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Unable to Play a QT File on New Macs
Here’s a post I put up a week ago. I got great help from the community and solved my problem but now have another issue.
Post From a Week Ago:
I just finished cutting a program for a client on FC. It’s a twelve minute program, a 3.5G file. I put it as a QT file on a USB flash drive. He just loaded it to his brand new Mac and it gave us this error message, The document “Branson Admissions Video 2011.mov” could not be opened. The movie is not in a format that QuickTime Player understands.
You may need to install additional software to open this type of file.We also tried it on a brand new MacBook Pro.
It loads to our Macs and plays fine. The only difference I can see is that our Macs are older. Also, our Macs have FC on them, his doesn’t. Does that make any difference?
What do I need to do to get this to load and play on his Mac? tx
New Post:
I greatly appreciate everyone’s help on this. We redid it using H.264 and it worked, the client was happy. A few days later, the tech who was in charge of showing it pointed out to me that whenever there’s aggressive movement in the video, the picture degrades and we see fine horizontal lines/jagged edges. This occurs only when there’s fast movement. So we need to redo it. How do I fix that?
Here are my settings:
Field Acquisition: XDCAM disc – 1440×1080. We cut it in FC using ProRes422. The first QT version we created for the client, the one that wouldn’t play on their new Macs was done with these settings:
Window Title: All5.mov – Inspector
All5.mov
Source: /Volumes/2TB Buffalo/Branson/QT Files/All5.mov
Format: Apple XDCAM HD 1080i60(35 mb/s VBR), 1440×1080 (1888×1062), millions
16 bit integer (little endian), stereo, 48.000 kHz
FPS: 29.97
Playing FPS: (available while playing.)
Data Size: 3.25GB
Data Rate: 35.35 mbits/s
Current Time: 0:00:00:00.00
Duration: 0:00:13:09.15
Normal Size: 1920×1080 Pixels
Current Size: 1920×1080 Pixels (actual)And here are the settings used when we redid it in h.264. This version worked for them but with the compromised picture during the fast moving scenes:
Window Title: Video 2011 QT.mov – Inspector
Video 2011 QT.mov
Source: /Volumes/2TB Buffalo/Branson/QT Files/
Branson Admissions Video 2011 QT.mov
Format: 16-bit integer (little endian), stereo (LR), 48.000 kHz
h.264, 1920×1080, millions
FPS: 29.97
Playing FPS: (available while playing.)
Data Size: 3.52GB
Data Rate: 38.34 mbits/s
Current Time: 0:00:00:00.00
Duration: 0:00:13:09.15
Normal Size: 1920×1080 Pixels
Current Size: 1920×1080 Pixels (actual)Perhaps worthy of note: My editor said that the first version, the one that wouldn’t play for them at all, she created the QT file from the timeline, the sequence. The second one, the h.264 version that played for them but with picture breakup, she created the QT file from the first QT file, not from the timeline/sequence. She’s the tech and thinks this is a non-issue. Yes? No?
Thomas H
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10 Replies
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Does your client only have QuickTime X on his new Mac? If he bought it with Lion, than that would be the case. He may not have the pro codecs supported. You on the other hand would be playing out of QuickTime Pro/7.
Try having your client download QuickTime 7 to his Mac via this link: https://support.apple.com/kb/dl923
Your client can then buy a QuickTime Pro license if he wants that flexibility and for $30, it may be worth it.
Also, once he has QuickTime 7, download Perian and gain access to a much greater wealth of codec support within QuickTime. Available for free here: https://perian.org/
Following these steps should allow your client to view XDCAM without any issues, and would future proof them for similar situations.
Converting to H.264 usually gives pretty good quality but it is a fairly significant compression on top of being CPU intensive. Two things that could add to your playback woes. Also could be seeing interlacing.
Hope that helps!
Matt -
No no. We already worked that out. That’s what we solved here on CC the first time I asked the question, that h.264 is universal and will play on most if not all computers. So we went back and recreated the QT file using h.264. Now it plays great on all computers including my old PCs, except for the picture breaking up when a scene has fast movement.
I’m hoping that someone can advise me on what settings within h.264 I need to change to have this play without the occasional picture breakup. That’s why I’ve provided all of the settings we used. tx
Thomas H
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It’s not the h.264 that is causing the breakup. It is the XDCam 1080i format.
You can try a higher bit rate in Compressor. 6000k.Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Thanks Steve, I’ll jump on that right now.
Thomas H
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Make sure you click the deinterlace checkbox in the codec settings as well.
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How and where do I do that? In compressor, in FC? Thank you
Thomas H
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You do it in Compressor. For complete information and instructions, press the Help tab in Compressor.
Export a QT movie from FCP from your ProRes sequence.
Drop that into Compressor and choose a h.264 preset.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
We tried redoing it with the bitrate at 6000. The setting we had it on before was Automatic, so this time we did it at 6000. A few things about the resulting video: The former file, done at the Automatic setting, was 3.5Gb. This new file, done at 6000, is now .6Gb. So my editor thinks that the 6000 rate is actually a lower bitrate than what it was before, not higher. The good news is that the picture breakup no longer occurs, the bad news is that my editor thinks the picture overall is not as good.
The picture looks good to me, but I’d like it to look as good as possible. Do I have to accept a slightly smaller resulting file, thus degraded picture in order to lose the jaggies, or is there anything else I should try? Also, it was suggested above to be sure to check the deinterlace box. But we don’t see a deinterlace box, we get a deinterlace drop down menu of about three different choices. Each choice description is a bit too technical for us, so we left it as is. Thank you
Thomas H
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Turn on Frame Controls to maximize quality.
John
MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN
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Your problem is with the XDCAM stuff.
Your client needs FC.6,2 or up to play the files, if doesn’t have it, will need a CALIBRATED component.[Matthew Sonnenfeld] “Also, once he has QuickTime 7, download Perian and gain access to a much greater wealth of codec support within QuickTime. Available for free here: https://perian.org/
Following these steps should allow your client to view XDCAM without any issues, and would future proof them for similar situations.”
Perian doen’t play XDCAM.
rafael
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