Video Placeholder in Inspire

[Phedder]

Having an issue with video placeholder in Inspire. One of the options is to change the image that appears when the placeholder appears on the screen. This seems to be a "dead" option as you cannot change the image. Is this something to be fixed in next version? Anyone got a work around?

[JanP]

I am not sure what you mean, I am able to change the placeholder image.

When you click on Change Placeholder Image in the Insert File window it will open up the video. Let it play until you get to the image that you want as your placeholder then then click the Replace Placeholder Image (last icon on the video controller - I have included a snapshot). It might appear to do nothing but when you close the video window and it takes you back to the Insert File window. Now you should see the new image in the Placeholder option at the bottom of the window.

When you click ok the new placeholder image will show on your flipchart page.

I hope that helps,

Janice

[Phedder]

Jan,

Thanks for that. When I follow your instructtions the replacement is just a black square. I am using *.avi video footage. Video placeholders can be in any format or just a select few?

[kellyandbryan]

Hello,
I think you will need to try this.
I asked a similar question and this worked for me.
Hi Kelly,
Try this, as recommended by one of our product managers:
go on the desktop, right click: Properties>Settings tab>Advanced button>Troubleshooting tab:
Turn down the Hardware acceleration to just less than halfway. That should work.
__________________
Dave Kootman :-/
Promethean Teaching and Learning Consultant-
~Southern California

[JanP]

Exactly what I was going to suggest Kelly! Decreasing your computers hardware excelleration should correct the problem of black images.

Janice

[whiteni]

I am having the same problem. When I followed your directions, my computer says I am not able to make changes to my computer's hardware excelleration. I am the owner of my computer. It is a VISTA operating system...does that make a difference?

Any other suggestions?

[lsmith2]

I too have encountered that same problem. Does anyone know another work around?

[JayTee]

I was just helping someone that was working on a Vista machine and we ran into the same issue.

This worked for us:

From the menubar go to Insert<Link<File and then proceed to insert the placeholder.

When we tried to Insert< Media she was also getting a black screen. She was also the owner of her machine and was not able to turn down the Hardware Acceleration.


Hope this helps! Let us know :)

[dkootman]

In terms of placeholders, I believe it also depends on the type of media that you are using. I have heard that Inspire prefers Flash over Windows Media or Quicktime. I have tried using all three types by downloading from Discovery Streaming (same video, different formats) and have had different results even though I used the same process.

I'd suggest trying a different format if nothing else works.

[fletchtj]

A couple things I've noted about the Video Controller...

The CTI (Current Time Indicator) does not allow you to scrub forward or backward to different points in the movie. It seems to skip forward sometimes, but in most cases jumps back to where it was in the movie. Doesn't matter if you have the movie playing or whether you've paused it. Btw, the training flipchart "Beyond Core Essentials" labels this item as the volume control.

Also, from what I've discovered, you can only set the placeholder image from the Insert File dialog box. The feature does not seem to work from the controller once the movie is on the page. Seems to be the same on both Mac and Windows.

While you can access some properties of the movie in the Property Browser such as autoplay, showing the controller, etc...it would be great if you could also change the movie that the placeholder was pointing to. For example, if I create a placeholder video and set it to point to an external file...it would be great to have a way of changing that or even correcting it should the movie change locations on my hard drive. Currently, it seems like you have to go through the trouble of deleting the original and then setting up another one. This should be in the Property Browser...or at least something should be there that allows me to open up the Insert File dialog box again and change that info (or maybe even change whether or not I want to embed the video into the flipchart).

My .02 worth...thanks!