How to share a powerpoint having a video file into slide efficiently?

[Karlitos-79]

Hi all,

    I converted an existing powerpoint file using the UCF toolkit so I can add my video and be able to share it during a presentation.

The thing is, let say my video comes in the 7th slide.. when getting there, I need to wait all attendees get the video "buffered".

I was wondering if there was a way the videos included in the presentation can be buffered at the moment I share my UCF file (which is a powerpoint converted)... so I am already ready to click on the Play button.

I don't want them to minimize the screen to open a video file from the Transfer functionnality. I really like to have the presentation having everything embedded so it goes smoothly.

At the moment, we can deal with it, but if there is a way so it buffers from the beginning, we wouldn't have to wait when getting to a slide having a video embedded.

Any other good practice for video sharing?

Is there a way to send an enhancement request to WebEx?

Thanks

Karl

[Susan McEvilly]

HI Rob,

There's an article in the WebEx Knowledgebase that gives one possible cause and solution for this.

Access the Knowledgebase at http://kb.webex.com/ and type article number WBX1092 into the search field.

Good luck!

Susan

Meet Me In The Cloud, LLC

[roberthagens]

Thanks Susan, but I am not using UCF.

Rob

[gps03]

Hi Rob,

When you say you are sharing in "slideshow mode" do you mean that you are sharing your desktop, with the powerpoint slide show playing in powerpoint? That is you are not choosing Share > File and sharing the slides within Meeting manager?

If so have you tried running the slides in Meeting Manager?

I believe it will make a difference.

Sharing the desktop: WebEx takes a snapshot of the desktop and sends it to remote participants -->WebEx detects a change on the desktop --> takes snapshot of changed pixels and sends to participants --> wash, rinse, repeat.

Share File: WebEx converts file to ucf --> Transmits/streams file to remote participants.

At least this is the way it used to work. I haven't seen any tech docs on the new versions to contradict this.

Cheers!

[roberthagens]

Hi,

I am not using UCF; I can try that, but I was under the impression it required the participants to download a video player to view the video whereas when I use slideshow, I am using a player local to my computer (I am the presentor) that generates the bits…

Thx

Rob

[gps03]

Apologies, I am still not clear about what you mean by slideshow mode.

When you show the slides to your participants do you

a. Click Share > File and select the .pptx

       —OR—

b. Click Share > Desktop > & launch the .pptx natively?

Participants never needed to download a video player for UCF separately, they got it when they downloaded Meeting Manager to join the session.  Now if you did a network-based recording and produced a .arf THEN user would need a download.

The old limitation used to be that video embedded in powerpoint (.ucf or othrewise) when shared in Meeting Manager  would not play back until it had completely downloaded to all participants. Video played back on a shared desktop would not come through at all.

Cisco fixed that with the last update and embedded video now streams when the presenter brings them into view.

There are a myriad of problems that could cause the behavior you are seeing including simply not having the correct video codec to see the stream, having a video processor fast/powerful enough to decode it, or they might even be sitting behind a proxy that blocks video streams. There's lots to look at here.

Let's start by ruling out WebEx issues though since it's a WebEx forum.

Thanks,

-Greg

[ggavish]

Greg,

In WBS27.31 we introduced the option to embed video files in a PowerPoint presentation which leverages the same technology as the video file sharing you mentioned.

As this thread mentioned before, this is only available in PowerPoint 2010.

I believe that is what Rob is using.

Regarding video codecs, participants do not need to have any video codecs or media players installed on their computers to see a video the presenter is sharing since the WebEx meeting manager does all the decoding and encoding work.

Rob,

I assume that you are sharing your PPT using file sharing (not desktop sharing) and you are having problems with the video embedded in one of the slides.

Generally speaking, we do support MOV format but if you are having problems, I suggest you open a Support ticket with GTRC (which should be escalated to WebEx and reviewed by our Eng team).

It's important to mention that if some of the participants do see the video and other do not, it may be a network/proxy/user issue and not necessarily a WebEx issue.

Another thing to try is to convert the video file to MP4 format and see if that solves the problem...

I hope that helps.

Best,

Gal.

[roberthagens]

Hi Gal,

Let me confirm what I am doing.

1) From power point (2007/2010), I do insert->movie-> movie from file

2) I start my webex meeting as presentor

3) Share my desktop (monitor 1)

4) put powerpoint into slideshow mode

5) click on movie to start it playing

I have tried .mov files. Some render correctly on a remote participant’s desk top, others do not.

I’d like to open a support ticket. How do I do that? I called the support desk early this week and they stated that what I am trying to do is not supported by webex…

Thanks,

Rob

[gps03]

Hi Rob,

Yeah, what you are seeing is pretty much what I would expect, since you are not actually sharing the video. You are sharing your desktop. I would expect that this is akin to sharing an image of your video, not really your video. Unless WebEx can somehow detect the video running natively on your PC, suss out where the actual file is, trasncode it on the fly, and serve it up to the end points. In which case, as Gal said the issue is more likey with the recieving end points than WebEx.

Gal, It is impossible for a video stream to playback without being run through a codec. If the codec is provided with the Meeting Manager so be it, but a codec is still necessary. Based on what you said, it sounds like WebEx is transcoding the video on the fly from whatever native codec was used to the WebEx codec. That is pretty impressive, and a slick way around the typical codec issue you can run into serving up video.

I'd like to see more technical details about how that is made to work. Any white papers you can point me to? Is it using h.323 to stream? That would makes sense if an mp4 is preferrable since the encoding would most likely already be h.264 and therefore not need to be transcoded before transport.

[roberthagens]

But, two files with the same video codec work differently. One works and one doesn’t. The difference is that a .mov file with two streams (audio and video) will render correctly on a remote participants desktop but a .mov file with a single stream of just video will not. In both cases, the codec is H264 – MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1)

(according to vlc)

Rob

[ggavish]

Greg,

Yes, I know it is impossible for a video stream to play without a codec. As I mentioned, the PARTICIPANTS do not need to have any codecs installed on their machine since the meeting application is doing the encoding/decoding.

If the presenter is sharing the video file using file sharing (not desktop sharing) then the WebEx application is doing the work. We are transcoding the video file to H.264 whether you share a video file or embed this video file in a PPT.

Check out this white paper:

http://wwwin.cisco.com/voice/doc/video_file_sharing_WP.pdf

If the presenter is using desktop sharing or application sharing (as Rob is doing) then WebEx is not doing anything to the video. As you said, we just capture the screen and pass it to the participants.

Rob,

I highly recommend to share your presentation using File Share instead of sharing your desktop. You'll have a much better sharing exprience and it should solve your problem.

Gal.

[roberthagens]

Ok, I’ll try that

Thx

rob

[gps03]

Hi Karl,

What you are seeing is exactly the way WebEx has worked for years. When you embed media in a slide, using the UCF toolkit and convert to UCF, nothing get's downloaded to the user until the slide is brought into view by the presenter.

This was a limitation of the MediaTone network, a major security feature of WebEx prior to the Cisco take over, that is nothing was ever stored on a WebEx server anywhere, content was sent peer-to-peer over a closed, real-time switch network. WebEx only broadcasts the bits that are currently on the screen, not caring about what came before or what comes next. Since the content isn't/wasn't available to send until you brought the slide into view, it could not start transmitting that video in the background.

Depending on what services you use (training center, meeting center, etc.) will impact what type of video experience you have. For example, Event Center includes a Media Viewer that does a fantastic job of sharing video.

I've also noticed recently that you can show Flash/Quicktime video (h.264) in real time from a desktop share. You still need a dynameteric box to tie the audio into your conference call, but the video comes through nicely.

Cheers!