I support two nationally known cardiologists with their presentations.
They frequently present to hundreds of other physicians. We have
Powerpoint for OS X and XP and we CONSTANTLY have problems playing
linked video clips in Powerpoint when it is moved from the Mac to the
PC.

Problems arise when they are asked to move their Powerpoint X (Mac)
files (with all video clips in the same folder) to the presentation
server set up by the conference they are attending and presenting at.
We've tried .mpg, .avi, .mov. It NEVER works without reinserting every
blasted video clip on the PC side.

The cardiologists don't understand why their presentations won't play
cross-platform, and frankly, in this case, Microsoft hasn't made it
easy for them to "go where they want to go today".

In the Powerpoint versions we currently have there doesn't appear to
be a real cross-platform "pack-and-go" feature from the Mac to the PC
without "reinserting" every video clip. This is NOT a "professional"
solution. It has been nothing short of nightmare for these doctors.
I've never seen anything like this from Adobe or Macromedia who offer
true cross-platform compatibility for their products like Director or
Photoshop etc. etc.

Does the newest version of Powerpoint for OS X (even the new
"Professional" version) offer a truly cross-platform "pack-and-go"
feature (not to be confused with the "export as Quicktime" feature)
that gathers all video clips and permits a Powerpoint user on another
platform to open and play those presentations without massive
reconstruction every time? If not, why not?

Thanks,
Brian

Brian,

Are the video clips in the *SAME* directory as the powerpoint file *BEFORE*
you insert the video clips?
The problem is probably (not definately) because powerpoint, on the PC, is
trying to find a linked video clip (it never embeds them) in a non existing
place...eg. your mac directory where you stored the video clip is not on the
pc so powerpoint can't find the clip.
MAC:\mystuff\video clips\surgery.mpg
c:\conference to surgeons of the world\video clips\surgery.mpg


See this page for more details...
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00281.htm

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
free sample templates, tutorials, hints and tips etc
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

"Brian Self" <brianself[at]hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1520e529.0309161655.2590b39b[at]posting.google.com...
> I support two nationally known cardiologists with their presentations.
> They frequently present to hundreds of other physicians. We have
> Powerpoint for OS X and XP and we CONSTANTLY have problems playing
> linked video clips in Powerpoint when it is moved from the Mac to the
> PC.
>
> Problems arise when they are asked to move their Powerpoint X (Mac)
> files (with all video clips in the same folder) to the presentation
> server set up by the conference they are attending and presenting at.
> We've tried .mpg, .avi, .mov. It NEVER works without reinserting every
> blasted video clip on the PC side.
>
> The cardiologists don't understand why their presentations won't play
> cross-platform, and frankly, in this case, Microsoft hasn't made it
> easy for them to "go where they want to go today".
>
> In the Powerpoint versions we currently have there doesn't appear to
> be a real cross-platform "pack-and-go" feature from the Mac to the PC
> without "reinserting" every video clip. This is NOT a "professional"
> solution. It has been nothing short of nightmare for these doctors.
> I've never seen anything like this from Adobe or Macromedia who offer
> true cross-platform compatibility for their products like Director or
> Photoshop etc. etc.
>
> Does the newest version of Powerpoint for OS X (even the new
> "Professional" version) offer a truly cross-platform "pack-and-go"
> feature (not to be confused with the "export as Quicktime" feature)
> that gathers all video clips and permits a Powerpoint user on another
> platform to open and play those presentations without massive
> reconstruction every time? If not, why not?
>
> Thanks,
> Brian

Try saving the presentation as a PowerPoint package, and then move the
package folder to the PC and run the presentation. That's supposed to take
care of these issues. A tutorial on creating PowerPoint Packages on the Mac
is here:
<http://makeashorterlink.com/?H18D235F5>

On 9/16/03 7:55 PM, in article
1520e529.0309161655.2590b39b[at]posting.google.com, "Brian Self"
<brianself[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

> I support two nationally known cardiologists with their presentations.
> They frequently present to hundreds of other physicians. We have
> Powerpoint for OS X and XP and we CONSTANTLY have problems playing
> linked video clips in Powerpoint when it is moved from the Mac to the
> PC.
>
> Problems arise when they are asked to move their Powerpoint X (Mac)
> files (with all video clips in the same folder) to the presentation
> server set up by the conference they are attending and presenting at.
> We've tried .mpg, .avi, .mov. It NEVER works without reinserting every
> blasted video clip on the PC side.
>
> The cardiologists don't understand why their presentations won't play
> cross-platform, and frankly, in this case, Microsoft hasn't made it
> easy for them to "go where they want to go today".
>
> In the Powerpoint versions we currently have there doesn't appear to
> be a real cross-platform "pack-and-go" feature from the Mac to the PC
> without "reinserting" every video clip. This is NOT a "professional"
> solution. It has been nothing short of nightmare for these doctors.
> I've never seen anything like this from Adobe or Macromedia who offer
> true cross-platform compatibility for their products like Director or
> Photoshop etc. etc.
>
> Does the newest version of Powerpoint for OS X (even the new
> "Professional" version) offer a truly cross-platform "pack-and-go"
> feature (not to be confused with the "export as Quicktime" feature)
> that gathers all video clips and permits a Powerpoint user on another
> platform to open and play those presentations without massive
> reconstruction every time? If not, why not?
>
> Thanks,
> Brian

--
Mickey Stevens (Microsoft MVP for Office:mac)
PowerPoint FAQ featuring PowerPoint:mac: <http://www.pptfaq.com/>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

Mickey,

Thanks for your reply.

That was a good suggestion, I hadn't tried saving as a Powerpoint
package before, but it didn't gather all the video clips that were
linked, and when transfered to the PC the links weren't preserved and
it was still necessary to reinsert all the video clips on the PC side
for it to work.

The reinserting thing on the PC side absolutely makes me crazy. It may
seem like a small thing, but the cardiologists I work with do not have
the time to reinsert several dozen angiogram videos (that to the
untrained eye look like ink blots) minutes before presenting to
hundreds of their associates. (They usually have to transfer their
presentations to a PC server from their Mac laptop before they speak.)
Presentation disaster have happened numerous times when video clips
they should have "reinserted" were missed.

Computers should do computer work, people should do people work.
Reinserting video clips is a job for Microsoft and Powerpoint, not a
cardiologist who should be saving lives and teaching other physicians.
This cross-platform functionality should be basic to the Powerpoint.
Adobe and Macromedia long ago (5+ years) eliminated cross-platform
file problems with Director, After Effects, Photoshop etc. Why won't
Microsoft fix this problem? I've been fighting it for more than a
year.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Are there any known Mac plug-ins that will convert Mac path names ":"
to PC path names "/" so that video links are preserved when they are
moved from the Mac to the PC??

Any solution would be welcome.

Best Regards,
Brian



Working with Powerpoint for Mac has been a nightmare--and the work
around to "reinsert" on the PC side is ridiculous. Renaming paths is
"computer work" not "people work". Macromedia and Adobe long ago (5+
years an eternity in computer software .years) eliminated these
quirkly incompatibilities in their cross-platform programs.




Mickey Stevens <mickey.stevens[at]mvps.org> wrote in message news:<BB9239F7.1C4D8%mickey.stevens[at]mvps.org>...
> Try saving the presentation as a PowerPoint package, and then move the
> package folder to the PC and run the presentation. That's supposed to take
> care of these issues. A tutorial on creating PowerPoint Packages on the Mac
> is here:
> <http://makeashorterlink.com/?H18D235F5>
>
> On 9/16/03 7:55 PM, in article
> 1520e529.0309161655.2590b39b[at]posting.google.com, "Brian Self"
> <brianself[at]hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I support two nationally known cardiologists with their presentations.
> > They frequently present to hundreds of other physicians. We have
> > Powerpoint for OS X and XP and we CONSTANTLY have problems playing
> > linked video clips in Powerpoint when it is moved from the Mac to the
> > PC.
> >
> > Problems arise when they are asked to move their Powerpoint X (Mac)
> > files (with all video clips in the same folder) to the presentation
> > server set up by the conference they are attending and presenting at.
> > We've tried .mpg, .avi, .mov. It NEVER works without reinserting every
> > blasted video clip on the PC side.
> >
> > The cardiologists don't understand why their presentations won't play
> > cross-platform, and frankly, in this case, Microsoft hasn't made it
> > easy for them to "go where they want to go today".
> >
> > In the Powerpoint versions we currently have there doesn't appear to
> > be a real cross-platform "pack-and-go" feature from the Mac to the PC
> > without "reinserting" every video clip. This is NOT a "professional"
> > solution. It has been nothing short of nightmare for these doctors.
> > I've never seen anything like this from Adobe or Macromedia who offer
> > true cross-platform compatibility for their products like Director or
> > Photoshop etc. etc.
> >
> > Does the newest version of Powerpoint for OS X (even the new
> > "Professional" version) offer a truly cross-platform "pack-and-go"
> > feature (not to be confused with the "export as Quicktime" feature)
> > that gathers all video clips and permits a Powerpoint user on another
> > platform to open and play those presentations without massive
> > reconstruction every time? If not, why not?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Brian