Inscapes

Q: why does the new Quicktime NOT play my old MOV files?

Hi Folks.

 

I'm using the lasted updated Yosemite on a 3-year old iMac.

 

Back in my early iMac days (3 years ago), I imported my camcorder's AVCHD files

into iMove or Final Cut Express and converted them to Quicktime MOV files.

Turns out they were rendered by Apple or Final Cut into MOV files using the

Apple Intermediate codec.  I had no choice over this.

 

Until I upgraded to Yosemite, I was able to preview any of these movies

very easily in the Finder.  Simply highlight the movie, press the spacebar,

and it opens, in a real-time, real-size screen, with a simple play-pause button

in the progress bar at the bottom.  Never had a problem with any previous

Mac OS.

 

Now when I click on the file in the finder, instead of a movie preview, I get a

big, silent QT "Mov" icon that just sits there looking silly.

 

I double click it to open it up in Quicktime, and it attempts to go through this

lengthy conversion process, taking at least as long as the movie is in minutes,

then asking me if I want to save this new "converted" version.

 

Fortunately, I have an old version of Quicktime 7 on my Mac, and QT 7 opens it

and plays it no problem.  No "conversion" necessary.  No cumbersome and

space-hogging needs to create a "cloned" copy, just so the new, lame version

of Quicktime can play it.

 

What's up, Apple?  AIC was YOUR codec that YOUR SOFTWARE chose to

transcode into.  Now, your new Quicktime does NOT support this codec?

And your old version does?  And why might THAT be?

 

Really, this is so elementary.  This is not rocket science.  Just like JPG images

not displaying properly in Mac Mail now.  It begs the question "why" ...?

 

I mean, for the elementary preview abilities that always made Mac such a

friendly computer ... *uh* ... where is that?

 

And here we go, wasting hours of time, looking for fixes that should not

have to be "fixed"...

 

Did I miss something?  Or did you?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Feb 7, 2015 12:27 AM

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Q: why does the new Quicktime NOT play my old MOV files?

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  • by QuickTimeKirk,

    QuickTimeKirk QuickTimeKirk Feb 7, 2015 1:03 AM in response to Inscapes
    Level 9 (53,089 points)
    Feb 7, 2015 1:03 AM in response to Inscapes

    The Apple Intermediate Codec is used for editing and not intended to be used for distribution.

    QuickTime X must convert the file to H.264 and AAC audio for playback and it only has to do that once. You can then delete your AIC files freeing up lots of hard drive space in the process.

    Your new files with also work again with Quicklook.

    You missed something when you failed to export your projects with a delivery codec.

  • by Inscapes,

    Inscapes Inscapes Feb 7, 2015 1:52 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 7, 2015 1:52 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

    Regardless of what label is put on the codec, the fact is, it was playable effortlessly

    by all the preview functions and by the native Quicktime player in all the the previous

    Mac operating systems.

     

    And, in addition to that, currently effortless playback in Mpeg Streamclip, VLC player,

    and Apple's own Quicktime 7.

     

    ... and no, I didn't "miss something" when I exported previously.  Final Cut Express

    and iPhoto offered no export options in their conversion rendering into QT AIC.

     

    For Apple to further cripple both quicktime and the finder preview abilities, favoring

    MP4 - which is not a native apple compressor - and dumping AIC - which was,

    makes no sense whatsoever.

  • by QuickTimeKirk,

    QuickTimeKirk QuickTimeKirk Feb 7, 2015 3:49 AM in response to Inscapes
    Level 9 (53,089 points)
    Feb 7, 2015 3:49 AM in response to Inscapes

    Apple has dropped support for dozens of "legacy" codec in the latest version of QuickTime and Quicklook in Yosemite.

    AIC is only used to import non editable formats like MPEG-2 so they can be edited in iMovie. I repeat: It's not a delivery codec and isn't intended for playback.

    Apple hasn't crippled anything when the drop support for these older codecs. They can still be converted by QuickTime X for use in Quicklook.

    Apple is a contributing member of MPEG and developed H.264 for its use. It's as native as anything else at Apple and Apple still uses AIC on older machines.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Feb 7, 2015 2:26 PM in response to Inscapes
    Level 9 (70,061 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 7, 2015 2:26 PM in response to Inscapes
  • by Inscapes,

    Inscapes Inscapes Feb 7, 2015 10:47 PM in response to Inscapes
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 7, 2015 10:47 PM in response to Inscapes

    QTK: I understand your rationale about AIC not being a playback codec.  And if this is Apple's rationale, nothing can be done.  It was also Microsoft's rationale to make Windows Media Player a quirky territorial headache in favoring Windows-friendly codecs & architecture, much to it's eventually ******* off zillions of users.  What is "rational" is often unfriendly and alienating to loyal consumers.

     

    EricR: I do have VLC, which I've used for decades on both Mac & my previous "PC" lifetime.  It's a great utility.  But previewing in the Finder (like Windows File Explorer for you PC folk) by pressing a space-bar, or similar in file-open dialogues is very very very handy, and that's what I feel is a loss.

     

    anyway, thanks to all for comments...

  • by aeclay,

    aeclay aeclay Feb 14, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Inscapes
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 14, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Inscapes

    I'm glad I found this thread as I just realized tonight that I am having the same issue as Inscapes. I have a new Dec '14 MacBook & today I went to replay some of my 5+ years worth of camcorder movies that I have saved on an external drive. All these movies were previously downloaded from my Sony HD camcorder (assume AVCHD format) to an external hard drive using iMovie on my old MacBook. I have always been able to use Finder and immediately view any of these MANY videos in QuickTime or in iMovie. When I plugged the external drive into my new laptop today and click in Finder to play some of the movie clips, it did the "converting" thing...which took one to several minutes per video to "convert". It did let me watch the video in QT with no problem after that, but it was painful to wait several minutes to watch just a 1-3 minute video.

     

    QuickTimeKirk - I am somewhat a novice when it comes to tech stuff (especially videos), so your explanation of the various codes was a little over my head. One confusion I have, like Inscapes mentioned, is that I didn't have a choice in iMovie (as I recall) in what format/code these videos would be downloaded in. I just chose the destination for downloading (external drive) and I recall it asking if I wanted the full 1080 or a lesser choice. Other than that, I had no options. I feel like I have missed something here...I get that you said Apple has dropped some code they used to use, but I assumed all these videos I downloaded (as recently as Sept 2013) was in a format that was standard (like JPG is for photos...nothing specific to apple, and nothing that would just go away!).

     

    SO HELP! What do I do to 1) easily watch these videos without spending several minutes per video to convert them (I have 5 years of video clips of my kids! Converting and re-saving every single movie clip just simply doesn't seem feasible...) and 2) Most importantly, what do I do with all these precious videos (and future ones I am about to download) so that they will be preserved in a format that won't be kicked to the curb down the road? I am so confused and bummed by this. I only have ONE copy of all these videos on this external drive so I'm scared to death to do anything that could screw them up. I was about to drag/copy them all onto another external drive so I would have a 2nd backup, but don't want to do that if I am going to somehow have to change the format of thousands of clips before backing them up...

     

    Thanks for any advice! - AEC

  • by Inscapes,

    Inscapes Inscapes Feb 14, 2015 5:09 PM in response to aeclay
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 14, 2015 5:09 PM in response to aeclay

    aeclay: download VLC player for Mac.  It's a great general-purpose Media viewer.  Use it play your AIC-Quicktime movies.  Converting them is a pain in the ***, and an insult to  Apple's many users who were hijacked (by apple) into using the AIC codec to convert videos.

     

    Another option is to find the older version of quicktime (7) and using finder pref's, assign this app to play all quicktime movies.

     

    good luck!

  • by aeclay,

    aeclay aeclay Feb 14, 2015 5:14 PM in response to aeclay
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 14, 2015 5:14 PM in response to aeclay

    Also, when QT does convert it and allow me to watch the .mov clip, when I go to close it, I'm asked if I want to save the converted clip. This converted clip shows the same title as the original clip (still ends in .mov) but just has the word "(converted)" now in title. So both clips end in .mov...I thought that converting it changed the format from .mov to something else??

     

    I am not familiar with nor have ever heard of "VLC", but will check it out if it will let me easily view all these videos from 2007-2013 off my external drive. But my biggest question is still about how do I best/safely archive all these video clips in a format that is good for many years to come, regardless of which type of computer I might have in 10 years or what kind of app I use to view them. These are treasured videos of huge life stages of my kids that I would be crushed to lose!

  • by aeclay,

    aeclay aeclay Feb 14, 2015 5:21 PM in response to Inscapes
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 14, 2015 5:21 PM in response to Inscapes

    Sorry for one more question/need for clarification: I have 1.5 yrs worth of videos sitting on my Sony camcorder that I need to download to my external drive. I have historically done it to the ext drive using iMovie as my "middle man" b/w the camcorder and external drive. What exactly should I be doing/using instead to get these videos off my camcorder and onto my drive in a format that is best for viewing/archiving/etc on my ext drive?? Thanks again for your insight!

  • by Inscapes,

    Inscapes Inscapes Feb 15, 2015 2:36 AM in response to aeclay
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 15, 2015 2:36 AM in response to aeclay

    Aeclay: here's a couple of ideas.  And an answer to your earlier post.

     

    Basically two options to work with here:

     

    1. Store the files as native AVCHD files... OR
    2. Convert the files to Quicktime

     

    I keep two archives of my AVCHD recordings, partly for backup, and partly for Sony's ability to archive nicely in it's own native format on it's PC-friendly utility called "PMB".  (came wtih both my NEX and ALPHA cameras).   I have an old PC that I use for my complete archive; Sony's PMB utility works only on PC's and will do a good job both of archiving, providing a thumbnail database, and re-writing your choice to removable media in it's typical Sony hierarchy.

     

    If you've only got Mac's, you can still archive your AVCHD recordings; copy them to folders named or organized to your own spec's.   AVCHD is a high-quality compression format, and they'll take up way less disk space than converted Quicktime MOV files.   You can open and play all AVCHD movies quite easily with VLC player.

     

    The only extra trick to be aware of here is this.  The only reason you would need to preserve the intact "sony" folders (named "AVCHD" / "BMDV" etc) is is you were using Adobe Premiere as a video editor.  Somehow, it needs the hierarchical folder stuff in place to properly index the files.  Not mandatory, but helpful if  you are a Premiere user.  Otherwise, forget the weird "package" folders; just right-click (ctrl-click) on them, choose "view package contents" and MOVE the MTS files out of the Sony hierarchy for permanent storage.  Use VLC player to open and view them.

     

    From that point on,  you have control over how you manage the files and what intermediate or end-user format you convert them to for your own use.

     

    I'm not clear on your other question about the files that add the word "converted" on.  Of course Mac will convert to Quicktime MOV files.  Not sure what codec they're using now, likely H.264.  Anyway, don't bother converting.  It'll take up a lot of time and waste a lot of disk space.

     

    ps. I just found this free utility on the internet.  It's called "MTS CONVERTER". I have not tried it, but it claims to be able to convert all AVCHD files to various useable formats.

     

    Good luck!  (and happy Valentine's Day!)

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Feb 15, 2015 3:36 AM in response to Inscapes
    Level 5 (7,900 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 15, 2015 3:36 AM in response to Inscapes

    You can still use Quicktime 7. It would have been moved to your Utilities folder.

     

    Screen Shot 2015-02-15 at 6.34.37 AM.jpg

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 15, 2015 6:49 AM in response to aeclay
    Level 8 (49,772 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 15, 2015 6:49 AM in response to aeclay

    aeclay wrote:

     

    Also, when QT does convert it and allow me to watch the .mov clip, when I go to close it, I'm asked if I want to save the converted clip. This converted clip shows the same title as the original clip (still ends in .mov) but just has the word "(converted)" now in title. So both clips end in .mov...I thought that converting it changed the format from .mov to something else??

    The .mov extension is just a "wrapper" around the internal encoding of the media. The encoding is what turns the digital bits into something that can be interpreted by a piece of software. The file that holds the encoded video is a "Movie" file, but the encoded video could be in any one of various formats. It is the internal format, not the external wrapper that determines what can be used to view the movie. Just because they have the same extension doesn't mean they hold the exact same type of content. All media files are this way, AAC, MP3, AVI, etc.

     

    Apple stripped most of the obscure, obsolete codecs out of QuickTime X. There were plug-ins that would add codecs to QT, but they no longer work. I don't know if there is any development on new ones.

     

    As Lanny mentions, Quicktime Player 7 will work, but I think it is only kept around if you had the Pro version which allowed editing.

  • by aeclay,

    aeclay aeclay Feb 17, 2015 4:44 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2015 4:44 PM in response to Lanny

    Thanks Lanny, but I don't see a Quicktime 7 option in my utilities. Just the version that came with my MacBook (which is Ver 10.4).

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 17, 2015 4:47 PM in response to aeclay
    Level 8 (49,772 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2015 4:47 PM in response to aeclay

    aeclay wrote:

     

    Thanks Lanny, but I don't see a Quicktime 7 option in my utilities. Just the version that came with my MacBook (which is Ver 10.4).

    As I mentioned at the bottom of my post, you will only have Quicktime 7 if you purchased the Pro version.

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