Waiting room video loop

[Para31trooper]

Hello,
i'm trying to set up a video loop in our break room at work. I want it to run a series of slides in a loop containing information about our job. I had made a slideshow on powerpoint but it seems to unreliable. I'm looking for other (hopefully free) software that I could use to transmit information over a tv in a loop. Hope this makes sense.

[transporterfan]

Is it played from a laptop...through HDMI you mean, or a stand-alone player? If a laptop you can use MPC-BE

View>Options>Player>Repeat forever

Of course you would have to convert the Powerpoint presentation to a video format first.
I don't know much about Powerpoint but I suspect you will need something like this:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/Acoolsof...deo-Free.shtml

[Cornucopia]

Those other (video-centric) options are available, but why do you say PPT is unreliable? Shouldn't be.

Scott

[Para31trooper]

I only say PPT is unreliable because when I use live web with it to access a weather website to keep showing the current weather, the website pops up with the weather but then there's always a script error that interferes. We're using a laptop to connect to the tv which we will remote into to make changes.

[Para31trooper]

In this loop I embedded a Weather website (I've also tried different websites) and 98% of the time the script error pops up as the page loads in the slide show. I get this seconds after the weather appears which ulitmately makes you have to click yes or no for the next slide to continue. Obviously not going to work in a break room where we want it running all day. Thanks for any advice guys.

Script Error
An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line: 6
Char: 1
Error: Unspecified Error
Code: 0
URL: http://maps.gstatic.com/cat_js/intl/en_us/mapfiles/api-3/11/18/%7Bcommon,map,util,mark...try,poly%7D.js

[Cornucopia]

So it's the web link that is messed up, not the PPT.

First, check out this link to make sure your PPT is set up right: http://www.ehow.com/how_5856511_add-weather-updates-powerpoint.html

Then, try differnt weather website links. Not all are created equal and not all will be as amenable to PPT.

Scott

[Brainiac]

In Powerpoint for Microsoft Office 2010 you can export a show to video. I have no idea is this is the case for Powerpoints prior to 2010.

Brainiac

[TreeTops]

Yes, but he seems to want to add a live weather channel to the power point loop also. That's just too difficult to do.

[tin2tin]

If you need to convert ppt to video then DVD slideshow GUI can be used for that if you install Open Office(images only) - then you can use transporterfan suggestion for endless looping video from a computer or you can author a dvd.

[transporterfan]

In this loop I embedded a Weather website (I've also tried different websites) and 98% of the time the script error pops up as the page loads in the slide show. I get this seconds after the weather appears which ulitmately makes you have to click yes or no for the next slide to continue. Obviously not going to work in a break room where we want it running all day. Thanks for any advice guys.

Script Error
An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line: 6
Char: 1
Error: Unspecified Error
Code: 0
URL: http://maps.gstatic.com/cat_js/intl/en_us/mapfiles/api-3/11/18/%7Bcommon,map,util,mark...try,poly%7D.js

Just as good is to have the Player fill 2/3 of the screen and a website displaying live feed in a browser window.
It negates having to incorporate any scripts into Powerpoint. An example here (screenshot):

http://oi40.tinypic.com/34ih442.jpg

If you convert the slideshow to a movie format it will play forever, and the weather feed will obviously auto-update without any user interaction. Good for as long as you have a stable web connection.

[TreeTops]

Doesn't that take some HTML knowledge to accomplish that side by side display? Like I said before that is too complicated for the average Joe to accomplish. The problem as I see it is he wants two different things to be displayed. A PPT slide show which is stored on his computer and displayed, and a weather feed which comes from the internet. Maybe some kind of a batch file that plays the slide show then displays a weather feed after the show is completed. Then repeats. But even that is complicated as the batch file has to call up a slideshow then call up a browser to display the weather. Any small glitch like a momentary power outage or other glitch will stop everything.

[transporterfan]

It's just a window from Weather Watcher Live. But any weather site, even Google, can be displayed in a browser (Firefox) window and edge pulled to fit. Once that's done the Player can be sized accordingly. The beauty of MPC is it remembers it's previous setting so will always open at it previous size..removing all the borders and controls (in settings) just leaves a black screen. It's as simple a solution as there is.

Because MPC and and a browser play independently there is no timing call to one another or batch files required.

The screenshot is my own and I had it running fine.

http://download.cnet.com/Weather-Watcher-Live/3000-18555_4-10049378.html

[TreeTops]

Well I was thinking he wants the slideshow in full screen so that everyone can see it. But your method should work OK if he wants a split screen.

[transporterfan]

Well, he did say it was a TV so it should have a reasonably large display area after the weather window is open.
The upside is the method will work in any version of Windows.
This looks fun: http://www.aniweather.com/

Failing that, a floating widget/gadget is all I can think of.

http://www.thoosje.com/desktop-gadgets-weather.html

[Cornucopia]

I think that's the best idea yet, transporterfan!

Scott

[transporterfan]

Cheers, Scott.