Mavericks, Quicktime Player, and mp4 files

Can anyone shed any light on Quicktime Player's insistence on 'converting' some mp4 files under Mavericks? Files which were handled seamlessly in Mountain Lion now require this extra step, don't have previews and don't work with Quick Look.

However, the support seems to be patchy, in that some .mp4 files open and play as expected. I haven't, so far, managed to work out what triggers one behaviour over the other.

Anyone?

Hi Jonathan,

With Mavericks Apple has started depreciating the QT Kit framework in favor of the newer AV Kit. This media infrastructure is the same for iOS7 and OSX. Apple is only depreciating the old framework, not the QT file format. With Mavericks, QT player X only supports H264 and ProRes natively. Other codecs in MOV containers are converted to these two.

This transition includes that a number of codecs are not supported anymore by QT player X. Most of these formats are old, inefficient or hardly used in modern image processing anymore. Here's a pdf from WWDC 2013, when you scroll down you will see which formats have been abandoned: devstreaming.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2013/...ov8p0b6d/606/606.pdf

Some third party codecs that are wrapped in a QT container (such as Avid DNxHD) will require you to have QT7 installed so their codecs can be added as QT components. Other third party codecs (Flip4Mac with WMV) already support Mavericks and the new framework.

There are issues with this fundamental transition, as was to be expected. As you have noticed QuickLook isn't behaving properly with some formats and there are more things that need to be addressed. The safest way of dealing with non-H.264 or ProRes video in QT player at this moment is to open your files with the old QT7 player. QT7 works with any codec just like before. And if you are having issues don't forget to send feedback to Apple, as this is the only way of letting them know.

- Ronny

Thanks, Ronny, for sharing your insights!

… what I noticed:
two of my cheapo Cams do use an avi-container (and mpeg4 inside) - now, with mavericks, a) no more QuickLook, b) QTplayerX.app opens a 'conversion progression bar' …

As you mentioned. with QTPlayer7.pro no probs....

I will read and try to understand that pdf ... on first sight 'a bit' over my head… 

Any speculations/prophecy, when QTpro7 will get obsolete/not working anymore… ?
It is my 'bowie knife' to chop-out pieces of longer clips from my cams…
(I hesitate to import 12GBs of avi, just for the few seconds I need per cam)

Thanks for the detail, Ronny - I would't have found the WWDC presentation.

What's odd about my example is that the files I'm having problems with (ie. that require 'conversion' to play in Quicktime Player X) are .mp4, H.264/AAC. Files I encode myself with Episode/x264 show this behaviour, some other mp4s I have kicking around don't.

Hmm. Come to think, I should probably be following this up on the Episode discussion forum.

Hi Karsten,

IMO QT7 player will still be around for quite awhile. I don't expect it to go away in the next two years. The QT framework really is old and it absolutely needs to be replaced with modern frameworks that offer better color management (the dreaded gamma shifts in QT are notorious). AV/Foundation seems to be the way to go, but every transition has its pains and that's what we are experiencing now.

Waiting for QT7Pro to be killed for good, third party suppliers are creating affordable utilities that will play any kind of codec inside different wrappers and convert the video to the format of your choice. This one has been announced (not available yet) by Telestream: origin.telestream.net/switch/

@Jonathan:

Yes the QuickLook and native playback issue seems to be inconsistent. IMO the Apple H.264 format wrapped in mp4 plays without issues, but not H.264 encoded with x264.

- Ronny

ahh, ok, … time left to safe some money for new equipment…  :lol:

'Switch' reminds me of VLC (=all formats player), and goo' ol' MpegStreamclip, THE universal video converter. Unfortunately, Stefano stopped developing his master-piece (afaik).-

… in the long run, I have to update my whole set-up anyhow … I'm wasting too much time with my 'DIY solutions'… a bigger, badder Mac should be my first step....

thanks again!
__________

a word about mp4/Handbrake/x264/…:
HB is preset to add chapter markers on conversion- in iMovie, my old domain, it is not possible to use mp4 with additional tracks; never tried, how FCPX handles that.

Solution: if you use HB as converter, switchOFF chapters… no additional tracks, no issues.

(I've seen mp4 with up to 6 tracks! Some people convert into really strrrange formats)

This note confirms that QuickTime Player version 7.7.6 works in Mavericks:

support.apple.com/kb/HT3678

In case anyone needs to download it:

support.apple.com/kb/DL923



@Alex4D

And remember QTPro 7 is still being sold by Apple, too.
www.apple.com/quicktime/extending/index.html

"but not H.264 encoded with x264."

??? My "standard" 720p encode via compressor uses x264.

Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Width: 1280
Height: 720
Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls: Off
Codec Type: x264Encoder
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 100
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 15
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
Average data rate: 8.192 (Mbps)
Fast Start: on

No issues with quicklook or quicktime player on mavericks

Good to know this. So you see: it's very inconsistent.

- Ronny