PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Video for Cross-Platform Video

Saturday, February 4, 2006, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 4:04 pm

Diganta Saha is an Indezine reader that I have been corresponding with. He’s provided valuable information on video formats for cross-platform videos. Diganta uses PowerPoint 2004 on the Mac, and he uses QuickTime Professional on the Mac to convert his QuickTime videos to file formats compatible that are compatible with PowerPoint for Windows (and Mac). Over to Diganta…

This is for any of you or your users trying to get PowerPoint (PPT) with movie files to have the maximum compatibility with all platforms. I’ve gone through a large range of formats that Quicktime Pro can output and have concluded that PowerPoint will work with Windows and Mac on these movie formats below.

Using Quicktime Pro

AVI : Compression None
AVI : Compression Cinepak
Quicktime : Compression Cinepak (works most of the time)

Using ffMpegX

To creat MPEG-1 (select VCD mpeg2enc ), also a free alternative to Quicktime Pro

MPEG-1 (VCD)

Download ffMpegX here.

One caveat is that when using Office 2004 on the Mac to create PowerPoint presentations with video files with any of the working formats mentioned above, the preview of the first frame does not show on Windows. Double-clicking on the blank space where the movie would be in the PowerPoint file on Windows will start the movie. I experimented with Quicktime movie with Photo-JPEG compression which showed the first frame of the movie on a Windows computer, however, it did not play the movie at all.

This can be fixed on a Windows computer by unlinking and relinking any of the movie files formats mentioned above and saving the file. Saving it on Windows makes any of the movie files formats recommended above, preview the first frame of the movie correctly on both the Mac and Windows computers. This seems to be a serious bug with Office 2004 Powerpoint in terms of interoperability when it comes to movie files. I remember that Microsoft used to have an easy feedback webpage, but now its far more convoluted to send any bug reports. Does anyone know of Scott Erickson’s or Roz Ho’s contact info?

Thank you, Diganta.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Filed Under: Thoughts
Tagged as: Mac OS, Office for Mac, Video

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Instant Effects Announces Theme Suite 4

Friday, January 20, 2006, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 8:56 am

Instant Effects announced the availability of Theme Suite 4. This set of FXThemes has subtle motion backgrounds and flexible Content and Title variations. Some of these FXThemes can be used in either the 4:3 or 16:9 presentation formats. All FXThemes run as part of the OfficeFX product that brings moving backgrounds and 3D effects to Microsoft PowerPoint.

Check out more at the Instant Effects site.

Filed Under: Add-ins
Tagged as: Add-in

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SlideManager wins Award

Thursday, January 19, 2006, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 2:55 pm

SlideManager for PowerPoint has received a first-place Standing Ovation Award in the category of Digital Asset Management. Standing Ovations for the best software, display, and digital imaging products are awarded annually by Presentations magazine, the leading publication for presentation professionals. Winners are chosen by a panel of editors, columnists, and independent consultants.

A “Real-Experiences” Book on DAM (Digital Asset Management)

Thursday, January 19, 2006, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 2:23 pm

Some books are different – they make you understand concepts through experiences, rather than theory. This book is one of them, although the first chapter is a little dry. Read through the first chapter, and you won’t want to keep the book down thereafter. Although the book is written from a professional photographer’s point of view, it has tons of ideas and “organization tips” for every person who uses a digital camera and wants to better arrange their collection.

And yes, the book is certainly specific to Adobe Bridge, and IView Media Pro. Also, the author does assume that everyone uses Apple OS X, but only 5% of the book is specific to users of these programs and OS. Even if you don’t use these applications, you’ll benefit from the book. You’ll learn how to develop your photo-rating system. Peter Krogh even attempts to make the entire system future-proof with a look at how many photographs you might have 10 years from today. He discusses Adobe’s DNG format in detail and provides significant info about metadata. All put together, this is “the book” to buy if you are even remotely interested in DAM.

Find this book on Amazon

Filed Under: Books
Tagged as: Books, Digital Asset Management, Photography, Photos

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Mac Office gets a boost from iPod

Wednesday, January 18, 2006, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 1:57 am

Roz Ho
During last week’s Macworld event, the GM of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit (MBU), Roz Ho, said 2005 was the unit’s best year. MacBU makes Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and other Office programs for the Mac.