snow leopard - ex posto facto - appletalker forum [apple mac discussion and troubleshooting]

Oisín 2009-09-03, 17:40 #31

since Feb 2006 · 1236 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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In reply to post ID 15119

Hey, I just came back from two weeks of Internetlessness!

madra

(Administrator) 2009-09-03, 19:26 #32

User title: chairman of the bored
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oh. so you were serious. i thought you were being ironic.

[Image: http://www.appletalker.com/grafix/madrasig.png]

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Simon 2009-09-03, 19:48 #33

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Quote by Oisín:
Hey, I just came back from two weeks of Internetlessness!

Unthinkable. If very lucky, I would have made it to day four alive.

"resident grumpy old man"

madra

(Administrator) 2009-09-03, 20:15 #34

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i realised how much i need the internet when i got a message from i5m saying the site was down, while parked up for the night in the van on the shores of loch erne, with only the crappy internet browser on my JCB phone's tiny screen to work with and barely any signal to pick up the intarwebs anyway.

it's at times like that, that i almost consider falling for the iphone hype.

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Oisín 2009-09-03, 20:24 #35

since Feb 2006 · 1236 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Oddly enough, I barely missed it. I did have some Internet availability here and there, just enough to go on and check my e-mails once every three or so days; but apart from that, I was Internetless and quite happy about it. This could, of course, have something to do with the fact that I was travelling around northwest Donegal, which is without a doubt one of my favourite places in the world …

madra

(Administrator) 2009-09-03, 22:51 #36

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here's a good one! :doh:

apple say they have got rid of the pro version of quicktime because it's too confusing having the two versions. now we all get quicktime X with built in pro features.

so i try to watch a bit of good old tom baker doctor who tonight from my avi stash and quicktime X hangs on this screen:

[Image: http://www.appletalker.net/grafix/SLQTloading.png]

[Image: http://www.appletalker.net/grafix/SLQTloading.png]

'OK' - i think - 'maybe it disnae like the format?'. so i download perian, which i had installed previously under leopard, to sort things out.

except i still get the same result. so i go on apple's support forums and find this thread, which in essence says that if you want to be able to play AVIs [or other formats] via QT and perian, you have to dig your snow leopard installer disc out again and under 'optional installs' you'll find an installer for QT7, which will install it into the /applications/utilities folder and thus allow you to watch those old AVIs:

[Image: http://www.appletalker.net/grafix/SLQT7.png]

[Image: http://www.appletalker.net/grafix/SLQT7.png]

so let me get this straight - in order to avoid the confusion of having two versions of a *single* quicktime player - apple now requires you to install one version of *two* different quicktime players, in order to retain the same functionality as we had before.

well, i'm glad they sorted that one out

can anyone smell crack smoke? :loon:

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i5m 2009-09-03, 23:04 #37

since Feb 2006 · 2110 posts · Location: Super Up North, UK
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Well it's a complete overhaul of Quicktime, so the first step of many until it's all sorted I guess. A bit like how long Classic hung about for. I believe that Quicktime X doesn't support plugins yet either so even the mighty Perian folks won't be able to help for awhile yet. I don't reckon you'll be waiting until 10.7 though - I'm hopeful Apple will be working hard on Quicktime X and will release updates in the meantime. The futue of Final Cut relies on it.

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Oisín 2009-09-03, 23:22 #38

since Feb 2006 · 1236 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Are you saying you ever managed to get AVIs to play properly in QuickTime? ’Cause I never did. Always stuttering and spluttering to no end. VLC’s been my media player of choice for ages now.

A question: did they fix the Finder’s video playback functionality back to how it was in Tiger (where you had a timeline and could chose where in the movie you wanted to play from), or is it still the retarded Leopard way where you can only choose play/pause and have no way of playing the movie any other way than from the beginning?

madra

(Administrator) 2009-09-03, 23:25 #39

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Quote by i5m:
Well it's a complete overhaul of Quicktime, so the first step of many until it's all sorted I guess...

well, then they [apple] have got their priorities in a strange order. i'd have thought that keeping [or adding - if QTX is not plugin ready yet] compatibility with one of the most widespread video file formats on the web would take precedence over some half-arsed [but oh so pretty] video editing capabilities.

but of course it's form over function every time with apple, these days.

Quote by Oisín:
Are you saying you ever managed to get AVIs to play properly in QuickTime? ’Cause I never did. Always stuttering and spluttering to no end. VLC’s been my media player of choice for ages now...

what plugin were you using to handle AVIs? i never had any probs, after i installed perian. ironically for me VLC has always been the troublesome one; stuttering and crashing, and continuously throwing up dialogues telling me something had gone wrong [even when a lot of the time, the video was still playing OK in the background].

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This post was edited on 2009-09-03, 23:28 by madra.

Simon 2009-09-04, 07:20 #40

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I have also had an excellent experience with VLC. It's my default video player nowadays.

madra, have you tried Flip4Mac? It's a sys pref like Perian and from what I can tell it allows playback of WMV and lots of other formats through QT Player. I'm not very savvy with these codec things, but I've been told the Flip4Mac betas work fine with QTX. Maybe they can motivate your QTX Player to play your AVI files.

"resident grumpy old man"

Gamoe 2009-09-04, 08:20 #41

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Another

for VLC.

Quote by madra:
well, then they [apple] have got their priorities in a strange order. i'd have thought that keeping [or adding - if QTX is not plugin ready yet] compatibility with one of the most widespread video file formats on the web would take precedence over some half-arsed [but oh so pretty] video editing capabilities.

If you go to page 6 of John Siracusa's Snow Leopard review, he says the following:

Quote by John Siracusa:
The X factor
This is just the start of a long journey for QuickTime X, and seemingly not a very auspicious one, at that. A QuickTime engine with no editing support? No plug-ins? It seems ridiculous to release it at all. But this has been Apple's way in recent years: steady, deliberate progress. Apple aims to ship no features before their time.

As anxious as developers may be for a full-featured, 64-bit successor to the QuickTime 7 engine, Apple itself is sitting on top of one of the largest QuickTime-riddled (and Carbon-addled, to boot) code bases in the industry: Final Cut Studio. Thus far, It remains stuck in 32-bit. To say that Apple is "highly motivated" to extend the capabilities of QuickTime X would be an understatement.

Nevertheless, don't expect Apple to rush forward foolishly. Duplicating the functionality of a continually developed, 18-year-old API will not happen overnight. It will take years, and it will be even longer before every important Mac OS X application is updated to use QTKit exclusively. Transitions. Gotta love 'em.

PowerMac 6100 (1994) - Unibody MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz

madra

(Administrator) 2009-09-04, 08:22 #42

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i had flip4mac installed back in leopard, before i discovered perian. i always found it a bit rubbish. i've installed the old QT7 now anyway and can play AVIs.

but what a dumb setup. whichever genius at apple thought of 'simplifying' a single player with dual players [in different locations!] needs their head examined!

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Simon 2009-09-04, 09:14 #43

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I agree, it is stupid. But I guess it's like i5m said. They probably focused on getting the basics into QTX Player. Support for more formats will hopefully be added progressively. Having to install two QT Players is definitely not "Mac-like".

"resident grumpy old man"

shmooler 2009-09-04, 10:08 #44

since Oct 2006 · 146 posts · Location: Jakarta Indonesia
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Quote by Madra:
ironically for me VLC has always been the troublesome one; stuttering and crashing, and continuously throwing up dialogues telling me something had gone wrong [even when a lot of the time, the video was still playing OK in the background].

Isn't that ironic that something that works ok for everyone else here doesn't work for madra :laugh:

I had more trouble with quicktime player than just about anything from Apple, I've been using VLC for a few years now and not once (except for the odd crash) has it given me any major grief, another thumbs up for VLC :thumbsup:

BTW Madra how much disc space did you actually save after installing SL compared to Leopard?
I think for me that's the deciding factor, cos Leopard for me is rock solid, just too bloody big.

madra

(Administrator) 2009-09-04, 10:47 #45

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Quote by Simon:
...They probably focused on getting the basics into QTX Player...

depends on your definition of 'the basics'. for me, with a video player that would be being able to open the most common formats found on the web. for apple, these days, it always seems to mean adding some visually impressive looking feature that hardly anyone will avail of.

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