I have responded to an enormous amount of inquiries regarding playing video in PowerPoint this month, so thought I’d post some info.

PowerPoint is capable of playing video files- that is clips- but not video overlay. Meaning all those beautiful moving backgrounds (we call them Motions) are useless to you if you operate in PowerPoint. You can insert the file, but then your lyrics will not display. The Motions are video files just like the clips and that is the only way PowerPoint can handle them- as a clip.

PowerPoint does not actually insert the video file into the presentation. It links to it. This is why on occasion the video won’t play properly- you’ll most likely get a black box and no video- (the link structure could be too deep- solution: move the video into the same folder as the PowerPoint file, ideally C:\folder). Also if you create your presentation on one computer then move it (via a flash drive for example) to another computer, you’ll need to transfer the video file to the other computer as well- even though you technically already inserted it into the presentation. Again, save it in the same folder. (Note: Videos won’t play properly across a network.)

There is an occasional problem with some versions of PowerPoint and the default player they use- it may not recognize the mpeg1 file. Don’t let this deter you- all you need to do is change the extension from .mpg to .asx which won’t be recognized, so PowerPoint will then switch to Windows Media Player, which will recognize this and play it fine. (If you get a white screen and nothing else when you attempt to play video that’s your clue to try this).

90% of the time, your video will insert into PowerPoint and play without a hitch; it’s an unfortunate few who experience any trouble with it. So go ahead, add video to your next presentation (sermon illustrations, lead-ins, pre-service countdowns, etc…There are lots of ways to incorporate video in PowerPoint).

Oh- click the link for step by step instructions on: How to Insert Video into PowerPoint.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Movies & Motions, PowerPoint. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.