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  1. Can QuickTime 7 encoders with any other video editors?

    I installed the QuickTime Essentials portion of QuickTime 7 that only installs the encoders, but I don't know what video editors can access them! I have XMedia Recode installed, mostly because it's very easy to use. Does anyone have a list of editors capable of using these codecs and more importantly how do you connect these encoders to these other video editors? I have no clue how these codecs can be used outside of QuickTime, so I'm asking anyone who's familiar with them, thanks!
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  2. Did you really mean "Windows' Quicktime 7" ? The windows version ?


    Windows QT7 is x86 only, so many older x86 windows NLE's can typically access them when exporting MOV through the Quicktime API. Older programs all used the quicktime API when exporting "MOV", they automatically "connect" . e.g Old versions of x86 Sony Vegas, Premiere Pro. But almost all newer versions of editors in the last few years are x64, so none of them will work for this

    XMediaRecode cannot, because it's FFMpeg based

    An old avisynth x86 plugin, QTSource, could also access QT API with QTOutput and export using Quicktime
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  3. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    The QT API is twice deprecated (windows & mac) and at risk of exploits due to lack of updates. Major NLEs have been rewriting their codebase to bypass having to use the api at all. It's a dead end. Best to avoid altogether.

    Also, other than for a few exceptions (prores, aic, alac), it's redundant & superfluous, and there are other codec brand implementations that can do a better job (e.g. dv, mpg1, mpg2, avc, hevc).

    IIWY, I'd uninstall them. Only reason to use would be in special standalone for one-off legacy conversion to modern intermediate formats to perpetuate archivability.


    Scott

    (Edit: pdr beat me to it)
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  4. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    I didn't catch the Mac insignia the 1st time.

    Since at least a decade ago, Apple has not used QT as its av subsystem, moving on to the newer AVFoundation.
    For a while, they sneakily would make it seem to end users as if it still worked: they would open & run the subset of their modern codecs in the new av media player (named "QT player X" to give users a false sense of continuity?). The codecs & formats that they didn't support any longer, they automatically re-converted to one of a few of the newer formats and then played the new copy (with further quality loss) without telling you so nor giving you options. 3rd party codecs likely just stopped working altogether.

    Fastforward to last couple of years - Catalina and beyond made 64bit apps mandatory. So the background converting app no longer works. At all. That means if your files aren't using one of the few codec options still supported, you are COMPLETELY OUT OF LUCK unless you can get your hands on a legacy machine to do the conversion for you. Or use a 3rd party converter such as ffmpeg.


    Scott
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  5. Got it. Too bad.

    I have a few Mac relics that I wanted to encode some videos for, so part of the equation was to use a codec group that went back far enough, so I installed the QuickTime Essentials to pair it up with a hopefully straightforward GUI-based front-end. So much for that idea.

    My other thought was locating a downloadable copy of Cinepak Pro for Windows, but that one apparently is a ghost, even in the online used marketplace. It's the "creme de la creme" as far as legacy encoders and just about the only one that plays nice with my little dinosaurs. The playback is not bad at all, especially if you have the space: I own a few 2.2GB Orb removable disks and external CD-ROM drives to queue up plenty of video content, all for pure retro fun; staying at home you get some really off-the-wall project ideas! There's a sample youtube video demonstrating how a Cinepak encoded video can look like, and it's not even the Pro version of Cinepak. It's running on a Quadra Apple introduced back in 1991 based on the Macintosh IIci:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9PyMmlUhNI
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  6. Member ricardouk's Avatar
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    have you tried MPEG StreamClip? it uses quicktime but its editing features are limited.
    I love it when a plan comes together!
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  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Mpegstreamclip hasn't been updated in over a decade, is a 32bit app, and was/is/has always been buggy. Not recommended, but heck, if you are going wild trying to do legacy encodes, what does it matter, right?

    CinepackPro was probably ALWAYS a no go for Windows, unless you paid an arm & leg for specialty encoder. Improvements over regular Cinepack never have been worth the trouble.

    If you want universality, best option is mpeg1. Even machines from late 1990s/early 2000s could play that back without hardware assistance. If you are going even further back, you would likely have to be resurrecting old equipment to do the work. Is your time really that unimportant?


    Scott
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  8. Member ricardouk's Avatar
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    I still use 32bit software that hasnt been updated in ages and is not available in 64bit or not updated any longer, no problem whatsoever, no updates in 8 years wouldnt be a problem for me, i only tried it half a dozen times and it worked but there were some problems with mpeg2/vob files that required a mpeg2 decoder, apart from that it worked.

    He plans on using it on "isolated" machines solely for encoding videos... remember that ad? Whats the worst that can happen? You're totally right in being outdated etc etc but like he said its going to be used in isolated/relic mac's.

    I can understand him as i just stayed at home for nearly 2 months in lay off and just went back to work a week ago...mind needs to be occupied.
    I love it when a plan comes together!
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  9. I won't lie Scott, I did have some luck encoding with MPEG1 using XMedia Recode out of all programs; what failed me was the legacy audio I chose didn't result in any sound playback from two separate QuickTime files. I'm not sure however, if the audio output was playable on another program+platform, like VLC, which I may do out of curiosity.

    If I located a copy of the Windows version CP, I was going to encode some animation videos first to see what improvements the pro version would have over the standard codec. I suppose I figured there must have been a pretty darn good reason they held back Pro for such a huge ransom, so at this point I'm imagining it's now becoming my own version of Pandora's box (just not as dismal), possibly more trouble than it's worth, just like you said!

    What made me reach out here was that I was imagining that those who worked with Cinepak Pro back in the day would have something to say about the value of that high-priced "pay-to-play" codec. I'm concluding the answer to my question lies in the area of being a novelty at the time. But I know myself enough to admit that I've always loved solving puzzles; it's almost always the thrill of the chase that gets me hooked, that and the crazy satisfaction that in the end you've achieved something completely irrelevant to anyone but yourself and anyone else you've enlisted on your foolhardy quest for, in this case, retro-video glory!

    Among my other 'out there' thoughts was this: how impractical or improbable would it be to take, say, a copy of the Mac version of the Cinepak Pro codec and somehow run that on Windows instead of Mac? I can gladly offer the CP package here if it's worth the time checking that possibility out. I know, curiosity killed the cat...

    I'd test the Mac version, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the specs to encode with it well and more of my video content is on the Windows end (for now anyway) because my Windows machine simply has more processing power, which is something that makes a big time-difference for encoding video.

    I think I may have tried Mpegstreamclip, but I'm willing to give it another try! I know a lot of my roadblocks are user-error related, but persistence has always been a friend; thank you, Ricardo, for your suggestion!
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  10. Originally Posted by ricardouk View Post
    I can understand him as i just stayed at home for nearly 2 months in lay off and just went back to work a week ago...mind needs to be occupied.
    That's literally my exact situation (fingers-crossed on getting my start date this week)! I've been going nuts trying to keep myself engaged in fun projects like this until I start working again thanks for getting me!
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  11. Member ricardouk's Avatar
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    No problem, hope it helps but Cornucopia was also right on what he said, all the best and hope you get back to work soon.
    I love it when a plan comes together!
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  12. Agreed! I wish all of you a great rest of the year, a very safe and productive one, my friends! It's just nice to come on the forums and ask about vintage stuff and get honest feedback like this, even when the goal is as inane as mine is right now

    I may end up trying out some Cinepak Pro encodes on a Mac somehow (based on the age of the Mac software, it will likely have to be on a PPC model to get anywhere with it) and use the results to confirm if the hype of the '90s is worth tracking this "once in a blue moon" unicorn that was once called CinePak Pro, for Windows, that is
    Last edited by cke; 23rd Jun 2020 at 14:41. Reason: forgot something small
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