A lot of things that can be downloaded (legally) are in QuickTime format.
I don’t want QuickTime. I don’t want to be asked about upgrade to QuickTime Pro all the fucking time. I don’t want the software to load in the system tray, so that the only way I can get rid of it, from there, is by cleaning the registry. I want to have a choice in which software to use.
I didn’t have any plans for buying a Mac, but if this is typical of Apple behaviour, count me out.
And start offering the films/videos/trailers in other formats, allready.
Actually, this is not typical Apple behaviour. IIRC, it only really started a few years ago when Apple got in bed with Microsoft, got a big cash injection, and agreed to start inflicting IE on all Mac users as their internet default browser. Microsoft followed that announcement by saying it was going to support Quicktime as the “best” multimedia format on the 'net. QT versions that followed featured the free basic version and a “Pro” version that you have to pay for an which you have to jump over the ad for every time you start the app.
Wow. I have a Mac, and Quicktime absolutely wipes the floor with WMV and Real, in both user-friendliness of the respective players, and in quality of the file formats, although MOVs are much bigger in size.
Most of the time if I want to download something, and the only formats available are Windows Media or Real, I won’t bother. MPEG and MOVs are fine, though.
And constant “update reminders” and the like, aren’t those pretty typical of Windows? When I use my girlfriend’s computer (Win) I’ve resolved myself to the fact that I will be interrupted every few minutes by some damn dialog box, cutesy text balloon, or some other crap, offering an upgrade or whatever.
Because it produces the best video for the byte, thanks to its Sorenson compression (the cost of which is why there’s the Pro upgrade cost).
It should only ask you the first time you start QuickTime after restarting your computer. And unless you have a laptop, there’s very little reason to restart modern computers on a regular basis anymore.
There is a preference/option to get rid of the System Tray icon. You don’t have to hose your registry to do it, unless something is very wrong with your computer.
Use for what? By default, QuickTime only takes control of “Macintosh” files like .MOV files and PICT files.
If what is typical Apple behavior? The “Do You Want to Upgrade to Pro” thing? Ummm… that’s like something that only QuickTime does on a Mac, at least in terms of Apple software.
Very, very unlikely. QuickTime is the standard for high-quality, non-live-streaming video on the Web for very good reason: quality of image in comparison to size of file, Sorenson encoding and, with QuickTime 6, full MPEG-4 support. In fact, MPEG-4 is now based on the QuickTime codec, too.
Sorry, I far prefer the DivX codec to QT. Not only do I get to avoid having to use the shitty PC Quicktime software, DivX files are generally encoded at a much higher quality.
I never find QT files that are better than a slightly larger DivX file, and I don’t really give a shit about a slight difference in file size.
Ok - I am having a problem with Quicktime too. After I installed XP SP1, whenever I reboot Quicktime starts automatically. I unchecked it from msconfig - still came back at start up. I uninstalled Quicktime, rebooted - it still came back. I cleaned it out of my registry, rebooted - finally, it was gone.
I thought maybe there was a problem with the install, or a newer version would behave better, so I went to apple.com to check out the Quicktime site. After politely declining the pop-up boxes asking me to buy the pro version and to upgrade, I clicked on a movie trailer for the heck of it. It played. How in the world can Quicktime still work for me after I went through all the trouble to get rid of it? Scary.
I have a Mac - and I still get bugged loads about QuickTime Pro. It does piss me off quite a bit.
However it’s a small price to pay for getting a great free media player. I just wish they would finish off the latest build so it would play the most obscure mpeg4s.
Don’t you even get a discount? I have to say even as a Mac fanatic Apple is becoming way tight-fisted with its updates. Like OSX.2 being full price regardless.
Just a quick blatant hijack - what’s the difference between Sorenson and Sorenson 3? Our professional editing softare allows exporting in both formats.
“Gee, it only asks you to upgrade to QT Pro every time you reboot. What’s the problem there?” :rolleyes:
Also, if you don’t upgrade to Pro, you can’t even view video in full screen! WTF is that shit? That doesn’t make me want to upgrade. It makes me want to avoid QT at all costs!
My favorite codec for medium-to-low bitrate video is XviD, an open source MPEG 4 codec. It’s still in alpha, but produces great results and supports 2-pass VBR by default.
I don’t usually mind the QT upgrade window; it serves as the app’s splash image and it’s gone with a single click. I don’t have to wait more than 5 seconds for it to start up.
I just wish QT would play VCDs. Although it doesn’t happen often that I want to, I hate resorting to possibly iffy shareware when I do.
