How can I get VLC to play video files from PowerPoint?

[leirpoll@online.no]

I love VLC, but often I need to play videos via a link form a PPT file. I don't need to embed the video, just click a link in PowerPoint, and the file should play in VLC. This works with Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, FLV Player and others, just not with VLC - even when I choose VLC as default player for the video format in question - like MP4 or others.

Why does this work with all other players, but not with VLC? In what way does VLC install itself differently from the others?
Can I change some register settings in Windows to achieve this?

VLC player 1.0.3 (and it plays MP4 files beautifully when double clicked. Just not when linked to from PowerPoint).
Windows Vista 64 bit SP1
PPT 2007

I've searched the forum, and there are a few others who've asked similar questions, but none of them got an answer that solved their problem. Putting the files on Internet is not a solution for me. I need to play them from my PC locally. Using another player is not an option. I can do that, but they all have different problems that VLC doesn't.

Could it simply be a bug in the installer?

/jarle

[nicole_kidman_731]

To insert flv video into PowerPoint, one way is to make use of the VLC Media Player.
First, install the VLC Media Player.
Once done, create a folder.
Move the presentation and flv video to the folder.
Now, open the presentation.
Go to the slide which you want to have the Flash Video inserted.
You will need the control toolbox to be displayed.
Click View > Toolbars > Control Toolbox.
On the toolbar, click on the last icon which should be "More Controls". (For PowerPoint 2007, Click Developer tab. Under Controls, click on the icon "More Controls".)
Scroll right to the bottom and look for VideoLAN VLC ActiveX Plugin (both v1 and v2 is fine).
Click Ok.
Now, right click on the control that has been added, select Properties.
This will bring up the properties dialog box.
Under MRL, enter the filename (e.g. abc.flv).
Once done, close the dialog box.

[leirpoll@online.no]

Thank you for your suggestion!

After first choosing to display the Developer tab, I was able to follow your recipe. Unfortunately, all I get is a black rectangle instead of the video.

Also, I find that a major drawback of this method is that the links I create will only work with VLC Player. If I want to change the default player for mp4 files played form PowerPoint in the future, I will have to manually change every single video entry in my presentations. There are hundreds of them, and I don't want to do this. I just want to set the player as the default player in my OS, and PowerPoint should honor this.

As I mentioned before, this works with every other player I have, so I consider this a flaw in the design of VLC player or its installer.

/jarle

[jeh3404]

I have been able to successfully add a flv to powerpoint, but I am wondering if there is a way to remove the initial display of the title. Any ideas?
Thanks.

[leirpoll@online.no]

I guess you could use Powerpoint's built-in animation presets to hide the FLV title? Animate it in with a quick fade in,or just let it appear.

I'm still amazed that non-one nows how to link to an external H.264, MP4 or other file form PowerPoint, and let it play in VLC. There must be thousands of people trying this every week without succeeding. And no-one can help. It's sad, and should encourage the development team to make this work ASAP.

It should work out-of-the-box, just like it does with other players, without any further instructions.

/jarle