New to Forum... I need Advice/Help

[BrZ]

Hey... Just found this place, and wanted to post a semi-intelligent plea for some advice and help. I've never created a VideoCD, and need some pointers that will work with my needs.

I'd like to create a VCD that would contain a menu'd powerpoint presentation where when I visit a client, we could pop the VCD into his/her PC, and select various products from the menu. In the sub categories, the powerpoint presentation would continue... and it would feature an assortment of video clips in a good viewable size... say around 700 X 500 (?) to 800 X 600 (help me here) size. The clips might have audio tracks, possibly sync'd if required.

I'm pretty good with PowerPoint, but I'm a little unsure if a VCD will address all my requirements... especially since I don't know what kind of PC hardware the client will have available. Would this same VCD actually play in a home DVD player as well as a PC CD-ROM drive?

Resolving this part of the equation is step one. My next task is to find out what is the best portable format to convert to, to capture from, and possibly edit beforehand. I have a Sony TRV30 camcorder, a Pinnacle DV200 Firewire card at work, and at home a I have a ATI Radeon 8500DV, so I think I have the capturing/editing hardware/software... but having it doesn't mean making it.

Any help would be appreciated. TIA!

BrZ

[KoalaBear]

In a word... no.

VCD data structures can emulate PowerPoint data structures to the extent that you can have a (practically) unlimited number of "slides" of 720x480 with a (practically) unlimited number of video clips of 352x240, but the structures aren't isomorphic.

In other words, no program exists that can translate an arbitrary PowerPoint presentation into an equivalent VCD. The project is certainly "doable" to the extent that such conversion is possible, but it's not necessarily going to be trivial.

You need to understand the capabilities and limitations of either format in order to recognize and repurpose those segments that aren't directly translatable -- animation, for instance, that would be accomplished differently in the target format according to what the graphic was intended to convey.

[Vejita-sama]

It sounds like you want to stick w/ using a power point presentation. Unlike DVDs VCDs do not have fully interactive menus where you can click on the screen to select seperate parts of the disc.

You could do this by authoring a DVD (assuming you can find the necessary software).

[KoalaBear]

With all due respect to Mr. Vejita-Sama, I humbly disagree.

It is quite possible within the VCD specification to author (for example) a multiple-choice quiz that would reward or chastise a user for a particular decision with an informative video clip, or perhaps even something like an automated factory tour where a still representing the manufactory itself could be supplemented with any number of stills or videos representing, say, the steps between conceiving the next "Tickle-Me Elmo" doll and shipping it to participating retailers.

The point I'm trying to make is that the process is neither easy nor intuitive, but your imagination is the ultimate arbiter of what can or can't be done.

It's all up to you.

[BrZ]

Looks like I'd be better off sticking with a straight PowerPoint presentation. Even if doable, it would seem to be a lot more effort for a little more compatability.

Thanks for the Advice though. When I get time, I'll play around with EZ-CD Creator and see if I can make a video CD of some baseball game clips. Gotta'start somewhere.

BrZ

[JHebert]

BrZ, I can think of a few ways to approach this:
As KoalaBear said there's no direct easy way to transfer a PowerPoint presentation to VCD. However, you could export your PowerPoint slides as a series of JPG images, and then use those images as the source files to create a VCD slideshow in a VCD authoring program. You would lose any audio/video extras from PowerPoint with this process so you would have to add them back in a VCD authoring program. Not the slickest solution, but not that hard.
You can also just add video and audio clips to your PowerPoint presentation. I believe PowerPoint supports AVI and WMV import but from what I've seen it chokes on playback of high resolution and bitrate video.
However I found an article with tips on how to use Windows Media Player as the playback engine in PowerPoint via an ActiveX control for smooth playback of Windows Media and also MPEG-2 video if you have a software DVD player codec installed.
Here is the link:
http://www.advent1.com/support/VID2PPT.htm