Quicktime 6.1

[medea]

Apple today released QuickTime 6.1 via the Software Update control panel. According to Apple, the new version delivers "a number of quality and performance enhancements for audio, video, and full screen playback. Enhancements include the following: MPEG-4 video provides more accurate rate control and improved visual quality. AAC includes new encoder controls and new bit rate options. DV includes significant encode and decode performance improvements. QuickTime Pro users will enjoy enhancements in full screen playback, including newly enabled keyboard shortcuts for movie control, faster entry and exit, and improved playback performance."

[MacRumors]

Quicktime 6.1 has been released and can be found in your Mac OS X Software Update:

QuickTime 6.1 delivers a number of quality and performance enhancements for audio, video, and full screen playback.

Enhancements include the following:

- MPEG-4 video provides more accurate rate control and improved visual quality.
- AAC includes new encoder controls and new bit rate options.
- DV includes significant encode and decode performance improvements.
- QuickTime Pro users will enjoy enhancements in full screen playback, including newly enabled keyboard shortcuts for movie control, faster entry and exit, and improved playback performance.

Quicktime 6.1 was mentioned in December. The expected 3GPP technology is not mentioned in the enhancements list.

[rainman::|:|]

Cool, cool cool. Wonder if the plugin will be updated a bit for Safari. Not sure why Pro users are the only ones with faster opening and closing, but hell i'm a pro user so its no biggie.


pnw

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
Not sure why Pro users are the only ones with faster opening and closing, but hell i'm a pro user so its no biggie.

i could be wrong, but i interpreted it as pro users would see speed improvements going to full screen and coming out of it.

now for itunes and ipod aac updates.....

[Tom800]

Can't they even allow Pro users to convert music to AAC through iTunes? I know this is my main subject when posting, but every time I listen to any music, which is a lot, I bemoan the lack of AAC for the space it would give me.

[MasterX (OSiX)]

I'm thinking the speed improvements could be due to a Cocoa rewite, i believe QuickTime Player uses a carbon framework, while the Finder and browsers all use a Cocoa framework. I also noticed that the player looks like it got a new coat of wax, it's glossier than ever.

I just noticed 6.1 (I think it was the update) has brought back playing during minimizing. Not to mention minimizing performance is a LOT higher. This feature was yanked with Jaguar to make OSX feel faster (no mac could minimize a window without pausing first)

[MasterX (OSiX)]

Originally posted by Tom800
Can't they even allow Pro users to convert music to AAC through iTunes? I know this is my main subject when posting, but every time I listen to any music, which is a lot, I bemoan the lack of AAC for the space it would give me.

Everyone's so crazzy hyped about AAC in iTunes. Believe me I want it just as much as the next guy, but i'd like to note that since iTunes3 came out it plays (to some degree- no visulizers) AAC. So convert it in QuickTime6.1 pro and bide your time. :¬P

[Rocketman]

I wish they would put in ability to read and play media player files and .wmv files and other wintrash formats so we do not have to launch a M$ app or a crude program to play files people create out of ignorance.

Rocketman

Please.

[nickmcghie]

can it (finally) play avi and divx stuff now?

[Megaquad]

Finder is not cocoa application. You can recognize cocoa applications by responsivity and ability to drag windows while app is not responding.

[PGant]

Someone posted a question, asking if 6.1 supported AVI. Looks like it does. Here's a cut and paste from the help file:


QuickTime can import multiple formats of several types of files. File formats you can import include the following

Video formats: AVI, DV, Motion JPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4.

Audio formats: AIFF/AIFC, Audio CD, MP3, Sound Designer II, System 7 Sound, uLaw (AU), and WAV

Still image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG/JFIF, MacPaint, PICT, PNG, Photoshop (with layers), SGI, Targa, FlashPix, and TIFF

Animation formats: 3DMF, Animated GIF, FLC/FLI, Flash, and PICS

Other formats: KAR (Karaoke), MIDI, QuickDraw GX, QuickTime Image File, Text

[bluecell]

Originally posted by Rocketman
I wish they would put in ability to read and play media player files and .wmv files and other wintrash formats so we do not have to launch a M$ app or a crude program to play files people create out of ignorance.

I don't even both with Real or Windows Media files. I don't even want the players on my hard drive.

[Telomar]

Originally posted by nickmcghie
can it (finally) play avi and divx stuff now?

Yes and no. QT has supported avi format for a while it's just a matter of how some avi things are encoded. What wouldn't play before still won't play now though.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by PGant
Someone posted a question, asking if 6.1 supported AVI.

AVI isn't a format or codec is a wraper. A file w/.avi extension could be divx, it could be DV, it could be a lot of things.


Lethal

[thebladerunner]

3GPP (wonder why Apple doesn't use the term 'UMTS', anyway...) is being shown as you can see on this Japanese website.

Scroll down to see a FOMA phone playing QT content:

http://www.zdnet.co.jp/macwire/0301/...gikubo4_2.html

For those of you who speak Japanese, here is an update on QT6.1 and (for the time being) Japanese 3G mobile phones:

http://www.zdnet.co.jp/macwire/0301/..._qtupdate.html

[thebladerunner]

Short translation:

___
A codec required in order to reproduce the new movie format of FOMA is called 3GPP(s). In QuickTime 6.1, only the basic portion is installed and the person in charge says that the time when download of 3GPP codec is finally attained is undecided.
___

However, it's demoed at the booth on a NEC phone as you can see in my previous posting.

This is a very significant long-term win for Apple IMHO !

[JustSomeGuy]

the metal finish on the player is definitely brighter. brighter in the middle and darker on the sides like safari...

i'm a little surprised the close / min / max buttons aren't recessed....

[Spart]

No long file name support. How long has QuickTime 6 been out now? Six months? This has to be in the top five of requested features...and it's still not there.

It's been rewritten in Cocoa, BTW. And the buttons are not recessed because it does not use the standard .nibs. In fact, the interface is completely custom, all of it. None of it is real aqua, it's faked.

[DoughBoy]

Spart said:

It's been rewritten in Cocoa, BTW.

Are you certain of this? I thought all Cocoa apps have a built-in filename limit of 256 (255?) characters, but Carbon apps need to have this functionality added manually. Am I mistaken?

[Wardofsky]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
Cool, cool cool. Wonder if the plugin will be updated a bit for Safari. Not sure why Pro users are the only ones with faster opening and closing, but hell i'm a pro user so its no biggie.


pnw

Maybe just to entice to buy Pro, but I've already got it so, cool!

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
i could be wrong, but i interpreted it as pro users would see speed improvements going to full screen and coming out of it.

Indeed, thanks for the clarification. It just seems like they're emphasizing the difference between standard and pro a lot...

i'd kill for divx support... is it missing entirely because they're discouraging dvd ripping, or have they just not gotten around to it yet?


pnw

[Edge100]

Originally posted by paulwhannel


Indeed, thanks for the clarification. It just seems like they're emphasizing the difference between standard and pro a lot...

i'd kill for divx support... is it missing entirely because they're discouraging dvd ripping, or have they just not gotten around to it yet?


pnw

Use the 3ivx codec for DVD ripping, and your problems are solved. It isnt Apple's fault that Divx is a lousy codec!

The problem w/ QT is that it doesnt support mp3 within AVI, which is a stupid Divx hack anyway. Use 3ivx with AAC audio, and you'll have no sync problems and better performance and quality!

[cyberfunk]

Originally posted by Edge100


Use the 3ivx codec for DVD ripping, and your problems are solved. .....

Or Use ffMpeg to do all the work ! an excelent open source tool for all sorts of format conversions. There are several other utility programs which are designed to be all in one solutions ( all I've seen use ffmpeg in the background to do the actuall encoding) for ripping DVDs to divx. Search versiontracker for "dvd" and/or "divx" and the right stuff should come up.

[hvfsl]

When I encode anything on a PC at 640x480 or more and then play them on my PowerBook G4 550, I get lots of dropped frames. I don't think it is because my Mac is too slow because it has problems playing MPEG1 created on my PC. Does anyone have any solutions? I have all the latest software on my Mac and PC.

[ankh]

I'd bet it's slow hardware.

I know my G3/400 Pismo has dropsy -- firewire webcameras produce maybe 3-4 frames/second, at best.

Sample: http://www.ankh.members.sonic.net

--a brief stereo movie done with 2 webcameras on the Pismo. Remember you have to manually select "view all frames" and dig down into the menus to set "high quality" for every movie (and those prefs get lost when a movie is downloaded, in my experience). And I see no way to make the frame rate correct; my sample runs far too fast though I had it set for 5 frames/sec.