QuickTime Pro: Yes or No?

[hyperpasta]

Oooh, that rhymes.

Well, my question is, to buy or not to buy (QuickTime Pro). I have $30 burning a hole in my pocket, but I don't actually edit video. So, does anyone else have it (who doesn't use it to edit) and like it? Is saving videos and full screen worth it?

Also, I'm wondering if it can capture an audio/video stream and save it.

 

[iMeowbot]

I think that the saving alone is worth it, but even some of the simple editing tasks can be handy even if you don't think so now (for example, combining several short clips from a personal camera without waiting three weeks for iMovie to convert them). Also, you can fix videos from the net with weird aspects and stuff, and save your tweaks for next time. It's a handy tool.

Now the bad news: it doesn't save streams. Not every QuickTime movie that's called a stream is really a stream though; you can recognize real streams by the oscillating blue dots (Apple's way of saying "buffering") and the little spinning arrow in the lower left corner.

 

[gMac]

Just be aware that if you do decide to go "Pro," Apple is going to charge you another $30 for each and every point upgrade of QuickTime. With each upgrade, you have to purchase a new license at full price.

Please understand that I am not one of those who feels that Apple is obligated to update the firmware of my 3G iPod to match the features of the latest version. Apple is in business to make money and I don't have a problem with that, but I won't be upgrading to QuickTime Pro until they stop acting like Mr. Haney from Green Acres.

 

[EricNau]

What do you mean by point upgrade?

 

[gMac]

7.0.1>7.0.2>7.0.3...etc.
I "switched" about four years ago and love my Mac, but in that time I think there have been about six or seven (I'm guessing here) upgrades that I would have had to pay for if I had purchased QuickTime Pro from the start.

 

[EricNau]

No way am I upgrading then. I assumed I'd be set until Quicktime 8.

 

[mad jew]

That doesn't sound right. I thought you only had to renew your licence when large updates rolled around (QuickTime 6.0 to 7.0).

 

[EricNau]

That doesn't sound right. I thought you only had to renew your licence when large updates rolled around (QuickTime 6.0 to 7.0).

That's what I was told - but this made me think that gMac might be right...


http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/mac.html

Why else would you need the most current version? Why couldn't you buy pro, and then upgrade it?

 

[mad jew]

Why else would you need the most current version? Why couldn't you buy pro, and then upgrade it?

I still think that's referring to QuickTime 6.0. If you put the code in whilst QuickTime 6.0 is installed, you won't e able to keep Pro and upgrade to 7.0.

 

[EricNau]

I still think that's referring to QuickTime 6.0. If you put the code in whilst QuickTime 6.0 is installed, you won't e able to keep Pro and upgrade to 7.0.

That's true...

 

[Nermal]

gMac's wrong, and jew's right (again!)

 

[EricNau]

gMac's wrong, and jew's right (again!)

That's good.

So, does anyone expect a major update anytime soon? I don't want to buy this thing and then have Quicktime 8 come out the next week.

 

[mad jew]

At a guess, QuickTime won't come out until Leopard. Don't hold me to that though.

 

[Platform]

Go for it.....the full screen and save features are very nice

 

[Doctor Q]

Save your money. QuickTime Pro would be a nice convenience for you, likely worth the $30, but I don't think it would be worth $30/year to you, and that's what it comes out to when Apple upgrades to a major new release about that often.

 

[Nermal]

It's not really once a year is it?

I'm pretty sure 6 was released with Jaguar (2002) and 7 with Tiger (2005).

 

[jruc4871]

If you do decide to upgrade, save a copy of Quicktime 7 in a different location for backup. When Leopard or another upgrade overwrites 7 with 8, you'll still be able to use your pro version of 7.

If you're interested in recording streams, check out iRecordMusic. It's $24.95 from bitcartel, but it works a charm. I actually have it scheduled with iCal to record an audio stream tonight when i won't be home.

http://www.bitcartel.com/store.html

 

[macOSX-tastic]

quicktime pro has been very useful to me since ive got it, especially for the editing features, save feature and fullscreen mode.

S

 

[iMeowbot]

It's not really once a year is it?

It's fairly random. 1-1991, 2-1994, 3-1998, 4-1999, 5-2001, 6-2002, 7-2005. The Pro license thing started with QuickTime 3.

 

[mpw]

The most useful feature I use on a regular basis is rotating videos recorded on a digital camera in portriat. I don't think there's any way to do it in iMovie.

 

[EricNau]

What is QT Pro compared to iMove? Do they do the same things?

 

[JDar]

I think Pro is worth it for the enhanced scaling and the audio features, but my uses are fairly simple compared to what it can do. Probably we won't have to pay again until it goes up one whole version number.

 

[weg]

Well, my question is, to buy or not to buy (QuickTime Pro).

I'm definitely not updating, because I'm really pissed off by the way Apple markets this thing. I payed two grands for my Powerbook, and it came with a crippled version of Quicktime, which always reminds me that I'm not willing to pay $30 (on top of $2000, for a computer that is actually advertised as THE multimedia machine) for being able to do rudimentary video editing and watching Quicktime videos in fullscreen.

As for saving Quicktime movies: Quicktime Pro obviously doesn't allow you to save streams. Couldn't you use wget (comes for free with Fink) to save all non-streamed Quicktime movies??

 

[gnasher729]

Go for it.....the full screen and save features are very nice

But remember that you can move Quicktime movies into iTunes, and iTunes will play them in fullscreen.

 

[mpw]

I'm definitely not updating, because I'm really pissed off by the way Apple markets this thing. I payed two grands for my Powerbook, and it came with a crippled version of Quicktime, which always reminds me that I'm not willing to pay $30 (on top of $2000, for a computer that is actually advertised as THE multimedia machine) for being able to do rudimentary video editing and watching Quicktime videos in fullscreen....

Don't all Apple PCs come with iMovie HD now to handle the rudimentery video editing task? Should they ship Final Cut Studio with every Mac? What about those who don't need it and don't want to pay the extra $1,299?
QT Pro is an affordable app. for those who want it, don't get pissed-off with Apple just because you don't want their software. The version of QT that came with your machine wasn't any more crippled than the version of Adobe's Acrobat, but I expect you'd want the $449 version of that too. Suddenly your PowerBook costs nearly four grand!