mp4 slow playback

[Jeff Greenberg]

Actually, QuickTime X is QuickTime player in os 10.6.x – it has no borders (as opposed to the QuickTime 7 player).

Both use different methods of playing back files, especially, as I understand it, h.264.

VLC player is totally safe- it’s an open source player (in the same way that Firefox and MPEG Streamclip are open source) that can pretty much play anything…And it uses a third way to playback h.264 files.

As far as mpeg-4 being recognized by windows? It’s dicey. It’s very client/install dependent.

I suspect when you say you’re using the h.264 under QuickTime, you’re meaning in the settings either the Apple>Formats>QuickTime>Apple h.264 or the Apple> Other Workflows > Web> Download> QuickTime 7 Compatible > h.264 (one of these.) I suspect you DON’T mean that you’re adding your own preset.

It’s a strange problem. If it only stutters on this one machine, Craig is dead on – it might not be worth the hassle to troubleshoot it, knowing that it plays back fine on client systems and in YouTube.

The question you have to ask yourself…if it’s only a problem on that machine, is it really an issue?

Best,

Jeff G

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[Alan Stephens]

I remembered that I also use mpeg4 because it is compatable with Power Point on a PC.
Is there any universal codec in Cmpressor 3 that is both PC and Mac compatable?
If not there should be.

Alan Stephens

[Craig Seeman]

[Alan Stephens] “I was using this codec because I was under the impression it was compatable with Windows.
I don’t remember why I thought that but after testing it on a pc just now, it seems it is not.”

Some people used to do that because many Windows users were still on Quicktime 6 rather than Quicktime 7. That was, at one time, one of the reasons for using the older codec. That might have been where that info came from.

[Alan Stephens] “What I need is
a codec that is HD & both mac and pc playable using compressor, without my client having to downlad QT.
I can buy software to make HD wmv files but not thru Compressor.
Some of my (PC) clients have been asked for mpeg4.”

WMP12 on Windows 7 plays H.264 .mp4 (Quicktime not needed). That’s not the case with WMP11 on Vista or XP though. It may well be that they do want H.264 .mp4 if they have Windows 7.

Of course that leads to Apple’s strange ways. As I noted before Compressor does not make H.264 .mp4 directly. On the other hand if you’re willing to use one of the iOS (Apple Device) presets you can change the .m4v to .mp4 (You shouldn’t do that with .mov though). On the other hand, in the mysterious ways of Apple, you CAN create H.264 .mp4 in Quicktime 7 Pro. Why Apple wouldn’t include in this in Compressor is a MYSTERY. Of course you can also use the free MPEGStreamClip to create H.264 .mp4

So here’d be a plan.

If your clients have Windows 7 then H.264 .mp4 will work fine and they won’t need Quicktime

To create H.264 .mp4 you’d need to
1) Use Quicktime 7 Pro
2) Use MPEGStreamClip
3) Use Compressor with Apple Device preset and change the .m4v to .mp4

If your clients are on Windows Vista or XP machines I really wouldn’t use the older .mp4 for HD work. It’s not a very efficient codec (it needs very high data rates to create HD). In that case I’d suggest using WMV. You could get Flip4Mac Studio HD and it will work in Compressor when you select Quicktime Components. Let’s hope they’re on Windows 7 machines so you can do H.264 .mp4.

[Craig Seeman]

See my other answer.
If they’re using Windows 7, H.264 .mp4 should work but note my comments about Compressor.

[Berry Carol]

Note that there are several formats that use the “.mp4” file extension, including at least one that is proprietary to Microsoft, that have not been ported to Mac. If you just need to play the video any way you can, and don’t specifically need it in QuickTime, you can try the freeware Macgo Free Media Player which supports more formats.

[Jeff Greenberg]

Berry,

What MP4 format is proprietary to Microsoft? I’m curious as MP4 is a standard.

Why wouldn’t you use VLC?

Best,

Jeff I. Greenberg
Author/Master Instructor/Speaker/Consulting
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[Berry Carol]

I also have VLC installed on my Mac and sometimes it’s my player for mp4. Macgo media player is just another video tool I met accidentally. I have some Blu-ray discs, but VLC does not support playback of commercial Blu-ray discs with copy protection. Those require decryption keys, which only a commercial player can provide. So I search and got Macgo Blu-ray player finally. I paid. But if you have no need for Blu-ray, that free media player is enough, as well as VLC.