Convert PowerPoint to Video

[TBaker14]

Hi all,

I'm hoping that someone might have some insight into this subject. I'l try to make the question as simple as possible.

Currently, I have been creating online training videos using PowerPoint 2010 . This version has the ability to save a PP presentation to a Windows Media Video. I create the slides, and then record a narration with each slide.

The quality is fine, and it works just as it says. However, even with my home computer that is 4GB RAM, Windows 7, etc, etc, it takes about 1/2 hour to save it as a WMV. Also, the file ends up being about 120Mb in size (for a 30min video). Now, that's not to bad. Except that I'm doing this for a client at work and when I use my (older) laptop, it takes about 3 hours to save it as a WMV.

My question...is there another, more efficient way, to convert a PowerPoint file as a video? Or am I thinking about this the wrong way entirely. Perhaps there is another way to get to the end result? Maybe there is inexpensive software that produces the same product? Or an online service with subscription?

It was suggested to me that I check out PPT2DVD...anything other than that?

Thoughts?

[Baldrick]

The best way is to use powerpoint. Maybe you can adjust some quality setting to get faster encoding.

[TBaker14]

I thought about doing that. However, I don't see any quality settings in this version of PwerPoint. The 2007 and 2003 version allowed you to change the audio recording quality. But I don't see that in 2010.

[tin2tin]

The free DVD slideshow GUI can make slideshow videos and slide by slide remote controlled dvd's.

Here's a tutorial:
http://blip.tv/dvdslideshowgui/ppt2dvd-powerpoint-to-dvd-with-dvd-slideshow-gui-3127426

[TBaker14]

Hmmm...this is interesting. What if I already have audio (narration) recorded with the PowerPoint presentation? Will it be imported with the slides? If not, can I record audio with DVD slideshow GUI?

T

[tin2tin]

What if I already have audio (narration) recorded with the PowerPoint presentation? Will it be imported with the slides?

No, only the images are imported(no timing).

can I record audio with DVD slideshow GUI?

From the DSG FAQ:

Export you slideshow to mpg/avi. Open it in Multiquence(shareware) or DubIt(free). Record naration or add music to specific points to the slideshow and export to wav/mp3. Import this wav/mp3 into you DVD slideshow GUI project.

[TBaker14]

Ah...OK. That will certainly make it challenging when each slide has a different timing. The narrations are embedded into the slides and not saved separately using PP.

Also, it looks like it doesn't work with PP 2010 (.pptx).

T

[Cornucopia]

I've done a number of posts on this subject (which you should find with a V'help thread search), but I'll summarize here since it's been a while...

The big picture is that there are a number of ways to convert PPT to video. Which way is best depends on how you have your PPT set up and what you want to include, and ultimately how you want it presented.
Since you mentioned the last part, it makes it alot easier to figure out the rest.

You've got narration, but what about animations/transitions?
If none, it would probably be easiest and quickest to export as a series of PNG (or JPG or BMP, but PNG is preferrable) stills (this can be done from within PPT's save options). You wouldn't even need to "export" your audio/narration, because those aren't truly "embedded" in the ppt directly anyway, they're just linked, and you could just copy the files from wherever they reside. Marry the audio to the stills with an NLE or AVISynth frameserving to an encoder (WMV if that's what you like). This might take a little time to set up, but the conversion/encoding would not have to be realtime, and would depend on the power of your PC.

If you DO have animations/transitions, your best bet is to do the "Play while Recording" method.
This can be done internally like what's available in PPT 2007 or PPT 2010, or you can use a 3rd party capping app while playing via PPT (any version). Fraps, Camstudio, Camtasia, etc.
The thing with all these kinds is that you have to specify the codecs (which makes a huge difference) and you have to have a system that is capable of doing both the playing and recording WITHOUT problems due to insufficient resources. Plus, this is almost always done in REAL-TIME. So if it takes 15 minutes to Play your PPT, it takes 15 minutes to record it. So, if your original PPT was actually 30 minutes, it would not be surprising for the "conversion" to take 30 minutes.
To minimize system resource insufficiency, you either minimize the codec requirements (resolution, framerate, colordepth, codec complexity), which you may not want to do if you want to retain final online quality, or you separate the chain into 2 computers - playback & recording. This can be done in extreme quality with HDMI outputs sent to a Blackmagic Capture on the 2nd machine. This also is done in realtime.

A 3rd option is the "Re-creation method", where you basically Re-Create your PPT presentation using an NLE/Compositing app. Starting with the export mentioned earlier, you then execute the animations/transitions from within the NLE. This does take a MUCH longer time to execute, but has the benefit of usually outputting a video of much higher quality (as the animation/transition timings & features are not limited by the PPT engine).

Scott

edit: BTW, a wonderful way to get better quality in the final output is by creating an "oversampled" presentation (larger "slide" size), which gets downrezzed, and a "1/2 speed", non-narrated version, which gets FRC-doubled to increase the time resolution of the final recording (when married at the end). Plus there are other color depth tricks (see prev. posts...)