FinalCut Quicktime vs straight-up Quicktime

[Jerry Hofmann]

No technical difference, just that the FCP QT is set to open in FCP instead of QT… you can change that too by selecting the file, then choosing QT to open it.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer

Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here

8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO, CD’s

[Matthew Blum]

Okay, thank you, That’s what I thought.

They’re saying it needs to be converted.

[Ed Dooley]

No difference, except your post house needs the AJA 4:4:4 codec to open it, which they probably don’t, hence the “it needs to be converted”.
Ed

[Jeremy Garchow]

The codec is available from AJA.com for free

[Ed Dooley]

And to be more specific:

https://www.aja.com/html/support_kona3_swd.html
https://www.aja.com/html/support_konaLHe_swd.html

Ed

[Matthew Blum]

Thanks, but just to clarify, “FinalCut Quicktime” would a quicktime that needs a 3rd party codec to play and “straight-up Quicktime” is something mostly any Mac can play. Correct?

[Curious Turtle]

Nope.

“Quicktime” is a type of container, just like an AVI or FLV. You can have many different types of codec that will fit into that container. A “Quicktime file” could be encoded with a number of different codecs, such as H264, DV or, in your case, the AJA 4:4:4 codec.

Quicktime player comes bundled with lots of codecs, but if you try to play back a file that wasn’t encoded with one of those, then you will have to install that codec.

To the extent that there actually exists a “Final Cut Quicktime” file is more down to the default handling of those files. After installing FCP one of the first things I do is to change it so that any QT file created in FCP will open automatically with QT Player instead. A personal preference obviously, and it has nothing to do with how compatible the files are.

I hope I’ve made that clearer :o)

Cheers,
Ben

Curious Turtle Professional Video
Training | Editing |Support

http://www.curiousturtle.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

What Ben says.

You can’t play a DVD in a VHS machine, but the TV will show the signal it recevies from either machine.

[Tom Wolsky]

Not necessarily. A Final Cut Movie is basically a QuickTime file. It depends on the format you’re working in and the codec that’s used for export. Some codecs like DVCPRO HD and native HDV are only available to Final Cut Pro users. Some codecs like ProRes are not normally on people’s machines and might require the user to download a playback component.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Andy Lancaster]

How do you do this…

::After installing FCP one of the first things I do is to change it so that any QT file created in FCP will open automatically with QT Player instead. A personal preference obviously, and it has nothing to do with how compatible the files are::