, so I can't offer any thoughts there.



Post Edited (03-12-06 09:27)

Sounds like sage advice - but what the heck is a WMV? Windows Media Video?

And how do I do it? Sorry to be ignorant, but this whole corporate/PC environment is new to me. Would the best way to handle this be to do a separate wmv for each chapter of the DVD? So they can click around in the same way? Theoretically that sounds good, if only I knew what they are - also my project is 44 mins long, made of 11 "chapters" that run between 3 and 7 mins. I assume wmv is a file type and that I'd need to export by section - methinks an hour would not be enough time, non?

Thanks so much for all your help, Deb!

Marla-wishing-it-was-over-but-planning-to-do-the-right-thing...in NY.

Hi again Deb-I just reread your previous:



"However, if it's the newest version of PPT, and the PPT presentations work in it, I'd recommend looking into 1/2 of what Steven suggests. Embed the movies into PPT using WMVs. MPEG1 turns video to a half-resolution, pixelated mess. I'm sure you would rather NOT have something you've been working your tushie off on to be turned into utter crap to accommodate the freakin' PC if you can help it. Embedding the movies is a great idea, though, if you have the time!"

But I really do not know power point and it's one thing to export a file, and another to embed it into a program I am clueless about. I'll export the files if I have time and get how to do it, just in case, and then if they have trouble I'll have to figure that out at that point...

At this point I'm still mixing. I have asked all the right questions about speakers and screens to my producer, but he isn't getting good information from them...

thanks again, and still curious about WMV's...

Marla

WMV is "Windows Media Video".

There are two apps that add the ability to export out of FCP using the "Export Using QuickTime Conversion" command. It's a bit of a misnomer, because within that command you can export much more than QuickTime, depending on what export components you have installed.

One is the Windows Media Component from popwire.com. That's the one I use.

[www.popwire.com]

This should get you to the download page for that. It is $29.95. (if that link doesn't work, just go to www.popwire.com and look at the right hand side of the page.)

The other option is Flip4Mac, which you can buy off the LAFCPUG store. The link is at the top of the forum page. It's more expensive, but you do get more options for your compression. On heads-up comparisons, I cannot detect a noticeable difference in quality between the two when left mainly to default settings, which is I why I chose Popwire over Flip4Mac. Most of what I do in WMV is for approval copies, however, not for final delivery. I like to save a buck when I can on things that are less critical.

As for embedding them in the PPT, the person who made the PPT is probably best suited for embedding them. Different PPT operators build PPTs differently. How you include video will differ depending on how the presentation was initially created. You don't HAVE to do that, though. If they wanted to avoid having the audience see the desktop, then you'd make a case for embedding. Since you have said they don't seem to care about the desktop popping up, then they can run it from the Windows Media Player just like they were planning on running the DVD, just using Windows Media Player instead of a software DVD player.

It may be overkill. If they can get the DVD to work, then obviously WMVs won't be necessary. I'm a compulsive worrier. I'd do it because Murphy's Law tells me if I don't do it, my client will need it, but if I do it, my client won't need it.

Does that help?

Of course it helps! Everything you have said has been much helpful. I am generally that sort of a worrier too, but this job has worn me down to a nub, and I haven't got the energy to worry...

Right now I just need to see if I can deal with DVD Studio Pro 4 - with no manual. Wish me luck!

Marla

you should be able to access the manual from the Help Menu.

do the tutorial!
it'll save you heaps of time.
if you dont have the tutorial..

well, DVDSP is not at all intuitive, so.. we'll be praying for you.

nick