1080p video created/edited on iPad3 (*.mov file) won't play on Mac

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65 points

1080p video created/edited on iPad3 (*.mov file) won't play on Mac

I purchased a new 2012 iPad 3. I also purchased the iMovie app. I shot 2 short 1080p videos of my kids with the iPad's standard Camera app (at least, I think they are 1080p -- they look outstanding on the iPad's screen when I play them there). I then used the iMovie app to merged the two separate clips into one video, about 60 seconds in length. I was able to send that video to FaceBook, but FaceBook limits the videos to only 720p and there is a lot of compression too which makes it almost look like SD video. So I thought I would try uploading to YouTube next. That worked, and YouTube shows the video as being an HD video, but even YouTube only shows it in 720p, not 1080p. The other problem is, the YouTube video is highly compressed too, which indicates my iPad is doing that to reduce the upload time.

So what I thought was to use DropBox to get the "original" video file on my Mac, and then use my Mac to upload it to YouTube, thereby bypassing any unecessary compression and re-encoding that the iPad seems to be using. So I used the UPLOAD feature to send that *.MOV file to my DropBox. It work perfectly. But when I then double-clicked that *.MOV file on my iMac, QuickTime player (under OS X Lion) opened but it gave me the following error:

"The movie's file format isn't recognized."

I then tried the latest version of VLC, but the MOV file still won't play! I even tried the older QuickTime7 and it tells me "This is not a movie file."

I then did a GetInfo on the MOV file in FileBuddy. It tells me the File Type is MooV and Creator is mgvr. Not sure if that means anything but I want to mention it.

Another interesting thing. When I first tried to upload my video to Dropbox and then tested it on my Mac, it worked. In that case, I had used the default DropBox settings which reduce the size of the exported videos. It was really tiny, but it played. So I then changed that setting to upload the "Originals." But again, when I do that, they won't play on my Mac.

Again, this MOV file is not too terribly large (176MB) and not very long (60s). I edited it in iMovie for iPad. The upload to my DropBox went smoothly and without error. So can someone please tell me why I cannot play this video?

Also, why wouldn't my iPad be uploading the full 1080p to YouTube? And is there no way for me to control the compression level?

Thank you.

iPad, iOS 5.1, 2012 WiFi model, 32GB

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 5:38 PM

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Answer 1

JDW1 Author

Level 1

65 points

Mar 21, 2012 11:51 PM in response to JDW1

I just tried uploading that same MOV file to YouTube. After the upload, it gave me the following error:

"Processing of the video failed."

Very frustrating.

I've not yet tried to move an Original "unedited" MOV file from the iPad to my Mac. What I've been talking about is the edited MOV file generated by iMovie on the iPad, which plays perfectly fine on the iPad.

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Answer 2

Mar 22, 2012 12:10 AM in response to JDW1

This may sound silly but did you see if there are any updates available for the quicktime player? Click on the Apple in the upper left hand corner of your Mac and select "Check for Updates" then install them if any and try again.

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Answer 3

JDW1 Author

Level 1

65 points

Mar 22, 2012 12:27 AM in response to lvmedic3214

Thank you for your reply.

I need no updates to QT Player. The version I currently use under OS X 10.7.3 Lion is QT Player 10.1 (501.8). Furthermore, as I mentioned in my opening post, even VLC cannot play the video. Also, I tested in the older QT Player 7.6.6 (1710), and it could not play the video. And as I wrote in my last post, even YouTube rejected the video.

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Answer 4

JDW1 Author

Level 1

65 points

Mar 22, 2012 11:54 PM in response to JDW1

The problem has been semi-resolved. I tried moving the Original *.MOV file (the one edited in and exported by iMovie for iPad) to my DropBox via the DropBox app. This time, to my delight, the video played just fine. I was able to upload it to YouTube, and I can confirm it is 1080p.

However, there is still a problem. Despite the fact that iMovie for iOS generates 1080p videos on the iPad, when you use iMovie for iOS to upload direct to YouTube, your videos are only 720p. You can read an ars technica article about that here:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2012/03/ask-ars-can-the-ipad-3-be-a-one-sto p-hd-video-shop.ars

I wrote to the article author, Chris Foresman. He wrote me back saying the following:

As mentioned in the article, I copied the 1080p video exported from iMovie on the iPad to my Mac. I did so by plugging it in via USB and using Image Capture to copy it over. That file plays fine on my Mac. I uploaded that to YouTube at 1080p. It took a long time to upload—about 20 min or more.

As you mention, the edited version does not look as good as the original footage. This is unfortunately a side effect of shooting compressed formats and then editing them together into a compressed format—you get generational loss like you do with analog video (or photocopies, for instance). There's really no way around that, unfortunately.

YouTube also does it's own compression to make it 720p, 360p, etc, for playback in a browser, so unless you are viewing the 1080p upload by viewing in HD and fullscreen, you're going to see the effects of a third compression step.

I was not able to directly upload to YouTube from the iPad at 1080p, even though that option is available if you upload via the Photos app (you can choose from 1080p, 720p, "large", or "standard"). Apple has not responded to my request for comment on the matter thus far.

I will be filing a bug report with Apple about this. If any of you reading this have the same problem and also wish to file a bug report (which I would strongly encourage you to do), here are the links to do so: