The big reason Quicktime doesn't work in browsers (question mark appearing)

Question

Level 1

0 points

The big reason Quicktime doesn't work in browsers (question mark appearing)

So far it has been, for many people, unsolved. But I've been digging around, and one of the reasons for quicktime not being able to play flash, youtube, and all types of safari movies (including Apple's quicktime) is because on many Macs, the Mime types are simply not there.

In the Mime settings, for instance on my Mac, my Mime types are missing! None there! I've spoken to an Apple genius and they have no idea. I've reinstalled the OS and upgraded to Leopard, and they are still missing. This would explain for many users why no matter what they do or tweak, they still can't run movies in their browser. With no mime types, you simply can't play many movies on your browser.

Reinstalling Quicktime and iTunes has done nothing. upgrading has done nothing. It seems like its very deeply imbedded in the system and not included with updates.... ANY UPDATES! Even with Leopard. Apple assumes they are already there. So for those of us who are missing (possibly deleted... but I can't see how).... how do we get back these mime types and can we download them anywhere???

Summary:
All mime types are missing - where can I get the original mime types?

PLEASE HELP!

iMac G5 1.8ghz 20 inch, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jan 13, 2008 5:46 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 13, 2008 6:46 AM in response to ramsbottom

MIME Settings are adjusted using the QuickTime System Preference pane / Advanced tab / MIME Settings button.
You must quit and relaunch any open browser for those changes to take effect.
QuickTime doesn't play Flash video (or YouTube). Flash Player does and you need a proper install of it to view those formats.

Reply

Answer 2

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Jan 13, 2008 9:22 AM in response to ramsbottom

Or to put it another way:

These are the downloads and the settings you need in order to view/hear pretty much everything that the net can throw at you: The setup described below has proved repeatedly successful on both PPC and Intel macs, but nothing in life carries a guarantee!

It is known to work in the great majority of cases with Safari 3.0.4, QT 7.3 and OS 10.4.11. (If you are running Leopard, ensure that all plug-ins have been updated for OS 10.5)

Assuming you already run Tiger versions OS 10.4.9 or above (this has not yet been verified with Leopard) and have Quicktime 7.2 or above, and are using Safari 2 or 3, download and install ( or re-install even if you already had them) the latest versions, suitable for your flavor of Mac, of:

RealPlayer 10 for Mac from http://forms.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html?platform2=Mac%20OS%20X&product= RealPlayer%2010&proc=g3&lang=&show_list=0&src=macjack

Flip4Mac WMV Player from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx (Windows Media Player for the Mac is no longer supported, even by Microsoft)

Perian from http://perian.org/

Adobe FlashPlayer should first be uninstalled using the appropriate uninstaller available here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157&sliceId=2 and then the latest version obtained from here: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash and installed.

(You can check here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ to see which version you should install for your Mac and OS.)

In earlier versions than QT 7.1.3 in Quicktime Preferences, under advanced, UNcheck Enable Flash, and under Mime settings/Miscellananeous only check Quicktime HTML (QHTM).

You should also ensure, if you are running Tiger 10.4.11 or Leopard, that you have downloaded and installed the correct version for your Mac of Security Update 2007-009.1.1, which also deals with the Quicktime/Flash issues you may have experienced, such as the '?'. What happened was that both Quicktime as well as Adobe FlashPlayer tried to play the Flash video at the same time. This no longer happens. (N.B. Security Update 2007-009 requires both a restart and a permission repair.)

In Macintosh HD/Library/Quicktime/ delete any files relating to DivX (Perian already has them). However it should be noted that Perian is not an internet plugin and will not play DivX files imbedded on a website. For that you will need the DivX Player browser plugin available from http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/

Now go to Safari Preferences/Security, and tick the boxes under Web Content (all 4 of them).

Lastly open Audio Midi Setup (which you will find in the Utilities Folder of your Applications Folder) and click on Audio Devices. Make sure that both Audio Input and Audio Output, under Format, are set to 44100 Hz, and that you have selected 'Built in Audio'.

Important: Now repair permissions and restart.

You should also consider having the free VLC Player from http://www.videolan.org/ in your armory, as this plays almost anything that DVD Player might not.

Reply

Answer 3

ramsbottom Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2008 10:15 AM in response to Klaus1

I've tried all of these, and for this unique problem, it doesn't work. What do you do when all your mime types are missing. I can't play mpeg 4 or any other standard media type. I made a mistake with mentioning flash. But, what do you do when ALL your mime types are missing! Quicktime can't handle any movies. How do I restore them. Thanks for the replies so far, but to recap. In mime settings, there are no mime types, no quicktime html, no options to tick!

How do I restore all my missing mimes???

Reply

Answer 4

Jan 13, 2008 1:39 PM in response to ramsbottom

Throw away ~/Library/Caches/QuickTime.

Pull the following files from ~/Library/Preferences
com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist
com.apple.quicktimeplayer.plist
com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup.plist
QuickTime Preferences
QuickTimeFavorites

Then restart.

Reply

Answer 5

ramsbottom Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 14, 2008 5:49 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

BABY BOOMER! you are a GENIUS!!!! It worked! I can't believe it worked! For over a year, I have look into all these discussions, and never found the answer..... MY MIMES are back! Thank you very much!

I guess, with all the other forums, the QUESTION MARK problem was barely solved for many users, because they couldn't identify the real cause. For some users, its the mimes missing. I have them back now, so again, thank you.

However, all the replies in this thread should give a solution to anyone who has a problem with quicktime in the browser.... but finally, we have a solution to the mimes, which is another reason why movies didn't work in browsers... this works for firefox and safari by the way!

CHEERS!

Reply

Answer 6

Jan 14, 2008 8:13 AM in response to ramsbottom

You're welcome. Glad it worked for you.

Reply

Answer 7

Pakrat

Level 1

0 points

Jan 17, 2008 10:56 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

This looks like a solution to a long standing problem. But could you please put it in plain English for neophytes like me?

What does "pull" mean, and where do I pull the files to?

Thank heavens there are people like you around to help us less gifted types.

Reply