Show Off (Mk II)

October 7, 2007 5:53 PM

I need some (more) help to set up a presentation station for a school foyer. I have an elderly XP laptop and 17inch LCD screen mounted some distance away.

I'm coming back in after asking the same question a couiple of weeks ago.

I have set up the screen and laptop combo but am still looking for a way to play photos, powerpoints and movies in a playlist. I want the end user to start up the laptop, click on one button and have the thing play solidly for eight hours. Then turn it off at the end of the day. And repeat daily.

VLC (which was suggested in reply to my original question is just too buggy. Windows Media Player will do photos or moveis but not both in the same playlist (not that I could work out anyway).

Help! Please!

posted by chairish to computers & internet (4 comments total)

I've used Muvee Autoproducer before with good results. Import all your stuff and export as a single looping movie. Stick that movie in the startup folder and when they turn the computer on it will start playing.
posted by genial at 6:27 PM on October 7, 2007

Is it possible to just create an eight-hour PowerPoint presentation, incorporating all your content? Does it matter if it's not quite that long if you set it to play continuously?

You could then put the presentation in the start-up folder, associate the file with PowerPoint Viewer on the machine and it should start to play as soon as the machine it turned on.
posted by dg at 7:19 PM on October 7, 2007

Get TweakUI from Microsoft. Install, run -> desktop -> uncheck all.

This will remove all desktop icons (like, My Computer, Recycle, &c) leaving only the shortcut to whatever you end up using. I'm assuming the "click one button" thing is for the benefit of person starting the thing up in the morning. This is also a little more secure for a public computer - discourages casual vandalism. You might also want to uninstall the USB drivers or just unplug the USB ports that you aren't using (inside the box).

If you get the timing really down, could you use Task Scheduler to start and stop specific programs at set times. If one program works better (ie., slideshow vs. movie vs...) than another, this might work.

Most programs have command-line tag support; so you can tell those programs to play/load "x" file(s) from a command line.
posted by porpoise at 8:15 PM on October 7, 2007

Thanks all. These ideas have definitely given me new ways to look at this project.
posted by chairish at 11:30 AM on October 8, 2007