QuickTime 7 User’s Guide Includes instructions for using QuickTime Pro For Mac OS X version 10.3.
K Apple Computer, Inc. © 2005 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. Under the copyright laws, this manual may not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Apple. Your rights to the software are governed by the accompanying software license agreement. The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Contents Preface 6 6 6 7 7 7 9 9 10 10 10 Welcome to QuickTime What Is QuickTime? What Is QuickTime Pro? What’s New in QuickTime 7? New in QuickTime Player New in QuickTime Pro System Requirements Types of Files QuickTime Supports Checking for New Versions of QuickTime Using Onscreen Help Where to Go for Additional Information Chapter 1 11 11 11 12 16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 19 19 20 20 20 21 21 Using QuickTime Player Opening and Playing Files Opening and Playing Movies in QuickTime Player Opening and
Chapter 2 22 22 22 22 23 24 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 28 28 28 Getting Started With QuickTime Pro Getting QuickTime Pro Using Advanced Playback Options Viewing Movies at Full Screen Playing a Movie on a Second Display Presenting a Movie as a Slideshow Changing the Color Around a Movie Loading Movies Into RAM for Better Playback Creating Movies and Other Media Recording Video and Audio About Saving Movies Saving Movies From the Internet Creating a Slideshow or Animation From Still Images Creating a Still Ima
42 42 44 44 45 45 45 46 47 47 47 48 49 49 49 50 51 51 52 52 Customizing Export Settings Customizing Video Export Settings Adding Special Effects and Filters to a QuickTime Movie Changing Image (Frame) Size Customizing Sound Export Settings Preparing Movies for Internet Delivery Preparing a Movie for Fast Start Preparing a Movie for Real-Time Streaming Creating Reference Movies to Optimize Web Playback Exporting MPEG-4 Files MPEG-4 Video Export Options MPEG-4 Audio Export Options MPEG-4 Streaming Export Opt
Want to play movies from your hard disk or the Internet? QuickTime Player makes it easy. What Is QuickTime? QuickTime Player is a free multimedia player. You can use it to view many kinds of files, including video, audio, still images, graphics, and virtual reality (VR) movies. QuickTime supports the most popular formats on the Internet for news, sports, education, movie trailers, and other entertainment. QuickTime is also a multimedia architecture that other applications can leverage.
What’s New in QuickTime 7? Both the free QuickTime Player and QuickTime Pro provide a host of new features. New in QuickTime Player  H.264 video support. This state-of-the-art, standards-based codec delivers exceptional-quality video at the lowest data rate possible, across data rates ranging from 3G to HD and beyond.  Live resize. Playback continues smoothly as you change the size of the QuickTime Player window. (Some hardware requirements may apply.)  Zero-configuration streaming.
 Floating controls. Full-screen mode now provides floating DVD-like controls for easy access to functions like pause, play, fast-forward, and rewind. Move your mouse and the full-screen controller appears on the screen for several seconds.  Create H.264 video. Use this codec for all your video encoding needs. Create content ranging in size from HD (high definition) to 3G (for mobile devices), and everything in between.  Create surround audio.
System Requirements For Mac OS computers:  A 400 MHz or faster G3 PowerPC processor–based Macintosh computer  At least 128 MB of RAM  Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later For Windows computers:  A Pentium processor–based PC or compatible computer  At least 128 MB of RAM  Windows 98/Me/2000/XP Types of Files QuickTime Supports You can open (import) dozens of types of media with QuickTime.
Checking for New Versions of QuickTime From time to time, Apple releases new versions of QuickTime. If you’re connected to the Internet while using QuickTime Player, you’ll be notified when there’s a newer version of QuickTime available. It’s a good idea to have the latest version of the software installed on your computer. To check for a new version of QuickTime (if you are using Mac OS X), choose QuickTime Player > Update Existing Software.
1 Using QuickTime Player 1 This chapter explains the basics of using QuickTime Player. Opening and Playing Files You can open and play QuickTime movies in QuickTime Player or in your web browser. Opening and Playing Movies in QuickTime Player You can use QuickTime Player to play media stored on your computer’s hard disk, a CD, a DVD, or the Internet.
QuickTime Player has onscreen controls similar to those found on CD players and DVD players. Use the controls to play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, jump to the beginning or end, and adjust the volume of a QuickTime movie. You can also use the controls to move forward or backward in a movie. To go to a specific point in the movie, drag the playhead (the small black triangle) in the timeline.
With QuickTime Pro, you also have the option of saving the movie to your hard disk (if the author of the movie allows it). To save a movie from the web, click the downwardpointing arrow on the right and choose “Save as QuickTime Movie” or “Save as Source” from the QuickTime Pro menu. If the movie is a Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) movie, it is saved as a small “reference movie” that points to the actual movie on the Internet.
QuickTime automatically detects your Internet connection speed so that you get the highest-quality QuickTime content that your Internet connection can support. If movies you’re watching on the Internet don’t play properly, however, it may help to change the connection speed setting. To change the connection speed setting in Mac OS X, open QuickTime Preferences and click Streaming. In Windows, open QuickTime Preferences and choose Connection Speed.
To use HTTP streaming (in Mac OS X): 1 In QuickTime Player, choose QuickTime Player > QuickTime Preferences (or open System Preferences and click QuickTime). 2 Click Advanced. 3 Choose Custom from the Transport Setup pop-up menu. 4 Choose HTTP from the Transport Protocol pop-up menu. To use HTTP streaming (in Windows): 1 In QuickTime Player, choose Edit > Preferences > QuickTime Preferences. 2 Choose Streaming Transport. 3 Select “Use this protocol and port ID,” and choose “Use HTTP Port ID.
Viewing QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) Movies QTVR movies display three-dimensional places (panoramas) and objects with which the user can interact. With a QTVR panorama, it’s as if you’re standing in the scene and you can look around you up to 360 degrees in any direction. In a QTVR movie of an object, you can rotate the object in any direction. Click to show the movie’s hot spots. Drag to resize the window. Click to zoom in (+) or out (–).
Windows: If you have QuickTime Pro, you can use PictureViewer to import and export various types of still image file formats and to rotate images. PictureViewer is in the QuickTime folder on your hard disk. Playing MIDI Files QuickTime Player can import MIDI (Karaoke MIDI, Standard MIDI, and General MIDI) formats. To open a MIDI file, choose File > Open File and select the file. QuickTime uses its built-in synthesizer to play MIDI files.
To rearrange movies in the list, drag them. To delete an item from the list, drag the item to the Trash or select the item and press the Delete key. (In Windows, drag the item to the Recycle Bin or select the item and press the Backspace key.) Deleting an item from the Favorites list does not delete the file from your hard disk (or wherever the file is saved). Playing Copy-Protected Movies QuickTime movies can be encrypted so that only authorized viewers can watch them.
Adjusting Audio and Video Settings For any QuickTime movie with an audio track, you can adjust the right/left balance, as well as the volume, bass, and treble levels. For any movie, you can also set playback options such as speed and playback rate (the jog shuttle). To set audio and video controls: 1 Choose Window > Show A/V Controls. 2 Drag a slider to adjust the setting.
Changing Movie Size for Playback QuickTime Player includes several options for changing movie playback size. QuickTime Pro provides additional playback options, such as setting the screen so that only the movie, and not the QuickTime Player window or any other windows, or the desktop, is visible. This is called “full-screen mode.” To change a movie’s playback size, choose View > [a size], or drag the resize control in the lower-right corner of the window.
Finding Text in a Text Track Some movies contain text such as titles, credits, subtitles, or section headings. You can search for text in a movie so that, for example, you can find specific frames in the movie. To search for text in a QuickTime movie: 1 Choose Edit > Find > Find. If this command is unavailable, the movie does not have a text track. 2 In the Find dialog, type the text you are looking for and click Next.
2 Getting Started With QuickTime Pro 2 Learn how to use the advanced playback options in QuickTime Pro, create movie postcards, and share them via email or the web. Getting QuickTime Pro To get QuickTime Pro, choose a QuickTime Pro menu item and click Buy Now, or choose QuickTime Player > Buy QuickTime Pro. You must be connected to the Internet using the computer on which you want QuickTime Pro installed.You may need to restart QuickTime Player to make the new options available.
You can also set options for all movies playing at full screen. For example, you can hide the movie controls, or change the amount of time they display before they hide. To set these options in Mac OS X, choose QuickTime Player > Preferences and click Full Screen. To set these options in Windows, choose Edit > Preferences > Player Preferences, and then click Full Screen.
To stop the movie before it ends, press Command-Tab (in Windows, Alt-Tab) to make QuickTime Player active, and then click the mouse. All QuickTime movie playback keyboard shortcuts are available in full-screen mode. Presenting a Movie as a Slideshow In a slideshow, the viewer clicks to advance to the next frame. With QuickTime Pro, you can set a movie to play as a slideshow. To play a movie as a slideshow: 1 Choose View > Present Movie. 2 Click Slideshow, then click Play.
Creating Movies and Other Media With QuickTime Pro, you can create movies in various ways. Recording Video and Audio With a video camera and a Macintosh computer you can use QuickTime Pro to record a movie.. QuickTime Pro can capture video from most FireWire-equipped sources, including the Apple iSight, DV cameras, and some webcams.
About Saving Movies With QuickTime Pro, you can create and edit movies, and then save them. When you choose File > Save As, you can save the movie as one of the following: Â A self-contained movie includes all the data (video, audio, and so on) you used to create the movie within a single file. Â A reference movie contains pointers to other movies (or parts of movies) stored elsewhere, such as in different folders on your hard disk or even on a web server.
Creating a Slideshow or Animation From Still Images With QuickTime Pro, you can combine a series of still images to create a movie that plays like a slideshow. This process is an easy way to share the pictures from your digital camera or mobile phone. Note: Slideshows look best when all the images are the same size. To create a slideshow from still images: 1 Put all the graphic files you want to include in a folder.
Creating a Still Image From a Movie With QuickTime Pro, you can export a single frame from a movie as an image file. To save a still image from a movie: 1 Move the playhead to the frame you want to export. 2 Choose File > Export. 3 Choose “Movie to Picture” from the Export pop-up menu. 4 Click Options and choose a format from the “Compression type” pop-up menu. To export every frame from the movie as a series of images, choose “Movie to Image Sequence.
3 Editing and Authoring With QuickTime Pro 3 Learn how to use QuickTime Pro to edit movies, manipulate movie tracks, and much more. Simple Editing With QuickTime Pro, you can perform movie-editing tasks. Selecting and Playing Part of a Movie To perform editing functions such as Copy and Delete, in most cases you need to first select the desired portion of a movie. (If you don’t select anything, the edit commands work on the current frame.
Note: By default, the selection markers hide when nothing is selected, making it easy to determine whether or not a frame is selected. To turn off this option so that the selection markers appear even when nothing is selected, choose QuickTime Player > Preferences, click General, and deselect “Hide selection indicators for empty selection.” Cutting, Copying, or Deleting a Section of a Movie Selecting and moving, copying, or deleting (trimming) part of a movie is easy in QuickTime Pro.
With QuickTime Pro, you can edit tracks individually. You can move tracks from one movie to another, turn a track on or off, delete tracks, or modify the information contained in a track. Audio narration Video 1 Video 2 Audio sound effects Text title Text credits Turning Tracks On or Off With QuickTime Pro, you can choose one or more tracks to enable or disable. For example, you might want to turn off tracks to simplify editing, or to hide a track in a final movie.
3 To add the extracted track to another movie, select the movie (or the portion of it you want your pasted media to fit into) and choose Edit > “Add to Movie.” When you add a track to a movie, the track’s duration is unaltered. For example, if you add a 10-second sound track to a 1-minute movie, the sound track plays for 10 seconds, starting at the position in the movie where you added the track.
Changing Sound Track Volume Levels and Other Audio Settings With QuickTime Pro, you can change the volume and balance of audio and music tracks. For example, if a movie has more than one audio track, you can adjust the volume of the tracks relative to one another. You can also change the bass and treble levels. To change settings for an audio track: 1 In QuickTime Player, choose Window > Show Movie Properties. 2 In the Properties window, select the audio track and click Audio Settings.
If a pasted graphic is larger than the movie’s dimensions, QuickTime Pro resizes the movie to fit the dimensions of the graphic. For best results, size graphics (using a graphics program) to match the movie size before you insert them. You can export a single frame from the movie to use as a guide for text placement. (See “Creating a Still Image From a Movie” on page 28.) To find a movie’s dimensions, choose Window > Show Movie Properties, select the video track, and click Visual Settings.
To overlay text: 1 In QuickTime Player, choose File > Open File and then select the text file. 2 Choose Edit > Select All and then choose Edit > Copy. (In Windows, click Options, select the Keyed Text checkbox, and copy the track). 3 Select the part of the movie on which you want to overlay the text. 4 Choose Edit > “Add to Selection and Scale.” 5 Save as a self-contained movie. The text appears throughout the part of the movie you selected.
Timestamps are specified as hours:minutes:seconds:fractions of a second (the default Text to Text export setting is 1/600th of a second). For example, if you enter the time 00:02:11:00, the text on the following line appears at 2 minutes and 11 seconds into the movie. For information about the other text track descriptors, see the developer section of the QuickTime website at www.apple.com/quicktime/.
To annotate a movie: 1 In QuickTime Player, choose Window > Show Movie Properties. 2 Select an item from the list and click Annotations. 3 Choose an annotation to add from the Add Annotation pop-up menu. 4 Double-click the annotation (where it says “Empty”) to edit it. Users who don’t have QuickTime Pro see only three of the annotations the movie contains. (Which three appear depends on which annotations the movie contains.
3 Drag the mask file from the Finder to the Mask well in the Properties window, or click Choose to select the file. Changing a Track’s Transparency With QuickTime Pro, you can create a track that is partly transparent. This technique is useful, for example, for overlaying a movie with a logo. To change a track’s transparency: 1 Add the track to the movie. (See “Extracting, Adding, and Moving Tracks” on page 31.) 2 Choose Window > Show Movie Properties. 3 Select the track and click Visual Settings.
9 In the text file, find the first chapter title and change the timestamp just before that chapter title to the time you noted in the Properties window. The timestamp might now read, for example, [00:01:30.15], meaning that selecting the first chapter title will jump the viewer 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 15 frames into the movie. 10 Repeat steps 9 through 11 until you’ve identified all the places in the movie that correspond to the chapter divisions and you’ve entered the proper timestamps in the text file.
To change a movie’s poster frame: 1 In QuickTime Player, drag the playhead (or use the arrow keys to move the playhead) to the desired frame. 2 Choose View > Set Poster Frame. To view a movie’s poster frame, choose View > “Go to Poster Frame.” Saving a Movie With Specific Playback Settings With QuickTime Pro, you can specify how a movie should open and play, and what happens when the movie finishes. To specify playback options: 1 Choose Window > Show Movie Properties. 2 Select Movie and click Presentation.
4 Exporting Files With QuickTime Pro 4 If you want more control over how QuickTime creates a file, use the Export feature of QuickTime Pro. With QuickTime Pro, you can export a movie to a number of different file formats, such as QuickTime movie (MOV), MPEG-4, 3GPP, 3GPP2, AVI, and DV. In addition, you can export an audio track to several different audio formats, export the individual frames of a movie as separate image files, or export a text track to a text file.
Exporting Files Using Presets QuickTime Pro offers a myriad of settings and options for compressing video and audio during export. To help simplify the process of compressing and exporting, QuickTime Pro also offers export presets. Different presets are available for each file format. To export a movie using presets: 1 In QuickTime Player, open the movie you wish to export. 2 Choose File > Export. 3 Choose a file format from the Export pop-up menu.
4 In the Video area of the Movie Settings dialog, click Settings, and choose your settings. Â Compression type: Choose the video compressor (codec) you want to use to compress your video. For the highest quality at the lowest data rate (or the smallest file), H.264 is recommended. Â Data rate (bit rate): In general, the higher the data rate, the better the quality, but the bigger the file. In most cases, you’ll want to set a data rate based on the way your movie will be viewed.
Movies with higher frame rates show motion better but have larger file sizes. If you choose a frame rate that’s lower than the movie’s current frame rate, frames will be deleted. If you choose a number that’s higher than the movie’s current frame rate, existing frames will be duplicated (not recommended, since it increases file size without improving quality). When choosing a frame rate, use a simple fraction of your current frame rate, such as 1/2, 1/3, and so on.
Customizing Sound Export Settings To customize sound settings for export: 1 Choose File > Export. 2 Choose “Movie to QuickTime Movie” from the Export pop-up menu. 3 Click Options. 4 In the Sound area of the Movie Settings dialog, click Settings and then choose your options: Â Format: Choose the compressor (codec) you want to use for compressing sound. For general use and Internet delivery of music, MPEG-4 Audio (AAC) is recommended. Â Channels: Choose between mono (1 channel) or stereo (2 channels).
Set the Fast Start setting just before you distribute your movie; making other changes and resaving may undo the Fast Start setting. If the movie is in the format you want, you can set it up for Fast Start by choosing File > Save As and then selecting “Save as a self-contained movie.” If the movie is not in the format you want, you need to encode it first by following the steps below. To convert a movie and set it up for Fast Start: 1 In QuickTime Player, choose File > Export.
If you want to stream a QuickTime movie using QuickTime Streaming Server, you should use a web-optimized video or audio compressor to compress the movie file. All QuickTime compressors are compatible with QuickTime Streaming Server, but the compressors listed here are optimized to give the best results for delivery over the Internet. For a complete list of compressors that QuickTime supports, see the Products area of the QuickTime website (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/). Â Video compressors: H.
 Video Format: Choose the video compressor (codec) you want to use to compress your video. For the highest quality at the lowest data rate (or the smallest file), H.264 is recommended. If you need the file to play on a device that supports MPEG-4 video, choose MPEG-4 Basic or MPEG-4 Improved, depending on the target device. If your source movie's video track is already compressed, you can choose “Pass through” so that the video doesn’t get compressed again.
 Encoding Quality: Available only with AAC audio. The Good setting is optimized for the highest-speed encoding, for higher-quality, choose Best for 16-bit audio, or Better if your audio source is 24-bit. MPEG-4 Streaming Export Options When you export a movie to MPEG-4 format (by choosing File > Export and then choosing “Movie to MPEG-4”), you access the following options by clicking Options and then clicking Streaming.
      3G timed text 3GPP2 is for CDMA 2000 networks. With this format, you can use: MPEG-4, H.263, or H.264 video AAC, AMR, or QCELP audio 3G timed text Movie fragments (enables playback to start sooner for longer movies, since only the fragment, not the whole movie, must fit on the handset) The remaining formats are provided for specific networks. With these formats, you can restrict distribution so that a file can’t be shared from the recipient’s phone (set this option in the Advanced pane).
 Key Frame: The more often you specify a key frame (the lower the number), the better the video quality, but the bigger the file. These additional options are available when you click Video Options:  Re-sync markers: Adds re-sync markers inside the video frames to help with packet loss recovery when streaming.  Encoding Mode: With H.264 video, you can speed up the compression process (for preview purposes, for example) by choosing “Faster encode (Single-pass).
3G Streaming Options When you export a movie to 3G format (by choosing File > Export and then choosing “Movie to 3G”), you access the following options by clicking Options and then clicking Streaming. To create a file for RTSP streaming to QuickTime Player, select “Enable streaming.” This option creates a hint track (instructions necessary for streaming a file). “Optimize for server” helps the server to process the file faster, but increases the file size.
Appendix Shortcuts and Tips Learn keyboard shortcuts and other tips for using QuickTime efficiently. QuickTime Player Keyboard Shortcuts QuickTime Player and QuickTime Pro provide keyboard shortcuts for most playback options. When available, each of these shortcuts appears to the right of its associated menu item. A few keyboard shortcuts have no menu equivalents.
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 QuickTimePlayer  This object has properties and methods to open movies, control the window's position and appearance, and to interact with its menus. The QTControl property returns the ActiveX control hosting the window's movie: To examine the QuickTime Player or QuickTime Control interfaces in detail, look at the Apple QuickTime Player Library 1.0 or Apple QuickTime Control 2.0 interfaces in a COM object browser.
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) An audio file format used widely on the web. aspect ratio The relationship between the height and width of an image. audio channel Audio tracks can contain one or more channels of audio data. Each channel represents the sound directed to a particular speaker. For instance, stereo tracks contain two audio channels. audio channel label Each audio channel may be labeled to specify where its sound should be directed.
frame rate The number of frames displayed per second. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) A file format for images. hint track In a streamed movie, a hint track specifies for the server how the movie’s content is to be transmitted. hot spot A place in a virtual reality movie where the user can interact with the movie using the mouse. Instant-On A technology that dramatically improves access to streaming content for broadband users.
protocol A set of standards for sending and receiving information on a network. QTSS (QuickTime Streaming Server) A technology used to deliver media over the Internet in real time. QuickTime Player An application that opens and plays QuickTime movies, as well as many other kinds of files. QuickTime Pro A version of QuickTime Player with advanced features, primarily the addition of editing capabilities.
3G files exporting 49–51 A A/V Controls 19 animations 27 annotations 36 AppleScript 54 audio adding an audio track 32 audio controls 19, 33 B balance changing for an audio track 33 balance controls 19 bass level 19, 33 bit rate.
L R languages 36 Layer control 33 locked media files 18 looping 20 recording audio and video 25 reference movies 13, 26, 47 repeating a movie 20 resizing a movie 37 rotating a movie 37 RTSP 14 M media keys 18 memory options 24 MIDI 17 MIME Settings 15 Mirror Displays 23 monitors.
volume 11, 33 adjusting during playback 12 changing sound track volume 33 Index W web.
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