The death of QuickTime as we know it

[Andrew Richards]

[Michael Phillips] “I do like Pro Player a lot, but there is something to be said in workflow with the Quicklook feature.”

Good point.

[Michael Phillips] “And if they want to play really nicely with broadcasters and studio archives, publish AV Foundation as an open format.”

AVFoundation is a framework within OS X that developers can use to handle media in their apps. It isn’t a format or a container. What Apple needs to open up and publish is ProRes. They are unlikely to do so, but they still should.

Best,
Andy

[Michael Phillips]

I agree that BOTH the wrapper and the codec need to be ratified as open standards. Much like MXF and DNxHD, DPX, etc.

Michael

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Oliver Peters] “These only work when the specific codec wrapped in MOV is supported by QT itself. “

Not in the case of VLC, but of course, VLC doesn’t not allow transcoding. For instance, you can play wmv movies on iOS devices with the VLC player.

Also, it is possible for third parties to create compatable codecs. You can buy AS-11 and JPEG2000 playback for MXF Player, for example.

I’m not saying this is easier or cheaper or better. Clearly, it’s a pain.

[Bill Davis]

[Andrew Richards] “I think the only truly future-poof method of holding masters to assume the format you are holding is not future-proof and maintaining an infrastructure capable of converting it to whatever comes next.

Best,
Andy”

This is what we used to call “damn good advice.”

; )

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[David Lawrence]

[Andrew Richards] “Have you tried Digital Heaven’s Pro Player? I haven’t, but it claims to pick up the flag for the old QuickTime Pro, and for the same stand-alone price that Apple used to charge back in the day. Oliver endorsed it!”

Thanks for the link. I’ve also seen it but never tried it. Looks interesting but from the feature list it seems like it’s playback only? One of the things I do a lot in QT7 Pro is quick and dirty export/transcoding. I really like Digital Heaven plug-ins — they’re one of the things I miss the most in Premiere Pro.

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David Lawrence
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[Charlie Austin]

[David Lawrence] “QT& player is also an essential tool for file conversion since QTX’s file export options are severely limited.”

QT7 is fairly useless in this regard as well without unlocking the “Pro” features. As to Player X, for better or worse, this is probably by design, as the majority of OS X users don’t need these options. I guess Apple figures that if you do, you get Compressor for around what you used to pay for QT Pro. AFIK, AVFoundation will still let Apps play most “modern” Codecs if they are installed. Some are just dead though. This has been posted before, and sorry for the length, but here’s the list cribbed from an ADC post I saw somewhere or other:

Oh… first bit is about what’s going on with QT Player X…

QTMovieModernizer
•Automatically run by QuickTime Player upon discovery of legacy codecs
•Works with third-party QuickTime codec components
•New API in OS X 10.9 so that you can do the same in your apps
• Produces a new copy in an AV Foundation-supported format

so that’s what it’s doing every time you see that converting message. And… the (Video/Audio/QT Effects) dead pool:

Not Supported by AV Foundation

Cinepak (“Compact Video”)
Animation (“RLE” )
Video (“Road Pizza”)
Graphics (“SMC”)
Sorenson Video
Sorenson Video 3
Motion JPEG A
Motion JPEG B
H.261
Windows RAW
Microsoft Video 1
Pixlet
MACE 3:1
MACE 6:1
QDesign Audio QDesign Audio 2
1-bit Indexed-Color RGB 2-bit Indexed-Color RGB
4-bit Indexed-Color RGB 8-bit Indexed-Color RGB 16-bit Direct-Color RGB 1-bit Grayscale
2-bit Grayscale 4-bit Grayscale SGI
MacPaint
BMP
FLC FlashPix JPEG 2000 PDF Photo CD PNG
TGA
TIFF
Blit Codec
Curve Rasterizer Quickdraw Codec Blend Effect
Blur Filter
Brightness and Contrast Channel Compositor Chroma Key Effect Cloud Generator
Cross Fade Effect Edge Detection Filter Emboss Filter
Fire Generator
Film Noise Filter Alpha Gain Filter General Convolution Glass Distortion Filter HSL Balance Filter Lens Flare Filter
Gradient Wipe Effect Implode Effect
Push Effect
RGB Balance Filter Ripple Filter Sharpen Filter
Slide Effect
SMPTE Iris Effect
SMTPE Radial Effect SMTPE Matrix Wipe Effect Wipe Effect Color Style Filter ColorSync Filter Travelling Matte Effect Explode Effect Zoom Effect

Also, and sorry if this is kind of a thread hijack, but for any finder folder that contains movies, whatever it’s name is, if you change the folder’s name to “Movies” you can add a “Codecs” column (right click the column name header. to see which movies use which codecs and need to be converted/updated. Once you’ve added the new column you can change the folder name back without losing the newly added column.

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~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[David Lawrence]

[Charlie Austin] “QT7 is fairly useless in this regard as well without unlocking the “Pro.” features. “

Yes. Good thing it happens automatically when you serialize Final Cut Pro Studio. 😉

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David Lawrence
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[Oliver Peters]

[Michael Phillips] “I do like Pro Player a lot,”

DH’s Pro Player and Assimilate’s Scratch Play are both good professional players. The latter will also play MXF media, like from a Canon C300.

[Michael Phillips] “but there is something to be said in workflow with the Quicklook feature”

I’ve had clients who had no idea how to run media files. Their method, when they got dailies on a thumb drive, was to simply play the file in Quicklook by hitting the space bar. If your dailies are DNxHD36, then you are screwed.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[John Davidson]

[Andrew Richards] “What Apple needs to open up and publish is ProRes. They are unlikely to do so, but they still should.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot because we still get lots of random codecs. If you work in FCPX and are 100% committed to the platform, you’re already working natively in ProRes because you’re most likely optimizing your media upon import. In a way, Apple has just taken that FCPX love of ProRes and applied it to the whole dang OS. As frustrating as it is to have to batch convert everything under the sun (especially for graphic elements because as I’ve mentioned in our AE thread, something is going on with non-ProRes codecs in Mavericks that affects After Effects renders), I don’t consider it to be the end of the world because I want that ProRes only future.

Animation is my Grandpa’s codec – I feel like we’ve been using it since the 90’s. If clients delivered everything in ProRes that would be fantastic. Until then, we’ll just convert as needed to the most appropriate flavor of ProRes.

In terms of Apple handing out the codec, I immediately thought that they should do that because it will not become an industry standard until PC users can render to ProRes. If everyone can render to ProRes, there’s no debate on whether ProRes can become the default codec. But then….what if your goal is to sell Macs too? Giving the codec away makes your Mac Pros less special, because why buy a mac if your $300 pc can render to ProRes when you need to deliver to a client like abc, who requires ProResHQ for all final series deliveries?

And that, I think, is the point. You sell more macs when they’re the only ones that can perform certain tasks required to complete a project. Apple isn’t trying to change the industry standard for codecs as much as they’re trying to change the entire industry to mac only. Personally, I like this because I am not a fan of PC’s, however this might be terrifying to some people.

[Oliver Peters]

[John Davidson] “because I want that ProRes only future.”

That’s how it appears now. Wait another 10 years when Apple decides ProRes is “Grandpa’s codec”.

[John Davidson] “because it will not become an industry standard until PC users can render to ProRes”

You pretty much answered that, of course. Apple does not care about that. By keeping it Mac-only, it drives Mac sales. If they allowed PC-based ProRes encoding, then it’s one less incentive to by Mac hardware.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com