How to Play Movies in PowerPoint with the Windows Media Player Control

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

Some Media Clips Some media clips that were created after PowerPoint was released may not play properly when inserted into PowerPoint. This article describes how to play media clips in PowerPoint by using the Windows Media Player.

Whether the movie can be played in PowerPoint? To test whether the movie codec is compatible with PowerPoint and whether the movie can be played in PowerPoint, test whether the movie can be played in Media Player (not Windows Media Player). Note that Media Player, Mplayer.exe or Mplay32.exe, depending on the operating system that is installed, is not the same program as the Windows Media Player. Media Player is included with various versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems, and is an MCI-compliant device. However, Windows Media Player is a new technology that does not rely on MCI for its capabilities to play various forms of media, therefore Windows Media Player can play a wider range of video and audio formats than Media Player.

Insert unsupported media files in PowerPoint? Media Player (Mplayer.exe, or Mplay32.exe on Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 2000) is a different program than Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player can play many types of movies that Mplayer.exe cannot. You can use this as a workaround to insert unsupported media files in PowerPoint.

Windows Media Player 6.0 or later If Windows Media Player 6.0 or later is installed, you can play clips with the Microsoft Windows Media Player control. The Microsoft Windows Media Player control can often handle clips that PowerPoint cannot (because of the CODEC that are not MCI- compliant). Windows Media Player does not use Windows MCI to play all of its media files, and can support CODECs that are not MCI-compliant.

PowerPoint Viewer The Windows Media Player Control does not work with the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer.

Windows Media Player control in ppt2000 To play media clips in PowerPoint by using the Windows Media Player Control, follow these steps: –On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Control Toolbox. –In the Control Toolbox, click the More Controls button. –In the list of controls, click Windows Media Player. –Click anywhere in your slide, and draw a box with your mouse pointer to create a Windows Media Player control. –In the Control Toolbox, click the Properties button. –In the FileName box of the Properties window, type the path and name of the file that you want to play, and press ENTER. For example, the following plays the movie file Mymovie.avi from the desktop: –c:\windows\desktop\mymovie.avi –or, just the file name if it resides in the same folder, mymovie.avi. You can also change other properties of the clip in the Properties window, such as looping and size.

Windows Media Player control in ppt2000

How to Play *.swf Animations in PowerPoint with the Windows Shockwave Flash Object Control

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

Shockwave Flash Object Control in ppt2000 To add a Shockwave Flash Object control to a slide, follow these steps: –Start PowerPoint, and then locate the slide that you want to insert the control into. –If the Control Toolbox is not already visible, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Control Toolbox. –In the Control Toolbox, click More Controls, and then click Shockwave Flash Object. NOTE: Shockwave Flash must be installed on your computer for the Shockwave Flash Object to be listed in the Control Toolbox. –Draw the control on your slide. The Shockwave Flash Object ActiveX control now appears on your slide.

Connect to the Shockwave Flash File *.swf To make the Shockwave Flash control play back your Flash animation file, follow these steps: –Right-click the inserted Shockwave Flash control, and then click Properties. –Click the Movie property. In the Value box, type the full Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or drive path to the *.swf file that you want to play. –Make sure that the Playing property is set to True. NOTE: Because of this link in the ActiveX control, Pack and Go cannot pack the Flash animation file. If you plan to use this animation on another computer, use either of the following methods:  Make the animation file available on a common network share or Web server. -or-  Move the animation file separately, and then update the path to the file in the properties of the control.

Shockwave Flash Object Control in ppt2000