Help!! I just installed Quicktime 7.2 on my G4 Desktop and when I try to play movies, I get the progress bar, the audio but no video. What happened, and how can I correct this?
I originally thought it was my DV hardware, but clearly the problem is too prevalent. I have the same problem (as do a lot of other people, from the look of the QUIckTime 7.x threads for Mac and Windows). I can see the first frame of the video, but nothing else. The audio plays flawlessly. I had no problems with this prior to version 7. I even went so far as to upgrade to QUIckTime Pro - an expense I certainly didn't need - but it didn't solve the problem. It did allow me to prove one thing: QUIckTime Pro can't even play back the videos it creates itself!
I should note one important point: iTunes and VLC play these files PERFECTLY. It occurs to me this could be a video codec issue. The files I am using for the test were created from a DV source using QUIckTime, and it doesn't matter if I set to H.264 or MPEG-4 mode. iTunes identifies the codec as MPEG-4, VLC as mp4a, QUIckTime as Apple MPEG4 Decompressor. Same problem if I record using another QUIckTime based app (BTV, Vidi, etc.). Is QUIckTime attempting to use a different codec than iTunes/VLC? Perhaps the product testers/support staff have something installed that is not part of the standard download (a common side effect in an uncontrolled testing environment).
I did notice another flaw in QUIckTime that may be related: changes made to the advanced MIME settings don't get saved; I cannot set QUIckTime to read DV in the video section (despite having additional DIVX/XVID codecs installed). I check the box, I close the preferences pane, and it reverts to the previous settings. In fact, NONE of the applications I have that use QUIckTime settings have ANY impact on the settings; I try to alter anything in the video preferences for BTV Pro Carbon, and it simply reverts after I close the preference pane. I mention this because it may be a related issue; QUIckTime preferences simply cannot be altered properly.
My conclusion: I'd say you've got a way to go to make a stable version of this software. Just promise me one thing: when the update arrives, my Pro registration had better still be valid! Last time I "upgraded" QUIckTime reverted to a Player license...
I don't have a fix, but I'm curious if your vid's will play in full screen mode. I have the same exact problem after upgrading to QT7.2 but can play full screen.
No, mine won't play in full screen mode. If I switch to full screen or back again, it
does update which frame is frozen in the vid window, but it's still frozen.
As a further update to the information I provided earlier, I must rescind my comment that everything works perfectly in VLC and iTunes; now VLC doesn't behave so well sometimes. Once in a while I will get "chunks" of video punctuated by dark grey bars, so clearly something is off. Further, I was mistaken about the codec being used by VLC - it's using avc1 for the video and mp4a for the audio when playing the supposed h.264 files created by QUIckTime.
I must also note that QUIckTime is recording video at an extremely low framerate - a little more than 1.5 FPS, where 29.97 was expected - and the audio and video are significantly out of sync (with the video being behind by several seconds). And here I was considering BTV Pro because it can record time-lapse video. Who needs it when QUIckTime will do it for you (no matter what you want)!
For the record, drive performances isn't an issue; I'm recording via FireWire to an external CalDigit RAID array, rated for 2 simultaneous SD streams, so a single DV stream should be a walk in the park. Besides, iMovie can capture the DV stream perfectly, so it's not a hardware issue. I don't even think it's a matter of realtime compression problems, as even when recording in "native mode" - uncompressed DV - the video is lower quality than that recorded with iMovie. In short, QUIckTime simpy does an inferior job of recording.
So for now I'm back to using iMovie, as the only app that consistently records video and audio properly. Too bad it isn't more readily configurable/doesn't have realtime compression.
For me, this is more an issue when I am using Safari. Quicktime MPEGS don't play at all, just the progress bar and the audio. Saved movie files on my computer open and play just fine, it is only through the browser that I am having problems. As someone suggested here, it might be a video codec issue, but hey, mpeg is mpeg. Anyone from Apple listening in with some suggestions??
For me, this is more an issue when I am using Safari. Quicktime MPEGS don't play at all, just the progress bar and the audio. Saved movie files on my computer open and play just fine, it is only through the browser that I am having problems. As someone suggested here, it might be a video codec issue, it might be a plug in issue, but hey, mpeg is mpeg. It used to work but not any more. Ican't evenplay the Quicktime demo on Apple's website!! Anyone from Apple listening in with some suggestions??
Ed: while I may not have a solution to my problem, I may have one for yours, or rather the forum may have one. A lot of people have experienced the Safari issue. The most common solution is to open the HD/Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder and drag the QuickTime Plugin.webplugin to your Desktop, then quit and relaunch Safari and try the page again. For most people, this solves the conflict. Others have had luck performing a "Get Info" on the Safari app and turning off Rosetta, then quitting and relaunching Safari. Personally, I'm not having problems with browser viewing (possibly because I don't use Safari) so I have started another thread for my own query. Best of luck,
