In Microsoft PowerPoint® 2000, you can broadcast your presentation live, including video and audio, or save it for on-demand viewing over a company intranet, or the Internet. Use PowerPoint 2000 with Microsoft Windows Media™ Player, and Microsoft Outlook®, and optionally with Windows Media Services (formerly NetShow® Services) to distribute your presentation. This article addresses some of the most important issues you need to understand in order to use this feature, either as a presenter, or as a member of the audience.

Broadcasting live over the Internet

To broadcast a live, online broadcast over the Internet, you must use a third-party Windows Media service provider that has partnered with Microsoft on the PowerPoint 2000 online broadcasting feature. If you use a Windows Media service provider, you must follow the provider's directions for setting up and scheduling a broadcast. For help selecting a service provider, see PowerPoint 2000 Broadcast Service Providers.

For more information about the server options available when you schedule an online broadcast, read PPT2000: Online Broadcast Over Internet Requires Third-Party Provider.

Broadcasting live over a network (intranet)

To broadcast a presentation over an intranet to more than 15 viewers, you must use a Windows Media server (Windows Media Services installed on a server). Windows Media Services (formerly NetShow Services) distributes streaming audio and video content that can be displayed on client computers by using Windows Media Player. In this case, the Windows Media encoder (on the presenter computer or another computer) turns the presentation (audio and video) into Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) content (live stream) that can be delivered over the network by the Windows Media server. The Windows Media server then broadcasts the presentation to the Windows Media Player (on a participant computer) which displays the presentation for the audience.

Step 1: Configure the network server(s)

To broadcast a presentation live over a network, it is recommended that you use two servers that reside on the same domain. One server must have Windows Media Services installed to broadcast the presentation, and one server can be used for file sharing (users will access the broadcast-formatted presentation on this server during the broadcast).

Windows 2000 Server

If you are using a Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server, read Preparing the network for PowerPoint 2000 Presentation Broadcasting .

Windows NT Server

To broadcast a presentation live over a network using a Microsoft Windows NT® Server, you must have the following software installed on your server:

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 4 (or later)
• Windows Media Services (formerly NetShow Services)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4.01 or later
• Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
• On-line Presentation Broadcast service (included with Windows Media Server 4.0 for Windows NT 4)

For more information about the system requirements for Windows Media Technologies, see System Requirements and the Readme for Microsoft Windows Media Technologies Version 4.1.

Step 2: Test the Windows Media server

Before you install and configure the On-line Presentation Broadcast service, make sure that your Windows Media server is configured, running smoothly, and able to stream media on demand from the ASFROOT directory. You can test this by placing the Sample.ASF into the C:\ASFROOT directory on the Windows Media server. On the presenter machine, click Run on the Start menu. Type the following:

mms://<servername>/sample.asf

The Sample.ASF should play in Windows Media Player. If the Sample.ASF does not play, your Windows Media server is not installed or is not configured properly and you should consult your Windows Media documentation.

Step 3: Configure the On-line Presentation Broadcast service on the Windows Media server

Note  The On-line Presentation Broadcast service must be running under a domain account with administrator privileges and must have read/write access to the network share where the broadcast-formatted presentation is stored (the shared location in the presentation broadcast Server Options dialog box in PowerPoint).

Windows 2000 Server

Read To configure the On-line Presentation Broadcast service on the Windows Media server .

Windows NT Server

To configure the On-line Presentation Broadcast service on the Windows Media (Windows NT) server, do the following:

1. Log on to the computer running Windows Media Services, using an account with administrative privileges.
2. On the Windows Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, double-click Services.
4. In the list of services, click On-line Presentation Broadcast and then click Startup.
5. In the Log On As group, click the This Account option, and enter a user name and password.
   This user must be a member of both the Administrators group and the NewShow Administrators group for that particular machine. The login name should include the domain name if the NT Server participates in a domain.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Start to start the service.
8. Click Close to close the Services control panel.

Important  If the user name you entered in step 5 above is not a member of the NetShow Administrators group or the Administrators group for that machine, add the domain user account that the On-line Presentation Broadcast service uses to log on to the NetShow Administrators group and the Administrators group.

On the server used for file sharing, grant Read access to the shared folder where the PowerPoint .asd files are stored (the folder you specify as the shared location in the Server Options dialog box when you schedule the broadcast in PowerPoint) to the domain user account used for the On-line Presentation Broadcast service.

For more information, see Using NetShow Services with Presentation Broadcasting and PPT2000: Overview of Online Broadcasting with NetShow.

Configuring Windows Media Encoder for a computer other than the presenter's computer

Windows Media Encoder (formerly NetShow Encoder) is installed with the PowerPoint 2000 presentation broadcasting feature. Windows Media Encoder produces streaming audio and video from microphone and camera input of the presenter's computer and sends it either to a Windows Media server over the network, or to an Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) file.

You can run Windows Media Encoder remotely on a computer that is separate from the Windows Media server. If you run Windows Media Encoder remotely, however, you must enable remote application launching on the Windows Media Encoder server so that PowerPoint can start Windows Media Encoder. For step-by-step information on how to do this, read Using NetShow Services with Presentation Broadcasting .

For more information about using Windows Media Encoder, read Tour of Microsoft Windows Media Tools.

More information

Troubleshooting Presentation Broadcasting

Broadcasting PowerPoint Presentations over the Network

Deliver Your PowerPoint 2000 Presentation over the Web

Presentation Broadcasting with PowerPoint 2000 and Outlook 2000

Presentation Broadcasting in PowerPoint 2000

Windows Media Web site

Windows Media Components

An Introduction to Windows Media Technologies

Inside Windows Media, Microsoft Corp., Que, November 19, 1999.

PPT2000: How to Record a Presentation Broadcast