Another good tool is Moyea Powerpoint to video convertor (great for animations embedded videos etc)
If possible we always re-make the Powerpoint to suit video output better ie make video safe, convert to widescreen, change fonts and font size to make more readable, change colours etc.

You can use cutepdf To get pdf fromm Powerpoint

Martin

I'll assume you are on a PC... As Mac has PDF output in the print dialog of (I think) every app, definitely in PowerPoint and Keynote.

So, if you are in PPT 2007 (the latest version) you can download an add-on to save-as PDF. This little Microsoft plugin, creates PDF files sooooo much faster than Acrobat it's not even funny. From here, you can import the PDF into Photoshop at your resolution of choice.

If you have PowerPoint 2003 you'll fInd Acrobat the best way to get a PDF out.

Also, from Acrobat Pro, you can output raster files (avoiding Photoshop all together)

If you get in a jam, send me the PPT and I'll convert it for you.

Andrew- thanks for the offer
I did just upgrade to Acrobat Pro 9. When you convert PP to PDF with v. 9 it creates a "video" PDF that preserves and plays the PP animations. Within Acrobat I can then Export appropriate frames as TIFFs that are plenty HQ & Hi Rez for an HD 1920 production. In fact, they need to be scaled down to 60% or so to fit the title safe frame. Animations can be recreated with cross fades. Viewing the output from the timeline on HD monitor the graphics look great and type faces are crisp.
Looks like Acrobat Pro v. 9 is a good solution- it eliminates the Photoshop step, preserves animations, and the final output quality is impressive.

I not sure if I am to late for this one but here is goes. If the PP has a lot of animations in it. You could always import the PP in to Keynote and Export QT file with what ever codec you are using. It has worked for me a couple of times. Just a thought. You just go file export and it will take the PP and make a Video with Audio out of it. Very cool tool.

Sorry I missed the last part of your solution about Acrobat 9 very cool that it preserves the animations.

Glad to hear the Acrobat worked out for you.

As for the resize, it sounds like you are outputting to 300dpi. Remember that PowerPoint slides measure 10" x 7.5" -- so 300 dpi would give you 3000 x 2250.

It may save you some resize time by getting into Acrobats settings and going with 200dpi then you'll have 2000 x 1500 images.

But it's that 10 x 7.5" thats really important, from here you can pick whatever resolution output by multiplying by DPI.

Using Camtasia
 

Camtasia works like a champ to import PowerPoint presentations, complete with transitions, and integrate it with live video. You essentially have window-in-window options and can move back and forth to full screen in sync with your audio. When you're finished, just output to DVD, and you're done. Even the learning curve is not too bad.

Good tip. This would eliminate yet another step in the process