marknovom
Level 1 (4 points)
iWork

Q: Aperture not playing some videos

I love the Genius Bar.  They have helped me so much in the past.  Today they didn't, so I'm posting this question:

 

I have a 27" iMac running OSX 10.9.2.  I am using Aperture 3.5.1.

 

All of a sudden, some videos stopped working.  Some still work.  Brought the computer to Genius Bar and the guy couldn't find anything wrong with it.  He told me that I can "repair" Aperture by quitting it and then holding down "command + option" and double click on Aperture and then a window opens up and there are three levels of repairing.  He told me to do this at home as it could take hours.  I brought the computer home and started with the first level and it didn't work.  Did the second and third level and it didn't solve the problem.  And, by the way, it took minutes per level not hours. 

 

So, when I'm looking at my pix/videos, I like to look at them in filmstrip view.  The first screenshot below shows a video that I've highlighted a video on the filmstrip and the video appears in the bigger window ready to play.  The second screenshot shows that I've highligthed the next video in the filmstrip and the image doesn't show up in the larger window above.

Screen Shot 2014-04-18 at 2.18.40 PM.png

 

Screen Shot 2014-04-18 at 2.22.39 PM.png

 

The guy at the store suggests that because no error message shows up, it could just be an error occurring between Aperture and the file.  I tried the three leves of "repair" and it didn't fix the problem.  The Genius Bar said that if the three levels don't work, I need to bring it back in and they can create a new library and copy over the whole library into the new one.  Before I lug this giant 27" iMac back to the Genius Bar, I was wondering if anyone out there can help.

 

What can I do?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Apr 18, 2014 2:26 PM

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Q: Aperture not playing some videos

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  • by Old Toad,Helpful

    Old Toad Old Toad Apr 18, 2014 2:36 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 10 (140,940 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 18, 2014 2:36 PM in response to marknovom

    Are you able to play the file outside of Aperture with Quicktime Player? 

     

    OT

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 3:34 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 3:34 PM in response to Old Toad

    Yes...if I drag to the desktop and open it in quicktime, it says "converting" and it starts to play.  What's strange is that we tried that at the Genius Bar and it didn't play in Quicktime.  It doesn't play in VLC for some reason, but it does play in quicktime after it "converts" it.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Mark

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 4:19 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 4:19 PM in response to marknovom

    But I would like for it to play in Aperture without dragging it to the desktop and playing in Quicktime (because this is how it used to work).  So, please help...

     

    Mark

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Apr 18, 2014 4:29 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 10 (140,940 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 18, 2014 4:29 PM in response to marknovom

    That was just to confirm that it's an Aperture issue and not system wide issue.

  • by Ernie Stamper,

    Ernie Stamper Ernie Stamper Apr 18, 2014 6:40 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 8 (37,588 points)
    Video
    Apr 18, 2014 6:40 PM in response to marknovom

    Clearly the one that will not play has different pixel dimensions than the others.  What was it shot with, versus the others?

     

    If you play it in QT, and use Show Movie Inspector, what does it report?

     

    Ernie

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 9:05 PM in response to Ernie Stamper
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 9:05 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

    Below is a screen shot of the "Show Movie Inspector" when played in QT:

     

    Screen Shot 2014-04-18 at 8.39.00 PM.png

     

    As a test, I uploaded new pictures and videos from my Canon SLR.  Every video works and has a file size of appropriate size (anywhere from 30MB - 300MB depending on the length of the video).  The videos that don't work (even if imported from my Canon SLR which takes huge pictures and videos) have file sizes of around 15KB.

     

    The videos that don't work were both taken from my Canon and from my iPhone.

     

    And, when I dragged one of the videos that doesn't work in Aperture to the desktop (the is a video taken from my Canon) and when I "right-click" on it and look at the file size it says that it's 82KB.  When I double-click it and "converts" it (it takes a good 10 seconds to do this), it plays the full 33 second video perfectly.  To compare:  an 18 second video that I just uploaded from my Canon is 104 GB.

     

    Any ideas?

     

    mark

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 9:45 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 9:45 PM in response to marknovom

    Correction:  I meant that an 18 second video that I just uploaded from my Canon is 104MB (not GB).

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 10:27 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 10:27 PM in response to marknovom

    Here's another thing I tried and I'm not liking what I found.  I went into my Finder - Pictures - Aperture Library - Show Package Contents and here's what I found:

     

    I looked through the Masters and the videos that I just uploaded were huge (50 - 300 MB) as videos should be. Then I found the Masters of the videos that don't work and the files are tiny (30 or so KB).  Does this mean that they are completly ruined?  I do back up my computer to Time Machine, so I'm sure I can find the back ups there, but that just seems like a huge pain (which I'm willing to do), but I was wondering if anyone can figure this out before I have to search through the horrible way Aperture/iPhoto organize the Master files.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Mark

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 18, 2014 10:40 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 10 (105,945 points)
    iCloud
    Apr 18, 2014 10:40 PM in response to marknovom

    Yes...if I drag to the desktop and open it in quicktime, it says "converting" and it starts to play. 

    When you are dragging from  Aperture's browser to the desktop you'll export the previews and not the originals.

    To check your originals, use "File > Export > Original". You do not need to search the "Masters" folder. Use Aperture's interface.

     

    Here is a list of video formats Aperture is supposed to support. Not all QuickTime compatible formats and pixel sizes are supported, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4025

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 10:44 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 10:44 PM in response to marknovom

    And a couple more things:

     

    I went back in my time machine and all the masters of the videos that don't play are in the 50 KB range, so I panicked thinking that something really messed up and I lost all those videos.  But then I went back to the videos that I dragged to the desktop that says the file is only 80KB. 

     

    I played the video in quicktime.  I then went to close it.  When I did that a little window dropped down over the video that asks "Do you want to keep this new document "MVI_3793 (Converted).mov""?  And it has an Export As field.  I changed the name to "test" and saved it to the desktop.  And the new test file is 192 MB!!!!!!  So, these files are somewhere on the computer.

     

    So, do I really need to do this process for every video that isn't working and then re-import them to Aperture?  Or is there an easy way to fix this?  Sorry for all the posts in a row, but as you can tell, I'm a bit eager/anxious to get this problem resolved.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Mark

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 18, 2014 10:55 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 18, 2014 10:55 PM in response to marknovom

    Léonie,

     

    When I clicked on one of the videos that doesn't work and used "File > Export > Original" and saved it to the desktop and then tried to play it in quicktime, I got an error saying "Quicktime player can't open "XXXXXX" etc.

     

    But when I dragged the same file on the desktop (it was only 50 KB or so when I dragged to desktop), it did what I said above:  I opened in QT, it says that it was converting and then played without problem.  I then saved it and changed the name and then the new file is over 100 MB big! 

     

    So, exporting the original doesn't work!  This is very strange!

     

    WOW!  Then I imported the new file (the one that I changed its name and is over 100MB) back into Apeture and now it plays in Aperture.  And just to confirm, I went back to my video folder in Aperture and found the original file that didn't play and it still didn't play.  This is all very strange.  Do I have to do this whole thing and reimport them into Aperture?  Or is there a way to do this automatically.

     

    Mark

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 18, 2014 10:56 PM in response to marknovom
    Level 10 (105,945 points)
    iCloud
    Apr 18, 2014 10:56 PM in response to marknovom

    I played the video in quicktime.  I then went to close it.  When I did that a little window dropped down over the video that asks "Do you want to keep this new document "MVI_3793 (Converted).mov""?

    QuickTime movies can be tricky. The QuickTime format is just a wrapper, and the actual video is in the media fork of the wrapper inside the QuickTime wrapper or referenced somewhere else. I suspect your videos with the small file size are referencing the media ressources in their original location.

  • by Ernie Stamper,

    Ernie Stamper Ernie Stamper Apr 19, 2014 6:10 AM in response to marknovom
    Level 8 (37,588 points)
    Video
    Apr 19, 2014 6:10 AM in response to marknovom

    The thumbnail that you showed for this movie in the original screenshot was clearly not in a  perspective consistent with 1920 x 1080.  Your experience with the change in size suggests some form of alias is in the mix somewhere, with a Preview not what would be expected.

     

    Are you sure this video was Imported into Aperture from the memory card of the camera?

     

    Ernie

  • by marknovom,

    marknovom marknovom Apr 19, 2014 6:52 AM in response to Ernie Stamper
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    Apr 19, 2014 6:52 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

    Ernie,

     

    About a year ago I switched from iphoto to Aperture.  So, some of the videos were imported into Aperture directly from the memory card from camera (if I imported after I made the switch to Aperture).  When I made the switch from iPhoto, I used File > Export to export all my pictures and videos and then imported them into Aperture.

     

    It may very well be that the videos that don't work were exported from iPhoto and then imported into Aperture because all of my recent videos work; however, there are still old videos that I definitely exported from iPhoto that work in Aperture.  So, it's still random why some work and others don't.  AND all the videos used to work in Aperture.  Now only some do.

     

    Mark

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