[DSee]

Hello,

Could someone please tell me how to fix this? The same file works fine on PCs, but it seems to be doing this on the Playbook.
It started doing this in the middle of my presentation.
Playbook embarrassed me in front of a few people...

Video:

I've tried it in 2 different playbooks, same results.. both are running OS 1.8 (current).

[apg300]

Hi DSee,

Some thoughts on why that happens:
- PPT presentations with lots of images embedded take a while to load in the Playbook memory. Did you give it some time to load first before flipping through slides?
- The PlayBook (AFAIK) loads a number of slides in advance, but not the entire presentation all at once. Flipping through the slides quickly doesn't give it enough time to load the next slides in advance.
- In my experience, I find that having the slide sorter view enabled helps with this a bit. I just tap on the next slide I want displayed.

Hope these help.

[FF22]

Were you running any other apps in the background? If so close them. Does it use animations in the presentation? The version on the pb supposedly does NOT support them.

I really don't use that app but tested a few simple shows. How large is it? How many slides? (someone might be able to help with more info)

[DSee]

Hi DSee,

Some thoughts on why that happens:
- PPT presentations with lots of images embedded take a while to load in the Playbook memory. Did you give it some time to load first before flipping through slides?
- The PlayBook (AFAIK) loads a number of slides in advance, but not the entire presentation all at once. Flipping through the slides quickly doesn't give it enough time to load the next slides in advance.
- In my experience, I find that having the slide sorter view enabled helps with this a bit. I just tap on the next slide I want displayed.

Hope these help.

Were you running any other apps in the background? If so close them. Does it use animations in the presentation? The version on the pb supposedly does NOT support them.

I really don't use that app but tested a few simple shows. How large is it? How many slides? (someone might be able to help with more info)

There were no apps running in the background.

The file size was 22MB (around 55 slides). The presentation was going smoothly in the first 35, but then the PB started acting up.

I also went to my PC, and created a new .ppt just with the last 20 slides in an attempt to reduce the file size, but the same problem occurred. I also spent at LEAST 45sec on each slide, so it did have enough time to "load" the file.

Not sure what else to do. I might try OS 2.0 BETA to see if this is fixed.
Like I mentioned in one of my previous threads, this is ONE (if not the most) important reason I have the PB. /me really mad right now

[albee 1]

Under General in your Options, try setting the Application Behavior to Paused instead of Showcase or Default. Just a guess but worth a try.

[DSee]

Under General in your Options, try setting the Application Behavior to Paused instead of Showcase or Default. Just a guess but worth a try.

Nothing... Just tried that, it was fine in the first slide.. but as soon as I changed it to the 2nd slide, it started acting up. (Left there for 2min, still blinking)

I wish you could change options @ "SlideShow to Go"...

I'm going to mess with all options now, see if anything helps, but I might end up just installing OS 2.0 BETA (hopefully that will fix it..)

[FF22]

Wondering if there is anything strange/odd/size of one of those latter photos?

Have you tried splitting the show at say 40 and seeing if it still pauses in the first batch or second batch?

[DSee]

Wondering if there is anything strange/odd/size of one of those latter photos?

Have you tried splitting the show at say 40 and seeing if it still pauses in the first batch or second batch?

Just tried that... It works fine on the first 30 slides... After that, it starts acting up..

[DSee]

Quick update: I've signed up for OS2.0, but haven't received the update yet.

For the time being I've tried to do many things, ranging from cutting slides out to converting the format, and trying different presentation apps on AppWorld.

Irony of this is.... I've tried it on my friend's iPad2, and guess what? It works fine...(I have to present something in 2hrs, and might have to borrow it from him).

[kbz1960]

You have anyone else you know with a playbook to try it on?

[DSee]

I have 2 playbooks.. The results are similar on both...
It "could" be something on the presentation that the Playbook doesn't "like", but I wonder what is it... and WHY...

I mean, it plays fine on any PCs, iPad, etc...

[anindoc]

If your powerpoint file has intensive and intricate graphics and/or animations it will not work on the PB, as compared to a computer/laptop.
I have seen this personally, and I use ppt files with very intensive graphics all the time.

Your file of 22MB, 55 slides is a big file by ppt standards, I believe even computers with lower processor speeds/RAM capacities will freeze, so I can see how the PB started acting weird after a certain time.

[DSee]

I understand that, but it won't work even if I break it into 2-3 presentations.

In my opinion this is just unacceptable. The hardware portion of the PB is really good, so why won't it play it? Even the iPad can play it without any problems...

[FF22]

Again, more or less, ALL of your pictures/photos/slides/drawings are the same size, resolution, etc? None is for some reason oddball or stands out as different. I will say, you seem to have tried to narrow what might be the issue. And it may well be the pb and its anemic versions of the various docs-to-go apps.

[albee 1]

Just use Windows movie maker then transfer it to the PB. Might work for you. Just a thought, but you could add music too!

[kjm2010]

i have done ppt with up to 120 slides and 70 meg. On occasion, i have had problems, but usually only when i try to flip through too fast, which doesn't sound like your issue.

Have you tried it with no slide transition themes enabled? Also does it do it if you use the swipe instead of the soft button to move between slides?.

Des it hang on the same content slide all the time, or the 30th slide all the time? Have you reordered the slides randomly to see if it stops on the same slide?

An easy work around maybe be to save the file as a PDF and run the slideshow that way until you get a chance to try OS2.

[DSee]

i have done ppt with up to 120 slides and 70 meg. On occasion, i have had problems, but usually only when i try to flip through too fast, which doesn't sound like your issue.

Have you tried it with no slide transition themes enabled? Also does it do it if you use the swipe instead of the soft button to move between slides?.

Des it hang on the same content slide all the time, or the 30th slide all the time? Have you reordered the slides randomly to see if it stops on the same slide?

An easy work around maybe be to save the file as a PDF and run the slideshow that way until you get a chance to try OS2.

I've removed all transition animations from the ppt, and encountered the SAME problem. Thanks for the tip anyways...

I'm going to shuffle the slides around and see what happens tonight.
I've also tried converting it to a .PDF, which plays fine, but somehow it seems to lose some quality (fonts, etc). I'll see if I can use another program that can convert the .ppt into .pdf without quality loss.

Still waiting on 2.0 BETA update to pop up on my Software Updates screen. (I've probably pressed the update button 30+ times so far!)

[FF22]

You do have perseverance. As suggested, I guess you could use some kind of "movie" making software to create a version that plays on the pb. I use some Magix software to create dvd movies of my hiking vacation trips. You can add titles, motions, transitions, music and vocal tracks. But obviously, it is yet another software app for the computer and you'd have to learn it or similar software.

None of this would be necessary if rim provided a better version of powerpoint!

[saudiben]

i have experienced exactly the same, iratic and unresponsive behavior of 2 pb I have tried the pres on, informed bb.... they told me they had never heard of the problem before and it is still unsolved.

[DSee]

Quick Update:

I've installed OS 2.0 BETA, and started the presentation. Everything was running smoothly until I get to the same place (slide 30).
Now, instead of the screen flickering, I'm getting the following error box:

"An internal error has occurred. If the problem persists please restart the device."

Oh well, seems like a PB problem. I'm going to modify the slides and see if I can get it to work.
Anyways, I'm going to alert the RIM team ASAP and ask for a position. They need to come up with a solution

Thanks for reading it.

[kjm2010]

I'll see if I can use another program that can convert the .ppt into .pdf without quality loss.

If you have MSOffice 2010 you can use the Save As in Powerpoint and select file type as PDF.

[varunsain]

IMO it's got something to do with the image size or rendering. Basically the PlayBook starts acting up when a higher resolution image is being forced downsized. Not the DPI but just the w x h pixels in general.

I might be wrong but scaling images in PPT does not actually change the size of the image as opposed to doing the same through Photoshop. So maybe the PlayBook is going crazy since your inserted image might actually be 1400x900 pixels but scaled down in PPT to a box size of 700x450 pixels. The PlayBook might be going into this mode of first trying to capture the original image size through metadata in its cache and then trying to output the resized image - all this while trying to run a presentation.

Honestly, I would suggest not to dig into this any further.. Its demo QNX OS right now and with OS 2.0, the world is going to be a better place..

[DSee]

IMO it's got something to do with the image size or rendering. Basically the PlayBook starts acting up when a higher resolution image is being forced downsized. Not the DPI but just the w x h pixels in general.

I might be wrong but scaling images in PPT does not actually change the size of the image as opposed to doing the same through Photoshop. So maybe the PlayBook is going crazy since your inserted image might actually be 1400x900 pixels but scaled down in PPT to a box size of 700x450 pixels. The PlayBook might be going into this mode of first trying to capture the original image size through metadata in its cache and then trying to output the resized image - all this while trying to run a presentation.

Honestly, I would suggest not to dig into this any further.. Its demo QNX OS right now and with OS 2.0, the world is going to be a better place..

This makes a lot of sense and is somewhat similar to what I was thinking it could be.

I guess all I can do is sit down and join the team of people that open a thread everyday asking when OS 2.0 will be out

[FF22]

If you want to try one more experiment (until we make our next suggestions tomorrow), Irfanview is a terrific jpg display app for Windows. It can also resize images and change resolution and it can do it in batch fashion. You could put those images through it and see if you can create a ppt show with the smaller versions of images. I use it to email images to friends who don't want megapixel pics and also to upload stuff here on Crackberry.